Campaign for Mac PTW

[dojoboy]

Let's keep trying fellas!

Al Schilling's email address:

aschilling@destineerstudios.com

Generic letter:

Dear Mr. Schilling,

I am contacting you to express the wishes of many, that your company, MacSoft Games, would choose to port Sid Meier's PTW over to the Mac. A decision to port PTW would also be consistent with past business decisions regarding the Civilization series. In addition, I would expect a PTW Mac port to sell very well in spite of the MP cross-platform inability with PC users. Many Mac users I've spoken with are interested in PTW for its additional civilizations, features, and MP capabilities with their Mac-user friends. It is my hope that MacSoft Games chooses to port PTW in the near future. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tom Herring (dojoboy)
CivFanatics Center and Apolyton member

 

[frunobulax]

I'll sign up for that... Email sent !

Fruno

 

[dojoboy]

Are others contacting Al Schilling?

 

[ChrisB]

>Are others contacting Al Schilling?

Nope.
A) I thought PTW was coming to the Mac already.
B) Given the experience of Civ 3 I am:
1) Not sure I will be buying PTW.
2) Sure delays before the start of any porting is good as this means the PC version will be more stable and thus the porting less complicated.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by ChrisB
>Are others contacting Al Schilling?

Nope.
A) I thought PTW was coming to the Mac already.

It was prior to Destineer purchasing MacSoft. Now, its back to the drawing board. But, Chris, more <contacts> the merrier, eh?

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by dojoboy


It was prior to Destineer purchasing MacSoft.

Let me be blunt - that's completely wrong. At no time was it said by anyone in the know that it was ever a Sure Thing. There's no need to dig up the quote from Jeff Morris on the issue, as that was definitely a (unfortunate) misunderstanding.

Let me less blunt: the sales of the PC version play a large part (perhaps the largest part) in determining if a Mac port is feasible. Given that the Mac port of a game will typically sell between 3% and 10% of the PC volume, it's fairly easy to do the math to see if making a Mac version will be an instant and total money-sink or if it stands a chance of breaking even. Petitions and e-mails really don't change situations like that.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver


..... the sales of the PC version play a large part (perhaps the largest part) in determining if a Mac port is feasible. Given that the Mac port of a game will typically sell between 3% and 10% of the PC volume, it's fairly easy to do the math to see if making a Mac version will be an instant and total money-sink or if it stands a chance of breaking even. Petitions and e-mails really don't change situations like that.

Hmm, I wonder where PC sales of PTW are these days?

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by dojoboy


Hmm, I wonder where PC sales of PTW are these days?

Let me say this: if it was a runaway success on the PC side, I'm pretty sure you would have seen a Mac port of PTW already. Take a look around at the PC reviews and feedback for PTW and maybe you can draw your own conclusion as to how well it is selling.

If you want my honest opinion, spamming Al with e-mail will hurt your cause more than help it, not only because it is supremely annoying to be on the receiving end, but if he knew there was a concentrated effort to petition him and he got, oh, some small amount of e-mails it would only further cement the notion that the sales just aren't going to be there. Really, anything you can do as an end-user is going to present a lose-lose scenario at this point. Just relax - if it happens, it happens. If not, then I can assure you that nothing you could have done would have changed things.

 

[dojoboy]

Perhaps better heads prevail here, but it was meant to be a positive effort.

 

[frunobulax]

Originally posted by dojoboy
Perhaps better heads prevail here, but it was meant to be a positive effort.

Just a stupidly wild idea... but what would it actually cost if we all chipped-in some of our own £/$ to fund PTW for Mac... however totally unfeasible this might sound ?

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by frunobulax


Just a stupidly wild idea... but what would it actually cost if we all chipped-in some of our own £/$ to fund PTW for Mac... however totally unfeasible this might sound ?

No idea, I bet a good chunk of cash. I'm holding on to the hope that Westlake's code name project, "Zoot Suit," is PTW. Its made for both classic and OS X systems and the publisher is ???.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by dojoboy


No idea, I bet a good chunk of cash. I'm holding on to the hope that Westlake's code name project, "Zoot Suit," is PTW. Its made for both classic and OS X systems and the publisher is ???.

