22 replies to this topic

[Eldin64]

I'm planning on buying a new laptop, and I was hoping to get a Mac, and Game Maker is my favorite program on the computer, but the latest version of GM on Mac is 7.

I wanted to ask, is there going to be a Game Maker 8.1 for the Mac? Have there been any release dates or any news at all?

[Nocturne]

No. The next GM version for Mac will be GM9. See this topic here :

http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=518319

[Dangerous_Dave]

If you're devving, then it's probably a good idea to install Windows on your new Mac. Develop your games in GM for Mac, then port to GM8.1 for Windows. It's much easier in this direction.

[redspark]

If you're devving, then it's probably a good idea to install Windows on your new Mac. Develop your games in GM for Mac, then port to GM8.1 for Windows. It's much easier in this direction.

I agree. This is the way that I have been developing. I just dip into GM8.1 every once in a while to test my latest changes. Some times there are bugs in 8.1 that aren't in GM4Mac and vise verse. So it is a good idea to test in both as you go.

[Eldin64]

If you're devving, then it's probably a good idea to install Windows on your new Mac. Develop your games in GM for Mac, then port to GM8.1 for Windows. It's much easier in this direction.

Does that mean I can install windows on the Mac, but not have it as the default OS? I can enter the normal Mac software, and when I want to use Game Maker, enter Windows 7?

[redspark]

If you're devving, then it's probably a good idea to install Windows on your new Mac. Develop your games in GM for Mac, then port to GM8.1 for Windows. It's much easier in this direction.

Does that mean I can install windows on the Mac, but not have it as the default OS? I can enter the normal Mac software, and when I want to use Game Maker, enter Windows 7?

Yes, but there are two ways of doing this. The First is to use Bootcamp. Bootcamp will allow you to choose at startup whether you want to work in Windows or OS X. To get into the other OS, you have to reboot. The benefit of this is that you have an exact replica of Windows running on a Mac. Windows will have full use of the hardware and thus the best performance. The drawback is that you have to reboot to switch Operating systems and the Windows OS can't get at the OS X files without some jumping through whoops. I have never used bootcamp so may be someone else can comment on it about their experience with it.

The second option is to use virtualization. You can use VMWare (which is what I use) or even the free app Virtual Box to do this. This software allows you to create a virtual machine on your Mac to run Windows under. While active, it will look and feel just like Windows. However, it is an app running under OS X and as such you can flip to any other OS X apps at any time. This makes it easier to flip between them and continue developing and testing. Windows and OS X can share files back and forth without too much trouble. In fact, you can copy and paste between the two Operating systems. The drawback is that you will have worse performance on the Windows side because it is as if OS X is emulating Windows and running a virtual machine eats up extra memory & diskspace. If you assign Windows 2GB of memory, 2GB of memory is allocated from OS X and given to Windows. If you have a 4GB machine, you just lost half to Windows whether it uses all of it or not. For this reason, I often keep my Windows VM suspended (memory is returned when you shutdown/suspend Windows) when I'm not testing with it. However, with a Virtual Machine, you can have multiple versions of operating systems (Windows XP, Vista, 7, etc.) stored on your Mac, all to test your game with whenever you need them. It works with non-Windows operating systems as well.

Both options require you to own a license of the Windows operating system though.

EDIT: Beware though. Some virtual machine software may not support all, if any, of the 3D DirectX or even OpenGL API. You'll have to investigate that for yourself. VMWare does support some of the 3D functions.

Edited by redspark, 19 September 2011 - 09:37 PM.

[Eldin64]

If you're devving, then it's probably a good idea to install Windows on your new Mac. Develop your games in GM for Mac, then port to GM8.1 for Windows. It's much easier in this direction.

Does that mean I can install windows on the Mac, but not have it as the default OS? I can enter the normal Mac software, and when I want to use Game Maker, enter Windows 7?

Yes, but there are two ways of doing this. The First is to use Bootcamp. Bootcamp will allow you to choose at startup whether you want to work in Windows or OS X. To get into the other OS, you have to reboot. The benefit of this is that you have an exact replica of Windows running on a Mac. Windows will have full use of the hardware and thus the best performance. The drawback is that you have to reboot to switch Operating systems and the Windows OS can't get at the OS X files without some jumping through whoops. I have never used bootcamp so may be someone else can comment on it about their experience with it.

