Help Onlink Be Made Available To Everyone!

[Ozymandias IV]

As most of us know, Miah Helpmann has been talking about his upcoming mod, Onlink. It sounds wonderful, yet there is a problem. Since Ambrosia refuse to release the source code for the Mac version of Uplink, this and other great Dev Mods can't be made for Mac. That's why I'm starting this petition to get Ambrosia to release their source code. Reply to this topic, or, better yet, e-mail Ambrosia at, well, find out an e-mail address and mail them. I posted this topic in the Mac Uplink forums but almost nobody checks those, so I posted it here. Even if you don't use a Mac, sign the petition out of the goodness of your heart and the desire to see that all users may have equal opportunities, be they Mac users, Windows users, or Linux users.

Thank you.

P.S. Let the record show that Miah Helpmann and Rkiver already signed this petition in the Mac forum.

[Miah]

Let the record also show that I would just as soon code Onlink for Mac as Windows and Linux.

[edd8990]

I don't personally own a mac but several friends do. *signs his name, REAL big*

go 4 it!

[LLamaBoy]

Signed there, will sign here.

*signs*

Signed.

[coolsi]

As most of us know, Miah Helpmann has been talking about his upcoming mod, Onlink. It sounds wonderful, yet there is a problem. Since Ambrosia refuse to release the source code for the Mac version of Uplink, this and other great Dev Mods can't be made for Mac. That's why I'm starting this petition to get Ambrosia to release their source code. Reply to this topic, or, better yet, e-mail Ambrosia at, well, find out an e-mail address and mail them. I posted this topic in the Mac Uplink forums but almost nobody checks those, so I posted it here. Even if you don't use a Mac, sign the petition out of the goodness of your heart and the desire to see that all users may have equal opportunities, be they Mac users, Windows users, or Linux users.

Thank you.

P.S. Let the record show that Miah Helpmann and Rkiver already signed this petition in the Mac forum.

You say it as thought all game developers release their code. Infact, this is very rare and only usually happens several years after the game was originally released. It's not Ambrosia's duty to release their code and I think they're perfectly allowed to "refuse" to give it away.

[Burningmace]

I think all games/mods should be available to MacOS and Linux, as well of Windows. You don't make a 20 story building without a lift so that only people that are fit enough to walk to the top can get to the top floor. I'm not saying MacOS and Linux users are old, fat and disabled, I'm saying that we should cater for all alternative operating systems.

/me signs on the dotted line
/me realises he just scrawled "Hitler" on a peice of paper.
/me signs, prints in caps and emails Ambrosia.

PS: That means I wish to be part of the petition kthx.

[ODDin]

I don't own a Mac, and I don't know anyone who owns a Mac, but I still feel that Ozy's right here, so I'll sign, both here and in the Mac forum.

[Ozymandias IV]

You say it as thought all game developers release their code. Infact, this is very rare and only usually happens several years after the game was originally released. It's not Ambrosia's duty to release their code and I think they're perfectly allowed to "refuse" to give it away.

Miah offered them $150 USD, and there's a bunch of other arguments but I'll talk later. Thanks all for signing.

[Linker]

*Signs*

It's their right to not release it, but perhaps a little support might help the cause.

[elDiablo]

I think all games/mods should be available to MacOS and Linux, as well of Windows. You don't make a 20 story building without a lift so that only people that are fit enough to walk to the top can get to the top floor. I'm not saying MacOS and Linux users are old, fat and disabled, I'm saying that we should cater for all alternative operating systems.

/me signs on the dotted line
/me realises he just scrawled "Hitler" on a peice of paper.
/me signs, prints in caps and emails Ambrosia.

PS: That means I wish to be part of the petition kthx.

It could be that it is not worthwhile porting games to linux and macOS, seeing as a small percentage of people use them. Anyone who is big into games usually has a PC, just because most games developers make games for PCs... And thats not gonna change any time soon...

[Riddla]

*signs with a patented "onlink team member" & signature rubber stamp*

[Maelia]

Poor Mac Users ;\

*Signs*

Good Luck!

[Dechs Rashart]

coolsi, personally i agree with you along the lines that the source code is owned by ambrosia and is therefore their right to do with what they will. however, unless there is something i am completely and utterly missing here, to bend over backwards to supply the pc community and then completely ignore everyone else is completely irresponsible. Uplink was THE first game i got on my mac. I was thrilled that someone took the time to port such a fantastic--yet relatively unknown--game to mac AND linux. Yet now they refuse to release the code that allows the continued enjoyment of a game that i bought and fully paid for at a time when even $20 was an enourmous financial commitment.
To Ambrosia and whomever else it may concern, you have deeply disappointed me. You got a lot of great publicity from me among my circle of friends, and at least two copies of the game sold because of it. Unless things change, this is one customer who definitely won't be taking a single look at Darwinia, nor urging anyone else to do so.

Introversion Software is not an ordinary developer. It has no premises, no focus groups, no risk analysis and no market experts. What it has is a group of people committed to finding new ways to make new types of games. We are not interested in creating "original intellectual property" or "unique selling points" or "innovative and compelling gameplay" for the benefit of the marketing team. We exist in the fond memory of the games industry before the global mega publisher...the days when those buzz words actually meant something, when it was still possible to make your voice heard above the noise.


We are trying, desperately hard, to do things differently. We do not want to contribute to the stagnation of the games industry. We don't measure the value of our games in their potential sales revenue. Our business model doesn't involve "consolidating" any developers.

I wish I could believe you.

[coolsi]

Introversion have no control over the Mac source code. I believe that Ambrosia owns it, so there's nothing Introversion can do to try and release it.

I think that there are still Mac patches planned, so that explains why Ambrosia don't want to release the source code - there's no point releasing buggy code if it's just going to have to be patched again.

[Darksun]

Also note that the Linux source code has been released, but noone has bothered making any mods for Linux yet.