Why for a minor 50K bump will precious resources be put into this. The budget is already so small that it's getting major flack wherever I turn and now this. Seems like a lot of time, money, and effort for very little payoff to me. The way the kickstarter is running this is most likely going to happen so if someone could explain how 50K is going to turn into a port (mind you they'll will have to support it from then on as well) I'd love to know.
Just seems to me the the numbers just don't add up and I think the game will turn out poorer for it.
Hey Jive, they actually just posted a comment on the Kickstarter page in regards to this. I don't have any interest in a port as I'm on a PC, but according to them, since Unreal has the capabilities built in, it would take less effort than what we imagine. If it draws in more players that is definitely a plus and I for one welcome new people into our fold, but personally I have no use for it myself.
Oh I saw the post on there but it's hard to believe that 50K is going to net a port of a game, hardware and Q&A for it. In the end I think it will be a money sink. But here's another one more in line with what I think needed to be said. Thanks for the response MWM. Faith restored.
"If we had not already done test ports of our prototype build to the few Mac's we have available, likely the goal would have been higher up, if we had it at all. But we have. This is why we have a Mac stretch goal, but no Linux one (even though we have plotted out our stretch goals out to 10x the initial goal just in case), because we've not been able to do any testing for such a port yet in order to establish a baseline. It is also the last stretch goal involving a port of any sort, the remainder are focused on content.
We had members who wanted an Ouya, Steambox, XBox One, PS4 or other console port. Even though we'd *like* to see that console logo pop up just before our game's loading screen, we lack any baseline to reference for such a port, so we simply cannot even harbor an estimate as to what we'd need."
I think you might find more people played CoH on a Mac than you think. I don't believe figures were ever published though, so nothing I can quote.
It's also quite a simple thing to produce, the budget is for test machines mainly.
[color=#ff0000]Tech Team and Forum Moderator[/color]
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Yes, nothing quotable, but I heard well over one in ten CoH players at one point. Perhaps much higher than that. The lack of MMOs that were supported on the Mac was a significant factor.
Basically, we're just going to get some high end and low end test machines, some with older versions of the OS on 'em, and test it like mad, but it shouldn't be a huge challenge for the amount of players we can make happy with it.
[color=#ff0000]Project Lead[/color]
I, for one, welcome this. No, I don't have a Mac, nor do I ever plan on getting one. That being said, this is a Good Idea as far as a player love perspective is concerned. People have preferred machines. Some people have only one computer, some have more.
Personally, I'd love to see a Linux port of the system as well, as someone who played CoH on Linux. Sure, I had to configure the hell out of the windows game emulation software, but I did play, and the ability to play it natively in Linux would make me happy. Whether or not I would personally at this point isn't the question, but it is a matter of what is possible, and putting the game out there to as many people as possible,.
A mac option is why I'm here, and why I was able to be part of the CoH community. No idea how many others there are like me or whether that make us a financially viable target group. I will say this, I know a number of influential and helpful members of the old community were mac players, and if the goal is to recreate something like that community again around the new game, then a mac option might be an important part of that.
We just need another ~122K for the mac port. Go team.
I am a lifelong Mac user yes I usually have a pc or bootcamp for gaming but I don't see a problem with a Mac port. CoX had one, WoW has one and they seemed to think it was well worth it.
*Raises hand*
I am one of those Mac users. I look forward to playing the game I help make. :)
[color=#ff0000]Sound Lead, Bullpen Writer[/color]
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I'm not surprised to hear that some Windows-using people have no interest in a Mac port of City of Titans. =)
I assure you though, those of us on a Mac are very interested in a native version of COT running on OS X.
-Buxley
My wife works for apple and now owns a very good mac that blows most pcs out of the water, graphic wise. She played CoH heroes with me, and one of the reasons I was able to convince her to help fund the kickstarter was the Mac support. There are a lot of Mac users who either use Bootcamp, or just play WoW anymore. The Mac support at launch, if we can fund it, is a great idea.
I Second the Linux port request. I just purchased an Alienware X51 running Linux in advance of Valve's SteamOS and Steambox releases....and I am loving the OS. Sadly of the 300+ games I have on steam only 28(!) run on Linux natively.
If the SteamOS takes off would be a smart move to do a Linux port
I, for one, welcome our new Apple overlords.
But yeah, TBH, I am ambivalent, but I know there are a lot of mac users that still like to play games (why they play it on Mac escapes me, but they do, so I have no right to poo-poo it), and if it's good for gander, I suppose it's probably good for goose.
