Just a quick heads up for those who have not found out already as I am getting one or two emails through.
The game R (Pron: Arrr…) is not just for Windows as labelled but can be played on lots of operatings systems and gadgets with a “Scott Adams Grand Adventure” (SAGA) interpreter.
Free SAGA intepreters are available from the net … here is a good starting place …
I didn’t notice any OS X binaries in that list - the only one that seems to be for Mac is 68k, not Intel.
I might be accused of laziness for not compiling one of the other ones, but I’m not sure everyone judging the games could say the same. Anyway, I am lazy (thankfully, I’m not judging).
This link claims to have a solution, though not a simple one. Unfortunately, it’s not loading for me right now:
You know, I’m glad you entered a Windows game in the competition. Since I wasn’t contributing any Windows games of mine this year I started to wonder if anyone else would do it. I was not disappointed. So thanks for your contribution and keeping Windows games alive!
Actually I wanted to say that I do NOT review any IFComp games but fill in Conrad’s IFComp surveys instead. Call it lazy. We call it a new style of feedback.
I mean it’s not like I’d have any doubts about Windows games rocking the industry for the next 10 years. Everyone who knows me, knows that I don’t really give a [enter swear word here] about Mac stuff. A billion Windows users don’t care either. Microsoft kicks penguin ass anytime! But after those two years when I look at the IFComp from a non-involved perspective, so to speak, I begin to wonder if this is no more than a Mac games exhibition or something. A big foul apple (no pun intended). Interactive Fiction games running in Windows are definately under-represented in the comp! And that’s no joke. But yeh yeh, keep the penguins calling us hilarious. You don’t care about our shit. We don’t care about yours. Personally I refuse to play or review any interactive fiction game which has not “Windows” written on it.
I don’t get your point though. There’s one Windows game, and no Mac or Linux games at all.
Unless you mean that you prefer games that require Windows and should not run on other platforms. If that’s the case, then I have trouble understanding the reason why this would be a good thing.
PS:
Windows is superior to everything else, but this doesn’t have anything to do with being able to play the games on other platforms too.
Games running on multiple platforms are not a bad thing. I agree. But bashing a game and not reviewing it, just because it is designed for Windows only, is what I have trouble understanding.
Windows is cool, but it’s certainly not superior. Every Windows user, not just me, will tell you that. The good news is though: Windows gets better. After XP came Vista which wasn’t that bad. After Vista came Windows 7 which is a lot better. But still Windows is WIP and it needs more improvement.
I won’t/can’t get drawn into the Windows vs. Macs vs. Linux debate – been down that road too many times over the past umpteen years – BUT …
… it seems to me (what little I’ve poked around) that the IF community is already small enough without drawing additional lines in the sand regarding operating systems. The main reason I began playing with Inform is because Z-Code runs in a browser via Parchment, which seems to be essentially platform independent. Getting people to play IF is already a big enough hurdle in and of itself. Why make it even more difficult by having players have to install one (or more) applications to play your game?
Personally, I like the idea of coding a game on my PC and then trying it out later on my iPad. I think by lowering the “cost of admission” to a simple web link, you are greatly expanding your potential audience.
By the way, I didn’t meant to imply that I was above discussing the differences between operating systems, only that, after having had the same argument for going on two decades now (not here, of course), I’ve said all I can say on the topic. In my house I have XP and Windows 7 clients talking to Windows 2003 and Linux servers, syncing with and delivering content to a smattering of iPods, iPhones, and at least one iPad.
I think some of the features that TADS and Hugo can provide are awesome … I just wish they translated more easily into Java/Flash/HTML5(?).
However, after downloading it I don’t know what to do with it. It doesn’t unzip as an app. If you manually add the .app suffix, it claims to be a Mac Classic Environment file. Is it an executable or something else? Does anyone happen to know how to get it working?
OK, that Mac OS X version of Scott Free seems to be a dead end. So here’s how I played R on Mac OS X.
I already had the Amiga emulator UAE, so I downloaded the Amiga version of Scott Free. Unfortunately it requires certain library files to function which only come on a full installation of Amiga Workbench. So I got the Workbench disks, configured a virtual shared Amiga/Mac hard drive in UAE, installed Workbench, copied the Scott Free files and R.dat onto the drive and finally was able to run Scott Free and play R on an Amiga on a Mac.
This took hours to work out and configure (and to find the necessary Amiga images etc.), but of course I got the perverse satisfaction that comes from completing such tasks, and from running something like an emulator within an emulator. And I got to enjoy R!
