Mac version?

[Thunderforge]

This may be anathema for a game that was popularized for being included in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows, but would it be possible to have a Mac port of this wonderful game? I primarily use a MacBook and would prefer to not have to switch to Windows to play it.

[kilicool64]

I really doubt this is going to happen. The game runs on an ancient engine made by Microsoft, so it would probably have to be recreated in a completely different engine in order to be ported.

[Allack]

Originally posted by Thunderforge:

This may be anathema for a game that was popularized for being included in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows, but would it be possible to have a Mac port of this wonderful game? I primarily use a MacBook and would prefer to not have to switch to Windows to play it.

No as pointed out by kilicool64 the code is now nearly 30 years old, so porting to the mac is not really an option. However Chuck's Challenge 3D does would for Mac, which Chuck's also created:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/262590/Chucks_Challenge_3D/

[Surlent Black]

OP, while noncommercial, and while I personally grabbed this and the sequel to show my appreciation/support, TileWorld exists for GNU/Linux, Windows, and OS X. If you can get a copy of the actual original MS game (since this remake/wrapper? uses a different file format) it can use the original data files for levels, and even without it, there's a ton of user-made levels. Those guys have remade the engine pretty much from scratch, and while it's not always entirely perfect, I gather, it does seem pretty serviceable. It's said that the original author of Chip's Challenge gave it his blessing, if not his copyrights (which I believe were held by another company because of convoluted business reasons until recently), and convinced the TW author to implement the Lynx ruleset, interestingly enough. Given that, I'm curious as to why this version was done instead of working with the TileWorld folks similarly how other companies have utilized DOSBox (or at least making it in SDL or some other cross-platform fashion, like e.g. ADOM). While it doesn't handle CC2, to my knowledge, it could be at least a partial solution or at least fun.

On a personal note, hearing "it can't be done because it's old" makes me really want to try it myself, especially considering the successes of TW. I'm pretty curious about the development in general, really, but that's a topic for another time, I guess.

[Thunderforge]

Sadly, the Mac port of Tile World is 32-bit only, meaning that after the upcoming macOS 10.14 "Mojave", it will no longer be runnable on a Mac.

[Surlent Black]

If that's the case, and you're interested, maybe reach out and inquire as to the possibility of a 64-bit port? If the Mac port is still actively being maintained, it is also quite possible that such plans are already in the works, of course, but people showing interest is always encouraging.

[IHNN]

The short answer for why this version was released vs. a Tile World port is that this version existed before Tile World, as it's on the same engine as Chip's Challenge 2, which was made well before Tile World came about.

The longer answer is the same as the shorter answer but also adds that Tile World is licensed under an open source public license, the original developer of it is inactive (though made a small accuracy fix a couple years ago) and Tile World 2 gets more active effort. (though still very little, and mostly from one of two people)