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Upcoming Windows 8 STO App (Speculation)
commadorebob
Member Posts: 1,223 Arc User
So I can't help but notice that the Duty Officer UI was tweaked. While some have rightfully complained that it seems to take up more space now, I did come to one conclusion: the UI is now more "touch" friendly. It's almost as if the DOff system was being prepped for touchscreen interface. The UI also has a very Metro feel to it.
This is speculation and maybe off the mark. But it looks as if STO may be setting the DOff system to be a Windows 8 app. Most likely a free app that requires a gold sub to access the server.
/speculation
What do you think?
This is speculation and maybe off the mark. But it looks as if STO may be setting the DOff system to be a Windows 8 app. Most likely a free app that requires a gold sub to access the server.
/speculation
What do you think?
"If you have never used Cello, I'm not interested in your browser opinion."
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
Post edited by commadorebob on
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Windows 8?
Why not Android and OSX?
Considering that they have limited time and budget, i would think they would put priority on Android and Apple OS, due to the increased number of users.
Because Windows 8 will have a larger market share than both of them by Christmas. It took Windows 7 30 days to break the OSX marketshare. At only $40 for an upgrade, Windows 8 will follow the same pattern.
Actually, it is because of the limited time and budget that makes me think it is a Windows 8 app. STO is already a Windows app. So there would be very little core program to need changing. The game is already x86/64 ready.
Again, Windows 8 market share will exceed both of those by Christmas. At only $40 for an upgrade from Windows 7, a lot of users will upgrade. And while Apple owns the Tablet market, the tablet market still makes up a fraction of the total PC market. So making a Windows 8 app will make sense as more manufacturers start making Windows 8 tablets.
But this is more speculation that there is an app coming. I just think Windows 8 makes more sense because STO is already a Windows app.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
Cryptic would be smart to make the app an... well... an actual app. Something that could easily be worked into all 3 types of tablets and their smart phone variants. As such the games UI design changes would have little to do with the development of such an app.
Yes. They have.
The only thing Cryptic has to do is add touchscreen support. After that, everything else is done at Cryptic. And just involves pulling the DOff system out and figuring out a way to have the app access the player account.
I'm not saying they couldn't release it to all other platforms. But Cryptic has experience working with Windows... that's why I think it'll happen there first.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
Something just hit me.
You work for a software company, don't you?
I mean, I have friends who are programmers. One does AI for a defense contractor. Several have worked in telecom. But that doesn't make them tied in with software companies or computer manufacturers and I'd say they're like me in that they use Apple, Windows, Android, and Linux pretty interchangeably... and have a loyalty to Linux more than anything else.
But you are tied in with more than just computers as a tool, aren't you? You're tied in with either a software company, a computer manufacturer, something like that? Not just a place that uses programming or computers to achieve a goal but someone whose product is an IT product?
I know a hint of your resume, obviously, and this seems to come out in this thread and past threads where we've talked about Apple.
I'll say what I said then. Number one in marketshare is moot. Multi-platform releases are what's important with a social game. Admittedly less so with a DOff app but this could strangle multi-player DOffing.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Anybody who has 5% of the marketshare needs a supported client on a social or potentially social app or game. You don't support it because it's #1. You support it because your target demo is not individual users but clusters of users... and if the wrong two people in a social group of twenty are unsupported, you'll lose a percentage (potentially a large one) of the people who do use the platform you develop for.
Similarly, I don't think a casual MMORPG can sustain numbers over a million without a Mac client... and I still think that goes double for F2P games because Mac users are dramatically more likely to be in the group that spends.
But we're not talking about Mac support for this game right now. Heck, I'd be happy if they stopped designing the website with IE6 in mind.
I assumed the DOff app would be an HTML5 app with wrappers for different OSes.
I really have no interest in it if I have to be on my Windows machine to use it because I'd just login to the game then.
I think the idea is not that the game would gain touch compatibility but that they're designing the DOff UI for a separate program or web app and that the changes are there so they can use the same UI in the separate program to save on UI work.
I don't see it being a Win 8 app though. Reason being is Win 8 will have a desktop pen it won't have much of a mobile penetration.
The devs would be better off targeting Android and iOS for a touch friendly app, as they will continue to hold the majority of the market.