Caesar IV to Mac Platform [Archive] - Tilted Mill Community

Robert Roy MacGregor

12-04-2005, 02:35 PM

I would certainly love to see Caesar IV being transported to the Mac platform again.

If 8% of the sales were Mac, it is funny to see that at that time Apple had a marketshare of about 2.5%. So there surely are enough enthousiasts compared to the Windows platform.

But I understand Tilted Mill needs to make profit, so there should be a minimum of sold games expected before even thinking of transporting it to Mac. I actually think that potential is there nowadays.

The Marketshare of Apple has increased from 2.2% towards 4.1% in slightly more then one year. It is expected to grow towards at least 5.5% when 2007 begins. That is let's say 3 months after release. If Apple's marketshare has increased that much, would it be possible to see Caesar IV to be released in a Mac version also?

I am a big fan of these CB games. At my brothers PC I have got Caesar II, Caesar III, Pharao, Cleopatra and the demo of Emperor installed.
I didn't like Zeus, so that one went out of the PC into the museum. When I got my Mac, I was really sad to see CoTN wasn't to be released for Macintosh. Otherwise I surely would have bought it.

Is there any kind of statement that Tilted Mill can release what will decide whether there will be a Mac version? How many sales are required? Or something else?

I hope for some sort of positive answer.

Kindest Regards,

Rob Lemmen

prof786

12-04-2005, 05:09 PM

even though the prospects are not in favor of tilted mill, they should still try to have a market in macintosh however small. that;s how things get big. eventually, more macintosh users would enjoy cb games.

Keith

12-04-2005, 06:12 PM

There are at least two other threads on this. TM doesn't decide what platforms the game is going to be made for. VUG/Sierra does. They contracted TM to create the game for them and VUG/Sierra call the shots in that regard.

VUG/Sierra dropped support for the Mac after Caesar III sales for the Mac were so low.....just 12,000 Mac copies sold vs 150,000 copies for the PC sold according to the announced sales figures at the time the decision was made back in 1998.

As far as I understand this was back in the day when Mac users were a even larger per centage of the computer user market than they are today. They didn't put their money where their mouth was.

Since VUG/Sierra foots the bill, don't look for a change in that decision any time soon, IMHO.

prof786

12-04-2005, 08:22 PM

perhaps more research is needed to understand the macintosh market so that profits, though smaller, won't be marginal.

Keith

12-04-2005, 11:09 PM

You should make your point to VUG/Sierra. Chances are they have monitored the market trends and have decided to continue the current policy.

Robert Roy MacGregor

12-05-2005, 08:09 AM

Then I'll go ask VU/Sierra

Cause I can assure you, there are tons of displeased Mac gamers that would have wanted CoTN and that are still silently hoping for Caesar IV to come to the Mac platform.

And about the other topics, I only know one in this forum, and I posted there by mistake ( it was one to put CoTN to the Mac platform ). So I copied that post and made this thread ;)

But, does anybody got a nice idea how I can contact Sierra? I've searched the websites of Sierra.com and vugames.com, but at both I couldn't find a single email address.

arcan

12-05-2005, 08:44 AM

Mac users are not the only one left alone. I'd love to see a LINUX release too!

Robert Roy MacGregor

12-05-2005, 11:59 AM

Pecunia

12-06-2005, 03:39 AM

I think you can run Caesar IV on Linux with the help of Lime. That is some sort of Virtual PC simulator.

It won't be as quick as a real Linux version, nor will you be able to play it online. Be glad, Linux is way better of then Macintosh ;)
Lime? I've never heard of that... I have heard of (and used) Wine, WineX, Cedega, and neither of them can run CotN, so I doubt C4 will be able to run on Linux :(

Robert Roy MacGregor

12-06-2005, 05:45 AM

Lime? I've never heard of that... I have heard of (and used) Wine, WineX, Cedega, and neither of them can run CotN, so I doubt C4 will be able to run on Linux :(
Yeah, Wine that was it :D

Does anybody got an email address to contact Sierra?

prof786

12-06-2005, 01:17 PM

You should make your point to VUG/Sierra. Chances are they have monitored the market trends and have decided to continue the current policy.

you are more of an intermediary between us and the developers. and you probably better understand the logistics and politics of marketing. i think you will be able to better articulate our macintosh concerns. i use pc, but i'm still like pro-mac. depends on when vug/sierra takes notice beyond spectating.

