Posted September 22, 2023 by Nat Quayle Nelson
Another road-block on the way to release...
(source)
So I need to "notarize" EVERY Mac build
MacOS was the most unfriendly platform I released my previous VN for on Steam. That was back in 2016, and they've made things worse! Notarization is another complicated build step I have to set up and maintain in my automated builds, and notarizing requires a $100 payment to Apple every year. What the hell does Apple need more of my money for? Honestly a horrible shakedown.
For my own convenience, because I hate Apple's business practices, and because games are known not to sell well enough to Mac users to justify the cost of porting, I wouldn't do a Mac build at all. (Microsoft is also terrible, greedy, and the worst, but it's still easier to publish on Windows and you can actually make a profit doing so.)
The three problems that compel me to publish on MacOS are this:
1. I strongly believe my work should be accessible to EVERYONE. A lot of people don't have access to a Windows or Linux PC.
2. I have family members who are locked into the Apple ecosystem, and my family are my biggest fans. If I can't get my work in front of my biggest fans, I'm toast.
3. I could just build for the Web, but you can't release or monetize an HTML/js game on Steam. I think Steam is (regrettably) the best market for my work, so...
I paid the $100 and I'm now trying to get the notarization working. I'm following this guide for doing that automatically in GitHub actions (thanks Federico Terzi!) and my fingers are crossed.