PlayFirst CTO, founder talks about Mac games
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Aug 21, 2008 at 11:44am
Brad Edelman, CTO and founder of Playfirst, a publisher of casual games, has published his first “Making it Mac” blog. We’re reprinted it here with PlayFirst’s permission: I’m not entirely sure this is rational, but I believe in Macs.
I’ve been an Apple fan since 1980, when I first started programming on an Apple ][. When I began reading about the Macintosh in 1983, it immediately captured my imagination. It was cool and special, with a groundbreaking user-friendly interface and sleek industrial design. I wasn’t able to get a Macintosh right away, but in 1984 I bought a mouse for my Apple ][ and started writing mouse-driven software. Finally, in 1989, I got my first Macintosh – an SE/30. I have fond memories of that cute but powerful machine. In the late 1990’s, Microsoft Windows finally started to narrow the gap between Macs and PCs, and if I say any more than that, I’m likely to incite war between the platform devotees! These days, I actually spend more time on my PC, but I still love my Macs (and I don’t “love” my PC), and I have always believed in making cross-platform products.
What does that mean here at PlayFirst? It means that we’re committed to releasing our games simultaneously for both PCs and Macs. Making the game for both platforms requires more software engineering, more quality assurance, and more customer service, but our experience allows us to be strategic and the effort more than pays for itself. Many companies release PC versions of their games first and then come out with a Mac version, but our approach keeps both versions in lock-step from the earliest milestones.
Because Apple has a smaller and famously passionate consumer base, there’s a lot they can do to push the envelope. They are usually first to market with new technologies. They have a lot of control over their products and are very aggressive about upgrades—all Mac users are expected to be using the latest system. This enables Apple’s pace of innovation, but also can make life hard on PlayFirst as a software developer. As a game publisher, we take great pains to trouble shoot problems and release glitch-free gameplay experiences. However, sometimes Apple’s aggressive upgrades pull the rug out from under us – a game that works today doesn’t always work tomorrow. Or sometimes, it will only work tomorrow, like when Apple fixes a video driver bug, but only if you upgrade to 10.5 (they will actually just leave things broken in 10.4). This can be frustrating from a customer support viewpoint, but hey! I told you my love for Mac was irrational.
We haven’t let the challenge stop us, though, and happily count Mac users as a significant portion of our audience here at PlayFirst. Here’s a quick review of some of our best offers for Mac users:
We have over 60 games on our site available to Mac users
The following games are Mac only on our site:
* Elythril: The Elf Treasure * BoXplosion * Checkers Challenge * Bubble Shooter™ * TetriBox * Blue Reef Sudoku * Bubble Snooker * Solitaire StudioWe’re releasing Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, Seasonal Snack Pack (The first five add-on restaurants bundled together just for Macs)
We simultaneously release PC and Mac products for all PlayFirst games
Mac, for its part, has often loved us back. We frequently find ourselves in Apple.com’s Top 10 downloads and often have games featured on their download site for over a week. Currently, we have over sixty Mac titles available on PlayFirst.com. Some titles, like Elythril and TetriBox, are ONLY available to Mac users—cool! The one time we weren’t able to achieve simultaneous release was with the Diner Dash: Hometown Hero restaurants—releasing one original game and one original restaurant a month in different platforms (i.e., four separate feats of engineering) was more volume than we could manage. Solution? We’re releasing a bundled product that makes the first five Hometown Hero restaurants available to Mac users. It’s called the Seasonal Snack Pack and you can find it on PlayFirst.com.
There’s no doubt that it would be easier to release games just for PC, that’s not what we’re about. At PlayFirst, we create engaging story worlds that capture imaginations and make those experiences available everywhere consumers want to play. And consumers want to play on PCs, on mobile, on handhelds and consoles, on iPhones (stay tuned!) and, oh yes, on Macs.
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