If you spend the money to get a Mac, you tend to not have any left over for a gaming PC. Trust me. I know.
[color=#ff0000]Sound Lead, Bullpen Writer[/color]
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I own a PowerBook and have a desktop pc. The pc was just recently bought for gaming in mind and make skyrim (modded to the nines) look pretty It did awesome with EVE as well.
But I am on the road most of the time and I don't want to lug around a desktop where ever I go. The PowerBook is for that purpose and I got a Mac for its reliability over a pc along with the relitave lack of viriuses specific to the Mac.
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11% of the computer-owning world uses Macs. Say 11% of the CoH players were on Macs, just for conjecture's sake. It might have been less, since the game wasn't out for Mac that long. It might have been more, since there aren't that many games of this type for Mac users. But, say 11%.
If you saw a 2-person team in CoH, there would be roughly a 21% chance [1-(89%*89%)] the team would have at least one Mac user.
3-person team? 38%
4-person team? 44%
5-person team? 50%
...
8-person team? 70% chance
Healthy, well-bonded supergroup?...
A spiritual successor to the game, trying to serve the community, should serve the community. This was our community. Cutting Mac users wouldn't cut *just* 11%.
Mac user here as well. The Unreal engine runs extremely well on OS X, so a port would not be as difficult as you might think.
My wife and I are both using Macs and appreciate a game that has thought enough about the community as a whole (and a few that were not) and not just the largest population. After all the intent is to save the whole city of heroes, not just the majority of its citizens. Am I not worthy of saving simply because I choose to access the city by a different means than someone else?
[color=#FF9933]A new beginning, forged from[/color][color=#0000FF][b][i] hope[/color][/b][/i][color=#FF9933] never ending[/color][color=red]!![/color]
[color=red]Beacon of Blazing Faith[/color]--[color=blue]The Titan Legacy[/color]
I can't remember too much about the history of this image (it wasn't originally mine) but I think this would be a nice thread to share a picture of a bunch of heroes on a bunch of iMacs: http://sdrv.ms/1eeDoly
(And the other picture the original uploader shared: http://sdrv.ms/17vqNVb )
Linux version, please!
I think that more platforms supported translates to more players in the game. I also concur that a LINUX port would be great: emulators are a serious pain to get configured and every update wrecks havoc with them (per my experience with Cedega). I know the devs will groan at the idea of "all those distros to support", but there is a solution: make your own that is specific to the game. I am perfectly willing to devote a disc partion to a specialized distro dedicated to running the game.
I'd say - wait to do a Linux port - see if the Steam Machine takes off first. If Valve meets with success in that little endeavor, then Linux may finally become a viable gaming platform. Until then I'd put it on the backburner.
As for Mac OS - I've heard there were a significant number of Mac Users on CoH - it may indeed be worth pursuing a port to that OS - especially if the engine makes the transition easily.
+eleventy bajillion
I've all but quit gaming, ready to dump Windwoes. If I fund you guys (planning on $125) I'll need to keep Windwoes. :(
Wish you'd put a Linux version as a stretch goal.
Hmmm, there doesn't seem to be a Phoenix distribution of Linux
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=phoenix
Wonder how that happened...
It has always dumbfounded me that environments native to Linux, are then compiled maybe even shunted through APIs, etc. so they work in another OS. Frameworks created for that environment so tools and such can be developed, and then in the end... so few things return. LOL
I gave up years ago. However now, with the advent of Steam for Linux, things are starting to *slowly* turn around for the Linux gaming community. Perhaps one day I will be able to drop Windoze forever. Until then though, I have made peace with having to support good old Micro$oft for as long as it takes. We'll get there eventually. At the rate we are taking over the mobile platforms and even laptop and PCs now finally... we're starting to get a bit more notice. Plus I must admit... if it weren't for Micro$oft's business model... I wouldn't have had a job for the last 20 years. Make it work just good enough that you need lots of support. :)
I think a Windows + Mac release would be a great start. Looks like we are going to hit that mark anyway with ease. Maybe someday CoT will have a moment of peace between releases to pay a little homage to its Linux base, but... I won't hold my breath :)
I support a port for other operating systems. I may always be a PC and never bother with a MAC. But by making an MMO and allowing the MAC players to get in you basically open the doors for even more monies to come in. ^_^ More Monies. More Hours. More Content in shorter spans of time. I support having more ways to get more players to get into the game and give monies to the dev crew. Win/Mac/Linux and whatever else. I support it. The market is out there. Just gotta let those players in.
