How should a casual game company go about building expertise on platforms outside of the traditional business model?
Each new platform is likely going to be an entirely different world with only a few things in common with your primary platform—new technology, new design challenges, new channels, new quality standards, new business model. A Nintendo DS is completely different technologically and API-wise from a PC. A set-top box with only a D-pad plus some buttons (in a crappy infrared remote) has little in common with a mouse and keyboard. If you sell on Live Arcade, you have to play by their rules—TCRs, getting in the content pipeline, making Microsoft happy with your game’s quality and appeal. If you go to retail you must deal with the ESRB. To build expertise on these platforms you’re almost creating new business units to handle all of the unique concerns. It’s a lot more than just getting a dev kit and learning the XDK, or worrying about supporting widescreen displays. I’d say the technical and design challenges, while 90% of the manpower, are only half the problem of moving into a new platform.
