hello, i am making a list of tools needed in mac games dev.

right now i use the following suite :

- programming : Xcode (no problem here, thanks apple)

- 2D graphics : Gimp (free but the interface is quite a hassle, will upgrade to photoshop)

- 3D modelling : cinema 4D (for 3ds import, modelling, texturing, and rendering+video, nice features and don't have the money for maya anyway), blender (testing but i don't see how i can use this ... thing), wings3D (testing also, found it quite nice for game dev)

- video for cutscenes : well iMovie, and i also use the softs listed above (ie cinema4d and blender).

- APIs : mainly SDL (but not for sound) , and other small APIs like fmod, freetype or lua for scripting, ode (for physics), opcode ...

- web dev : because i work with this team, we need some sort of "collaborative website" to help us work together and to present the game : i don't know yet if i should buy dreamweaver or go for Quanta. or any other alternative maybe, i don't know how websites are done in macos.

i'd like your input in terms of producivity / speed / price if you know these

do u guys know about other tools that maybe useful ?

- programming: C++... always popular.
- 2D graphics: Photoshop!
- 3D modeling: 3D Studio Max, Motion Builder, XSI and Maya... well thatís what professional game developers use. For Mac, Maya and Lightwave are best.
- cinematics: Combustion, Shake and Final Cut... again, thatís what professional game developers use. All available for Mac.

Max, I don't think he means language, he means tools.

2xp, Yes, Xcode is great because it's free. I'm not sure what you mean by web dev, I assume you mean a way to develop webpages, and adope golive is very nice. For 2d, yes, definately upgrade to photoshop.

Alex

For 3d modelling, particularly in the small scale/low poly arena. Meshwork is still good, even if it's getting a bit long in the tooth.

For compositing 2d graphics and texturing, Omnigraffle is also a surprisingly useful bit of kit.

Apple's CHUD is priceless.