Game Building Tools- By Apple

[MacAficionado]

Apple Game Building Tools (http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2005/08/gamebuildingtools/)


I thought you guy might want to know about this. I don't know if this is new, but what do you gamers think about it.

Knowing how gaming is for the Mac, my first reaction is to think that Apple is going seriously for the big time. Is this as big as I think it is?

Discuss. :)

[mkrishnan]

This is a nice page, and I don't remember ever having seen it before. :) Good add for Apple.

Although, FWIW, none of the development tools discussed, aside from XCode itself, are actually Apple products. All the other tools discussed are third party tools that work on Macs.

[MacAficionado]

Oh, I see.

I guess a non issue!!!

[Eric5h5]

I guess a non issue!!!

Maybe, but Unity is pretty amazing. You still would need plenty of time and talent to make anything worthwhile, but the way it automates 3D stuff with really cool physics and everything is, well, amazing. Like I said. It's nothing like those game engines where you're stuck with just making variations of the same game.

--Eric

[d_saum]

Im so glad you posted this! I would love to see mac seriously get into the gaming arena. I also hope that in the future, they have the tools like iMovie and stuff to create decent games for consoles too! Now that would rock!

[applekid]

I still prefer writing code and drawing my own sprites than using these game tools. You come to realize the more and more you try to get out of these engines, the less and less you can succeed. I find the Java platformer engine I'm writing makes much more sense.

[iindigo]

I still prefer writing code and drawing my own sprites than using these game tools. You come to realize the more and more you try to get out of these engines, the less and less you can succeed. I find the Java platformer engine I'm writing makes much more sense.

Eh, for the most part we're talking about 3D games here, so you'd need 3D models not sprites.

On a more personal note, I personally hate Java with a passion and wouldn't ever even think about subjecting my users to it.

[mrgreen4242]

Does anyone remember the name of the old game creation software for the Apple II series machines? It was like Adventure Construction Set, if I recall. Anyways, I remember it being extremely easy to use and pretty robust. It was limited to adventure rpg type games, and the graphics were pretty basic, even for the time, but still could make some really fun stuff.

I'd like to see an opensource or at least freeware project that was similar, only was more extensible and flexible.

[mkrishnan]

I'd like to see an opensource or at least freeware project that was similar, only was more extensible and flexible.

Yes! :D I definitely remember that. I think I played it on Amiga and not an Apple, but definitely. I bet that you can google it and get it as, ahem, abandonware, if you want.

In a similar vein, albeit for Windows, a friend of mine has been developing a development kit for old-school, side-scrolling, 2D platform games. It's actually become fairly sophisticated, but also remains easy to use.

Scrolling Game Development Kit at SourceForge (http://gamedev.sourceforge.net/)

[mrgreen4242]

Yes! :D I definitely remember that. I think I played it on Amiga and not an Apple, but definitely. I bet that you can google it and get it as, ahem, abandonware, if you want.

In a similar vein, albeit for Windows, a friend of mine has been developing a development kit for old-school, side-scrolling, 2D platform games. It's actually become fairly sophisticated, but also remains easy to use.

Scrolling Game Development Kit at SourceForge (http://gamedev.sourceforge.net/)

Cool. There's some development systems out there for point and click adventure games too. One of them, can't remember what it is called right off the cuff, is pretty sophisticated from a game play/scripting point of view, but seems a little limited in the graphics department. (Which isn't all that bad from a lot of points of view). Anyways, it's windows primarily, but there is also a linux version and just recently an OS X runtime (so you can't create games in OS X but you can play - most - of them).

I'm still waiting for adventure games third coming! :)