Mechwarrior: Tactical Command

[Mitchpate]

Android is hardly the perfect platform. The problem with Android is fragmentation. Not every device has the same capabilities, system specifications or even resolution. When you develop a "high-end" game for the Android platform you either have to make sure it runs on most or many devices or you simply keep certain devices out from the start. In that sense developing for the iOS platform is certainly a lot easier (but other things are much harder there in comparison of course).

And iOS devices are different how?  Each generation of them has substantially different hardware specs.  iOS is going to see similar boosts in hardware performance over the next few years, unless Apple keeps suing all their chip manufacturing partners

MechAssault was hardly a sales bust, or a terrible game.

Idk what the sales figures are, and I don't think MS ever released them for MA1 or 2, but MS is almost as bad as EA when it comes to milking IP and it's unrealistic to think they would have abandoned the series if it was selling at least somewhat decently.

it's possible that this game will be eventually ported to the Android platform, depending on the revenue they get on the iOS platform, I guess.

Games are almost never ported from iOS to Android, or vice versa, because they have to be virtually rewritten from scratch.  iOS is Obj-C and Android is Java, the two have very little in common.  If they go into this with the intention to support both then it's actually quite easy as there's programs specifically written to manage the codebases for interoperability but once it's been written for just one it requires about 70-80% of the original development time to port it.

Hence my beef with this iOS-only outlook.

[Stormin']

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

[Cik]

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

oh psh. what they have to do is not fapp it up so badly. ios only? what possible motive is there for this instead of releasing it for a decent platform? if you wish to appeal to your fanbase (something that is reasonable to do) releasing it on a platform that a significant part of your fanbase can access is a start. hell, if it bombs it'll be seen by suits as proof that MW is not marketable, and screw it all up for me.

[Wraythe]

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

oh psh. what they have to do is not fapp it up so badly. ios only? what possible motive is there for this instead of releasing it for a decent platform? if you wish to appeal to your fanbase (something that is reasonable to do) releasing it on a platform that a significant part of your fanbase can access is a start. hell, if it bombs it'll be seen by suits as proof that MW is not marketable, and screw it all up for me.

They aren't trying to appeal to the fanbase. They are trying to make money. iOS is an insanely lucrative platform, with low low low development costs, (crazy easy to code for, yes i have experience) and in the hands of millions upon millions of users.

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

I'd +10 you if I could.

[[IPA] Thalamus]

It is absolutely not the fact that it seems to be made for handhelds or tablets (to the contrary; if it is released in the appstore, I might get it to run on my Macbook as well) or that it might be off-canon. But that trailer looked as if someone was trying to destroy the franchise on purpose. There are even better fan videos on youtube.

[Cik]

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

oh psh. what they have to do is not fapp it up so badly. ios only? what possible motive is there for this instead of releasing it for a decent platform? if you wish to appeal to your fanbase (something that is reasonable to do) releasing it on a platform that a significant part of your fanbase can access is a start. hell, if it bombs it'll be seen by suits as proof that MW is not marketable, and screw it all up for me.

They aren't trying to appeal to the fanbase. They are trying to make money. iOS is an insanely lucrative platform, with low low low development costs, (crazy easy to code for, yes i have experience) and in the hands of millions upon millions of users.

See, these 4 pages are why I would imagine no one would want to touch the MW franchise.  The only chance a developer has of having any sort of positive response in this community is to go after new markets, like 10-year-olds who have never heard of it (MA).  The existing community thumbs its nose at anything related to Battletech.  I was one of those guys coming into MWLL...every time I would see us veer away from canon I would cringe and stir up a bunch of muck in the forums.  I nearly left the project entirely over the BA in the cockpit thing.  It's hard to let go of what you see as the only option in your head and step aside for someone else's artistic interpretation, even if it looks stupid. 

I'd +10 you if I could.

and so it is a cheap cash-in. why should i not mock it? you are silly.

[CHHš Aethon]

The only reason I hate touchscreens is that I am rather obsessive about my monitor being clean; every single time I touch it, I would end up wiping the screen down, lol.

[Spooky]

And iOS devices are different how?  Each generation of them has substantially different hardware specs.  iOS is going to see similar boosts in hardware performance over the next few years, unless Apple keeps suing all their chip manufacturing partners

Of course, but it's nowhere near as difficult as with the Android platform.

[(TLL)CapperDeluxe]

And iOS devices are different how?  Each generation of them has substantially different hardware specs.  iOS is going to see similar boosts in hardware performance over the next few years, unless Apple keeps suing all their chip manufacturing partners

Of course, but it's nowhere near as difficult as with the Android platform.

there's APIs out there that make android programming easier, and some that can go to both iOS and android supposedly without needing too much extra work to support them simultaneous.  It really just comes down to what technology they're using and whether they're wanting to branch out to other platforms to spend the extra time on it.

[Spooky]

And iOS devices are different how?  Each generation of them has substantially different hardware specs.  iOS is going to see similar boosts in hardware performance over the next few years, unless Apple keeps suing all their chip manufacturing partners

Of course, but it's nowhere near as difficult as with the Android platform.

there's APIs out there that make android programming easier, and some that can go to both iOS and android supposedly without needing too much extra work to support them simultaneous.  It really just comes down to what technology they're using and whether they're wanting to branch out to other platforms to spend the extra time on it.

Doing something basic on Android with the Standard Java API is very easy, but you have to do more work, if you want to make sure that it will work on all devices properly. And things get more messy if you do something in C++ on Android instead.

However, they could use the Unity Engine for instance, which supports both Android and iOS (but evidently they are not..).

[Mitchpate]

there's APIs out there that make android programming easier, and some that can go to both iOS and android supposedly without needing too much extra work to support them simultaneous.  It really just comes down to what technology they're using and whether they're wanting to branch out to other platforms to spend the extra time on it.

Pretty much this.  I've coded on both but still much prefer writing code with only the PC in mind but that's just me.  The developers probably preferred Apple themselves and picked the platform accordingly.    If that's the case I really can't blame them as it would be far easier for them to code in a language and environment they're familiar with than learn a new language and platform.

Yes the mobile market is lucrative but if you intend to make what appears to be a fairly large scale game like this you better know what you're doing or your costs will force the game price to be higher than it's worth to customers.  That would be very bad for sales.  The only way you can get people to buy a game regardless of cost is if you tap into the fanboy population which this game isn't very likely to do.

Btw, Thalamus makes a very good point.  If the trailer had in-game footage and demonstrated something along the lines of MechCommander I think you'd be hard-pressed to find people to complain about it.  Unfortunately, as Thalamus points out, they showed a video that's easily beaten by fan-made videos on youtube.  Once they release a trailer pertinent to the game it may change everyone's opinion of it but until then you can't really be surprised that the overall reaction of BT fans averaged to something around "meh."