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Well, that is the big thing to keep in mind. Linux users are fiercely loyal. I don't even know the current market trends, but let's just say it is only like something ridiculous. 4% or something. I guarantee that will be way higher in the user base.
Here is the thing. You make a great game that is native to Linux... a few people spread the word that 'Hey these people are supporting Linux!' and you will be awash with people from that community signing up for the game. You will even have people leaving their subscriptions in place long after they might lose interest.
I've been paying $39.00 every 3 months for what... 5 years now to Ryzom. I've played for maybe 1 years worth total of that time. I know many people that do so. Great game, great community, but it is one of those games I just can't dedicate the time to for all the skill sets and friendships that I want to. So I get lazy and bored and just peter out after a while.
On Steam, I know that I have purchased nearly every game that has come onto the Linux shop as it came out. I play Trine2, Torchlight II, and Kentucky Route 0 every so often and that's about it. Tried out many of them just for kicks. Other than that - I just do it to support those that had the initiative to dip their toe into the Linux market. We're absolutely going to make sure they are happy that they did.
See what I mean? It's like people are talking about the Mac population on CoH. It was disproportionally higher than the general market because... CoH was one of the only hgh-end games that even offered a Mac version. Same thing.
Anyway, I think the Mac version is the way to go first since they are the current 'runner up' in the market. Here's hoping CoT might make it into the realm of Linux supporters someday is all I'm sayin.
From listening to various radio talks and general discussions, a Linux port is just waiting on licensing from Epic (if memory serves). Dont know if they can get this avail for launch or not, but I do know they really want to have a Linux port as soon as they possibly can...
Hope this helps
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The thing about a Mac port is that Unreal projects can be built for Mac, so it's mostly an issue of getting the hardware to test on and tweaking the same source as used for Windows and Mac. UE3 doesn't support native Linux builds, though.
This leaves two routes for getting the game on Linux:
1) Building and maintaining a Wine-based wrapper.
or 2) Trying to leverage the Flash-based/Stage3D export option as described here: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE2NzU
I think option 1 is much more likely, but as a community-supported project rather than an official effort by MWM. However, MWM would probably very happily give forum space to a successful wrapper, making it easier for Linux users to discuss obstacles to running on their distro and other things.
A couple of notes on Linux.
Epic used to support Linux. My sources tell me a lot of the hooks are in there. So the BIG variables are:
Will Steam provoke Epic to reopen this?
Will they back the support to UDK3 or only worry about 4?
What I was suggesting was that such a distro could be created by starting with one that has good hardware recognition (most of them, these days; but Mageia or PCLinuxOS might be a place to start) and pruning away everything not necesary to run the game.
You may remember in the olden days of DOS that some games came on a boot floppy which installed a limited OS to memory whose purpose was only to run the game. I am suggesting a similar idea here. Some script work would be needed to install the whole works (game + OS) to disk and set up an entry in GRUB or LILO. The intention is to keep support effort confined to one distro only.
I was coming back to suggest exactly this. Might want to make it Debian based, using apt-get to install from specific repositories is simple, sweet, and keeps the distro nice and tight.
And aside from any kernel coding that the devs might need, I'm willing to bet that much of the prospective Linux community would be willing to help put said Phoenix distro together. :D
I am anti-Mac (for various reasons) but I have no problems with money being spent to develop an OSx port as the more people we can get playing (and potentially subscribing to) the game the better.
The Phoenix Rising Initiative Rules Lawyer
Same here, I'm actively cheering on as we get closer to the Mac client stretch goal.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
Yeah, getting close to it and then passing it should make the KS more attractive to Max users so they are more willing to pledge right now. And there is less than $10,000 to go as I write this.
I'm anti-apple myself but i do want to see all possible vets to have access to CoT, so i want the port as much as anyone.
That said..... anyone else worried that the # of backers seem to have slowed to a trickle over the last 2-3 days?
It's nothing to worry about at all. It is a normal part of a KS life span. I would only be worried if we had not already hit the funding goal. I would expect a nice surge of backers in the final days of the KS.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I'm broke, but hoping to fund at the $125 level before the KS expires. Might not make it, though :(
Put in what you can, if you can't, I am certain there will be other opportunities in the future.
I've got a good friend who doesn't know it yet but he's getting my Dynamic Duo second account. He uses a mac :D
Posting from my iPhone.
And I'm a committed PC gamer.
There's room for us all in Titan City! :D
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