Now, theoretically, I could open the “Archive Utility” application housed in (/System/Library/CoreServices/) and change its preferences, instructing it to use the more Windows friendly “ZIP” format rather than… Well, whatever it does and calls “.zip”. But, that would be simple, right? What would be interesting about that solution?

Thus I taught myself a little Apple Script and whipped up what I’ve called “WinZip,” which is clearly not this WinZip. My little deal is a Mac App / Apple Script that does the work of making a Windows compatible ZIP file for you without having to know the commands or do it yourself in the Terminal. The source code and application are all released under the wxWidgets License.

-- WinZip for Mac OS X
-- Casey O'Donnell
-- http://www.caseyodonnell.org/
-- This script takes a dropped file (or several) and compresses them in a Windows
-- compatible format using the "ditto" command.
--
-- The source and the application are released under the wxWidgets Licence, which
-- can be found here: http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/newlicen.htm
on open fileList
	set szPathName to ""
	set szPathDest to ""
	repeat with i in fileList
		set szPathName to quoted form of POSIX path of (i as text)
 
		set iLength to length of szPathName
		set szLastChars to get characters (iLength - 1) thru (iLength - 1) of szPathName
 
		if (szLastChars contains "/") then
			set szPathDest to get characters 1 thru (iLength - 2) of szPathName
			set szPathDest to szPathDest & ".zip'"
		else
			set szPathDest to get characters 1 thru (iLength - 1) of szPathName
			set szPathDest to szPathDest & ".zip'"
		end if
 
		tell application "Terminal"
			do script "ditto -c -k -X " & szPathName & " " & szPathDest & "; exit"
		end tell
	end repeat
end open

Ultimately though, it is the kind of response that Tom gave us, and the user community that makes Unity 3D what it is. There was some interesting discussion if the fact that Unity 3D started out as a Mac project by Mac developers set a kind of initial trajectory for the developers and users that makes it particularly friendly and collaborative, especially compared to other user communities that often times seem less receptive to learning users. Hopefully Unity 3D can maintain that attitude.

Oh. And Ben’s Detonator framework is the bomb. Sorry, bad pun.

Also while at SIEGE I received some excellent feedback on Osy from one of my favorite designers, Ian Schreiber. We also had an excellent extended conversation about teaching game design in the college setting. Something we’ve both found to be an important topic. This of course spilled over to an extent into the education panel round table. But ultimately I was somewhat saddened by the lack of attendance at the experimental game panel, something at GDC that is continually packed and near and dear to seasoned developers hearts. I guess not enough folks have taken lumps yet to really love experimental design…