Mac version forthcoming?

Hi, I was just wondering if there is a Mac version of Monkey Island (or any future Telltale games) likely to be available? I have diligently bought all series of Sam & Max, Strong Bad and Wallace & Gromit but have never reached the end of any series because it's a huge hassle to boot into Windows. I'd love to be able to play some games natively on Mac OS.

More and more people are buying Macs instead of PCs these days and so surely it would be worth it, especially now that Macs are based on the x86 architecture and so it should be easier to port.

Failing that, I was wondering if the required specs for Monkey Island are the same or increased from previous games from Telltale? I ask because I have managed to run Strong Bad, W&G and S&M on my little netbook. The sound is rubbish and the screen is small but it works. If the requirement specs are the same there's a chance I could run it on this machine, which would be awesome!

Thanks...

Comments

  • edited July 2009
    I wouldn't hold your breath. They're been "very interested" in Mac ports for over two years now. And since I'm not "very interested" in playing ToMI on my Wii, I can only hope that Telltale will finally get with it and have some "very interesting" news to share soon.

    No, I won't hold my breath either.
  • edited July 2009
    I made a 'why dont they make a mac version of TOMI?' comment a few weeks ago and was shut down by all the idiot PC users who have not switched over yet

    I was worried id buy TOMI and then it wouldnt play with Parallels.... well it didnt. But it does work on Fusion (which i switched over from Parallels) but i think ill install bootcamp for the next one as it will probably play better than running two OS at the same time

    Mac is the future! Death to PC!!!!
  • edited July 2009
    i'm playing it in vmware fusion... can't get it working via crossover...
  • edited July 2009
    It's a hassle but well worth it... for now. For Steve's sake, provide support to UNIX-like users!
  • edited July 2009
    i'm playing it in vmware fusion... can't get it working via crossover...

    this is very interesting for me: i've tried to play Sam And Max and Tales of Monkey Island on Parallels, but it didn't work at all.

    Then I tried with Bootcamp, but I really don't like to reboot every time I want to play, and I've also experienced some issues with Bootcamp (the main is that I can't run Apple drivers, so no sound e non right click ad all on my MBP).

    So, are You really telling me that VMWare Fusion is working properly with TOMI? Do You know if it works with S&M too?

    Thanks in advance, You can really make my day better (and You can also make VMWare sell a copy of Fusion...)!
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    CDF1982 wrote: »
    So, are You really telling me that VMWare Fusion is working properly with TOMI? Do You know if it works with S&M too?
    I would suggest you to test it with the Free Trial Version.
    I think for ToMI you will probably have to use lower Graphic Levels then you would have with a native Version.
  • edited July 2009
    I made a 'why dont they make a mac version of TOMI?' comment a few weeks ago and was shut down by all the idiot PC users who have not switched over yet
    So you think PC users are going to switch over en masse? Good luck with that.

    New computer games for Mac are few and far between. New games from small developers for Mac are vanishingly rare - especially now that dual-booting and Windows emulation are viable options that require no new coding by the developer. That's the way it always has been and always will be. If you want to play games from a studio like Telltale (small, self-publishing, and constantly working on new projects - which means little time left over to recode their games for a new OS even if it was going to sell) you picked the wrong operating system, and complaining on the Internet won't change that.
  • edited July 2009
    DjNDB wrote: »
    I would suggest you to test it with the Free Trial Version.
    I think for ToMI you will probably have to use lower Graphic Levels then you would have with a native Version.

    I'll sure try, then I'll post the result.

    I hope my computer can handle TOMI (8 core MacPro 3.2 ghz) , maybe reducing the graphic effects a bit (I really don't think graphic is so important in this kind of game).

    I'll let you know... thanks and bye
  • edited July 2009
    VMware Fusion works well enough for me (needed to reduce graphics to 4 and resolution to 1024x768) on a brand new macbook pro. No crashes so far, and I am probably somewhere half way through the game.

    The game is absolutely amazing and I'm glad I could get it to run...
  • edited July 2009
    just tried installing vmware, xp, direct x and TOMI on my MacPro 8 core 3.2 ghz and it simply works awfully, even just moving the mouse is so slow that is impossibile to change settings... maybe it's something about my gpu, that isn't very gaming oriented...

    crying sad tears
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    CDF1982 wrote: »
    even just moving the mouse is so slow that is impossibile to change settings...

    You should try that very carefully to set the Graphic Level to 1. Then if that works you can gradually set it higher. You might also try different resolutions.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    Oh btw. Have you installed the VMware Tools? Those are important for 3D support.

    If that's the case and the mouse doesn't work at all you might also try replacing your prefs.prop with this one.
    I set it to 640x480 and Graphic Level 1, which is the lowest.

    First make a copy of your old one, and then put this one to:
    C:\Users\$YOUR_USERNAME$\Documents\Telltale Games\Launch of the Screaming Narwhal
    The path might be Different on XP. This one is from Vista.
  • edited July 2009
    DjNDB, thank You very much for the prefs file!

    I tried with that file, the game started at 640x480, but performances were the same, awful, that I experienced with default settings.

