And finally the macOS port has arrived 
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Soonâ˘
I strongly suspect the developers donât wish to cause themselves an insurmountable number of issues supporting multiple platforms at once during development. Personally, I would much rather they focus on getting the game developed and working, with the content they envisage, and then porting to Linux/MacOS when theyâre done. That way they wonât have wasted precious development time fixing bugs and issues on numerous platforms, dealing with numerous branches, etcetera. They wouldnât be anywhere near as far into development as they are if they had these issues to contend with as well.
To my knowledge, very few games are developed natively for Linux or MacOS, so why would you expect this one to be any different? Isnât almost every game on those platforms a port from another original platform (primarily Windows)? When you back a product, you back it to eventually (hopefully) receive the final product when itâs ready, often with no promise or even an indication as to how long the game may take to develop. This is the nature of crowdsourcing. I doubt the developers made you any promises you would be playing it on your chosen platform before the game was complete and properly released.
If youâre really that keen and canât wait, install a Windows partition and come help everyone squash bugs to help development move faster!
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On the Kickstarter, they specifically described the Mac and Linux versions as âports,â which strongly implies if not explicitly states that the Windows version would be completed (for some definition of completed) before a Mac or Linux version would be available.
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Hello, fellow old man: looong time linux user and sysadmin here, so i feel ya; but if Paul the Far Better Than Average remembers correctly, and the wording specifically stated theyâd be ports, well⌠you canât port something that doesnât quite exist yet. I assume you have a fair bit of technical background yourself; envision porting an Alpha in progress and then trying to proceed from there. /shudder
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-snorts drink through nose-
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I think they meant released as in the game is complete, not early access. As early access is a place to alpha/beta test the game in a pre-release state.
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I think everyone is on some level is frustrated at how long itâs taken for them game to complete on some level, of course MacOS/Linux backers most of all.
But I do say that Iâd rather that they finish the game at a high quality at a later date, than push it out in an unfinished state like some other developers have done. Itâs a give and take. And I donât really know where to draw line at unfinished but done on time and done but late.
I donât think Iâm the best person to be asking as 1. I donât have a mac or linux system 2. I havenât supported a ton of early-access/kickstarter games.
I was just putting my interpretation on the wording of the original kickstarter.
Edit: Iâm also an optimistic person (maybe too optimistic) so I do think that the developers will port the game. And seeing that development is on a steady course again I have hopes that said day will be soon (But I suppose that soon is all youâve been hearing.)
Because the developers accepted money on that basis.
Well, they repeatedly stated in their kickstarter that developement on that version would only commence once the game was completed, or at the very least, in beta. The game is in alpha. Core gameplay systems are still being implemented/iterated on. They just overhauled building, implimented a weather system, recoded water physics, implemented a working multiplayer and are currently working on performance and AI tweaks. That is work for alpha development, not beta.
Five years is a long timeâŚWhat do you want a refund? Maybe they would. One thing I will say about these Devâs is they are very actively working on this game and seem to care a great deal about it. It is rare to see such a responsive team so very active on a forum and so responsive to everyone. Backing anything is really a gamble so maybe sometimes you just have to cut your losses. Make a windows partition and enjoy the game is my recommendation. Itâs well worth the trouble.
Cheers.
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It sounds like the issue you have is how long development overall is taking, rather than when Linux/Mac support specifically is implemented (post-beta as the devs clearly stated, and they havenât even started beta).
.
Iâd personally hate to see them release an unfinished and unsatisfying product just to stay on timeline. The reason I bought the game is that I was amazed that the devs are still so committed, enthusiastic, and highly engaged with their playerbase after 5 years in Alpha: this is the cosiest âdevelopment hellâ Iâve ever seen, lol 
. Soooooo many early access games end up being abandoned by the devs or pushed to early release full of bugs and/or lacking the promised gameplay.
Donât get me wrong, I adore Linux but I keep a windows partition on any Linux system cuz porting a game neccesarily has to happen at the very end of development, otherwise the devs end up having to go through beta with three separate games instead of just one.
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@oldmacman i feel with you and i am not a mac/linux user⌠I think you are always fair in your posts and the devs dont collaps in tears, because they are reminded of what was once promised.
Patience is like a neverending desert with no water in ones bottle 
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I do tend to get thirsty when eating dessert. 
I actually always name my desert biome towns after desserts.
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there, thank you for the hint 
Itâs about wanting to suffer through the bugs, changes, and instability with everyone else
well thatâs funnier than just waiting 
i believe (donât really know anything about linux/mac development) that trying to keep more than one plataform at the time would be really time consuming as bug fixing would need to be tested for each one.
also bug reporting wonât be coming at the same frequency causing some drawbacks
as examples
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Looks like, potentially, bad news for Mac. I believe the gameâs been using OpenGL for the graphics so that theyâd be portable, but Appleâs decided to deprecate OpenGL.
Deprecated APIs typically remain present and usable in the system for a reasonable time past the release in which they were deprecated. However, active development on them ceases, and the APIs receive only minor changes to accommodate security patches or to fix other critical bugs. Deprecated APIs may be removed entirely from a future version of the operating system.
So, given the apparent timeline, it looks like Apple may be putting up more barriers to porting. Joy.
Obviously Team Stonehearth shouldâve predicted Apple to stop supporting the most widely-supported multi-platform graphics standard of over two decades and started planning on using Metal for the Apple development a full year before Metal was introduced.
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Who is saying any of that? As far as I can tell, only you.
Make up your mind: are they discriminating against Mac development, or are they just a lot slower in their overall development process than they had hoped/anticipated?
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well, its apple, what did you expect XD they dont like playing nice with others. lol.
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I get the feeling that a macOS version will be coming in Beta. Since the game is now âengine-complete,â they only have to add content that could reasonably be added via modding. Since modding isnât really OS-specific, new features could be added to Windows, Mac, and Linux versions at the same time with no code changes.
Might be wrong here, but it seems reasonable to me.