Apple FAQ: iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac HOWTO

[aerbox]

ok...now something lanches, but i get an empty white window...
supposed to be my character as a centered player linked to view, moving left or right upon arrow press...
i went so far some time ago under windows, and i got it as a playable version running then...
hasta luego, gracias
ae

[skydereign]

I have gotten that with some of my mac executables. If it isn't full screen, I find moving it will cause it to start. If it is the entire screen, then it won't work. It's kind of a lame fix, but until I learn how to make a mac app, it serves me well enough.

[aerbox]

Hello again.
thanx, the chmod desktop variant seemed to launch something, but i got a white window...(read about it on another place in this forum...)i tested the same game on a windows system at work and it worked fine...
i forgot to mention, i got a macBook pro...
about "bugs" (i know, might not be the appropriate word):
in some of the tutorials, i see the cursor move around, i see "click right"...etc, but i don't see what is being clicked, it clicks in the void. aslo, i see the descriptions of what the different options mean, but they point at...nothing...the tutorial runs normal... (this morning, i wanted to see the "tiles" tutorial, and it did that)
any suggestions? more details?
thanx anyway.

[aerbox]

sorry, overrad your reply to the white window, i tried now moving it, but it remains white .not full screen indeed, but i can quit it only by quitting the terminal...need any details on softs installed?

[Game A Gogo]

Aerbox: those tutorials are more than 5 year old. Most of then if not all don't work with current GE. I remember back then the interface was slightly different which is causing these errors. There are more events and actions as well than before so it doesn't know really which one to click, but simply where according to oooold version of GE. Of course it has been requested (by me) once to update these tutorials, but it was denied since the new interface will make these completly obselete...

[aerbox]

Hello, and thanx for the details. i just wonder, which version did i download last week? Do i get this right: a new version is in the make? will it still be free? I'm just starting to understand this one . Still, i can't get my exported file run on my mac...
I totally respect your work, i just wonder if i should focus now on 1 single platform (would be mac then, and maybe another app, i do not specially want to create iPhone apps, since i don't really agree with the restrictive Appstore politics...and i don't like the idea of cracking softs...), or if i will still be able to do what i can, which is imagining plots and characters, since mainly i draw cartoon like characters besides other artistic activities, like making music. Making a game gives me the opportunity to bundle it all into one project.

So the basic question remains: how do i get it run under mac os 10.6.6 on a macbook pro. No hurry, just tell me if i will be able to do it, or if i should look for other less open solutions, which would make me sad...

a running game would actualy make me give money to those who developped the app, i just need to be convinced of the tool, which i can't create myself, by a working final project
Anyway, if i had another life, i'd certainly learn to programm too (and still be confronted to the mindbreaking brainfreezing cross platform issues ...and of course, to people like me ).
yours sincerely and respectfully, maybe too philosophical...
ae

[skydereign]

Well after a bit of looking around, I figured it out. Hope this helps.

Creating an app for mac.
1. Export your game. (ex. game)
2. Create a directory with the same name as your app, with the extension .app. (ex. game.app)
3. Right click it and press Show Package Contents.
4. Create a directory inside named Contents.
5. Create a directory inside Contents named MacOS.
6. Add the Info.plist file into the Contents directory (found here http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/game-editor/browser/trunk/Info.plist).
7. Lastly put the exported game into the MacOS directory.

Now you should be able to double click the .app to run it. Strangely I still have the problem where I have to move the game window for it to start updating the view. Seems to be some bug, but at least now it comes up when I click it, instead of hanging like you explained.

Haven't yet learned how to do icons, as I believe that is handled by an Info.plist file, but my first few attempts have not worked. Will continue looking into it.

-Edit
I have found a way to change the icon, but it isn't quite as simple as akr says, so I think this is a harder way of doing it, but the only one that I've found.
You need to convert your icon file to a format supported by the preview section of the files get info. I've seen reference to the extension rcrs, which didn't work for me. Anyway, I used this site to do it.
http://iconverticons.com/

I had to click options at the bottom, and click finder-compatible icons to get a file that would work. After clicking convert it will give you several files to download, but the one that worked for me was the hqx (the finder-compatible one). I extracted the file and did the following.
1. Right click and select Get Info.
2. Click the icon at the top left of the info window, and press command c.
3. Right click your .app directory and select Get Info.
4. Click the icon at the top left of the info window and press command v.

That should have copied the icon you created into the app.

akr, if there is an easier/more direct way to do this, I would love to know.

[aerbox]

hey thanx for your reply, i would test it now, but i'm losing it. can't get my character do what i want, and without tutorials, i'm just lost...
haven't solved the problem with the animation running faster on right move then on left (same animation, flipped in photoshop, same settings in fps...)
now i wanted to see how this path thing works, but again i fail upon the tutorial, so my character actually follows the path, but never gets back to the ground, i.e. jumps from a higher start point...(i tried to adjust the start end end point with the grid, but no success...)
i had another problem, with a gif animation, where it ran clean and nice on all previews, GE would make it flicker, some frames just went dark or transparent or...well i don't know
any way to get these tutorials run?
i'll give you feedback on the app export solution, but right now, i'm just a little tired...can't learn it and testing it is, i guess you know better, time and nerve consuming. maybe i stay tuned. right now, just to get some rewarding success feelings, i'm gonna try another app, unfortunately mac exclusive, which does not make me any happier at this stage.
i'll keep you posted on any progress. thank you so much for trying.
sincerely
the lost ae
(wondering again and again if one needs two hammers to get one nail in...)