    VMWare Tools are running, so I think that it must be something about my gpu, I'll try to understan what's the matter during the week-end.

    But, again, thank You for the support!
  • edited July 2009
    OK, saying things like:
    Mac is the future! Death to PC!!!!

    and
    ...all the idiot PC users who have not switched over yet

    isn't going to help relations between Mac and PC users and definitely won't encourage pro-PC developers to port to Mac. Everyone's entitled to their opinions about which is better and shouldn't face criticism for holding that opinion.

    Now I don't know how Telltale makes their games but I believe a lot of games are made using an engine and then files for that specific game, much like a word processor and the documents that are read/created in it. Surely it would be a case of a one-time development of a Mac engine for their games and then a few minor tweaks to port each game across?

    I have got Braid for Mac and the Penny Arcade Adventures, both from small studios, both available for multiple platforms (PAA is even available for Linux). They all run beautifully, it really is a fine platform for games.

    I notice no one has touched the topic of spec requirements for ToMI - does anyone know if they're the same as, say, Sam and Max? I can't find that info on the Telltale site.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    MakTheYak wrote: »
    I notice no one has touched the topic of spec requirements for ToMI - does anyone know if they're the same as, say, Sam and Max? I can't find that info on the Telltale site.

    He solved it himself, and i guess no one dares to make a statement because it really depends on the desired resolution and graphic level what kind of Graphics card is required, and no one knows for sure what works in which case. The best Information about that is in the Graphic Intensive thread which contains some examples. It is however not easy to find that information between the discussion.

    Compared to Sam&Max the requirements are higher, if you want to play in the maximum Graphic Level. I was able play Sam&Max in 1920x1200 without problems and can play in the same resolution up to Graphic Level 3 in ToMI with my Nvidia 7600GT.
  • edited July 2009
    Thanks DjNDB, yeah it would seem the requirements are a lot higher. I downloaded the demo and loaded it up on my NetBook (on which I can play Sam & Max just fine. When it loaded up the mouse was really jerky and it all seemed slow, even on the menu system.

    I went into settings and it was on graphics level 6. I had to take it down to level 3 before the mouse moved smoothly, so I tried the demo at that level.

    I think it's fair to say that while it worked and I finished the demo, it was virtually unplayable. The picture and the sound were both jerky and there were long pauses after each line of dialogue while I waited for the animation to catch up.

    I guess I'll have to find a way of playing this on my Mac... it looks too good to just not play it! Downloading it for the Wii is significantly more expensive if SB was anything to go by, so I won't do that either...
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    MakTheYak wrote: »
    I went into settings and it was on graphics level 6. I had to take it down to level 3 before the mouse moved smoothly, so I tried the demo at that level.

    Have you tried Level 1 too? I mean netbooks are low performance computers in almost every way.
  • edited July 2009
    Just tried level 1... there's really no discernible difference between that and level 3. Oh well...
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    MakTheYak wrote: »
    Just tried level 1... there's really no discernible difference between that and level 3. Oh well...

    How about lower resolutions?
    I am just interested if there's a way to get it running somewhat decently on a netbook.
  • edited July 2009
    I only had 2 resolution options available to me: 640x480 and 800x600. I have not even attempted to use the 800x600 option!
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited July 2009
    MakTheYak wrote: »
    I only had 2 resolution options available to me: 640x480 and 800x600. I have not even attempted to use the 800x600 option!

    Thanks, good to know.
  • edited July 2009
    FWIW, I just finished TOMI on Parallels 4.0.3844 on a 20" iMac. (2.0GHz, specs at http://support.apple.com/kb/SP16). I was running Windows XP under Parallels. There were minor texture glitches at time, but it worked from the install. It was using the default graphics settings, I think "6".
  • edited July 2009
    I gritted my teeth and played it (and all the other Telltale games) through a 2.16GHz Macbook in BootCamp. It's on the lowest graphics settings but was playable.

    Switching resolutions took 3-4 minutes each time, and starting up the game takes up to 5 minutes.

    If it means playing a new Monkey Island game I'd go to whatever lengths it takes (short of buying a completely new PC) to get it working on my computer.
  • edited July 2009
    Crumplehorn, does your Macbook have an integrated graphics chip like the Intel GMA, or a discrete chip like an ATI or NVidia? I haven't even tried running TOMI on my Macbook Air with integrated graphics, but based on trying other games, I'd suspect that might cause problems.
  • edited July 2009
    I don't know what the discrete chips are like but having purchased TOMI to run on my Macbook with GMA the game is just as Crumplehorn describes. It is (depending on what you're willing to accept) just about playable but as stated it does take about 5 minutes to load and the animation can take much longer to play out than the dialogue, leading to a rather broken experience.

    Personally I'm now waiting for the WiiWare release so I can enjoy the game without these glitches.
  • edited July 2009
    I tried the demo in Bootcamp on my iMac with a discrete graphics chipset last night. It looked beautiful. So the verdict is: discrete chipset = awesome, integrated chipset = not so awesome.

    Having said that, I've had Portal running before on my MacBook with integrated chipset and it wasn't too bad. I was quite surprised!
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