Id Software’s Graeme Devine recently update his .plan file with details about the Mac OS X-compatible build of the Return to Castle Wolfenstein multiplayer test. There’s great news for Mac gamers. A full build of the multiplayer test — including the installer — is now ready for download from Id Software’s servers.
“Well, I’ve been getting a few hundred emails a day from people testing the OS X build of RTCW,” said Devine. “Thanks for ALL the feedback, unbelievably positive. I’ve done my best to keep up with all of you in replying, but this morning, with 413 still unread, it’s a wee bit daunting. Thanks also for all the icons, wallpapers, and so forth.
The Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW) multiplayer test has been released to enable users on Windows, Linux and the Mac to test out the core multiplayer technology used by the forthcoming game. RtCW utilizes Id’s own Quake 3 Arena engine, and puts players in the role of an allied officer trapped behind Nazi lines in World War II. The story incorporates an offbeat plot that centers on Nazi interest in the occult — it’s the latest installment of a game that was last seen even before Id’s legendary (and now ancient) first person shooter Doom was released.
“I’ll be putting up a full public installer today. We’ve moved the network protocol on internally, which makes making compatible builds from here on in much harder, but a bunch of the bugs found by the OS X testers helped greatly in tracking down general bugs for all platforms.”
It appears that the full public installer is now available for download via FTP (64.7MB) from Id Software’s servers. This may help resolve the problems of some users who weren’t able to get the game to run, because up until now, users have had to download the PC version for its data files, then install the Mac application separately.
With this, it appears that Devine will be refocusing his attention on other work — he’s also helping to develop the new Doom game, which was first shown to attendees of Macworld Expo in Tokyo, Japan this past February. He has some very complimentary words for Apple regarding Mac OS X, as well.
“It’s time for me to get back to DOOM stuff, I’ve been coding for it under OS X btw, using the builds of 10.1 that Apple has been dropping to me. 10.1 is an excellent OS. I can’t wait for MS Office under X native as well.”
Devine has a long and storied history in the computer game world. If you’re a fan of his work, you’re probably familiar with The 7th Guest, a horror-themed puzzle game that put players in a house haunted by the spirit of a demented toy-maker. It was a landmark game, and remains a classic to this day. Devine has surprising news for fans of The 7th Guest, as well.
“Next up for my spare time I think I’m going to finish off this little side project … it’s a native Cocoa 7th Guest client that plays the game if you have the CDs. I get a lot of requests for that, and Trilobyte is still around kicking, owned by me and owns all the rights, so perhaps one day something will happen there,” said Devine.