Hi Charles, When it comes to this issue of developers verses users I think you are forgetting that audio game developers are users too. Since we intend to use anything we write as well as sell it the technology we have access to and use on a daily basis will largely influence what we make available to our end users.
For example, we know that Josh personally uses a Mac and has done so for several years now. So it is not a surprise that when he released Change Reaction and Silver Dollar Mac versions came out first and the Windows versions came out later. As an end user he was probably more interested in versions for Mac, but as a developer he wanted to continue making money off of Windows based games as well. As a developer I find myself in a somewhat similar situation. As I have mentioned before I often use Linux, not Windows, so I personally would have a vested interest in producing Linux games. However, I know that Windows is where the money is and have spent more than my personal share of time in developing a game engine that works on XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Were it up to me as a user I'd just write Linux games and forget about Windows, but there wouldn't be much profit in that financially. The point I am getting at is that audio game developers do use the tools of the trade that will hopefully support the widest range of customers as possible. However, the thing you need to understand though is sometimes its not possible to do both. Sometimes decisions made by Microsoft, for example, will adversely effect what we developers do. Take virtual 3d audio as an example here. When Windows Vista came out Microsoft rewrote the mixer and released a new API called XAudio2 that replaces DirectSound on Vista, Windows 7,and Windows 8. They didn't upgrade DirectSound and as a result if a developer such as myself tries to use DirectSound on Windows 7 the virtual 3d won't work properly. Now, I can fix that problem by switching to XAudio2, but its not going to be made available on Windows XP after next year. So as a game developer I am between a rock and a hard place. Option 1, I can use DirectSound which works fine on XP, but doesn't work properly on Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8. Option 2, I can upgrade to XAudio2 which will resolve the problems on Vista, Windows 7,and Windows 8, but there will be no updates for it for my XP customers. The most logical thing to do is to adopt the new technology, and that should resolve the problem for the largest number of customers. If Microsoft stops supporting XAudio2 or offering updates for it on XP that isn't my fault. However, any bugs or stability issues in XAudio2 will most likely be reported to me, and the last thing customers are going to want to hear is upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 and download the latest updates for DirectX, but what choice do I have as a developer? Well, I could develop two different versions of the game. One, using DirectSound and the other using XAudio2. That might work, but now we are talking increasing both the time and effort maintaining that game because I have to support two different APIs for two different versions of Windows. I don't want to do more work than I possibly have to. Yet, do to the transition Windows technologies is going it may come down to a decision of one or the other. Cheers! On 4/30/13, Charles Rivard <wee1s...@fidnet.com> wrote: > As for having to upgrade to a newer OS because the older ones aren't being > supported, shouldn't the game developers use the tools of the trade that > their customers can use? If you decide to create software that the newer > systems can run but older systems cannot, and your customers are still using > > the older OS, aren't you shooting yourself in the foot? I don't follow the > > logic that dictates that users must upgrade to a less user friendly OS that > > won't run the software you have been accumulating because it is not being > supported by the developers. It makes more sense to me that the developers > > should not be the determining factors as to what is produced for the end > user. The end user should be the one to determine what is produced. > > If the majority of blind people cannot afford to upgrade their machines > every few years, and the upgrades won't be easily accessible without major > modifications and headaches, we should not have to be forced to make that > upgrade, and developers should offer what the end user can use. > > -- > If guns kill people, writing implements cause grammatical and spelling > errors! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
