What is Game Porting, and Why Is It Important for Video Games? (2024)

FAQs

What is Game Porting, and Why Is It Important for Video Games? ›

Game Porting Expands Player Reach

Porting consists of taking a video game from one platform to another. From PC to console and vice versa, from console to mobile and vice versa… The possibilities are endless. Thanks to this process, you can enjoy the same game on any device with the consequent impact on popularity and sales.

This port is for the connection of analog devices used to control computer games, such as joysticks. In most hardware designs for personal computers in 2010, the port is an integrated component on the sound card, another I/O card, or the motherboard itself.

The most-ported videogame is Tetris. Since the original version was developed for the Soviet Electronika 60 micro-computer in 1984 by computer scientist Alexey Pajitnov, there have been more than 200 official Tetris variants developed for at least 70 unique systems.

However, the process involved in porting a game is not as simple as the decision to do so. Different platforms are constructed differently, and these underlying architectures can make porting difficult.

In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally designed for (e.g., different CPU, operating system, or third party library).

When a number is ported, the original provider transfers responsibility for terminating a phone number to the new one. In order for this to happen, a 'porting agreement' must exist between the two. There must also be a 'number portability transit path' between the network operators for both communications providers.

For gaming desktop PCs, DisplayPort remains the preferred choice. While HDMI 2.1 can be used if you have a compatible monitor or TV, it should be noted that using it for multiple monitors will reduce the available bandwidth for each display. In all other scenarios, DisplayPort 1.4 is still the superior option.

How long does it take to port a game? The porting games development of most indie games can take up to 6 months. If the project is more . As for the time frame, porting a game can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the above factors.

Ports allow computers to easily differentiate between different kinds of traffic: emails go to a different port than webpages, for instance, even though both reach a computer over the same Internet connection.

How are games ported to different platforms? ›

Porting requires adapting the game's source code to be compatible with the target platform's architecture and programming language. This can involve rewriting, reconfiguring, and optimizing code to ensure the game runs smoothly on the new platform.

Fortnite was the most-played PC game in March 2024

Fortnite's rank didn't move, landing the Battle Royale title at the #1 spot as the most popular game for desktop and laptop players.

The process of porting involves adapting and optimizing your game to run smoothly on various devices, each with its own hardware specifications, operating systems, and unique challenges. Basically, you have to choose a game engine that your target platform supports and that you feel comfortable working with.

Budget Considerations

Considering the above factors, the budget for porting a game can vary widely. For smaller projects, the costs might be $10,000 - $50,000, while large-scale endeavors, especially those involving significant adaptation or high-end games, could run into $1,000,000+.

Game porting is a process of converting a video game so that a version suitable for one platform becomes suitable for another. After porting, the game should run on different platforms and use their technological capabilities accordingly. There are two main types of porting: Porting games to different platforms.

Sometimes, even if a game seems to be easy to port, light, and without a large graphics component, porting can still take a long time because of “making a software perform well on a new hardware” issue.

An emulator basically acts as a middleman between the system it's running on and the program it's running. Porting skips the middleman and just runs the program directly on the target platform. Unlike emulation, this almost always means having to adjust parts of the program.

Port forwarding enables you to host multiplayer game servers on your computer. It does so by opening a passage in the firewall for connections targeting a specific game. This allows outside players to connect to your device without being previously digitally invited to do so.

Porting is a semi-permanent means of moving a telephone number from one provider to another, and usually involves closing the old account. This is not the same as "call forwarding", in which the number remains assigned to that account, and calls are simply directed to another recipient.