http://www.macgamer.com/news/item.php?id=9211

Sounds promising for a Mac version!

I don't see that this says anything new either way.

All the article says is (correctly) "There is no specific mention of a Mac version of the game", and (incorrectly) "however all previous title in the series did make it over."

PtW and C3C were the last two titles in the series and they didn't 'make it over'.

Yeah, I kind of misread the article a little...!

Still, I'm optimistic, with the Mac on the up, it would be odd if it didn't happen I reckon...

You're prolly right.

Well, Take2 does have a relationship with MacSoft.

Let's not write Civ4 straight off, but you can guarantee that T2 will NOT be doing it in-house.

Well, Take2 does have a relationship with MacSoft.

Let's not write Civ4 straight off, but you can guarantee that T2 will NOT be doing it in-house.

This is true, MacSoft has published Take2 titles in the past. It is promising. But, it is also a "no-brainer."

We do have some advantages... like the article mentions, scripting and engine work is being done in Python and XML. This is excellent - both play well in OS X. The sticky part is the graphics aspect, starting with the Gamebryo (http://www.gamebryo.com/) engine by NDL. AFAIK, this is the same engine they used to build Sid's Pirates 2. The Gamebryo actually looks pretty good - and it uses CodeWarrior for PS2 and GameCube projects -- which might be a good sign since CodeWarrior is Mac friendly. :goodjob:

:eek: Don't relax just yet, though. The next step after the engine comes the rendering and at least from what I've read they haven't made a decision between DirectX or OpenGL yet. The bad news is that they went with DirectX for Pirates 2, and the experience means it's the path of least resistance. I haven't heard any rumors of Pirates coming to the Mac and DirectX might be why.

...Maybe, just maybe, somebody is working on an alternate, post-engine pipeline for Gamebryo-based projects and we could see a Pirates 2 and Civ4 announcement all at once.

Maybe...

But don't hold your breath. :twitch:

I really don't feel DirectX is a "deal breaker." Recently (last couple years), mac games have been published w/ mac-mac MP play only. There are a few exceptions, such as Halo, but...

I really don't feel DirectX is a "deal breaker." Recently (last couple years), mac games have been published w/ mac-mac MP play only. There are a few exceptions, such as Halo, but...
Yeah, I've noticed a few that made it - some by excluding cross-platform play, but I wonder how they did it for Halo. How did they do it? Or did they? I read that PCs require DirectX but WinTel dedicated servers don't.
***
I do think Civ4 will make it to the Mac, but going OpenGL would get the conversion done quicker and with less bruising.

Yeah, I've noticed a few that made it - some by excluding cross-platform play, but I wonder how they did it for Halo. How did they do it? Or did they? I read that PCs require DirectX but WinTel dedicated servers don't.


Read this (http://halo.bungie.org/misc/tamte_interview.091103/), it might provide some insight.

Don't go confusing DirectX with DirectPlay (which is just one component of DirectX.) A program can be built using the graphics components (Direct3D, DirectDraw, etc...) of DirectX, but use a separate API for networking play (such as OpenPlay). A PC game in this scenario would still need DirectX to run (because of its graphics engine), but could still be network compatible with other OSs. I suspect this is what Bungie did with Halo. In fact, in the link dojoboy posted, when the subject of DirectX came up, Peter Tamte only discussed moving the graphics from DirectX to OpenGL.

(A much less likely scenario is that Bungie, now being a Microsoft-owned company, gave Westlake access to DirectPlay protocols so that Macs could play with PCs. But there would probably too many complications with that...)

I really hope Firaxis uses an open standard for the networking API. The last paragraph in this IMG article suggests that there was at least some discussion about using something other than DirectPlay when they developed Civ3.
http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=3963

BTW, we've been having a similar disuccion on page 3 of the "Sign the petition" thread...

JoAT

BTW, we've been having a similar disuccion on page 3 of the "Sign the petition" thread...

JoAT
Hmm... I stop paying attention to the thread then it turns technical and gets interesting.

Just for grins, I emailed Firaxis (the "ask Sid" option) a few pertinent questions. Don't know if they'll be answered, but if they are, you can be sure I'll post the response here...