{"id":42317,"date":"2024-03-01T14:19:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=42317"},"modified":"2024-03-01T14:19:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:19:55","slug":"should-game-porting-toolkit-be-built-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/01\/should-game-porting-toolkit-be-built-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Game Porting Toolkit Be Built-In?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Moren<\/a> (Mastodon<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

What a difference eight months makes. That’s in no small part due to Whisky<\/a>, an app that wraps both Wine, the tool that translates Windows API calls to their Unix-like equivalents, and Apple’s game porting toolkit into one very friendly interface. That removes pretty much all of the work out of the process, to the point where all I had to do was download Whisky and drag it into my Applications folder. It installed all the necessary under-the-hood software, leaving me with nothing but time on my hands.<\/p>\n

So I grabbed the standalone installer for Dark Forces<\/em> that I’d purchased from GOG.com<\/a> and simply ran it. Less than ten minutes later, I was running around blasting pixelated stormtroopers. I even connected the Xbox controller I keep in my office and it worked seamlessly, with no additional setup (I was surprised to see that even Dark Forces<\/em>’s in-game UI knew<\/em> I was using an Xbox controller and changed to reflect that).<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

If Apple really wants to jumpstart gaming on the Mac, it should bake the underlying technologies of the game porting toolkit directly into the system. Make installing and running a PC game as easy as if it were<\/em> a Mac native title.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

In the end, I’d argue that the potential benefits outweigh the risks: running PC games on the Mac at all<\/em> is a pretty big coup, to say nothing of them running pretty well. If Apple’s really worried about a bad experience reflecting poorly on its products, it can throw up a splash screen disclaimer—come on, you guys love<\/em> splash screen disclaimers<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And Apple is fine with Catalyst and iOS apps on Mac. Even games that are actually ported to the Mac don’t really feel platform-native, anyway.<\/p>\n\n

Matt Birchler<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The Steam Deck was my favorite new thing in 2022<\/a> and its OLED successor is a beast as well<\/a>. But the Steam Deck doesn’t run Windows, it runs Linux. Basically none of the games I’ve ever bought run on Linux, so why do I like my Steam Deck so much? Well, just like Moren suggests Apple do, Valve has built a tool called Proton that translates basically any Windows game (or app) to run flawlessly on Linux. And it’s not just for Steam hardware, anyone on Linux can use it<\/a>!<\/p>\n

And don’t think of it as some sort of complex tool for nerds; I’d compare it to using Rosetta 2 on the Mac.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n