I was actually under the impression that ZooT Suit had been revealed, but I guess not. I don't mean to crush your hopes, but it's not PTW.

About donating money: I would advise against that. At this point, the issue isn't really one of funding for development of the port, but more of if the game would sell in numbers enough to cover all the incidental costs and make at least a first printing of it successful.

The way these things work is that a publisher typically sells X number of copies to a retail outlet, with the expectation that the store will sell all those copies. If the store doesn't, then the publisher can be required to buy back all the unsold copies and take a loss.

The wrinkle is that you can't sell CompUSA, say, 500 copies nationwide if you think the game might tank. You have to give up more significant numbers, and in doing so you're forced to incur the overhead of Cost of Goods for those additional boxes. There is always the consideration of something online only - Aspyr has done this with SMACX and the Elite Force Expansion, but it's fairly uncommon.

One of the guys at Bungie wrote an article about this a while back that touches on some of these aspects in more detail. If you're interested, you can read it here:

http://www.bungie.net/perlbin/blam.pl?file=/site/0/site/bnet/soapbox/soapbox96_08.html

Anyway, I may have some of the specifics wrong, and I don't really want to imply that these scenarios are being floated for PTW since the business side is not really my bailiwick. However, these are factors that do come into play for your average Mac game.

 

[nmcul]

ZooT Suit

With the way you spelled it there, I have a strong suspicion that "Zoot Suit" is

Zoo Tycoon!

Am I right?

 

[K-Man]

Although a plausible explanation, it is more likely a typo of some sort. I don't know if you've ever followed up on any of the other code names, but the references to the games are usually a lot more obscure than that.

For example, this is the explanation given on Westlake's website for why Nascar 2003 was code named "cellar"

The Mac version of NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season has been in development and under wraps since the 2002 version was released. It's been listed as project "Cellar" on the Westlake Status Page. "Cellar" was an obscure reference to 80's hair band Ratt whose album "Out of the Cellar" contained the mega-hit "Round And Round". NASCAR tracks are ovular for the most part, and the cars drive "round and round".

So although your explanation might be plausible, it seems a little too obvious to me. Then again, maybe they've used enough obscure references that they thought to throw in a real obvious one, just to mess with us. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[gfeier]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver I was actually under the impression that ZooT Suit had been revealed, but I guess not. I don't mean to crush your hopes, but it's not PTW.

Oh well, there's always "Renee."

 

[Sid]

I betting -- well, praying actually -- the the multi-coloured 'Renee' is Rise of Nations -- RoN, eh?

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Sid
I betting -- well, praying actually -- the the multi-coloured 'Renee' is Rise of Nations -- RoN, eh?

Gosh, I hope not. I can't handle another game right now, unless it was PTW. Of course, I'm 100% positive my machine won't be able to run RoN if it came to the mac. Anyway, between Civ3, MoO3, and EU2, I don't really need another game, unless it was PTW. Did I say that already?

On topic: This "campaign" idea seems to have blown up in my face. When did a campaign to support something (positively) become spamming (which is negative)? Regardless of all the spam email out in cyberspace, its no reason to avoid positive dialogue in support of a product. I wonder if its the same condition that prevents Americans from voting. On a side not, the "campaign thread idea thingy" got me banned at MacGamer Forums. They did have "no petitions" listed above the forum. I swear I didn't see it. Oh well, I've now become somebody else in MacGamer lands. I just need to make sure I don't return to the scene of the crime.

And, btw, I spoke w/ Al Schilling, which is where I got his email address, and told him my intent to gather support for PTW. He was gracious and supportive.

 

[dojoboy]

Okay, sales of PTW obviously had to be good enough for Firaxis to decide on another Civ3 expansion. Right?

 

[K-Man]

I notice Brad came straight out and told us that Zoot Suit was not PtW, but he has not said a thing about Renee being PtW. If he was so quick to stop our speculation on Zoot Suit, why not now? I can only think of one good reason, and until proven otherwise I'll assume that reasoning holds true. Renee = PtW

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by K-Man
I notice Brad came straight out and told us that Zoot Suit was not PtW, but he has not said a thing about Renee being PtW.

I think you guys will like Renee, but it's not PTW.