Marius

12-12-2005, 08:45 PM

I'd love to see the game available for the Mac ... but given that C3 sold poorly on the Mac (Due mainly to the fact you couldn't find the game anywhere) I wouldn't get my hopes too high for Mac distribution.

The main reason you will not likely see the game on macintosh is that major retailers simply do not stock games for the macintosh. They say there is not enough of a market. Many of the macintosh dedicated stores stock very few games (and half of those are majorly out of date), the Mac stores want to sell you new computers, Adobe/Macromedia software and MSOffice for Mac... and sometimes Virtual PC. The couple stores that sell both PC's and Macs usually have less than five games for Mac and a hundred or more for the PC.

Best wishes ... but don't get your hopes too high.

Keith

12-12-2005, 10:14 PM

you are more of an intermediary between us and the developers. and you probably better understand the logistics and politics of marketing. i think you will be able to better articulate our macintosh concerns. i use pc, but i'm still like pro-mac. depends on when vug/sierra takes notice beyond spectating.

Unfortunately, the only direct connection I have with VUG/Sierra is with the company administrator of the messageboards over there. I've been bugging them to get the Caesar IV website updated for the past two months...you can see how successful I have been...not at all. So I don't have much more influence on what they do than anyone else in the general public.

Your best bet, as I mentioned, is to register as a board user there, locate a posting by one of the VUG staff, their names all have "VUG-" in front of them. Click on their name and send the a Private Message via the board software. I know you can find them posting in the "F.E.A.R." board over there.

Keep in mind their job is to maintain the boards and all they can do is relay your concerns and opinions upwards to someone else.

Papete

12-16-2005, 06:28 AM

Then I'll go ask VU/Sierra

.... And about the other topics, I only know one in this forum, and I posted there by mistake ( it was one to put CoTN to the Mac platform ). So I copied that post and made this thread ;)

....

I have posted a topic about Caesar on Mac. I hope many others mac users will do the same...

If you want see the post:

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7514&highlight=mac

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

dreamsoftwilight

12-18-2005, 03:24 PM

Join the Caesar IV Linux campaign! Fight back against M$, use Linux! :D :D :D

lols. :p

Marius

12-18-2005, 05:37 PM

Beautiful!

dreamsoftwilight

12-18-2005, 05:46 PM

Do you guys know that next year Macs will be able to run Windows? So just get the right upgrades for your mac, and get windows, and play CB games! ;)

prof786

12-18-2005, 09:44 PM

just what kind of programs can do that? them dual-platform softwares? those things are dangerous and can seriously damage the original host computer. once there is reliable contact w/ vug/sierra, we should ask them to manufacture c4 as a multi-platform game.

Marius

12-19-2005, 01:45 AM

This might be a reference to Apple switching to intel chips in the future?

Decision was aparently made by apple due to intel's ability to make the chips run faster and cooler than their current IBM chips. As far as I know the IBM chips run too hot for laptops on the G5 and planned G6 models.

Oddly enough most of the chatter about the change in CPU manufacture was pointing in the direction that people might try to instal Mac OS on a standard PC build. Apple would probably tailor the OS to prevent this as they still make a good profit off their hardware and want to prevent you from buying a PC for half the price of an Apple machine. As to installing Windows on a new intel CPU Apple, well wait and see if that would work. Probably need a separate hard drive to even chance it. Current MacOSX versions are a unix offshoot as opposed to their prior OS9 versions which were a propriatary OS.

Pecunia

12-19-2005, 10:00 AM

Do you guys know that next year Macs will be able to run Windows?
Correction: next year's Macs... I don't think it's as easy as swapping the PPC cpu with an Intel one.

them dual-platform softwares? those things are dangerous and can seriously damage the original host computer.
Dangerous? You kidding? I've used VMWare for a very short while to run windows on linux, and it didn't damage anything at all. There's Virtual PC for the mac which runs windows on mac, and although it's software from microsoft, I doubt it'll damage anything.

@dreamsoftwilight: I *love* that image :D

arcan

12-19-2005, 10:07 AM

Join the Caesar IV Linux campaign! Fight back against M$, use Linux! :D :D :D

lols. :p
YESSSS Caesar 4 for LINUX!!!

wodinoneeye

12-19-2005, 09:55 PM

YESSSS Caesar 4 for LINUX!!!

