Only Mortal 2.0 developer Mike Davis sent us these notes for people wanting to try the preview:
I suggest that gamers using Only Mortal 1.0.8 keep it on their computer for the meantime as this is a preview and not the final product. Only Mortal 1.0.8 users will not be notified of the 2.0 software until there is a final release.Since it's a preview, some things are incomplete, for instance the Favorites feature isn't finished and the disabling of games isn't quite complete. I'd also suggest that gamers not download the offered updates as they're actually older than the ones included - they're used by the testing team solely for testing (oddly).
A couple of the supported games (EF and JK2) didn't make the preview as we're awaiting updates/releases for them. The developer has the needed source code for them so we hope that it won't be too long before we can activate them. They'll appear as an auto-update.
We'd like to add Medal of Honor: Allied Assault but we've not had any replies to our correspondence from the company who ported it to the Mac. We can provide some C source code for them to add support for Only Mortal - it's simply some Apple Event code, as used in Unreal Tournament. Hopefully, we'll be able to add it in before too long. If they'd like to get in contact with us we're more than willing to give them example code! From what I hear, it's a great game, though it's not out here in the UK yet.
If a developer wants tight integration with Only Mortal, they can write their own plug-in for it, should they chose to (or we can). This approach would be useful for games which have a private network protocol that the developers do not want to publish. There is a SDK for doing this, which shows how easy it is to add a new game. The SDK includes the source code for the Quake 2 plug-in and header files for appropriate frameworks. If a developer wants the SDK, drop us a line.
Future features that are planned after the initial 2.0 release are IRC, probably using "blackened" as the adaptor and Voice Over IP.
The VoIP stuff is actually in development and there is a working application but it's not in a form suitable for public consumption at the moment. We're hoping the developer will provide an update to it in the next few weeks so that we can have the test team work on it. I've personally used it to chat to a friend in Vancouver, from the UK, who was using Microsoft Netmeeting on a Windows PC. I might add I was using a 56K modem too.
If all goes well, the IRC plug-in will have the ability to perform player matching so that gamers can host their own servers and their buddies can join in the fun. The plug-in will have some default IRC servers and channels in there, so those not familiar with IRC will be able to find other Mac gamers.
If you're not familiar with Only Mortal, be sure and check out our preview. If you're ready to give it a try, go ahead and download it and fire it up. Just remember that this is just a preview release.
