In today’s multi-format gaming world, it is very common for games to be ported across a variety of different platforms to meet the needs of players on mobile, PC and console. However, it is very rare for these “ports” to be exactly the same as games need to be tailored to each platform.
While it is a challenge for developers to create games that, for example, play as well with touch screen controls on a smartphone as they do with a controller on a console, many are willing to put in the time, resources and effort to do so due to the potential financial returns.
Battle royale game Fortnite is one of the most recent high-profile examples of a PC and console game that was then successfully ported to smartphones to reach a wider audience. The work by Epic Games paid off as Fortnite players spent a staggering $1.2bn on purchases for in-game items and battle passes on Apple’s App Store. With cross-platform games, everyone wins because players can use their preferred device. But what are the main differences?
Control scheme
The most obvious change is the input method. Games coded for smartphones need to have touchscreen controls and an intuitive UI that is built specifically for smaller screens. There are some games that are perfectly suited to touchscreen controls, such as Activision Blizzard’s Hearthstone, a digital collectible card game. Others are more difficult to port or require greater consideration about how to substitute standard controller inputs for a touchscreen. The Grand Theft Auto series on mobile uses virtual buttons and graphical overlays to mimic these inputs.
Video slots are among the game formats that make an easier transition to and from PC web browsers to smartphones. When playing Starburst Xxxtreme on PC, players will use a mouse to click on the main controls and spin the reels, while on mobile, they will instead tap on buttons via the touch screen. A simple change that doesn’t have an impact on how the game plays out. It still has the same slot build, volatility, RTP and features.
Graphical settings
The graphics chips in smartphones are now incredibly advanced and powerful, and it is not uncommon to see games on them that, at first glance, look remarkably similar to games on PC and the PlayStation 5. The evolution in graphics chips has enabled developers to create games with excellent graphics on mobile, so they don’t have to make as many cutbacks as they did in the past. Mobile games are played on high resolution, OLED screens too, so the player experience is very high quality.
However, developers still have to balance graphics and performance and make changes due to the specs of mobiles, PCs and consoles. Every version is different in some way, even if that’s just a slightly better frame rate or more detailed shadows and in-game characters. Making adjustments for the CPUs in each device is common too.
Minimum requirements
Many games also have “minimum requirements” depending on how graphically advanced it is and the features it uses. While these are usually a low threshold on Android and iOS due to developers creating games for as broad an audience as possible, the requirements can be higher on PC, even for the same game. Players need to have a device with these requirements, which can be a specific operating system, processor type, storage capacity and memory size, in order to play the game. The requirements will be different for mobile when compared to PC and console.
Code
One of the things that players don’t see is the coding that is responsible for creating a video game. Coding is very different for mobile when compared to console and developers often have to use new coding languages and tools to meet the requirements of a specific platform. This happens across specific consoles too. The indie puzzle-platform game Fez was originally written in C# for PC, but the developers opted for C++ when porting to PlayStation as this made the task of doing so easier. The studio is likely to have used a different code again when it launched Fez: Pocket Edition for mobile in 2017.
Another change that is common between ports is app store compliance and including monetization options that are tailored to each platform. For example, a slot maker might include faster, one-click deposit options when creating a game for mobile. Developers also have to comply with the rules of the online store owners, such as Apple.
Overall, the changes that are made depend on the type of game and can range from small tweaks to complete overhauls with new code depending on what developers feel is best for the task at hand.