Elfin Princess Katherine Fletcher is currently presenting a short series about gaming on the Mac over at ChannelFlip Games. I mention this only because of my fervent wish to embed her.
Of course, by "gaming on the Mac" she mostly means "playing PC games through Windows running on the Mac" — and yet it doesn't have me spitting bile... see where a little cute can get you, PCW? — which brings me back to a rant I published elsewhere (but don't bother looking, I've re-imaged the server).
I'm not the world's biggest gamer (although if I could get back all the time I've lost to Quinn or — god help me — Zuma Deluxe I'd be able to write a couple of those novels I've been planning), but in my ever so humble opinion what we really need are not more ports of two year old PC games, but some original Mac titles.
What is a Mac game? In the same way that there's something quintessentially, recognisably Mac-like about written-for-the-Mac-by-people-who-understand-the-Mac applications, Mac games should have that certain something which sets them apart from their PC or console counterparts. I think that Marathon is the best — and, okay, almost only — example of this.
Superficially, Marathon is just another Doom clone. But it has the great little touches, the technical innovations and — probably most importantly — the engaging plot to set it apart from the other knock-offs. I don't know if anyone at the time called it "the thinking man's Doom", but that's what I'm doing here.
The main impediment to a Mac-only games industry is that it now appears necessary for PC titles to cost the same as Hollywood movies / small developing nations. To which I would tentatively suggest replacing cash and head count with, say, talent and creativity. Think Indie flicks versus the summer blockbusters.
So how about an open-source-style effort to get the ball rolling. The DIM3 engine is probably a good starting point, and I'd happily donate my so-so coding skills. So what do you say?
No comments:
Post a Comment