Porting
How we port between PC, mobile and consoles
Most indie publishers outsource ports. We build them in-house.
The problem
Why most ports fail
A simulator earns its audience through depth – dozens of interacting systems, dense interfaces, long sessions. Every one of those strengths is a liability on a phone. Hover tooltips don't exist. A HUD designed for a 27-inch monitor is unreadable at arm's length. A simulation tick that's free on a desktop CPU melts a mid-range Android phone.
The common failure mode is treating a port as a build target instead of a design problem. Resolution scaling and a virtual joystick produce a game that technically runs and is genuinely unpleasant to play – and mobile review scores are unforgiving about it.
Our porting practice exists because we kept seeing good games die this way. We port between PC, mobile and consoles, and we treat every port as a second production pass: same game, same depth, rebuilt interaction.
The process
Five steps, no surprises
Feasibility audit
We play the PC build and map what the game actually asks of a player: input precision, UI density, session length, simulation tick cost. The output is a written verdict – port-friendly, port-with-redesign, or honestly not worth it.
Controls & UX redesign
Mouse-and-keyboard sims often don't survive a native touch translation. We rebuild interaction around thumbs: radial menus over right-click contexts, drag affordances over hover states, readable HUDs at arm's length. The sim's depth stays; the friction goes.
Performance budget
A fixed frame-time budget per target device tier, agreed before production. Simulation systems get profiled and, where needed, re-architected – time-sliced ticks, LOD'd agent logic, baked lighting – so the game holds its budget on mid-range Android, not just flagship iPhones.
Platform certification & launch
Store metadata, age ratings, platform-holder requirements, and the launch itself – we take care of it all: store page A/B tests, campaign coordination, etc..
Live support
Post-launch patches, OS-version breakage, and content parity with the PC original where the licence calls for it. A port isn't done at launch; it's done when players don't notice it's a port.
Proof
Ports we’ve built
All in-house. Thief Simulator: Sneak & Steal is live on the App Store and Google Play, UBOAT: Silent Hunt launches soon, and OS OMEGA is out on Nintendo Switch.
Got a PC sim with mobile legs?
Send us a build. The feasibility audit tells you, in writing, whether a port is worth your time before either of us commits.
Porting questions, answered
What developers ask us before sending a build.
How long does a port take?
It depends on how much UX redesign the game needs, which is why we always start with a feasibility audit. A clean port of a well-structured sim is a matter of months; a game that needs its interaction model rebuilt for touch takes meaningfully longer. The audit gives you a concrete estimate before anyone commits.
Which platforms do you port to?
We port between PC, mobile and consoles. Thief Simulator: Sneak & Steal shipped on the App Store and Google Play, UBOAT: Silent Hunt is on the way, and we brought OS OMEGA to Nintendo Switch. Console certification passes are handled by the same team.
Do you only port games you publish?
Porting is part of our publishing offer – if we publish your PC sim and it has legs on mobile, we port it under the same roof rather than outsourcing. We also take porting-led partnerships for the right game; pitch it and we'll tell you honestly which model fits.
Who owns the IP on a ported game?
You do. Same terms as our publishing deals: the IP stays with the original developer, and our standard structure is a revenue share against recoup, not an asset purchase.
What kinds of games port well to mobile?
Operator sims – games about running a thing over time, like a café, a brewery or a submarine – port unusually well because their loops are pause-friendly and session length is flexible. Twitch-precision games and UI-heavy grand strategy are the hardest; that's usually where our audit says no.
What does a port cost?
We don't quote blind. The feasibility audit scopes the work and produces a milestone plan with predictable tranches – the same milestone-funding structure we use for publishing, sized for small teams. You see the full plan in writing before signing anything.