Sheeplings for Mac - please test

Community Forums/Showcase/Sheeplings for Mac - please test

Karja(Posted 2007) [#1]
What is it?
Wolves, eagles, bandits - everyone is after your cute little friends! Protect and guide the sheep through more than 80 wool-raising levels in this thrilling arcade game, until you finally reach your goal: the sheep-jumping competition in Woollyville.

Screenshot
http://www.sheeplings.com/screenshots/ss8.jpg (gameplay)

What's new?
Sheeplings v1.01 is now available for both Windows and Mac! But I'm the first to admit that I don't know anything about Macs, so I'd really like some feedback on this. Have I forgotten something? Have I packaged things wrong? Does it work well for Mac? Please download the game and let me know!

Demo download
Mac download (dmg) (8 MB)
Mac download (zip) (8 MB)
Windows download (8 MB)

System requirements (Mac)
Intel only, Mac OS X 10.4.4.

Questions
Soo, does it work? Would it be okay with releasing just an Intel version or must I find someone with a PPC? Is the packaging sufficient? I tried Iceberg, but I just couldn't decide where the default installation should be - and all other games I checked out simply distributed a zip file. And finally: which is the "correct" way to do this, a dmg file or a zip file?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm a Mac newbie!


JazzieB(Posted 2007) [#2]
At work at the moment, so can't test. But anyway, DMG is the norm for Mac downloads. I've had problems in the past with ZIP files, as the file permissions weren't stored properly - at least that's what appeared to happen.

As for where a user installs them, typically the user decides by dragging the contents of the DMG to where they want to install it. Although, this should be the Applications folder, but doesn't have to be.


Matty(Posted 2007) [#3]
Sorry don't own a Macintosh but I did download and play it on my WindowsXP machine. I really enjoyed playing the game although I'm unlikely to play it again (simply because I don't play many games) and so would find the demo sufficient entertainment (I'm not likely to spend a full 60 minutes playing it..5 was enough to satisfy me).

Really nice gameplay although there doesn't seem to be a limit on 'barking' and you get points for it every time? (albeit minor). Silly thought:It made me feel like I was playing soccer with the 'dog' kicking the 'sheep' around.

Congratulations on completing your game...I think it's something my mum would play (if she played games).


WendellM(Posted 2007) [#4]
I tried the .dmg on my Mac. It unpacked fine, but since mine is PowerPC, it naturally won't run (clicking on the unpacked Sheeplings icon gives the expected "You cannot open the application 'Sheeplings' because it may be damaged or incomplete").

The .exe installed and ran fine on my PC in XP. It's a nice-looking game, seems polished with smooth animation and good graphics, and I like the different game theme.

Before I noticed that your specs include Windows 2000 or higher, I tried it under Win 98. it installed fine but gave a "The SHEEPLINGS.EXE file is linked to missing export SHELL32.DLL:SHGetFolderPathW." error when I tried to run it.


Karja(Posted 2007) [#5]
Thanks for testing the game, and thanks for the hints on how Mac installers should be! Very glad to hear that you like what you see - I'm always full of critique for my own work, so I'm pleasantly surprised each time. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I haven't done something weird with the Mac compile...

Oh, and yeah.. I use SHGetFolderPathW to get the appdata dir; it requires shell32.dll (comes with...IE 4 or something like that?). So unfortunately it's a no-go for Win98. I toyed with the idea of making the game compatible with Win98 as well, but when I've tried it in VMWare it doesn't seem to run properly even if shell32.dll is present. ...I reckon that the amount of user with Win98 is too small to warrant an investigation right now - better to focus on Mac.


unlikely(Posted 2007) [#6]
It works perfectly on my Intel Mac.

Not related to the package itself: I like the game, nice gameplay, graphics, sound, etc. :) I'm in the same boat as Matty though. It feels a little... strange... that there is no limit to 'barking' even though it seems like you get points for it. I just corralled the sheep into a corner and barked at them for extra points. Am I missing something?

Also, is there going to be a ReadMe / Manual file included in the package at some point? Even though a nice introduction is included in the first quest, is seems like a ReadMe or equivalent is fairly standard practice for downloads.

One last comment. :) Since Mac users are going to be dragging the DMG's contents onto their hard drive and the media is not included in the .app, they will likely need to create a folder first. As a very minor convenience, you _might_ want to put the contents into a folder on the DMG. Of course that's optional, and you might want to leave the files seperate for appearance's sake.

Nice job on completing it and good luck on future projects. :)


Karja(Posted 2007) [#7]
Phew, that's great to hear! And good point about the readme file - I'll make a separate folder for the game, and include a readme file.

Oh right, forgot to mention the barking thing... Basically, I like to have multiple ways to clear stages; there's always a quick "correct" way to do it, that will yield a high score and five stars. However, if you really suck--erm, want to explore other methods, you can bark at the sheep for a very low point amount until you've racked up enough to get five stars anyway. (That is, until you get to the timed levels...)

My idea with the game is to make it relatively non-linear in that you can select levels as you wish, and also complete them in various ways. Time will tell if it proves to be a good idea or not...


unlikely(Posted 2007) [#8]
Ah, timed levels. :) Haven't gotten there yet. I'll keep playing.