Platform Dependency
Within Games Platforms
Intro
Whenever a game is made, whenever a software application is developed and whenever an audio file is created. They carry with them a set array of the various platforms which they are able to be executed, run or played on. Now some of them may be able to run across all platforms, the audio file for example if an ogg vorbis format, can be played upon every device capable of audio playback. Whilst others, take a game for instance may only be able to run on specific platforms such as the Xbox One or PS4. In any case all of these are examples of a software term known as "Platform Dependency.
What is it?
Platform dependency is a term which refers to: (in the case of this blog.) What platforms a software application can run on. Now it's dependency may be due to: software related issues, hardware related issues or time and financial related issues. But at the end of the day it all means that a specific software will only run on a specific hardware or all hardware brands available. Now there are 2 forks to go down when it comes to platform dependency and they are: "Platform Dependent" , "Cross-Platform" and "Platform Independent." As stated above the route which a company/developer takes is due to a variety of factors and reasons.
Now, a piece of software may choose to be developed as a platform dependent application for many factors. In the case of some software programs it ensures stability and more micro-management of updates and contextual features. In the case of games it allows finer control of the graphic fidelity and processing overhead as they are developing for a specific platform and hence will have the opportunity to take advantage of it's features. Then, in the case of Logic Pro developed by Emagic originally in 1993. By 2002 the company was bought over by Apple Inc. In a bid to join the ever growing electronic music production scene. Since this acquisition all subsequent releases of Logic Pro have been released only for the Apple Macintosh systems making it a platform dependent application. The reason for this program being a platform dependent is purely to ensure consumers will buy Apple Macintosh systems for it's use. In the games industry this is heavily prevalent with many audio engineering suites containing at least one Macintosh computer purely for Logic Pro.
Finally in the case of Indie developers, platform dependent software may be their only route due to monetary issues and skill issues. An indie company does not have the budget that a triple-A franchise does and as such they likely will not have enough funding to develop for multiple platforms or pay licensing costs for console platforms. This ensures that their game will get made and will get released after they have made sufficient sales they then may seek to make their application platform independent or cross-platform.
A cross-platform software application is any application which has been developed for 2 or more operating architectures or systems by the developer. For example if you take the popular franchise of FIFA football games developed by EA Studios. It is a cross-platform game which has seen releases upon every major home console, optimized and changed releases upon mobile devices and even tablet device games. This is a clear example of a cross-platform game which have been developed in tandem with one another. But, there is another way which cross-platforms can be made and that is through the process of porting.
In some cases a company may only have enough funding, an exclusivity deal or even the skills to develop for only one platform. But, further down the line after they have earned additional funding from sales or have managed to hire a more professional working team they may wish to release their old game for more platforms. This is a process called porting.
Porting is the process of moving one game or software application from one platform to 2 or more. In effect it turns a platform dependent game into a platform independent game. This is done for many reasons the top of the list being more sales and a bigger fan base. Popular examples of ported games are those of: Final Fantasy, Halo, Command & Conquer, Half Life, Deus Ex etc.
Platform Dependent
Platform dependent is a term applied to any software application which is only able to be run or executed on 2 or less platforms. (In the case of video-games it refers to any application which can only be run on 1 platform developed within a specific line of manufacturer consoles or on 1 OS type for PC.) It simply states that a specific piece of software can only be run on the platforms which it has been developed for in hindsight. For example take "Killzone: Shadow Fall". Developed in 2013 by Guerrilla Games and released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 system. This is a case of a game being platform specific for financial reasons. Back in 2003 Sony offered guerrilla games an undisclosed amount of money to develop a game for the PlayStation 2 system which would rival Microsoft and Bungie's FPS title "Halo". Since this venture guerrilla games have released 4 titles of the rival game franchise called Killzone. All have been released exclusively for the PlayStation console platforms. The developer is what is known as an in-house developer much like naughty dog whereby they are owned by Sony as their publisher and they develop software applications for their hardware systems.
Now, a piece of software may choose to be developed as a platform dependent application for many factors. In the case of some software programs it ensures stability and more micro-management of updates and contextual features. In the case of games it allows finer control of the graphic fidelity and processing overhead as they are developing for a specific platform and hence will have the opportunity to take advantage of it's features. Then, in the case of Logic Pro developed by Emagic originally in 1993. By 2002 the company was bought over by Apple Inc. In a bid to join the ever growing electronic music production scene. Since this acquisition all subsequent releases of Logic Pro have been released only for the Apple Macintosh systems making it a platform dependent application. The reason for this program being a platform dependent is purely to ensure consumers will buy Apple Macintosh systems for it's use. In the games industry this is heavily prevalent with many audio engineering suites containing at least one Macintosh computer purely for Logic Pro.
Finally in the case of Indie developers, platform dependent software may be their only route due to monetary issues and skill issues. An indie company does not have the budget that a triple-A franchise does and as such they likely will not have enough funding to develop for multiple platforms or pay licensing costs for console platforms. This ensures that their game will get made and will get released after they have made sufficient sales they then may seek to make their application platform independent or cross-platform.
Platform Independent
* (Now for the purposes of this blog i have divided the general term of "Platform Independency" into 2 sub-sections which are incorporated into the umbrella term.)
We then move onto that of platform independent software applications. For an application to be considered platform independent it has to be able to run on all available OS architectures or at least 6 varying platforms. These types of programs tend not to be video -games in the general sense. But rather, the API's, software programs, language compilers etc. Which make up a game or allow games to be run. For example Java is an extremely popular and flexible programming language and software API which allows a multitude of content, programs and games to be made accessible for a variety of systems. Java is one of the pinnacles of platform independent software as currently it is run on every major mobile device and is supported by every operating system other than UNIX itself and is incorporated into both 7th and 8th gen console OS's. This is what we mean by the term platform independent, a software application which is able to be run independently on any architecture regardless of hardware or software constraints.
Cross-Platform
Now that we have discussed what platform-independent means it is time for us to move onto the second sub-section of platform independency which is cross-platform software applications. A cross-platform piece of software is very similar to that of a platform independent and so therefore they are classed and thought of as the same thing in many cases. But, they have some dissimilarities hence why i have chosen to split them for clarity.
A cross-platform software application is any application which has been developed for 2 or more operating architectures or systems by the developer. For example if you take the popular franchise of FIFA football games developed by EA Studios. It is a cross-platform game which has seen releases upon every major home console, optimized and changed releases upon mobile devices and even tablet device games. This is a clear example of a cross-platform game which have been developed in tandem with one another. But, there is another way which cross-platforms can be made and that is through the process of porting.
In some cases a company may only have enough funding, an exclusivity deal or even the skills to develop for only one platform. But, further down the line after they have earned additional funding from sales or have managed to hire a more professional working team they may wish to release their old game for more platforms. This is a process called porting.
Porting is the process of moving one game or software application from one platform to 2 or more. In effect it turns a platform dependent game into a platform independent game. This is done for many reasons the top of the list being more sales and a bigger fan base. Popular examples of ported games are those of: Final Fantasy, Halo, Command & Conquer, Half Life, Deus Ex etc.
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