Experienced Windows developer use Win or Mac for iOS?

Unity Engine
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1

My situation:

  1. Many years experience developing server side Java on Windows which continues to be my day job
  2. Want to develop a graphically simple puzzle game for iOS in my spare time
  3. No suitable hardware of any kind at home so a purchase will be required
  4. Virtually no experience working with a Mac
  5. Will be a team of one

Time to market is my most important factor so, ignoring costs, my question is should I:

A) Develop on Windows switching to Mac, via the Assert Server, for final testing and deployment.
B) Just use a Mac from the outset

Clearly, using just a Mac will smooth the development process. However, my concern is that a lack of familiarity with OS X coupled with the reality I will continue to develop on Windows during the day will hamper my efforts, such that I would do better to work predominantly on Windows with which I have years of experience. This assumes that I can debug my game code within Unity, if I actually need to deploy to an iPhone in order to debug then I think Mac must be the only way.

Perhaps some of you have faced a similar dilemma? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time (note that my original post as a question was closed by the moderators, hence, this move to the forums).

2

You can’t use a PC to test on device so the following will be things you will need to do at some point on a mac:

  1. test controls
  2. test performance
  3. code game center / other bits / in app purchase
  4. any form of multiplayer

so, you can answer your own questions really. I do develop on a PC at the moment but that’s only because a) my mac was low performance and b) my mac blew up thanks to people with cups of tea splashing everywhere over xmas. Getting another soon though as testing on device is somewhat crucial. If you don’t have the device, its pointless however.

3

I do 99% of my work on windows and have a Mac Mini just for builds. I use SVN to transfer files. No need for the asset server. It usually only slows me down near the end of the project when I’m fixing bugs and making lots of builds. Even then it’s not too bad.

If you do get the Mini I highly recommend getting more ram.