I know that the game was very close to beta at Macworld, but I've also seen you looking for some OpenGL answers on one of Apple's developer mailing lists. So is the game close to beta and what kind of things have been implemented most recently?

I can't tell you exactly, but we're getting very close to the Beta Milestone (and Beta Testing...please don't ask me, I think they were selected long ago, and I don't handle it anyways . I'd guess we'll probably hit beta before the end of the month, but I can't give a better estimate than that right now (and, as always, something might come up).

Final OS/Hardware requirements are pretty close to finished (all that's left right now is required Disk Space). But, I don't think I should spill the beans on all of it (I'll leave that to Aspyr).

The OpenGL question you referred to was answered (thanks to several responses on the MacGamesDev list , and Monkey can now detect the amount of VRAM on the card selected to play on. This is important because computers with small amounts of VRAM can theoretically play at 32-bit, but in practice it doesn't work so well (some textures don't load properly in some scenes). Machines with 4 or 6MB of VRAM have to play at 16-bit color, but those with 8MB or above will probably be ok with 32-bit (assuming the card and CPU are both fast enough to handle 32-bit color OpenGL). 2MB of VRAM isn't enough to play at all, and RageII's can't handle OpenGL Hardware Acceleration (which means stock Rev. A iMacs are out of luck, as well as most stock Beige G3s).

I've spent a lot of time working on the memory system, and making sure we always have enough memory available, and it seems to be working very well now. The minimum Physical RAM is probably going to be 64MB (the game needs at least a 50MB partition, so even with 64MB, some Systems will require Virtual memory).

I've also been putting some finishing touches on various parts (making sure the Icons are in place and look good, for instance), and doing a lot of stress testing on the overall system. Today I'm going to be working on saving/loading Mac-specific prefs (i.e., if you want to force the game to run at 16-bit for some reason, the game should remember that).

My next task is trying to implement some kind of InputSprocket support (for GamePads and Joysticks only). That may or may not be done for the first Beta.

Phil has thrown out the old music system, because it would pause at odd moments (especially for looping tracks). I haven't heard the new system yet, but he says it works much better

I think that's probably all I should say for now...and of course, all of this is Unofficial (look to Aspyr for the official news .

Jesse Spears
Mac EFMI Lead Programmer, Westlake Interactive

Aspyr had what appeared to be EMI's final system req's on the info sheet at their MWSF booth... They're not on the site though.

Jake
glad i left such an informative response

...anxiously awaiting Monkey Island! will get it as soon as it comes out... but can anyone recommend some games to try out in the meantime? Or is there really nothing else like it - ? (Completely new to the gaming world...just got a mac for Christmas.) thanks!

Nothing beats Monkey Island I really enjoyed part one and two, tyou could try those, the graphics are nothing compared to todays standarts but the story , the humour and plot are great! I've played three on virtual pc and that worked great too, can't wait to play four