The second option is to use virtualization. You can use VMWare (which is what I use) or even the free app Virtual Box to do this. This software allows you to create a virtual machine on your Mac to run Windows under. While active, it will look and feel just like Windows. However, it is an app running under OS X and as such you can flip to any other OS X apps at any time. This makes it easier to flip between them and continue developing and testing. Windows and OS X can share files back and forth without too much trouble. In fact, you can copy and paste between the two Operating systems. The drawback is that you will have worse performance on the Windows side because it is as if OS X is emulating Windows and running a virtual machine eats up extra memory & diskspace. If you assign Windows 2GB of memory, 2GB of memory is allocated from OS X and given to Windows. If you have a 4GB machine, you just lost half to Windows whether it uses all of it or not. For this reason, I often keep my Windows VM suspended (memory is returned when you shutdown/suspend Windows) when I'm not testing with it. However, with a Virtual Machine, you can have multiple versions of operating systems (Windows XP, Vista, 7, etc.) stored on your Mac, all to test your game with whenever you need them. It works with non-Windows operating systems as well.

Both options require you to own a license of the Windows operating system though.

EDIT: Beware though. Some virtual machine software may not support all, if any, of the 3D DirectX or even OpenGL API. You'll have to investigate that for yourself. VMWare does support some of the 3D functions.

Wow! That sounds exhausting.

I'm not interested in running both windows and Mac's OS X at the same time, because I'm probably gonna buy a medium powered Mac, meaning that it'll even be slower if I even think of opening them both using VMWare.

So, from what I understand, I can download Windows 7, use the OS X as the default software, then simply restart the Mac and choose Windows 7 , log in and use it to make GM games on 8.1, am I correct? It's that simple? Feels like something's off, maybe because I'm pessimistic by nature.

Also, does it have to be an original copy of Windows 7? A friend of mine installed Windows 7 on my computer, and I'm honestly not sure if it was original or not, that was a while ago, and I didn't witness the setup that day. If it's a cracked version, will it work as well?

Finally, why is GM4Mac priced at $40 despite it being older software? A little expensive, seeing how Windows has GM 8.1.

Thanks for your time man, appreciate all the answers, making it easier for me to decide what to buy

[NakedPaulToast]

Also, does it have to be an original copy of Windows 7? A friend of mine installed Windows 7 on my computer, and I'm honestly not sure if it was original or not, that was a while ago, and I didn't witness the setup that day. If it's a cracked version, will it work as well?

You are running a copy that common sense should tell you is a cracked copy.

Finally, why is GM4Mac priced at $40 despite it being older software? A little expensive, seeing how Windows has GM 8.1.

Maybe one of the reasons is because to many people's friends are installing copies for them that they honestly don't know are cracked or not.

[Dangerous_Dave]

The Windows 8 beta is out, you could install that for the time being.

Please don't pirate GM for Mac. Low sales is the reason it's still version 7.

[Eldin64]

The Windows 8 beta is out, you could install that for the time being.

Please don't pirate GM for Mac. Low sales is the reason it's still version 7.

Haha! Despite the fact that my Wii is jailbroken, and despite the fact that I've got an M3 for my DS, I've got near 40 games on each console. Even when I jailbrake, I download a game, and if it's good I buy it at full price (Did so with Goldeneye and Black Ops for Wii, and Okamiden for DS).

I understand that devs make their living out of this, I completely support them, and like I said, I'm buying a Mac SPECIFICALLY to use Adobe Photoshop and Game Maker, I'm not gonna shell out money on a laptop for a certain program, then not buy the program

Truth be told, once GM on Mac catches up with the PC, I think I'll use the Mac version more.

Never heard about Windows 8! Might be worth checking out...

[Eldin64]

Also, does it have to be an original copy of Windows 7? A friend of mine installed Windows 7 on my computer, and I'm honestly not sure if it was original or not, that was a while ago, and I didn't witness the setup that day. If it's a cracked version, will it work as well?

You are running a copy that common sense should tell you is a cracked copy.

Finally, why is GM4Mac priced at $40 despite it being older software? A little expensive, seeing how Windows has GM 8.1.

Maybe one of the reasons is because to many people's friends are installing copies for them that they honestly don't know are cracked or not.

Chill, man!

I've never owned a windows computer before, don't know much about that...

