D&D Game Table not Mac-Compatible at launch

[Nifft]

I'm not about to read 4 pages set @ 50 posts each so a simple answer please, will it be viable on Linux?

Not directly, but perhaps you can soak it in Wine.

:\, -- N

 

[reanjr]

The primary effect a PC-only client will have is force people to find a cross-platform way of running it (parallels, WINE) or crack/reimplement their DRM sooner and create a cross-platform client.

The thing that is bothersome is that making a cross-platform client is not really much harder than a single platform client. It just requires someone to make a decision to do so.

I'm personally a Linux user, so am disappointed, but it will be all worked out by the market.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I just don't get why they're hiring people apparently new to this sort of application. It's not like digital whiteboards haven't been around for years. License one of those, build on that, and you're off to the races, and probably much sooner and in a much more stable form.

 

[Horacio]

Not directly, but perhaps you can soak it in Wine.

:\, -- N

With current data about minimal specifications, and current state of Wine, I doubt.

MAybe in a year Wine will be able to do it... but I don't bet on it...

 

[wedgeski]

The thing that is bothersome is that making a cross-platform client is not really much harder than a single platform client. It just requires someone to make a decision to do so.

And the cross-platform learning curve. And the additional time to market. And the support infrastructure. And umpteen other additional costs that you will *probably* re-coup *only* if you maintain a long-term cross-platform strategy. Being a new arm of the D&D tree, I can perfectly understand Wizards' decision to fall back on a Windows-only model.

I know several Mac evangelists and they're right, it's a fine platform, although personally not my cup of tea. But it's a minority platform, and you all knew it when you bought one. In fact, I would wager for many people that was a very strong reason *why* they bought one. You can't really be shocked at decisions like this.

 

[(contact)]

I just don't get why they're hiring people apparently new to this sort of application. It's not like digital whiteboards haven't been around for years. License one of those, build on that, and you're off to the races, and probably much sooner and in a much more stable form.

I just read on the wizards boards that they decided to go with Direct-X because they "already had in house a direct-X based 3D game engine, and there was no point reinventing something."

So yeah, we're getting that the pursuit of excellence James Wyatt was trumpeting as his design goal for 4e isn't applicable to the Digital Initiative.

Which, when you think about it, is somewhat ironic. If part of the 3e rule-set didn't work for everyone, and there was the possibility of creating a rule-set that did, you can bet it would have been built for 4e, even if it meant extra development time and effort.

 

[Umbran]

So yeah, we're getting that the pursuit of excellence James Wyatt was trumpeting as his design goal for 4e isn't applicable to the Digital Initiative.

Hm. So, failure to meet your particular design standards means it cannot be excellent? Interesting....

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Oh well. Unless they offer a less expensive option for just the aspects of D&D Insider that I can use on my Mac, I guess I will save $120 per year on the subscription. I won't be one of the "kewl kids" with all those optional digital enhancements, but I'll survive.

 

[Castellan]

Hm. So, failure to meet your particular design standards means it cannot be excellent? Interesting....

No, but basing something on Direct-X does. Given all of the Windows-only hiring WotC was doing a few months ago, when I heard about the D&DI, I figured it'd be Windows only.

In this day and age with so many cross platform tools available -- many of them open source -- it's pathetic that Wizards made this kind of crappy decision. However, this extends my experience further:

For Art -> Macs
For Music -> Macs
For Productivity -> Macs
For Programming -> Macs
For Web Design -> Macs
For Security -> Macs
For Games -> Windows

I boot my Mac into Windows whenever I want to play certain games, but that's it. Anything else is done via Mac OS X.

 

[wgreen]

The thing that is bothersome is that making a cross-platform client is not really much harder than a single platform client. It just requires someone to make a decision to do so.

That's what bugs me about it, too. It's really, really not hard.

-Will