You might have to wait a real looooong time if the game engine they are using
has no Linux capability.

arcan

12-20-2005, 01:28 AM

You might have to wait a real looooong time if the game engine they are using
has no Linux capability.
Anything can turn on LINUX and usually better than under Windows as LINUX uses much less ressources. You only have to have an emulator... I do hope TM makes one!!!!! :D

prof786

12-21-2005, 12:05 AM

about them emulators, it has to be authentic and reliable. i have lots of bad experience with maliciously faux softwares.

Jezza

12-31-2005, 10:40 AM

Well, provided Tilted Mill write the game in OpenGL rather than Direct3D for the graphics, a native x86 linux port would be alot more realistic. Though, with Microsoft planning on running OGL on top of dX in Vista, unless people like us start e-mailing companies (games companies, hardware companies etc...) to put pressure on MS to allow OGL to run alongside dX as an equally supported and featured alternative, they're going to kill off games for Linux and Mac and nobody will stop them. They claim it's for "security" purposes, but it's more likely that they know killing OGL is the easiest way to keep gaming in Windows only.

Hunt around on the VU/Sierra websites and e-mail them directly. Then cross your fingers.

I hate having to close down all my computer to launch into windows just to play a game, it would be nice to be able to play from Linux, and if that was possible, I would finally replace my ATi card, but until I can play games in Linux, I've no need for a fully supported card, lol.

Any of the TM guys around here able to make me a happy guy and say the grapchis have been started in openGL? Please??

Aglaea

03-29-2006, 11:52 AM

I wonder how it's possible that a game like World of Warcraft can easily be built hybrid and that other companies have so much troubles making a Mac or hybrid game.

I'm sure that Ceasar and related games are right up the ally of a fair share of Mac users. Not releasing Ceasar IV for the Mac platform is a missed chance. Mac users are generally higher educated and have more money to spend, so a good market, despite their lesser numbers. I'm sure that whoever makes the decision on Mac platform yes or no checks these forums too if they're any good, so writing it here is also a good way of letting know what we as customers want.

And suggesting to run that crap Windows when people consiously choose to run a more secure platform is really not knowing what you're talking about :eek: .

I loved Ceasar III, am really sad to see there's no Mac OS X port and would love to see Ceasar IV come on the Mac again. And if TM has some pride in their product, they want to release it on the best consumer computers around. Otherwise why say you want to make a GREAT product?

Kiya

03-29-2006, 12:20 PM

I loved Ceasar III, am really sad to see there's no Mac OS X port and would love to see Ceasar IV come on the Mac again. And if TM has some pride in their product, they want to release it on the best consumer computers around. Otherwise why say you want to make a GREAT product?
TM makes the game and Vivendi/Sierra are the its publishers. It is them not TM who decides things like which platforms will be used, even Linux or Mac. It might be a good thing to tell them too.

Cironir

03-29-2006, 04:00 PM

I wonder how it's possible that a game like World of Warcraft can easily be built hybrid and that other companies have so much troubles making a Mac or hybrid game.

A large company like Blizzard can afford it, smaller developers are unlikely to have the budget (additional programmers are probably just one cost factor). There are currently over 5,000,000 WoW subscribers, each paying $15 a month, and the number of sold boxes is higher than that.

b05josan

04-17-2006, 04:44 AM

I played C3 for a LONG time and made it to the last level, then my C3-CD broke. Could I find it to mac and continue from where I were? No!

I love the game and besides the civilization series they are the best ever made.

I use mac. If they release it to mac I´ll buy it. If they only release it to windows, I wont.

RELEASE IT TO MAC!!!!!!!

// Swedish Student

Jacquou Le

04-17-2006, 05:50 AM

I think Mac users may be interesting with this news: http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060406.html

Keith

04-17-2006, 09:30 AM

The following was posted recently on the newly created World in Conflict (http://forums.vugames.com/category.jspa?categoryID=66)board when a question about a Mac version was posted. The reply was posted by VUG marketing representivie Guy Welch and probably has a bearing on why you will most likely NOT see a Mac version of Caesar IV or most other games from VUG
Our current plan is for WIC to be Windows only.
Sierra has supported Macintosh in the past, but the share of OS X is still around 5% of the market, and the people who are passionate about PC gaming typically have a windows machine, so it makes it very tough to make back the money it would take to create a port and ship a OS X version. My thought right now is to put that investment back towards the game content itself.

