Make a game on PC and how to make it work for PC and Mac [SOLVED]

Rando Muser · Mon 06/12/2010 10:27:14

Hi there,
Cant find any answers to this question anywhere, so this post is the last thing i try before giving up. I use mac as my workstation, and Bootcamp for running Windows where i have my AGS editor. I have almost no problem developing the game, but i am not quite sure if it is even possible to "convert" my game, so it is playable in both operating systems.

My question: How do i develop a game, so anyone, both mac-owners AND pc-owners can enjoy my game?

Looking forward to read your replys!

- Rando

PS. All i could find in this forum was this http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=16958.0 and even though the question is the same as mine, there are no valid answers (only a few links to a german page, witch i found really weird), and the thread turn into a PC vs. Mac kind of battle. That is not what i am interested in, so PLEASE lets keep this thread sober, thanks.

Snake · Mon 06/12/2010 15:25:54

You can only play AGS-made games on PC, not Mac, as far as I know. I know nothing about Mac computers, but I do know that there are Windows emulators for them.

People who download your game on their Mac would have to run them in an emulator.

Peder 🚀 · Mon 06/12/2010 15:56:09

Quote from: AGD2 on Tue 14/09/2010 05:10:41
Ascovel: It's not a port, as such. The PC version of the game has been wrapped (similar to Cider) so that it's basically the same as running it under Wine, but without the need to dual boot. This way, it works out-of-the-box, so to speak. On Mac, you just need to drag the King's Quest I or II Game Application to your application folder. Once installed, you can run the game by clicking on the King's Quest I or II Application in the application folder.

Quote from: AGD2 on Sat 18/09/2010 07:36:00
No, we didn't develop the wrapper. The games are using the CXZ wrapper/engine and any AGS game could make use of it. We received an offer from a guy who handled the conversion for us. You can find more information on CXZ here:

http://portingteam.com/category/news/cxznews/

I'd suggest checking this out, since it has been prooved to work with Kings Quest I and II by AGD.

I'd also suggest checking this link out:
http://forum.portingteam.com/viewtopic.php?f=6=48&sid=5cd532d760f121cbacaa5488a7ab7e01

Tuomas · Mon 06/12/2010 17:27:08

I recall someone porting a game (Ben?) online with microsoft silverlight. Afaik, you could play those games with anything, though I guess that'd be through the net, not really on mac...

ThreeOhFour · Mon 06/12/2010 17:42:30

Quote from: Tuomas on Mon 06/12/2010 17:27:08
I recall someone porting a game (Ben?) online with microsoft silverlight. Afaik, you could play those games with anything, though I guess that'd be through the net, not really on mac...

It was Clarvalon who did it with one of my games and XAGE in a wondrous union of software: http://clarvalon.blogspot.com/2010/03/xage-awakener-live.html

This, however, was a very simple game in terms of code and designed specifically as a XAGE port guinea pig, so more complex projects are probably less likely candidates.

Snake · Mon 06/12/2010 20:21:06

Quote from: Ben304 on Mon 06/12/2010 17:42:30
This, however, was a very simple game in terms of code and designed specifically as a XAGE port guinea pig, so more complex projects are probably less likely candidates.

YOU DARE BURST TEH BUBBLE!1?!/

Khris · Mon 06/12/2010 21:19:35

There's a not longer maintained port for version 2.71 of the engine from a few years back.
I'd say if it's a must that the game can be played in MacOS without much hassle (i.e. Virtual Machine business etc.), switch the engine.

Barricus · Mon 06/12/2010 22:32:41

It would be cool if there was a way to split the game files (sprites, backgrounds, duologue, etc.) and the engine. That way, you install AGS Windows on a Windows PC and AGS Mac on a Mac PC and run the same game files for each OS. This would mean a complete overhaul of the AGS engine, as well as the creation of a Mac version, but it would be the most logical way to do it. However, I think I heard that AGS runs through Wine, but I'm not sure.

Chicky · Mon 06/12/2010 23:36:34

I run AGS games through Crossover, it's cheap and does the trick for most Windows stuff. It can run the AGS editor but struggles with a lot of games. In my experience it runs short games well, Ben and Calin's stuff works but it has trouble with limited palettes and plugins, also tends to lag.

Gilbert · Tue 07/12/2010 01:25:06

Quote from: Khris on Mon 06/12/2010 21:19:35
There's a not longer maintained port for version 2.71 of the engine from a few years back.

And its thread is a sticky too.

Quote from: Barricus on Mon 06/12/2010 22:32:41
It would be cool if there was a way to split the game files (sprites, backgrounds, duologue, etc.) and the engine.

You don't need to do that, as engines for any platform (when the required version is available) will just see the Windows executable as the data file.

