Getting things ready

Published October 27, 2006
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Okay, let's see if everything's ready for the Mac release tomorrow. . .

thecodezone.com front page updated. Check.

Storefront page updated with new Mac SKU's. Check.

Database updated with unlock codes and download locations for Mac versions. Check.

Games pages updated to remove "Mac versions coming soon" and adding Mac system requirements. Check.

FAQ page updated to explain what Rosetta is and promising to give out free Universal Binaries (simultaneously speeding up Intel games and jettisoning support for OSX earlier than 10.3) when Zinc is updated with same. Check.

Made DMG files out of the games for upload. Check.

Back-end downloader updated to recognize DMG format (not just EXE and ZIP). Check.

Front-end downloader updated to reflect new SKU's and the option to download DMG files. Check.


. . .danged if I don't think I'm about there.





Oh, and two things I can recommend. One is a thing called "Screenshot Helper" on the Mac. The Mac has loads of key-combinations to make screenshots. Unfortunately, one combination they don't have is the one that snaps your application window along with the surrounding frame and titlebar. If you do an application screenshot, you'll get a shot of just the client area.

So what you have to do is take a snapshot of the entire desktop and crop out everything but your app. But that's a problem too because your app has shadows and such that blend into the desktop. Screenshot Helper fixes this by slapping up a big white window over everything but your app, this making the process of snapping and trimming up your screenshots trivial.

It's free. Google for it.


The next is the combination of Dreamweaver and Fireworks. Fireworks is quite nice because you can overlay vector stuff over bitmap stuff and layer 'em and such. That's a problem for browsers, though, because custom files that combine bitmaps and vectors and layers and such ain't exactly browser-compatible. Dreamweaver, however, allows you to edit the "rich" bitmap format, but then automatically converts it to a more browser-friendly format (i.e. GIF) when you save.

Nice.
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Comments

Ravuya
What about Command-Shift-4?
October 27, 2006 10:24 AM
johnhattan
Similar problem. The windows are alpha-blended against the desktop. Of course, you could always make your desktop white, but this gizmo makes that unnecessary.

Again, it's not a huge convenience, but it's free.
October 27, 2006 01:26 PM
Silvanis
Just so you know, your email directions for downloading the games are still Windows-specific. Step 4 talks about running the game from the start menu, which obviously doesn't exist on a Mac. Not that big a deal, but thought you should know.
October 27, 2006 03:44 PM
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