Shadow Empire to run natively on Mac?

[Chewystl]

This may have been asked somewhere before but I could not find it. Are there any plans to develop and compile a native Mac ARM version for Shadow Empire?

I ask because I'm an Apple user from all the way back to the Apple II in 1977 (yes I'm over 60), then a Mac SE/30 in 1989, and have owned a MacBook Pro since they were first released, currently using a MacBook Pro M4 (w/Apple silicon ARM-based processor). I also use an iPad and iPhone as I enjoy the Apple experience. As a retired Principal Network Architect with 35 years in the technology constantly using Unix-like operating systems (i.e., MacOS and Linux) I personally find MacOS and iOS devices superior and more enjoyable to use for me, no offense to others who may prefer Windows or Chrome for mobile devices.

Currently I have to pull out my high-end Lenovo Gaming Laptop in order to play Shadow Empire, which I do as I love this game and I consider it the best strategy game out today. I'm a USMC veteran who loves strategy games and outside of Classic BattleTech, which I began first playing in 1984 and still continue playing to the present, Shadow Empire continues to be my go-to strategy gaming fix. However, I hate having to go sit at my desk and fire up a heavy, clunky, Windows gaming laptop with a powerful GPU just to play this game which does not require massive GPU 3D processing power.

Vic, I also want to personally thank you for this amazing game and for continuing to improve and enhance it. I'll remain a faithful customer for life, even if I have to pull out a Windows gaming laptop to play it. However, I'd love to play it on my 14" MacBook Pro M4 w/32 Gb RAM, that weighs next to nothing and sits comfortably in may lap, but is a powerful gaming platform that even plays PC games like Battletech, X-COM 2, and even Baldur's Gate 3 smoothly and comfortably.

Warm Regards,

ChewySTL
Arnold, MO USA

[pauls2271]

I think it unlikely.

When asked, Vic (talking about getting it to work under Linux) said he was a Windows guy.

I run SE under a windows VM in my Linux machine. This works fine.

If Mac supports setting up a VM, you could retire the laptop.

[mroyer]

When asked, Vic (talking about getting it to work under Linux) said he was a Windows guy.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Shadow Empire is hardcoded against an old Windows .NET library known as WinForms. WinForms is a graphical user interface library developed by Microsoft specifically for Windows perhaps 25 years ago (stands for Windows Forms). Because of this, it would likely be a monster undertaking to port SE to another platform.

Microsoft only barely supports WinForms (MS has tried hard to kill it in favor of other modern portable libraries) but there is enough legacy use that creates enough demand that MS is compelled to continue marginal support. So, WinForms and applications that use it still live on today.

My guess: a port of SE to another platform is extremely, extremely unlikely.

-Mark R.