No permission has ever been given (I've already been asked twice before). No permission will ever be given. [And if anyone ever tried to do it without permission they would find their hide being skinned off them by yours truly the moment I found out about it.]

I've various reasons for my position here, though I don't particularly desire to go into them because it's not really all that riveting. Put simply, however:

I am unwilling (and unable) to devote any more time to Marathon. If I allowed anyone to port TM1/TM2, I would have to personally check and approve the results in order to give permission for it to be released. That would take time. I would also need access to a Linux or Windows box to test [an SDL port] on, and I have neither. And there is absolutely no way I'd give permission on something like this sight unseen.

Now, TM2/Mac could have happened at one point, but, for various reasons, in the end it did not. Life contains many disappointments, but I would suggest this is very much a minor one and not something to get particularly upset about.

However - and let's be absolutely clear here, - even though I'm no longer around in person I still have a responsibility to the work I've left behind, and towards the folk who worked on Trojan in particular. I passed up a perfectly good opportunity for personal attention and glory after all, as I could not in conscience release TM2 for Mac because doing so would have meant dumping over TM1's music authors like I couldn't care less for them. And it's why I won't permit any third-party ports either. I can't take responsibility for a port I can't (and won't) be involved in; therefore the only solution is not to allow ports, period.

There are two versions of Trojan already available: one for M1/Mac, one for M2/Win. Of those, TM1/Mac is the 'definitive' version; the one I will point to whenever Trojan is mentioned and say "I did that". The M2/Win version is a slightly crippled port that I did because I thought it would be a nice gesture towards the M2/Win crowd to give them something nice [albeit a little clunky] to play with, and because I could.

I'm aware that the Marathon community itself has moved slightly beyond those bounds since, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that. I'm happy at the contribution I made; I did five years and then moved on to new things. And, for better or worse, I am content to let it stand as-is.

I hope folks will appreciate my position on this. Besides, I'm certain folk can manage to find plenty more productive ventures to occupy themselves than this old flogged horse...:)

Best regards,

has