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As an independent developer, I would like to know what platforms I can use to reach what consoles, and under what prices. I'm assuming a small team (1-3 people) and low or non-existent budget (under $1000).

For the purpose of this question, a "console" is "anything other than a PC." So this includes mobiles phones and other devices.

For this question to be useful and not a collection of every game engine and platform in the world, maybe we should restrict it to technologies that support at least two platforms.

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XNA can deploy to a Windows 7 Phone and Xbox 360.

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    \$\begingroup\$ And desktop as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Amplify91
    Nov 5, 2011 at 16:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ Not to mention you can port it to other platforms: andrewrussell.net/exen or monoxna.org \$\endgroup\$
    – jgallant
    Nov 5, 2011 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for that link, I had no idea it was able to port to other platforms! \$\endgroup\$
    – Milkboat
    Nov 5, 2011 at 19:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ Adding on to Jon's comment: monogame.codeplex.com \$\endgroup\$
    – michael.bartnett
    Nov 6, 2011 at 2:14
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Android is how I got started with game development. It's completely free to develop for and has a one time $25 fee to upload to the Android Market.

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iOS: You only need $199 per year to deploy on the App Store. This includes $99 per year for membership in the iOS Developer Program, plus $500 every five years to buy a Mac mini once Apple stops producing new versions of macOS and Xcode for the old model. Cocos2d is a free 2d engine and chipmunk or box2d for physics engines. For 3D there is NinevehGL and cocos2d is releasing a 3d engine (yes, the name is cocos3d)

Android: You can deploy to android with the PC you already have and a one-time $25 fee. There is a cocos2d version for android, but I think it's not as advanced as the IPhone one. You can check andengine to.

You have XNA for xbox and windows phone and it cost $99 to deploy on XBox and windows phone.

Using unity do deploy on android and IPhone cost $800 ($400 each). I guess this is a bit expensive for your budget but it's still a good option for indie development.

I think the only technologies that work on multiple platforms with almost no work are XNA and Unity.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Note that most iPhone development requires a Mac, so if you only have Windows machines you should tack on the non-negligible cost of a Macintosh computer. There are ways around that such as various packagers for Windows-accessible development systems. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gregory Avery-Weir
    Nov 6, 2011 at 1:04

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