Ask HN: Cross-platform game framework for Android, iOS?

#1

Post by sprintf » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 9:55 AM UTC

I'm looking to write a 2D puzzle game. Probably nothing more complicated than a puzzle game like http://weplaydots.com/ . Any recommendations on frameworks/platforms? MonoGame? LibGDX?

If it matters, I've written Android apps before, but more of the social networking kind of app rather than a game.

Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Cross-platform game framework for Android, iOS?

#2

Post by conroy » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 10:03 AM UTC

I would suggest Unity. They just announced 2D support for the upcoming 4.3 release. The free version can deploy to both Android and iOS, as well as desktop and web.

LibGDX is a good choice if you don't want to target iOS. They just switched to a brand new iOS backend that is still very young.

MonoGame is great for cross-platform, but parts of the build process are still Windows-only.

Re: Ask HN: Cross-platform game framework for Android, iOS?

#3

Post by ophilbert » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 10:05 AM UTC

I think you should look after cocos2d-x. It allows you to make 2D for a lot of platforms. It's using C++ http://www.cocos2d-x.org/

Re: Ask HN: Cross-platform game framework for Android, iOS?

#4

Post by sprintf » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 10:13 AM UTC

conroy wrote: post #2

I would suggest Unity. They just announced 2D support for the upcoming 4.3 release. The free version can deploy to both Android and iOS, as well as desktop and web. LibGDX is a good choice if you don't want to target iOS. They just switched to a brand new iOS backend that is still very young. MonoGame is great for cross-platform, but parts of the build process are still Windows-only.

I wonder what 2D game developers are using in practice -- although these have been around a while, they sound like they're still gaining traction on the cross-platform story.

I'm on Windows, so a Windows-only build process is ok.

Thanks for the reply.