Chippii wrote on 31.07.2012 at 01:53:33:Hey!
I wonder what's about the level builder in HD? Its been a long time though not I can't see any Level Builder on it now
The short answer is "No". There is not a Level builder for MM HD, nor is there likely to be one in the short term. I would say that there will probably never be one, but that is so definitive and who knows for sure what the future may bring? For the moment, the only way to create mansions is to have access to a machine with an older version of OSX on it, and use the old Level Builder. I realize that's not good news to most folks.
I believe that Vern's strategy with MM HD was:
* Make the game more portable
* Update the graphics/effects to make it more pleasing to the eye (opinions vary)
* Make it work on Lion and the App Store
These three things were difficult enough as it is, and the work took nearly a year. He had to rewrite the game to use a new and more portable graphics library. This library didn't have good support for simple windows controls of the type that would have been useful for the Level Builder. So the task of porting the Game was very different from the task of porting the Level Builder, and so porting the Level builder was put on hold in favor of finishing and releasing the game.
I believe that Vern hoped that the combination of releasing the game through the app store, and releasing a windows port (along with other ports) would increase the audience for Midnight Mansions. This would enable him to support future development of the game - including the Level Builder, which probably would have been a loss for him in terms of time and development.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well as he hoped - probably a portion of his original audience bought the MM HD, but it's hard to say for sure. The Apple App store handles all sales, takes a percentage, and doesn't provide any customer info. On top of this, Apple puts all sorts of restrictions in place for apps which had to be very frustrating. I know that he tried to put some patches out, and the turn-around time was very slow. The game was already being sold cheaper than the original game, plus he provided discounts to owners of the original game. He did complete the windows port, but had difficulties finding a good Windows store front comparable to the App Store.
Anyway.. that's a highly condensed overview. At one time, I had started my own port of the Level Builder, which was written in Java and would have tied into the game engine somehow. The idea was kind of sketchy and was initially something that sounded like a fun project I could work on outside of my Day job. Unfortunately, before I really got going with it, my responsibilities at work increased dramatically, and I started retooling in cloud-related technologies which took up a lot of my free time.
Sales of Actionsoft games could no longer support further development and Vern had to make some hard choices. It shouldn't be too difficult to guess what those choices must have been. Actionsoft is still Vern's company, and I'm sure he would love to do more with Midnight Mansions along with other game ideas, but his free time is more limited these days. He's also experiencing some back trouble so if you send him an email, please be patient - he will respond eventually. He *is* aware that folks would like to see a usable Level Builder in Lion, and if he or I get around to finishing it, it will be ported to windows as well. It wouldn't be worth doing if it wasn't portable given all the effort Vern spent on making the game portable.
To be clear: this post reflects
my views and is not something Vern asked me to write (except for the bit about his back). I'm a little conflicted posting this, but I figure that if Vern finds anything objectionable then he can contradict me with his own post. My own personal view is that he doesn't wish to completely close the door on further Midnight Mansion development. It's just that current circumstances prevent him from devoting the kind of time that people are accustomed to.