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by Trevor Covert (posted @ 6:00 am EST): |  |
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MacSoft recently released one of the most anxiously awaited action titles for the Mac this year, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. The title is a step in a different direction from the traditional first-person shooter with more realistic conditions including one-shot kills and anti-terrorist goals. Varcon Systems is the company which ported the title, and it's probably a name unfamiliar to most Mac gamers. So, we went out to find out more about the company, what they've done in the past and what they have up their sleeve for the future.
What's the history behind Varcon? Varcon Systems: Varcon started in 1986 as a company dedicated to providing Project Management software to Fortune 500 companies. We developed Project Management Software on the Unisys platform and on the Macintosh. In the early '90's we were approached by a developer who had access to the Macintosh game Diamonds. We looked at it, and started thinking that the games sector might be interesting to pursue. After all, a consumer only really needs at most one Project Management system, but that same consumer might buy dozens of computer games. So, we bought the source code to Diamonds, commercialized it, and that started the ball rolling. Since then we have produced over 40 games for Macintosh, Windows, and Windows CE. We've had lots of award winners, and have really enjoyed being part of the gaming community. And, we haven't missed the Project Management arena one bit! What's your job at Varcon and what exactly do you do? VS: I am the founder and President of Varcon. As such, I am ultimately responsible for the direction of the company, and the projects that we undertake. Specifically, I spend a lot of my time negotiating contracts for projects, and working with our developers in getting those products to market in a timely fashion. I usually handle the product management of the porting projects that we do, while others in the company handle the other projects.
VS: We have six in the office, and a few dozen developers who do projects for us remotely. We really are a virtual office in some respects, because so many of our developers are not in San Diego. We do a lot of communication by email and telephone. The six of us here in the office handle contracts, product management, accounting and tech support. What is Varcon currently working on? VS: We are currently working on a rather large web-based project involving games. Our casino games are particularly robust, and we are working with an affiliate partner in promoting their site with some of our games. It's really pretty interesting. We're also working on some new solitaire games and 3D projects. And, we're looking forward to our next porting project with MacSoft now that Rainbow Six is wrapped up. It seems many of Varcon's titles are mass-market titles like Solitaire, arcade paks, etc. Is Rainbow Six the company's first dive into 3D gaming? VS: We have done other 3D projects, some of which are in pre-release status. We've been using the 3D Game Machine engine for several years now, with some solid results. It will be showcased in our 1-2-3 Home Design product which is scheduled for imminent release. Rainbow Six is the first project of its type that we have tackled. Has Rainbow Six presented any new technical challenges for the company as far as learning OpenGL, etc.?
VS: We were very fortunate to be able to utilize the talents of Kevin Parichan and
John Philip (Phil) Britt in the R6 project. Kevin was one of the two engineers
who ported Civilization II for us. Amandeep Jawa was Kevin's partner for Civ
II. This time Kevin teamed up with Phil to do the R6 port for us. So Kevin
and Phil graciously answer your question.
We made the decision early on to support OpenGL, and only OpenGL. In
hindsight, that might not have been the best idea because of the
additional overhead OpenGL imposes and the fact that at the time OpenGL
was basically a work-in-progress. However, if we were starting the
project today, OpenGL would clearly be the way to go. What is the most difficult part of porting Rainbow Six and the expansion pack? VS: There really wasn't any one big thing that caused us problems. The original code was relatively well written and understandable. By implementing some of Microsoft's DirectX technology using Mac technology (OpenGL, DrawSprockets, Sound Manager, SoundSprocket, QuickTime, etc.) we were able to isolate most of our changes. And because the original game didn't use DirectPlay, getting network game play to work on the Mac only took a few days using a Mac WinSock library. Slow load times for levels, and identifying and fixing problems relating to OpenGL, are where we probably spent most of our time once the game was complete. How much did the expansion pack, Eagle Watch, add to the development time of the project? VS: Very little. The Windows version consisted of two separate executables. One for the original game and one for the expansion pack. We wanted to roll those into a single application on the Mac. The two games on Windows shared almost all of the same code, so it was merely a matter of changing a compile time switch into a runtime switch. Have you considered AltiVec support for Rainbow Six? When do you expect to be routinely using AltiVec code in your games? VS: AltiVec support wasn't considered. OpenGL 1.1.2, which Rainbow Six requires, makes some use of AltiVec. Why was Total Annihilation passed from Varcon to Westlake Interactive? VS: Total Annihilation posed some unusual problems for us. The developers that we initially had working on it spent a lot of money and didn't get anything done. Basically they were in over their heads, and wouldn't admit it, and then tried to cover it up. So, as the project continued to slip, we had to make some tough decisions. Ultimately, I decided that the fastest and most efficient way to get this project done was to sub-contract it out to our friends at Westlake. So, we were still responsible for it, and paid all the bills, and Westlake was able to get it on the shelf for us. They are a great bunch to work with, and we hope to work with them on some projects in the future. In the meantime, I hope that Total Annihilation sells grillions of units so that we can maybe break even. Tell everyone you know to go buy a copy. It's a great game. You've worked with MacSoft on many of your titles including Civilization II and Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition. Are you open to working with other publishers or are you attached to MacSoft? VS: We love working with the people at MacSoft. Some of the best people in the industry work for them. We do not, however, limit ourselves to working with MacSoft. We recently published Starlight Casino with Starplay, and are working with several other publishers right now, particularly with our Windows products.
VS: The port of Civilization II Gold was a simultaneous effort. That was a tricky project because the code drops were so far apart, that a virtual remake was required each time. That contributed to cost overruns, and slippage in the release schedule. I think that for a project to be successful, it must be planned from inception to be a simultaneous project, and both development teams must be committed to that objective. When it works, it's great. When it doesn't work, it can be a bit ugly. I would look very carefully at another simultaneous development project before committing to it. Do you think Apple is doing things right when it comes to positioning the Mac as a gaming platform? VS: Back when Apple supported the Game Sprockets with a big team of engineers, life was good for Mac game developers. When that team was down-sized, it became more difficult. Apple's current gaming position is good, but it's somewhat of a side effect of their recent market success. The more successful Apple is, the more likely it is that games, and other products, will be available for the platform. And Apple games evangelism helps, too. What are some things Apple can do to improve gaming on the Mac?
VS: Supporting OpenGL is a big step for Apple in continuing to support the
Mac gaming community. It makes it much more likely that most
"high-profile" OpenGL Windows games will be ported to Mac. However, until
more developers are convinced to do simultaneous development, or even
Mac-first or Mac-only games, the situation can only improve so much.
Apple does have a great group of engineers working on game and
game-related technologies. If nothing else, they should definitely
increase the head count in those groups so that they can support more
developers, and smaller developers, and also have the resources necessary
to put together proper documentation and sample code.
Download the Rainbow Six Demo!
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How many people work at Varcon?
Have you ever done simultaneous development with the PC version of a
product, and would you be willing to attempt such a feat in the future?
What are the pros and cons of such a strategy in porting a game?
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