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Mac/iPad/Android Integration

W

Winter's Knight

New member
I'm running Realm Works off Parallels on my Mac at home. The program is pretty dope and I know it's still under development. But you guys missed the mark in developing this product just for the PC.

It would be awesome to bring my laptop when I go out gaming (which doesn't have parallels), log into Realm Works and route the player view into a tablet. I think it's a great program, I cannot justify renewing my subscription without better Mac/App integration.
 
There will be a web client that (through the magic of the internet) will be agnostic to operating systems and hardware for players. So even those Linux users should be able to enjoy RW goodness.
 
Winter's Knight said:
But you guys missed the mark in developing this product just for the PC.
Click to expand...

No, they pretty much nailed it.

Can't macs run windows programs these days? That's all I hear from mac people - they don't need a dedicated windows machine anymore. Of course, I don't personally know any mac people anymore, they all switched to windows or andriod depending on their needs - ymmv...

Why spend tons of development time writing for an additional platform that spends its time trying to run software from the platform you're targeting in the first place?


Also, as mentioned above, the web-based client will run from any modern browser which covers android, windows, linux, osx, and even ios (which is pretty useless for web browsing (no flash) until html5 is more commonly adopted)
 
Thank's for the clarification on the upcoming web client. I didn't intend to start any operating system wars on this thread. I'm a brand new customer who's not a techie and happens to use a mac. I missed out on the kickstarter and I just downloaded RW last night. I think it's a great piece of software.

I use parallels to run Windows on my home computer. I have a laptop which utilizes iOS (sorry), without Windows integration. As a customer, I thought Lone Wolf would want this kind of feedback--to know their client base.

I guess the FAQ confused me a little--which should be clarified, because RW operates perfectly in Parallels. With the web client, my needs will be met.
 
Actually they are working on the Mac Client. It is not a missed mark at all.
@Lifer4700 I realize you may or may not like OSX or iOS operating systems... but like it or not they run extremely well though not as widely supported for what ever reason. iOS is still one of the standards as far as tablet and mobile base systems because of the stability and consistency through out all the builds and formats.

Owning both Macs and an iPad and PC machines and Android tablets. I will say for stability.. I will take the iPad and Mac every day of the week.

I have a Win 8 and a Win 7 machine and I absolutely hate the Win 8 OS. It is a huge mistake on MS's part to have developed it the way they did.

So I will be patient to see what Lone Wolf comes up with when they do. I have enjoyed their products thus far and trust that they will come up with a product for my Mac eventually :)

Meanwhile I will use my Win 7 Laptop to run RW and my Win 8 Desktop to run my high end games for MMO's and my Macbook Pro for everything else. For playing a character in Pathfinder Society I will use my iPad for my character with the Hero Lab app and my Android system for making phone calls and enjoying the App Market for both of them!! :)
 
@Nikmal - For stability I'll take my Windows machines any day. I had 3 Win XP systems at my apartment (I hosted regular LAN parties), and they were far more stable than my roommate's Mac. They all ran for over 2 years without reboot, while his Mac bombed every few months or so. He uses Windows now. Win 7 is just as stable for me (can't be more stable).

I figure why have one machine that runs Windows just for the things that only run in Windows, then run a Mac or Linux for the things you can run on Windows also? I've tried loving Linux as a desktop, but I always end up having to go back to Windows for something or other. I keep Linux as my non-GUI server. I can't afford a Mac just to browse the web.

I don't run virus scanners because I don't get viruses. I don't run as administrator, that's just silly.

I'm not a bit fan of the windows 8 "Tiles" either, but thankfully, I can just go to the "desktop"

I wish Hero Lab viewer was available for Android, but since I don't play Pathfinder much anymore, I suppose that doesn't really matter to me. I am not going to spend the highly exorbitant prices Apple charges for their proprietary, overly-restrictive tablets just to use Hero Labs viewer. I used to use my Win 8 Laptop for live Hero Lab, but lately, I just use MS Remote Desktop from my Android.
 
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Winter's Knight said:
... RW operates perfectly in Parallels. With the web client, my needs will be met.
Click to expand...

I'm happy to hear it!


Contrary to popular belief, I don't care that other people use OX or iOS, there's no need to apologize! Never apologize for your choices in life if you truly believe in them.

I just have yet to see anything from them worthy of my hard earned money. I just don't "get it" when it comes to macs/ipads - I've used them, and my first two thoughts were "meh", and "you paid how much?!?"



But I am 100% behind you guys in asking for the non-denominational web client, so we can all get access regardless of our religious persuasion!
 
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I guess between this and the billions of mac-only writing programs (e.g. any decent and actually up-to-date version of Scrivener), I dare say the score is tied.
 
At the risk of inciting further OS argumentation... I too would like to see a version of Realm Works that I can run on my MacBook without having to download Parallels or the like. When I kickstarted this project, I mistakenly presumed it would have native Mac support on launch day. I have no interest in OS emulation, and so I actually haven't gotten to use the software yet.

If the aforementioned web client fills this role, that's fine by me. Could someone provide a link to details on said web client? (I couldn't find anything with a brief site search.) Additionally, would it be safe to assume that a web client will require an Internet connection the entire time it is in use? (As opposed to say, the Windows client, which sounds like it requires a connection only when creating a new realm.)

In the long run, I would ultimately prefer a version of Realm Works that was native to Mac OS X and didn't rely heavily on an active Internet connection to use. My friends and I like to play our games while camping or visiting remote locations where Internet is scarce, so being able to use Realm Works offline would be a huge plus.

Anyway, the March update email from Lone Wolf asked for product feedback, including feature requests, so the developers would know where to focus their efforts going forward. I hope this post sheds some light on one at least one customer's thoughts.

Thanks!
 