Barricus · Tue 07/12/2010 03:40:00

Quote from: Gilbet V7000a on Tue 07/12/2010 01:25:06

Quote from: Barricus on Mon 06/12/2010 22:32:41
It would be cool if there was a way to split the game files (sprites, backgrounds, duologue, etc.) and the engine.
You don't need to do that, as engines for any platform (when the required version is available) will just see the Windows executable as the data file.

I was talking about making game files platform independent and having OS specific engines that you would package separately for different OSs. All purely hypothetical stuff.

Gilbert · Tue 07/12/2010 04:17:26

The game files were actually platform independent, in fact the editor created an ac2game.ags (or ac2game.dat in even older versions) file in the game's folder, which contained the game files for the whole game. You can just put it in a folder with the engine agswin.exe etc., and then double click the engine to play the game. The game executable in the Compiled folder is just the engine combined with this file. And this is how we can say, use the engine of a different version or a different platform to launch a game (exactly how it worked back in the days when there were both an official DOS engine and an official Windows engine). Even for the combined executable, we can rename it to ac2game.ags and place it with another engine to have it run.

This was how AGS worked before V3. Unfortunately since V3 we don't have the barebone .ags file any more, so that the created game must have the engine attached to it, but that rename trick still works.

Igor Hardy · Tue 07/12/2010 10:56:08

Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Mon 06/12/2010 15:56:09
Quote from: AGD2 on Tue 14/09/2010 05:10:41
Ascovel: It's not a port, as such. The PC version of the game has been wrapped (similar to Cider) so that it's basically the same as running it under Wine, but without the need to dual boot. This way, it works out-of-the-box, so to speak. On Mac, you just need to drag the King's Quest I or II Game Application to your application folder. Once installed, you can run the game by clicking on the King's Quest I or II Application in the application folder.

Quote from: AGD2 on Sat 18/09/2010 07:36:00
No, we didn't develop the wrapper. The games are using the CXZ wrapper/engine and any AGS game could make use of it. We received an offer from a guy who handled the conversion for us. You can find more information on CXZ here:

http://portingteam.com/category/news/cxznews/

I'd suggest checking this out, since it has been prooved to work with Kings Quest I and II by AGD.

I'd also suggest checking this link out:
http://forum.portingteam.com/viewtopic.php?f=6=48&sid=5cd532d760f121cbacaa5488a7ab7e01

Did anyone test the Mac versions of Kings Quest? They didn't work on my Mac.

Rando Muser · Tue 07/12/2010 23:29:21

Thank you everyone, your posts have very interesting to read

Im leaning towards two ways to do it, 1) Use WINE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software) a Windows emulator, and make a zip and put it on my website so you can download the game from there. 2) Embed/upload the game on my website. But how i do that, im not sure. Any of you know how to do this, or maybe can guide me in the direction of a solution?

My game is very small, there is only one level and no save/load and inventory options. Just experimenting with "bending" the gameplay, the only thing the main character can do is to walk, talk with NPSs and (heh) quit the game. I dont know if any of you understand, but i am trying to get the SIMS-kind of feeling into the game. Have there been games like that before, i mean games experimenting with the gameplay? Would love to check some out.

Anyway, thank you all for your answers, i enjoy this forum.

Khris · Wed 08/12/2010 14:21:31

Quote from: Rando Muser on Tue 07/12/2010 23:29:212) Embed/upload the game on my website. But how i do that,I'm not sure. Any of you know how to do this, or maybe can guide me in the direction of a solution?

You can't embed an AGS game directly; Ben304 converted one of his games to XAGE format. Then the game can be embedded. Here's the developer's blog: http://clarvalon.blogspot.com/

Rando Muser · Wed 08/12/2010 16:33:45

All right, was on the page and actually played the game. i read somewhere on the blog that i took a lot of time to "convert" the game 8) Was wondering if there was an easier way, heh. But thanks

How do i mark a topic as SOLVED?

ThreeOhFour · Wed 08/12/2010 17:06:39

The reason it took so long to convert the game was because Dan was building the conversion process as he was converting the game. Every time he adds something into XAGE to convert a function from one game, it means that this function is in for all games - he was building it to be a more automated process so that you could simply click a button and have your game converted for you, basically.

Not sure how far he has gotten with it - the last source code he took of mine was a bit more complex, and required the adding of support for stuff like arrays and storing/seeking time positions in sound files, which obviously means that it is probably more difficult to convert than a simple, basic adventure game with dialog and inventory puzzles only. If you're really interested, why not drop him a line?

Rando Muser · Wed 08/12/2010 20:00:08

I'll definently do that, thank you very much.

Rando Muser · Wed 08/12/2010 20:28:32

By the way! I played the game in Safari and i did'nt have to intall Silverlight, but on my Windows harddisc in firefox i had to intall silverlight before being able to play. Seemed kind of wierd to me, is that just Safari not letting me now when it installs something, iv'e never experienced something like that before.