This is Nanosaur for modern operating systems (macOS, Windows, Linux). This version, at https://github.com/jorio/nanosaur, is approved by Pangea Software.
- Get builds for macOS and Windows here: https://github.com/jorio/nanosaur/releases
- Arch Linux users, get
nanosaurfrom the AUR. - Other systems: please read BUILD.md to build the game yourself.
Nanosaur is a 1998 Macintosh game by Pangea Software. In it, you’re a cybernetic dinosaur from the future who’s sent back in time 20 minutes before a giant asteroid hits the Earth. And you get to shoot at T-Rexes with nukes.
Nanosaur was bundled with the original iMac and ran on Mac OS 8. It’s also notable for being a prominent showcase of QuickDraw 3D’s capabilities, which was Apple’s high-level 3D graphics API during the 90s.
In 1999, Pangea released Nanosaur’s source code to the public. This port is based on that release.
I took a conservative approach to port the game, in a similar spirit to “Chocolate Doom”. I aimed to accurately maintain the behavior of the original game. The port has some minor quality-of-life improvements such as support for arbitrary resolutions. Modifications to the gameplay or presentation are out of the scope of this project.
To make it easier to port the game, I wrote an implementation of parts of the Macintosh Toolbox API, which I called “Pomme”. You can think of Pomme as a cross-platform reimagining of Carbon, albeit at a much smaller scope.
The first release of this port used a custom fork of Quesa to render the game’s 3D graphics. Quesa is an independent implementation of QuickDraw 3D; it was incredibly useful to get the game up and running initially. Nanosaur has switched to a tailor-made renderer as of version 1.4.2.
Nanosaur™ © 1998 Pangea Software, Inc.
- Programming: Brian Greenstone
- Artwork: Scott Harper
- Music: Mike Beckett, Jens Nilsson
- Cinematics: Chris Ashton
- Enhanced update: Iliyas Jorio
Nanosaur was updated and re-released here (https://github.com/jorio/nanosaur) with permission by Pangea Software.
If you like games by Pangea Software, you might also enjoy my ports of Bugdom and Mighty Mike (aka Power Pete).