As for your sarcasm in the second paragraph, I've supported Devs throughout different consoles and handhelds probably more than you do, so take it easy.

[redspark]

Wow! That sounds exhausting.

Once you set it up, it's as easy as running any other app on OS X. In fact you get a little icon in the right-hand side of the menu bar that acts like the Windows start menu to start any of the Windows apps. It's pretty nifty.

I'm not interested in running both windows and Mac's OS X at the same time, because I'm probably gonna buy a medium powered Mac, meaning that it'll even be slower if I even think of opening them both using VMWare.

Yeah, you need at least 4GB of memory --- better at 8GB for to virtualize Windows. I have 16GB and my Mac never hiccups.

So, from what I understand, I can download Windows 7, use the OS X as the default software, then simply restart the Mac and choose Windows 7 , log in and use it to make GM games on 8.1, am I correct? It's that simple? Feels like something's off, maybe because I'm pessimistic by nature.

Also, does it have to be an original copy of Windows 7? A friend of mine installed Windows 7 on my computer, and I'm honestly not sure if it was original or not, that was a while ago, and I didn't witness the setup that day. If it's a cracked version, will it work as well?

Like I said, I didn't go the bootcamp route. I know a couple who have and they didn't have too much trouble. It was mostly the problem with using an i7 CPU with XP Pro (only supports up to 4 cores, I think it is. i7 has 8). You should be able to download bootcamp or it may even come with your new Mac. I do know that it is best to install it when your Mac is new because it has to repartition your hard drive.

I wouldn't know about the cracked installation. All of my licenses have always been legal.

[ugriffin]

You've never owned a Windows computer, and you've never owned a Mac. Okay...

[Dangerous_Dave]

My i7 has 2 cores (4 if you count virtual).

And repartitioning doesn't hurt data, it moves it (Although there is a small risk involved).

[Eldin64]

You've never owned a Windows computer, and you've never owned a Mac. Okay...

Never owned a Mac Laptop, never said that I've never owned a Mac.

[redspark]

My i7 has 2 cores (4 if you count virtual).

And repartitioning doesn't hurt data, it moves it (Although there is a small risk involved).

Both myself and my friend got a Quad-core i7 with hyper-threading. So it works out to being roughly 8 cores. From my experience, the virtual cores pull their weight just like the real cores especially when you are rendering a large scene in 3D (Not in a game but with a render engine like Modo501). I was very impressed with the iMac when I got it. It cut animation and render time down by an enormous amount.

[stoneyftw]

"I'm not interested in running both windows and Mac's OS X at the same time, because I'm probably gonna buy a medium powered Mac, meaning that it'll even be slower if I even think of opening them both using VMWare."

I know I might be digging up an old thread, but the overhead nowadays to running an additional OS in a virtual environment is significantly lower than it used to be. A low end Mac mini can run a virtual windows xp desktop without so much as a hiccup. Pop an extra 100 bucks into the machine to upgrade the stock 2gb of ram to 8gb, and you have a sub $700 Mac workhorse.

[Eldin64]

"I'm not interested in running both windows and Mac's OS X at the same time, because I'm probably gonna buy a medium powered Mac, meaning that it'll even be slower if I even think of opening them both using VMWare."

I know I might be digging up an old thread, but the overhead nowadays to running an additional OS in a virtual environment is significantly lower than it used to be. A low end Mac mini can run a virtual windows xp desktop without so much as a hiccup. Pop an extra 100 bucks into the machine to upgrade the stock 2gb of ram to 8gb, and you have a sub $700 Mac workhorse.

Haha! Thanks man, I'm writing this from my Mac

I downloaded windows 7 on it a long time ago, haven't used garbage OS Lion ever since, good riddance to bad software!

[max_r_61270]

The Windows 8 beta is out, you could install that for the time being.

Please don't pirate GM for Mac. Low sales is the reason it's still version 7.

Chicken and egg. Why pay for software that's completely ignored, with huge glaring bugs that go unfixed? I also, stupidly, bought GM8 when it came out, not knowing that the Mac version was coming and that it wouldn't be compatible with GM8.

[Dangerous_Dave]

I use GM 8 to develop games, then port to Mac for the Mac App Store. It's a nicer program to use than GM for Mac. With games made with GM for Mac, I've made enough money to pay for every GM version I've bought over the past 10 years.

I certainly don't think buying GM8 is "stupid".