Cheapest way to be able to do iOS games without Mac?

[James]

and maybe sign up on some shady phone deal for a iphone.. :P

You'll pay for it twice. :-)

[DistantJ]

But it wasn't a "What do I need to get started at the lowest cost" was it, it was literally "How do I do this without the necessary equipment" - sorry but if you saw how often this same topic comes up and then (every time) degenerates into "Apple suck because I need to pay" you'd be fed up of it too, note the agreements from other developers after my post. Like DTownTony said, Mac Mini is the most affordable route. You could grab an iPhone as your next contract phone - iPads and iPhones are very very expensive to buy upfront, even compared to some more powerful Android devices. OR, get an iPod Touch, since it's the exact same device minus the phone functionality (and less memory) and is much more affordable.

Good consideration on overestimating the performance. It's usually best to get the one *before* the most recent (except iPod Touch, grab the 4th gen one if you do for retina display support), as phone contracts upgrade every 2 years so most people won't have one which is 3 generations old, and a lot of people will still need to catch up with the newest device. The exporter is pretty damn good on 4th generation and up, anything before that usually gets slowdown.

Have you considered waiting for the Android runtime or trying to get considered as a beta tester? Other than the runtime itself it requires no upfront cost at all and you can get a good phone for cheaper too. The likes of HTC Desire S are down to £130 or so now, and you can run the stuff on there straight from your PC.

[Outcast]

But it wasn't a "What do I need to get started at the lowest cost" was it, it was literally "How do I do this without the necessary equipment" - sorry but if you saw how often this same topic comes up and then (every time) degenerates into "Apple suck because I need to pay" you'd be fed up of it too, note the agreements from other developers after my post. Like DTownTony said, Mac Mini is the most affordable route. You could grab an iPhone as your next contract phone - iPads and iPhones are very very expensive to buy upfront, even compared to some more powerful Android devices. OR, get an iPod Touch, since it's the exact same device minus the phone functionality (and less memory) and is much more affordable.

Good consideration on overestimating the performance. It's usually best to get the one *before* the most recent (except iPod Touch, grab the 4th gen one if you do for retina display support), as phone contracts upgrade every 2 years so most people won't have one which is 3 generations old, and a lot of people will still need to catch up with the newest device. The exporter is pretty damn good on 4th generation and up, anything before that usually gets slowdown.

Have you considered waiting for the Android runtime or trying to get considered as a beta tester? Other than the runtime itself it requires no upfront cost at all and you can get a good phone for cheaper too. The likes of HTC Desire S are down to £130 or so now, and you can run the stuff on there straight from your PC.

Ok now we have got that out of the way : ) Yes maybe an Ipod Touch would be a good alternative. But there are no way to simulate a slower device on a later one? I will buy the Android runtime also in time, probably before the iOS one if it's released soon. I like the idea of releasing cross platform, that's why I want to use the iOS to. But I really don't see Android competing with iOS in regards of the market.. I would love to be a beta tester though, but I heard they had more testers then they needed already.

[DistantJ]

Well, there are more Android phones out there being used than iPhones, but it's harder to sell because piracy is rife and devices are all so different from each other in spec. But there's less of an upfront cost to recoup at startup - just the cost of your device pretty much.

[Diablohead]

I already had 2 ipod touches before I bought the iOS exporter but without monthly fees, the best price to start development would be:

A mac mini as long as it was made in the last 2 years and has one of the 2 latest OSX's on it, it can run xcode free from the mac app store, so that's about £350 on ebay to £529 new from apple
iPod touch, a current 8gb touch (same power as iphone 4 but only half the ram) is £150 in the uk.
iOS and MMF2 software, so that is £89 + £89? MMF2dev will cost more if you want the extras.
Apple yearly license for £59

It's much easier buying a mac mini then trying to get your pc running OSX, plus get caught and lose all your effort on the app store being pulled or what ever apple does.

[pdsoft]

I recently decided to take the plunge and invest in a Mac, managed to find a decent macbook with lion OS for under 400 usd on craigslist (typing on it right now :P) I was previously considering android development but the variety of devices and incompatibility issues is a huge turn off. I wish android would get their stuff together, I actually prefer those phones but development seems like a nightmare... It will be interesting to see what the windows app store will be like, hopefully they take a route that squashes piracy.

[SolarB]

osx86, boot-132, vmware... take your pick! Plus your friend's iPhone. I do not endorse any of this so this information is for educational purposes only!

[AndyH]

Well, there are more Android phones out there being used than iPhones, but it's harder to sell because piracy is rife and devices are all so different from each other in spec. But there's less of an upfront cost to recoup at startup - just the cost of your device pretty much.

Our second game on Android was pirated on the day of release

[DistantJ]

My iOS game AWESOME Land got pirated the day of release too, obviously I wasn't as worried as it went to jailbreakers only...

[Outcast]

My iOS game AWESOME Land got pirated the day of release too, obviously I wasn't as worried as it went to jailbreakers only...

Oh. I did not know piracy was such a problem on the mobile, considering the games are so cheap.