Another option is to write a web application, using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and then embed the appropriate browser engine so your application can run on the target platform without the user having to explicitly open the web browser. You may need to call native APIs to access device-specific features, but modern JavaScript engines and web browsers can deliver an acceptable performance.

Development frameworks that support this approach include PhoneGap, now owned by Adobe with an open source version available as Apache Cordova, and Sencha Touch which is a business-oriented JavaScript library specifically designed for mobile devices, including not only Android, iOS and Windows, but also Blackberry.

Alternatively you can use cross-platform compilation, writing a single source which is then compiled into multiple native binaries, one for each platform required. The resulting compilations are unlikely to make best use of features that are not shared by all the platforms, although such tools do support conditional statements that can be used to target specific devices. Nevertheless, taking full advantage of all the features offered by the latest version of a platform can be problematic, particularly with regards to the user interface.

Tools that take this approach include Xamarin and Embarcadero RAD Studio. A slightly different approach is offered by Intel INDE (Integrated Native Developer Experience). This is a suite comprising a range of Intel native compilers, tools and frameworks that allow you to target both Android and Windows running on either Intel or ARM processors. One of INDE’s strengths is its ability to tailor your development environment appropriately, be it Android Studio, Visual Studio or the open source Eclipse, and only install the components you need.

Action games obviously need to make the most of whatever the chosen platforms can offer with regards to high performance graphics, and there are a couple of tools designed specifically with this in mind. The Unity engine supports fast 3D graphics on a wide range of platforms, and can be programmed in C# or a JavaScript derivative known as UnityScript. Its development environment is available in both Windows and Mac versions.

There is also WebGL which is based on OpenGL and provides an API for rendering high-speed 2D and 3D graphics onto an HTML5 canvas element. It is supported by the iOS 8 web browser, by Google Chrome on Android, and by Mobile Internet Explorer in Windows Phone 8.1.