[skydereign]

If your problem is learning how to use gameEditor, that is what the forums are for. Also, if you do choose to continue trying gE, you can pm me any questions you have and I can help you out, assuming you don't want to ask them on the forum. As for your animation speed problem, that is the kind of thing you would have to show us the ged and data, as there isn't that much we can do from your explanation. Lastly, the tutorials do work for mac. Again I have that problem where I have to move the window, but when I just downloaded a new copy of gameEditor, and more or less they just work (with Linux there used to be a problem with the bin).

[aerbox]

good mornig. thanx for the launch description. it works...but...i stil get a white window...that closes only with terminal to quit. no game launching (not a game yet, just my characer running left or right ...still at that stage i'm afraid )
love for the hopless cases
anyway, regarding the tutorials, i have to restate: nope, some definitely don't work correctely, i discribed what happens before, and i got an answer...shall i discribe it again?
i'm gonna start again from scratch now, trying to follow those tutorials that work...and then i might send you the exported for mac file, if i still get a white window and probably the same issue with my gif, just tell me where i can send it.
i have no problem stating my issues on the forum, as long as you don't get bored by my problems
read ya
ae

[skydereign]

Okay... I tried it again and it didn't work. It will work with exports created with some versions of gE. I have many versions laying around, and I happened to choose the right one to compile with the first time. I tried downloading the one from the site, and that one does not create usable mac executables. So, some versions do work properly (or so it seems), but the current mac version, as sad as this may seem, cannot export to mac... hence your problem.

Not sure about the tutorials then, off hand I'd say use the ones you can, but don't fret too much about the ones you can't. In its stead, I'd suggest making a relatively basic game, with lots of little features. When you get stuck, or want to figure out how to use a certain event, function, what have you, pm me. I can step you through the first few weeks of learning.

[aerbox]

hello. ok, this does not make me happy, but at least i know it's not bad manipulation on my side that causes the issue (send the file to another macci, and it did not work either ). how am i going to proceed then, if i want to export to mac? any older version to install in parallel? can i open my game file with another version? i still have a dusty windows pc somewhere, with i think an older version installed, maybe, maybe....
the tutorials...hm...well, after not giving up and trying and trying, i noticed that some tuturials sometimes work correctly and sometimes they just dont. "creating a view follow actor 2" for instance once ran fine, then upon a second visonning, the main actor got caught behind the ground....(actually, i connected a mouse to my MacBook, maybe supersticion, but i felt tutorials ran better...???)
in the "event activation tutorial" the wall never stops the character...he always goes through the wall
anyway, i managed to create a basic actor that doesnt fall through the ground, runs left and right and jumps, though still a little strange in behaviour...sometimes he moves left or right but in stop position, jumping is additive, means as often as i push the jump butten the character jumps higher and higher. so i build in a ceiling .
The wired frame tutorial (view following actor 3) did not work properly yesterday, so i'm still dumb about that.
I'm gonna try to insert my first evil character today...
O btw, i did not get any visible response to the "get new tutorials" click...in some script windows (i think it was the Global Script wndow), only a very small part of the cancel button is visible on the bottom of the page, which may have lead to one of my previous problems, not being able to leave the window but having to quit the app....
Overall, something is weird with the window size...sometimes tutorials run in small sometimes in larger windows.
...
Ok that's it for now, i'l keep you posted, meanwhile i go on trying. Thanx for your help, i appreciate.
The ae

[aerbox]

hello,
so, i played around, managed to try some features, and now have the following problems:
- i have to manually set to "move" all animations (even clones...) in the game so they work when i try it (every time i open the project and very often while editing)...allthough i have an activation zone (wired frame) that is supposed to set the anims from "stop" to "forward"...
- as much as i tryed, my character regularely crosses solid ground, just as much as the caveman in your tutorial does, he does not get stopped by the wall, and if i add tiles to this tutorial, a hit from the side to a tile makes the caveman fall through the platform...when he jumps on top, no problem.
In my game, i set a collision and physical response to both all solid matter (ground and tiles) AND to the character. still, sometimes he crosses the floor...
- at this stage, when i escape the game window to go back to editor, the app crashes!
any suggestions?
Meanwhile i go on trying.
hasta
ae
ps: my favorite tutorial is the one where someone types code, hits ok, gets an error message, and the tutorial is finished...can't remember which one it is, but i was pretty amused...

[skydereign]

I'll respond to your questions in pm. This topic is about apple related questions and so on, so we are getting a bit off topic.

[aerbox]

ah, ok, no prob...to me it seemed all mac related ...
i'll just add, if i did not before mention, that i can't switch the app to full screen, i get a screen full of strange "noise" i would call it.
read you somewhere else then.
Thanx
ae