No wonder, video games are the only source of relaxation for players. Besides, playing them on several platforms is a sheer delight that no one wants to miss out on. Porting games is an amazing way of experiencing them and making a profit from them.

However, porting games requires a tedious process and it involves having specific skills with adequate knowledge. But the process is worth it with the right resources and mindset. In this post, you would know more about importing video games to consoles and the importance of game porting services.

What are the processes involved in porting games?

Typically, porting a game is the complete process to make the game possible for playing on other platforms. When you have a game for a PC and want the same for consoles, certain technical features are changed to meet the requirements. Below listed are the main stages involved in the importing process.

1. Analyzing and establishing steps

In general, the games that you need to port aren’t done by the original team that developed the game. They are ported by specialists who don’t know much about the game’s architecture. Hence, the first thing to do is to gather enough data about the game.

That way, they can analyze it and plan accordingly. It is important to find out the functions that need an upgrade so that the game runs smoothly on the new format. Additionally, they have to identify what features to add and remove from the game.

2. Rewriting the codes

To get started with the porting process, developer intervention is required. So, it will take a considerable amount of time to import and work with the source code. That way, the specialists can transfer the same game experience to the new platform.

Porting gets faster if the game was developed using a specific engine such as Unreal Engine or Unity. Games that are developed using big engines work great with other platforms effectively. Moreover, these engines come with all the important tools needed to port games to other platforms.

Another challenge that porting specialists face is to make the game adaptable to other platforms. That’s because different platforms seek special requirements when it comes to the size and quality of game assets.

3. Carrying out tests

If the original team that developed the game didn’t test the same, chances are that the ported game will come with bugs. The porting specialist will make the same mistake if the original product contains a lot of bugs.

To make the game work on other platforms, porting specialists should carry out tasks that help them find errors, both new and old. In short, specialists have to ensure that there are no bugs in the ported game.

Apart from that, special care needs to be taken in terms of performance and compatibility tests. If the game doesn’t meet the criteria for the new platform or there has been a decrease in performance, the specialists have to resolve the issue.

How to improve the porting process between platforms?

Although there are a few challenges with porting games, some of them could be avoided. Here are the principles that specialists follow when it comes to porting games.

1. Develop a sustainable code

The initial process involved in game porting should be streamlined and it is an important aspect that every specialist plan first before moving forward. Suppose, they may have to decide whether the converted game should receive updates in the future and so on.

To make things work out hassle-free, using game engines that are multifunctional is a must. These engines have the necessary tools and features required to import games.

2. Tweaking game controls

There is no denying that many specialists try to preserve the main features of the hardware that the original game was designed for. But the process of keeping the game’s identity intact results in a bad user experience. So, the best solution is to tweak the controls for the new hardware while keeping the design and gameplay untouched.

3. Watch out for the performance

One of the key aspects of porting a game is to optimize its performance. When you need to improve performance, it is good to plan for it from the beginning. Or else, it could take additional time and effort to fix the issues. Based on the platform from where the game has to be ported, make sure to get the right balance between load and quality.

4. Run several tests

Sometimes it may take a long time to port a game than you may think. In that case, don’t give up quality assurance by reducing the speed of the project. Make sure to run the tests as many times to ensure that the game is free from bugs. As a result, you can release the game with better quality without hurting the user experience.

5. Use the current SDK version

Outdated software causes a lot of confusion sometimes. Problems that specialists encounter are why the process isn’t going good as expected, why there are still errors, and so on.

On top of that, finding the real cause of the problem takes a considerable amount of time. With the right resource, the project gets done in no time and without errors. Using the updated SDK version saves time and produces great results.

What is the time needed to port a game?

It may take up to six months for most indie games to port. However, if the project is a more complex one, the porting will take more time to complete. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to finding out how long it may take to complete the task.

Why hire a professional team?

Porting games to consoles requires specific experience, knowledge, and skills. Furthermore, the process takes a long time to find out how to do it the right way. Also, it costs much to find and fix your mistakes.

In that case, game porting services can help you a lot. Reputed porting services have a team of experts that helps with game development. As such, you can have excellent results that give you a good user experience when playing the game.