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So here's a question: with the game being distributed on the Mac App Store, I need it to be self-contained. Everything in one app. As such, this leaves the question of where the Custom Mansions folder should go.
I see several possibilities:
1) User must create Midnight Mansion HD Custom Mansions folder in the same parent folder that has the Midnight Mansion HD app. (This was *supposed* to be how beta 5 did it, but as brell discovered, it's broken. I can fix it easily.)
2) User control-clicks on Midnight Mansion HD, selects Show package contents , and inside of /Contents there would be a Custom Mansions folder that users could place custom mansions inside.
Advantage: when you move your Midnight Mansion HD app around, the custom mansions come with it. Disadvantage: when you download and install a new version, you lose your custom mansions. Now that I think about this, I guess this isn't a good option.
3) Custom Mansions folder is located where all the other prefererences are, inside:
/home/Library/Application Support/ActionSoft/Midnight Mansion HD/
I guess Option #1 still sounds the best now that I write them all out.
Ideally the game would create the Midnight Mansion HD Custom Mansions folder upon launch, but the Mac App Store will reject my app if I do this. (They will reject anything that writes files to unapproved locations on the disk.)
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How about, when the app automatically creates a folder in Application Support, how about also having a folder for Custom Mansions created too?
EDIT - Oops, didn't see Option 3, which I think will work the best
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Vern, why can't the Custom mansions folder not be a part of the zipped MM HD package? I mean, when the package is unzipped the user will have a folder with the application, documentary and the Cm folder, just like you did with the original application. Then the app is not creating anything upon launch.
Frankly, any solution where the user must create the Cm folder is unappealing to me because, as we all know, there will be a lott of users that will end up with problems/erroes/whatever no matter how exact the documentation will be.
But, if everything else fails, I think solution #1 above is the best .
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6C7C6B62620E0 wrote: Vern, why can't the Custom mansions folder not be a part of the zipped MM HD package? I mean, when the package is unzipped the user will have a folder with the application, documentary and the Cm folder, just like you did with the original application. Then the app is not creating anything upon launch.
I may be completely wrong, but I think the way the app store works is that apps for the App Store have to be 'bottled', that is all one bundle icon w/ nothing outside of it.
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102C0A370126242A2D30430 wrote: [quote author=6C7C6B62620E0 link=1313006812/2#2 date=1313018222]Vern, why can't the Custom mansions folder not be a part of the zipped MM HD package? I mean, when the package is unzipped the user will have a folder with the application, documentary and the Cm folder, just like you did with the original application. Then the app is not creating anything upon launch.
I may be completely wrong, but I think the way the app store works is that apps for the App Store have to be 'bottled', that is all one bundle icon w/ nothing outside of it.
Correct.
But, Brell, for the ActionSoft-distributed version of the game, I can do what you suggest. But for the Mac App Store... it needs some other solution. :-(
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I actually wish I could define a spot using preferences that is outside of the distro. I'd prefer it to be easily accessible under my home directory and not directly attached to the distro. Ultimately, it wouldn't matter that much though, since I can create links to the folder regardless of where it ends up. The reason that I favor this approach is that it would let me decide where it was most convenient.
Also, I like the idea of the custom mansions existing outside of any one distro so I don't have to move things around if I upgrade or test different versions, etc.
It could default to #1.
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I think would be best from the users point of view. There is a risk that MM get corrupt and the user deletes it and get a new one from MacAppStore. The custom folder will be lost and the user has to go and download them again.
I f I am not wrong so does Pages (iWork app) from MAS still locate custom templates in the Library/Application support. Why shouldn't MM being to do that too?
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IMO, the Cm folder has to be at a place where it is easily accessible by the user. The Library folder is not one of those places, at least not for the below-average-user. Also, having to open the app bundle with control-click is neither.
So, creating that folder within the parent folder of the MM HD app seems to be the easiest solution, although propably not so good for novice users. But, with good documentation AND a little help from the forum members it will work in most cases.
Why is Apple making this fuzz. For ages Mac users have been downloading zipped files that expand themselves to folders with apps, docs and subfolders within. Why is this suddenly an issue?
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Just a thought: Where will you put the documentation if the App store rejects it?
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I've been consider putting documentation online, with a link to it from the game's Help screens. (Make a 5th screen that has a button Push here for more help. You push it, and it opens a web page with all the details about how to download and install custom mansions, where to find the level builder, and stuff like that.)
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