Can it really be that hard to make Starbound compatible with OSX 10.6.8?

Seriously, you've already made it compatible with Windows XP. As far as I'm aware a lot of people have OSX 10.6.8 on computers with 32 bit processors (which makes it impossible to install newer, 64 bit updates) and it should really be a priority to fix this issue.

 

It probably is that hard, otherwise they would have done it.

 

Dude, it's compatible with an operating system from 12 years ago.

 

Things written for Windows generally work very nicely with different versions of Windows, since there's that Compatibility thing. I don't know whether Mac is like that or not. If it was easy, don't you think they would have done it?

 

I think it's entirely possible that they're concentrating on other things instead of this. Most software for newer versions of OSX is easily made compatible with Snow Leopard.

 

Age doesn't matter in compatibility. OSX is quite different from any version of windows, like how Ubuntu is as different from Windows. Don't complain about incompatibilities saying it's easy to do unless you know yourself what the hell needs to be fixed. I for sure don't, I don't know anything about OSX's stuff, other than its not like Win7/WinXP/Win8/Vista at all.

 

One possibility would be to use bootcamp on your mac. It's a pretty popular thing to do in the gaming-on-Mac-community.

 

Is it possible? Probably. But Apple has always made it extremely hard for developers to keep things backwards compatible. I'm not sure why, but if I had to guess it would be partially to keep a tight control on their system which is good for security, and also to require people to keep their system up to date. So I would say it is difficult, but possible.

 

Making Starbound compatible with Mac and Linux would only slow down it's development out of beta, and probably a great deal. I don't see why the majority of the customers playing Starbound should be held up for the sake of the minority. Ultimately you choose to use an OSX , so this issue rests with you, and it is not fair to take away from everyone else.

Maybe it is something they can work on after the full release.

 

I wouldn't call it an issue since that is a bit to hard pressed. I agree that majority goes before minority as it is usually the case.
But remember: you can run Windows alongside your Mac by using the well known Bootstrap application.

 

I'm sure it will happen with time. Remember, this is an indie company with limited resources and manpower.

 

If it isn't that hard, tell them how to do it. Otherwise it isn't because is actually that hard and the mayority of people use windows, so making it work for windows is prioritized

 

A disk partition could be a good alternative, I'm considering doing that after fixing some issues with my computer's file permissions (I've tried running Windows 7 on a virtual machine and got an error message, haven't really looked into it yet).

As for delaying Mac and Linux compatibility fixes due to the smaller number of users, I really don't think this is a good argument in the slightest. Sure, the game is in beta stages, but it's still advertised as being Mac and Linux compatible and people bought it expecting it to work – or at least to do so in the near future. You think it's unfair for the majority to have to wait longer, I think it's unfair that some people who bought a game can play it with bugs and some others can´t play it at all.

I may not know the exact technical reasons why Starbound can't run on older Macs right now, but I do know that lots of software has been made backwards compatible and if there's a specific explanation for this being hard or impossible to fix I'd rather hear it from the developers instead of getting speculations from people who admittedly don't know much about the subject. I do understand that they're an indie company and I really do appreciate the work they put into the game; if this was EA I'd probably feel duped and outraged, right now I'm honestly just impatient. I'm actually completely willing to collaborate absolutely free of charge on graphics or translations in exchange for an earlier compatibility fix.

For the record, in my particular case, I didn't choose to use OSX. I got my computer seven years ago and cannot afford a new one right now.

 

Most of the arguments you give cannot stand when you consider that this game isn't released yet. They can do whatever they want with the game because they only promised ANYTHING when the game is ready (as is with any game in alpha/beta). People buying to expect things to work should know better when the developers even pointed out that you should expect crashes and bugs.

I understand that you want to play this game badly. But see it as still being developed instead of being released. Instead of a virtual machine, try bootcamp, it'll probably work right away.

 

Yes. Compatible with Mac and Linux.

WHEN IT'S RELEASED

We're still in beta man, let them take their time. Not to mention, switching from Windows to Mac is NOT easy in the slightest. It's not an easy feat at all, considering they run with different codecs and files, and that's just the surface of it. Compatibility issues during the beta stages of the game are usually the LEAST of dev's worries across any game. They're more worried about bringing the game to the finished state. We're lucky we even GOT windows compatibility fixes. So as I said, LET THEM WORK. If people want it so bad on Mac, they'll get to it eventually. Things take time.

...

So for a short answer to your question: Yes. It is that hard to make a compatibility fix.

 

I don't know..... if you think it's so easy why don't you do it?

 

Somebody who has never developed a video game is in this thread.

 

Windows is a DOS base system
MAC is UNIX base system

you,ll probably have to rewritte codes and fix bugs, crashes, video and sound card issues , etc.

for now just use {Parallel Desktop} on your MAC, I preffer that than bootcamp.

 

Apply cool water to the burned area, reggaelizard; this is why certification for Apple devices is (almost) worthless in the IT world.

 

So you're saying that I'll have to wait an undetermined amount of time to play a game that I just paid for? I thought I was getting a game on steam, not kickstarter.