I get mail—lots of mail—asking me about Solitaire Till Dawn and Lion. Some people seem to be worried that I don't know that the current release won't run under Lion.
Really, I know. Really. I know!! And I continue to work on a Lion version, when and as I can.
There are kind of two parts to getting it done. The first and hardest part is rewriting what I call the "solitaire engine" and updating the screen-drawing and animation code. This is rocket science, of a sort. The engine is complex (which is why Solitaire Till Dawn can present so many and such varied games), while animation is an exercise in concurrent programming. If you don't know what that is, never mind: just trust me that it's hard to get it right.
Today I hit a milestone: the engine and the animation are now working correctly. That's not to say that there isn't more work to do on them; but the really important fundamental stuff is done. (I will now pause, so that those of you who are so inclined may cheer.)
This means that I can now begin working on application stuff: buttons, controls, prefs window, saving and resuming games, and all the bells and whistles to be found in the menus and toolbar. This stuff is generally easier to do, but there's a lot of it to get through. I will be leaving some of the old features out of the first release, just so I can release a little sooner and get you something that will run under Lion and get you your solitaire fix. Any missing features will likely be added back in later, in updates.
There is still a lot to do, and I still don't know when it will be done. But take heart: I am working on it, I am making progress!
(And yes... I know the current version doesn't run under Lion!)
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24 comments:
Yay! As a fellow developer I know how much work is involved - that being said - hurry up!!! LOL
It's such a nice game that it is worth waiting for.
Whenever...
SJF
I will definitely buy the next version of Solitaire Till Dawn!! Your program and Quicken are the two main reasons I'm holding off on Lion.
Your program and Eudora are the two main reasons I'm holding off on Lion.
If you get Solitaire till Dawn running on Lion I will just migrate Eudora to Mail or Thunderbird and get on with Lion.
Yes Solitair Till Dawn, especially your version of 40 Thieves is indeed that important to me.
Some people end their long days with meditation. Solitaire till dawn is my form of meditation. Works for me. Your mileage may vary.
Thanks Rick! I appreciate the work involved... I've played the game almost from the beginning as a nice break from intensive research or writing. All the best!
OK, I'm cheering that the work is progressing on getting Solitaire Till Dawn to work on Lion!! You Rock!!! Can't wait till it is done. Thank you!!
I've already got Lion installed and can hardly wait until the new, compatible release. Kudos for making such swift progress
You know, if you don't get it done soon, many of us will have to be paying therapists in order to maintain our sanity from such an addictive game. So, help us out here. I've been searching everywhere for a version similar to Solitaire Till Done, but it just "ain't gonna be found". So, like I said, get with it. Oh ya, thanks for at least dangling the hope of a new version. LOL...Who loves ya...
Work, work, work...
David
I went into the wilds this evening to seek out a temporary replacement for my Solitaire Till Dawn and could not find any that were acceptable. I've been playing your Free Cell since you released your first alpha back in the '70s, or so it seems. But I had not realized until now how good Solitaire Till Dawn is until I could not fine a replacement. I understand the work at hand for the Lion update and I'll wait. You done a terrific job.
My husband's old Mac just died and had to be replaced. Since its a new Mac, it runs on Lion. Going to try to install my copy of Leopard as Apple won't do it. Will be so excited when you get all your work done. Solitaire is his relaxation while flying or just winding down.
Michele
Still going through severe withdrawal.
Glad you're working on this. I miss the game in Lion.
Another addict chiming in. My only salvation is that it still runs on my laptop!
Looking forward to the update. Good vibes coming your way!
I run Snow on xternal HD, where I keep the rosetta applications. And Sol till dawn of course. Addictiv.
A bit boring to switch from Lion to Snow, but the only way to keep going playing:-)
Thanks for your efforts Rick.
So glad I found this site! I am relieved and will wait patiently!
Solitaire Till Dawn is the main reason I have resisted upgrading to Lion for so long, and now have a Snow Leopard partition just for STD. I hope the wait won't be too long. Thank you for updating, Rick!
Looking forward to Solitaire til Dawn for Lion. My wife refuses to upgrade to Lion without that app.
I'm out here cheering you on. I've held off on Lion as long as I could, but now they're saying I have to upgrade to use iCloud to keep all my gadgets synced. Without Solitaire Til Dawn, however, I am likely to lose my mind instead. Please hurry!
ML
Yippeeee! can't wait
Now that Mountain Lyon is in the horizon, I'm really anxious to get s'td! Anything we can do? Beta test?
silvia
Same as so many others, I waited until the deadline for MobileMe ending to switch my main Mac to Lion, and downloaded a few apps from the app store and they just annoy me because they aren't STD. We need you!!!
Perhaps we should be asking if it will work with Mountain Lion
Yep.... Problem now is with the new Mountain Lion... I'll look forward to the solution to that..
Looking forward to being able to play 'Accordian" again. It's my favorite of all your games in Solitaire Till Dawn. Thanks for working on this new update.
Grainne.
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