Perhaps it’s a good idea to define what exactly the result of this effort should be. What people should expect. What people should not expect.
I’ll make a first pitch (feel free to shoot holes in it :))
What people should NOT expect:
- A way for any java developer to run and test their games on any PS4; you’ll still need a devkit, and you’ll still need to go through the proper channels at Sony to get anything published. This won’t miraculously turn the PS4 into an open platform.
- Support for things like Java2D, Swing, AWT, JavaSound.
What we should aim for:
- An headless JVM to be embedded in a game.
- An OpenGL binding (I’d personally prefer LWJGL because of its popularity)
- Basic support of PS4’s controllers
- Basic support of PS4’s sound system
- Preferrably a popular higher level library, such as libgdx (interesting for it’s wide platform support).
- All of this should imho be available under a liberal open source license.
Nice to haves:
- Support for some basic PSN features, such as in-app purchases, trophies, that kind of thing.
- A port of an existing game as a proof-of-concept.
When we’re clear about what the scope of this will be, we should actively try to make people interested to work on this.
We should also be prepared for costs.
My understanding is that a PS4 devkit costs about 2500$.
Perhaps we shouldn’t expect people to work for free on this too, so we should probably aim at making an assessment here of what the total costs of this will be.
/braindump