Development IDEs For Cross-Platform Games Question submitted by (30 July 1999) | Return to The Archives

| I have always used MS Dev Studio for game development because all of my games have been targeted specifically for Win95/98/NT. But I would like to have IDE support for more generic development, such that I could make a rapid port to Mac, Linux or who-knows-what new platform/OS to get some extra sales. My primary language is C++, but I might want to use Java at some point. Can you recommend a superior cross-platform IDE for a small, part-time game developer who has some professional experience but not a lot of existing libraries? |

| You might want to look into CodeWarrior by Metrowerks. We used this tool for the co-development of Fly! on the Macintosh. Is it as powerful as Developer Studio? In my opinion, I think it may be better. I've used it on the Mac quite a few times and was always impressed. I assume that the other (non-Mac) versions work the same and offer the same features, but this may not be the case.
Code generation is pretty important. Prior to the latest release (Rel 5) the code generated for the PC wasn't as good as Developer Studio's, but it's possible they've made some good improvements in Rel 5. Fly! runs just as well on a Mac as it does on a PC, so that's the best testimony I can offer. Under Linux, they use the GNU compiler tools. I'm almost positive that Java is available for it as well.
Just go to the website and see for yourself.
Response provided by Paul Nettle

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