Kickstarter for DC:SS mobile versions?

[thekdawg21]

Kickstarter, http://www.kickstarter.com/, is getting a lot of popularity by allowing fans to donate directly towards a projects development.

Any potential developer would set a goal in dollars for the funding of a project, and if that goal is met, the money changes hands between pledges and project.

I have read some posts that potential developers are looking into developing DC:SS for mobile devices like iPad and Android. One of the strengths of DC:SS is it's replayability and the ability to play as much or as little as you want before setting it down, making it perfect for a mobile game.

Would a kickstarter fund for the serious development of iPad and Android versions of DC:SS help in the speed of it's completion?

Here's to hoping, and an initial pledge of $100 if it goes through!

[Skinandbones]

Depending on the platform, I'm in to donate. It would be fantastic to play crawl on the go.

[dk]

I don't see how this should work. First of all, open source projects like DC:SS are more in need of spare time of the developers than money. If you give the developers a bunch of money, this does not mean the developers have more time to develop crawl. So you could hire professional developers. But what happens if crawl gets successfully ported to Android/iOS? Crawl keeps changing everyday, and so the ports have to be changed as well. Crawl is written in C++ and Lua. For Android and iOS, crawl has to be ported to Java and objective-C. Who wants to maintain this once the hired developers are gone?

The next big problem is the interface. DC:SS depends heavily on it. Think about all the keys you need to play crawl. Compare it to a game like Legends of Yore, which works very well on mobile devices. That's a point which a professional designer may solve, but once he is gone, the knowledge is gone. The code has go be maintained by somebody.

The only realistic way I see to run DC:SS on a mobile device Is WebTiles. This solves the porting issue. All that is left is the complex user interface crawl has.

But if somebody comes up with a realistic plan, I would definitely support it.

[galehar]

Exactly. Give me a bunch of money, and what should I do with it? I can't really quit my job, and even if I could, I'm not an experienced enough developer to guarantee that I can implement a mobile version in a given time.
Webtiles is definitely the best way to bring crawl to mobile devices. I think it's possible to implement a sleek touch screen interface. Crawl isn't that dependent on the keyboard, it's quite playable mouse only. And there's a lot of room for improvement.

[thekdawg21]

I don't know about you guys, but if I'm promised a bunch of money, a lot more of my spare time would go towards something. Also, just making webtiles work on iPad/Android would be fine to start, it doesn't now, at least not in any way I've found. I can get on and access, but can't input.

[Skinandbones]

I think you're right that webtiles is the way to go - could we fund a touch webtiles interface then?

[galehar]

I don't know about you guys, but if I'm promised a bunch of money, a lot more of my spare time would go towards something.

The problem is that I can't promise to deliver. If you do donate money, they you will expect some result. And if you don't get it, you'll be angry. I do it for fun, I'm not looking for a second job. I'm telling about myself, but I guess it's the same for other devs. Edlothiol, if you feel like you can do it and want the money, go for it

[thekdawg21]

I wish we could hire some developer to do the work. I'm sure there is someone with the skills that'd be willing to do it if the kickstarter pays his bills for awhile!

Hmm, I could look in to it.