Game Programming on Mac OS X
Does anyone think gaming on the Mac will be as huge and popular as it is on the PC?
What are the limitations?
What are the technical obstacles keeping game programmers from developing more games for the Mac?
I'd like to see the Mac version of a popoular game come out the same time it comes out for the PC.
I'm looking to get into Mac Game Development. Where do I start?? Is there any reading material I could look through??
What are the limitations?
What are the technical obstacles keeping game programmers from developing more games for the Mac?
I'd like to see the Mac version of a popoular game come out the same time it comes out for the PC.
I'm looking to get into Mac Game Development. Where do I start?? Is there any reading material I could look through??
Comments
Also remember that he developed the original Doom and part of Quake on NeXTSTEP, the precursor to Mac OS X.
Originally posted by Brad
I pretty clearly remember John Carmack (of id fame) saying that Mac OS X was the best platform for writing games. I think the only problem is that developers haven't seen the incentive to actually do it for some reason.
Also remember that he developed the original Doom and part of Quake on NeXTSTEP, the precursor to Mac OS X.
MacOS X is a good development platform in general - however it breaks down like this (in my opinion):
pluses:
cocoa is a great (the best) UI development enviornment
UNIX underneath is major plus
stable
some good available software: lightwave (my personal favorite), Maya, others
minuses:
small market
added dev expense
SLOW SLOW SLOW compile times...
not very mature developer tools (not including interface builder); Project builder is good, but lots of important niceities are missing or poorly implemented, and it is just plain slow
no direct X (for many titles, this is a major drawback)
slower uptake of technology (slower graphics cards, later to market..., slow OS support of latest 3d tech)
expensive hardware vs PC
now, this is off the top of my head, and its not set in stone: a lot of this is changing. Xcode and the G5 are a major start.
I think the only problem is that developers haven't seen the incentive to actually do it for some reason
there aren't that many Mac users?
Originally posted by alcimedes
there aren't that many Mac users?
That could be the one.
I also have it for the PC.
Can I use the skins some of those sites have to download on the Mac version?
Originally posted by O-Mac
I'm playing Jedi Knight Outcast on the Mac now.
I also have it for the PC.
Can I use the skins some of those sites have to download on the Mac version?
Yes.
If you want to play games, get a console. The most innovative and spectacular games are console games, this isn't gonna change any time soon.
So, can I learn write games for a console on a Mac?
I guess I don't understand the process of writing a game for whatever platform...
Can anyone fill me in on this information?
Originally posted by Gizzmonic
The most innovative and spectacular games are console games, this isn't gonna change any time soon.
don't know that I agree with that...
Originally posted by O-Mac
True True...and I do have a PS2...
So, can I learn write games for a console on a Mac?
The console development tools are famously weird and finicky things, with a hair-raising price tag attached. I think MetroWerks makes a CodeWarrior for at least one console.
Mac programming it ain't, though.
Check out iDevGames.com for some information on Mac game programming.
I guess I don't understand the process of writing a game for whatever platform...
Well, the hardest part would probably be coming up with the game itself! Once that's done, you implement it, paying close attention to potential bottlenecks, overhead, and resource management. You profile it and tweak it and debug it and massage the gameplay for balance and playability, and then it's ready to go. The issues you run into depend on the nature of the game; real-time vs. turn-based, 2D vs. 3D vs. text; scrolling vs. static; etc.
Most of the problems you'll run into can be solved by general-purpose texts and a lot of elbow grease. The Nieder/Davis/Woo book on OpenGL programming is definitive, there is no shortage of books and resources on algorithms and data structures, the advanced books on programming Cocoa go into optimization issues specific to Cocoa and Objective-C (which you should only consider once you've ruled out improving your algorithms and/or data structures!). There are a few good tutorials on AltiVec kicking around; I don't have links right now. Apple has decent documentation on the HID libraries and other platform-specific resources you'll probably need to use in your game.
Basically, you can look forward to a lot of work. But if you really want to get into games, it'll all be worth it.
Originally posted by alcimedes
there aren't that many Mac users?
Chicken and egg. More developers means more apps means more users. And we know from Steve's keynote that the number of Mac developers has gone up by a lot. The number of apps has also gone up by a lot.
Heck, just compare Versiontracker nowadays to Versiontracker a few years ago (OS 9). The trickle of daily updates has turned into a veritable flood.
I think game developers will get the same benefits as developers in general, though there are important differences, as has been noted.
Originally posted by O-Mac
True True...and I do have a PS2...
So, can I learn write games for a console on a Mac?
I guess I don't understand the process of writing a game for whatever platform...
Can anyone fill me in on this information?
The Dreamcast is (supposedly) the best console for homebrew developers. There's a version of SDL for Dreamcast, and lots of other development tools at http://boob.co.uk . Some tools are Windows/Linux specific, but it shouldn't stop you from writing basic code on the Mac.
Anyway, if you're just getting started programming, and you want to write a simple game, I recommend using Real Basic or even Flash. Coding video games, even simple ones, is one of the most complex and time-consuming programming tasks out there.
There's also a cool thing called "The Green Machine" at www.sawbladesoftware.com that will let you create a game by editing sprites in Photoshop. Fun stuff...
http://www.stepwise.com/Articles/Tec...-01-21.01.html
sad but true, pc's rule the game development industry (and, of course, consoles), thats where the cash and marketshare is for the publishers so thats the platform they pay developers to develop for...
...I know at my place most of the programmers hardly even know that osx is unix/bsd based, they where surprised when I told one of them that I installed GCC and compiled mozilla the other day..
let's hope that the big fat pipes on the G5 and osx's continous attention willl bring more people over.
someone mentioned directx, most programmers love directx for some reason (I'm not a programmer, I do gfx) and I think that thats reason (duh!) why a shitload of titles get ported to the xbox; it takes little to none rewrite of your pc game app, so we save some dev on tht one, with the cube and ps2 things are different of course.
I try to spread some mac propaganda at least every day here in our office so maybe we'll get there someday!
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.