I am not a Apple-hater -- in fact I'm a huge fan (I rode a cancer charity ride last year with Jef Raskin's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin)name on my jersey (http://www.flickr.com/photos/guywilliamwelch/56192144/in/set-1217111/)). And now with Boot Camp and Intel chips all the other things that keep happening out there, it's impossible to rule anything out completely.
All things considered, WIC for Mac is a very slim possibility.

Looks like your best bet for Caesar IV will be a Windows emulator program as mentioned above.

b05josan

04-17-2006, 10:44 AM

thats great! I was planning to buy me a new imac this summer...:)

wodinoneeye

04-18-2006, 06:34 AM

Anything can turn on LINUX and usually better than under Windows as LINUX uses much less ressources. You only have to have an emulator... I do hope TM makes one!!!!! :D

You mean TM would port it to run on one of the existing emulators.
(they arent in the business of writing 'emulators')...

Emulators are usually very slow. If the graphics runs too slow it would be a game killer. Im not sure of what all is compatible with either DirectX or OpenGL with any of the emulators.

wodinoneeye

04-18-2006, 06:41 AM

Well, provided Tilted Mill write the game in OpenGL rather than Direct3D for the graphics, a native x86 linux port would be alot more realistic. Though, with Microsoft planning on running OGL on top of dX in Vista, unless people like us start e-mailing companies (games companies, hardware companies etc...) to put pressure on MS to allow OGL to run alongside dX as an equally supported and featured alternative, they're going to kill off games for Linux and Mac and nobody will stop them. They claim it's for "security" purposes, but it's more likely that they know killing OGL is the easiest way to keep gaming in Windows only.

??

You lost all chance of that when the government screwed up the Microsoft lawsuit. The OS should have been split off from the rest of Microsoft and full disclosure of design/internals etc made available to all developers. It then could have been steered into a more universal platform.

Microsoft has no business reason to support Linux or Mac and thats simply the way it is to be.

wodinoneeye

04-18-2006, 06:47 AM

Keith

04-18-2006, 11:52 AM

Chances are if VUG/Sierra decided to port the game to Mac, that TM would not be doing that end of it anyway. VUG/Sierra would probably farm it out to a 3rd party for conversion just like they do for language versions other than english.

Even though they didn't say anything about a Mac version of Caesar IV in the quote I posted above it shows you the "company line" or position on the matter. So a Mac version is highly unlikely.

prof786

04-18-2006, 10:33 PM

okay.

even though, as keith says it, caesar IV will work with pc's, and as there are lots of platform emulators out there.

couldn't VUG/SIERRA at least offer proper guidelines as to how to operate a PC-caesar IV on macintosh, linux, etc. that is at least a start. they would still show that they appreciate the support of non-PC users.

Keith

04-19-2006, 12:23 AM

My guess is that they look at like this...

The game is developed and designed to work on PCs with Windows and that's all they're interested in supporting. Anything else is just a drain on resources. Such guidance could probably be construed as "support" for those OSes and there could be some unforseen legal problems with it.

prof786

04-19-2006, 12:48 AM

i see what you mean....

well, the guidelines don't have to be explicitly telling you to use so and so software to play it on mac. there can also be disclaimers attached to the guidelines to to thwart frivolous conflicts (i.e. lawsuits).

Mark

08-17-2006, 11:51 AM

Cause I can assure you, there are tons of displeased Mac gamers that would have wanted CoTN and that are still silently hoping for Caesar IV to come to the Mac platform.

Is there such a thing as a mac gamer?
You can't call yourself a real gamer if you use a mac for gaming purposes. There are almost no games being released for mac so if you really thing your a gamer just buy a windows system.

Don't understand this wrong, I have nothing against mac but if you make the choice to use one you gotta accept the fact that not everything will be released for the mac.

And one of the main reasons why the sales of mac went up so significantly is that is became possible to install windows on a mac system.

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Gizza

08-17-2006, 12:13 PM

The problem with macs for these companies is that the mac market is only about 5%. And probably 90% of people who own a Mac arent gamers hence the reason they own a Mac, either that or they own a Windows PC as well for gaming.

In reality Mac sales of games probably wouldnt make up more than 1% of the total game sales.