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At this point, after having been a gamer (though I've never really been fanatical about it) ever since childhood in the 1980s... I just don't care if my Mac pla

At this point, after having been a gamer (though I've never really been fanatical about it) ever since childhood in the 1980s... I just don't care if my Mac plays big-budget AAA games at this point. Like most software professionals, I work a lot of hours, and my time is limited. So when it comes to leisure-time, I generally want my games to "just work." I don't want to see a game on the Mac App Store and then spend a bunch of time Googling forums and stuff to see if the port's any good and if it will actually run decently on my Mac hardware, and then do some more experimentation with settings and everything to actually get it to run acceptably. A little bit of console hacking can be fun; sometimes I enjoy tinkering with old consoles to get better video output or whatever. But that stuff is 100% optional. Besides, these days, I'm more into indie-style 2D games than 60-hour immersive "epics" that cost $40mil to make but still have the same basic game mechanics as Daikatana. And a lot of those Unity-based 2D-ish games run pretty well on MacOS. Plus, I don't know. I think I actually like having my Mac be my "dedicated work machine." It's hard enough to get work done with the Internet beckoning; it'd probably be even harder if all my favorite games were just a click away too. Then again, maybe that's just the Stockholm syndrome talking.

rz2k 9y ago
I really enjoyed some of the games for Mac in the 80s. It seemed like the authors didn't much know what they were doing, but they were really creative. Almost like it was the work of clever amateurs instead of actual professionals. I haven't played games on my computer in a long while. What are some of the good indie-style 2D games now?
- JohnBooty 9y ago
  Almost like it was the work of clever amateurs instead of actual professionals. I liked that era too! Not Mac games in particular; just the era when everything wasn't so same-y. Everything felt almost like outsider art. Created by small teams on small budgets so they were free to experiment! But, I think we've returned to that level of creativity. Computers are powerful enough that neat games can be coded in high-level languages, so we don't need assembly-language savants to make something that runs well. =) I haven't played games on my computer in a long while. What are some of the good indie-style 2D games now? There's been a resurgence of Rogue-likes, many of which use a twin stick control scheme so you can move in one direction and shoot in another. I put a lot of hours into Enter the Gungeon. There's Cave Story, ten years old at this point, but a loving and amazing (and cute) tribute to the Metroidvania genre. The original was created by a single person, and there have been some graphically updated versions. Those are two I've personally put a lot of time into. There are tons more on Steam, PSN, Xbox Live, and Nintendo's eShop... Stardew Valley and Darkest Dungeon are two I have my eyes on to play next. Honestly when I need a new game I usually just google "best indie games of 2015" or "best indie games of 2016" hahaha. The recommendation engines on Steam and the other online services are actually pretty good too. I would never buy a game just because Steam recommended it, but when they recommended something to me, it's usually worth Googling for reviews and videos of it.

rz2k 9y ago

I really enjoyed some of the games for Mac in the 80s. It seemed like the authors didn't much know what they were doing, but they were really creative. Almost like it was the work of clever amateurs instead of actual professionals. I haven't played games on my computer in a long while. What are some of the good indie-style 2D games now?

JohnBooty 9y ago
Almost like it was the work of clever amateurs instead of actual professionals. I liked that era too! Not Mac games in particular; just the era when everything wasn't so same-y. Everything felt almost like outsider art. Created by small teams on small budgets so they were free to experiment! But, I think we've returned to that level of creativity. Computers are powerful enough that neat games can be coded in high-level languages, so we don't need assembly-language savants to make something that runs well. =) I haven't played games on my computer in a long while. What are some of the good indie-style 2D games now? There's been a resurgence of Rogue-likes, many of which use a twin stick control scheme so you can move in one direction and shoot in another. I put a lot of hours into Enter the Gungeon. There's Cave Story, ten years old at this point, but a loving and amazing (and cute) tribute to the Metroidvania genre. The original was created by a single person, and there have been some graphically updated versions. Those are two I've personally put a lot of time into. There are tons more on Steam, PSN, Xbox Live, and Nintendo's eShop... Stardew Valley and Darkest Dungeon are two I have my eyes on to play next. Honestly when I need a new game I usually just google "best indie games of 2015" or "best indie games of 2016" hahaha. The recommendation engines on Steam and the other online services are actually pretty good too. I would never buy a game just because Steam recommended it, but when they recommended something to me, it's usually worth Googling for reviews and videos of it.