@PatrickRenie - I believe the Web Client is going to be mostly, if not entirely, designed for players to connect and view content. I don't think there will be any authoring capability.

I think the intent was to do any authoring in the the rich client.


However, I could be completely off-base here... Rob? Liz? Anyone? Any help on this one?


I'm trying to find the previous post where this was discussed...
 
Here is the link to the thread where we discussed Player View functionality. I learned a few things about the way the software has been designed.


1) The purchased software, I'll call it the Rich Client, is where the authoring is going to take place. In this form it is also called the GM Client. An internet connection is only required to create a Realm, and when you want to sync information to The Cloud. Once a Realm is created, it is theoretically possible to never connect again, performing all authoring and playing all game sessions using only the existing install and zero internet connectivity. The Player View - commonly displayed on a 2nd monitor - is used to display revealed information to the players.

2) A Rich Client could also join an existing realm, created by another GM using their Rich Client. In this use, however, the Rich Client does not have authoring capabilities, and is simply a viewer of revealed information. This would require internet connectivity to The Cloud to sync, but I don't believe it would be required after that... except to get updates from the GM.

This is all that exists today. In the future, Wolf Lair may release two other clients.

3) A purchasable Rich Client, that is simply a Player Client. This will act like #2 above. I think this version is unlikely.

4) A Web Client, (free?). This will behave similarly to #2 & #3 above, except that it would require a constant connection to The Cloud. This requires only a modern web browser.


DISCLAIMER: This is how I understand it. I could be wrong - it's happened before!
 
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@PatrickRenie: Here's the info about the Mac that we have posted on our FAQ...

Q: When will Realm Works work on the Mac?
A: The answer to that is unknown at the moment. When we first began development of Realm Works, we chose C# and .Net as our environment for a number of reasons. One of those reasons was the existence of the Mono project, which would allow us to readily port Realm Works over to the Mac. Unfortunately, our latest assessment of Mono revealed that a few portions of .Net that we leverage within Realm Works are not supported by Mono, which means we aren’t able to perform the port as we had intended. We’ll be investigating this more fully now that Realm Works is released, after which we’ll hopefully have more accurate information on where things stands vis-à-vis our use of Mono.

To delve in a bit further...

The Kickstarter was targeted from the outset as a native Windows product, with the same stated goal as above. Our intent was to use Mono to port the resulting Windows product over to the Mac. The problem is that Mono has made some choices about what parts of .Net to support (or, more accurately, what NOT to support) that leave us over a barrel right now. Once the dust settles a bit after the launch, we'll circle back and re-assess exactly where things stand with Mono, after which we can determine how best to proceed vis-a-vis the Mac.

Rewriting the entirety of Realm Works using a different toolset for the Mac would be a mammoth undertaking that is almost certainly not a viable option. Once we assess how much work would be involved in getting a native Mac version into place now that Mono is a gimped path for us, we'll be able to determine how best to move forward regarding the Mac. However, we simply don't have the necessary information at the present time.

Sorry I don't have more detailed information right now, but we need to spend some time analyzing the situation before we can provide anything more useful. :(
 
@lifer4700: There are a few conclusions you've drawn that are incorrect. Allow me to clarify things...

First of all, the plan is to start with the web-based version as a feature-limited version of the native Windows client and then EVOLVE it into the same full-featured product over time. Obviously, there are certain limitations of web-based applications that will influence how we implement some of those features, so there will definitely be differences between the two. However, the goal is to evolve the web-based version to support everything we can that's in the disconnected, desktop client.

Why are we planning this? Because then we can support everyone's favorite device, including the ones that haven't been announced yet and that will appear in the years ahead. An internet connection will be required, but the internet is becoming progressively more ubiquitous every year, so a number of years from now it will be very uncommon for someone to not have an internet connection. At that point, the liability of requiring an internet connection will diminish to the point where the desktop client that can run offline isn't all that important anymore.

The "purchasable Rich Client that is simply a Player Client" is ABSOLUTELY going to happen. That's the Player Edition that we've already announced for release in May. It's basically the same as the GM Edition, except that all the editing capabilities will be stripped out and syncing to the cloud will need to only send down the content that has actually been revealed to that player.

Hope this helps! :)
 
Rob, thanks for the thorough explanation with regards to Mac version.

For me personally this means that I will not be able to use Realm Works anytime soon - to invest into Windows virtualization means to invest about $300+ and that is a huge investment I am not willing to take now…
 
I too supported the kickstarter because I believed them when they said they'd be developing for the OS X. I'm quite disappointed that they've downplayed that commitment but can't say I don't understand the reasoning or the logistics behind the choice. An official update on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Running a virtual machine isn't really an option as I don't want to pay for the window's license required to do so.
 
Bad information in this post. Ignore.

I too would like a real Mac version. Running a VM is good, but you lose resources.
 
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However, I remember in the kickstarter they were clear that it would be windows first, and that a VM would be required for OS X.
 
Mac version

Since I don't have a PC with Windows, I'd really like a version for the Mac OS. The software looks great and I'd really like to try it out. My other machine is Linux so I might as well put in a plug for that OS too.
 
Please do a native version for the Mac

Hi. Please do a full OS X port, with a designed-for-Mac UI. I backed the Kickstarter with this in mind, though not expecting the UI retool.

I know it's a much bigger task than you anticipated so I would be willing to kick in more beyond my original Timber Wolf ($65) amount to get something usable without Parallels or VMWare. OS X is a growing platform, and if you also did an iPad version there would be a lot of synergy–and even shared code–especially with some of the changes in iOS 8 and Yosemite.

Thanks,

Rick Blair
 
Mac Version update please

I note the last post on this was in 2014. Is there any update on the availability of Realm Works for Mac please?
 
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