phil123456 wrote:
yes but is there still an audience for snes games ?
when I see how stiff the architecture is compared to a java/c++ game on pc (or recent consoles)
making something as complex as a link to the past (or any gba equivalent), is quiet a challenge
I used to like to learn asm when I was a kid, but I was wondering the size of snes retro gamers community...personal fun is one thing, but having people playing the game(even for free) is a nice motivation
(for instance even the AVGN game is made for pc)
To ask a rhetorical question: is there still an audience for PC games?
There are loads and loads of PC games that are released and nobody plays, despite it being an ubiquitous platform.
Finding an audience has a lot more to do with making a
compelling game than it does choosing a platform.
Making a good game is hard, on any platform. It's even harder on retro platforms.
So, no I don't think a retro platform is a good choice if you're trying to maximize your audience. There
are people interested in the platform that would love to try almost everything that comes out for it (this includes myself and a lot of people here), but it's a
tiny niche. I don't think this is a good reason to make a game for SNES.
There are lots of good reasons to make a game for the SNES, but seeking an audience isn't one of those, in my opinion. Do it because you love the format. Do it because you love the challenge. Do it because it makes you feel good.
If you want to maximize your audience, the primary goal should be to make a
good game. A good game can draw people in that aren't normally interested in the platform. If your game is not worth installing an emulator for, most people won't. (Most people don't have an emulator at the ready.) For that, there's a secondary goal to make it as easily available on popular platforms as possible. Package with an integrated emulator on PC, or use an HTML5 emulator to run it in a browser, or do
something to make it easy to run so you're not just limited to people who know their way around emulators.