<s>
mTropolis	B-Application
(	O
pronounced	O
"	O
metropolis	O
"	O
)	O
was	O
an	O
open-architecture	B-Architecture
multimedia	O
programming	O
application	O
aimed	O
at	O
enabling	O
rapid	O
development	O
of	O
multimedia	O
titles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
introduced	O
object-oriented	B-Language
concepts	O
such	O
as	O
reusable	O
objects	O
,	O
modifiers	O
and	O
behaviors	O
into	O
the	O
multimedia	O
authoring	O
space	O
dominated	O
by	O
Macromedia	O
's	O
Director	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
mTropolis	B-Application
was	O
bought	O
in	O
1997	O
by	O
Quark	O
,	O
which	O
moved	O
development	O
from	O
Burlingame	O
,	O
California	O
to	O
Denver	O
and	O
then	O
cancelled	O
the	O
product	O
one	O
year	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
mTropolis	B-Application
competed	O
in	O
the	O
interactive	O
multimedia	O
product	O
space	O
dominated	O
in	O
the	O
1990s	O
by	O
Macromedia	B-Operating_System
Director	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
's	O
maker	O
,	O
mFactory	O
,	O
founded	O
in	O
1992	O
,	O
variously	O
positioned	O
mTropolis	B-Application
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
and	O
as	O
an	O
adjunct	O
to	O
Director	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
mTropolis	B-Application
was	O
bought	O
by	O
Quark	O
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
use	O
of	O
behaviors	O
in	O
mTropolis	B-Application
spurred	O
Macromedia	O
on	O
to	O
introduce	O
behaviors	O
in	O
Director	O
6.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
multimedia	O
CD-ROM	B-Device
authoring	O
has	O
largely	O
been	O
rendered	O
irrelevant	O
by	O
online	O
content	O
distribution	O
,	O
mTropolis	B-Application
remains	O
an	O
interesting	O
study	O
in	O
application	O
design	O
,	O
and	O
held	O
a	O
loyal	O
following	O
for	O
many	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
development	O
environment	O
was	O
very	O
different	O
from	O
the	O
other	O
tools	O
around	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
-	O
Apple	O
Computer	O
's	O
HyperCard	B-Application
,	O
Pitango	O
Clickworks	O
and	O
others	O
had	O
a	O
card	O
based	O
metaphor	O
,	O
and	O
Macromedia	B-Operating_System
Director	I-Operating_System
had	O
a	O
film	O
metaphor	O
(	O
the	O
content	O
area	O
is	O
called	O
The	O
Stage	O
,	O
the	O
time	O
line	O
The	O
Score	O
,	O
an	O
assets	O
library	O
named	O
The	O
Cast	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
mTropolis	B-Application
there	O
were	O
sections	O
,	O
subsections	O
,	O
and	O
scenes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
Starship	B-Application
Titanic	I-Application
author	O
Douglas	O
Adams	O
,	O
his	O
team	O
had	O
originally	O
selected	O
mTropolis	B-Application
1.0	O
for	O
its	O
development	O
platform	O
but	O
it	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
abandoned	O
for	O
unspecified	O
technical	O
insufficiencies	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
an	O
in-house	O
tool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
mTropolis	B-Application
was	O
conceived	O
around	O
a	O
visual	B-Language
programming	I-Language
metaphor	O
,	O
mFactory	O
engineers	O
intentionally	O
omitted	O
control	O
constructs	O
such	O
as	O
conditional	O
loops	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
advent	O
in	O
version	O
1.1	O
of	O
the	O
mTropolis	B-Application
browser	O
plug-in	O
for	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
Navigator	I-Protocol
,	O
dubbed	O
mPire	O
,	O
exposed	O
a	O
core	O
architectural	O
shortcoming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
binary	O
file	O
format	O
was	O
not	O
cross-platform	O
;	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
make	O
a	O
mTropolis	B-Application
element	O
available	O
for	O
embedding	O
on	O
a	O
web	O
page	O
,	O
the	O
author	O
was	O
required	O
to	O
save	O
a	O
Macintosh	O
version	O
and	O
a	O
separate	O
Windows	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
playback	O
engines	O
existed	O
for	O
both	O
the	O
Macintosh	O
and	O
Windows	O
platforms	O
,	O
the	O
mTropolis	B-Application
authoring	O
system	O
itself	O
only	O
ran	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
May	O
1996	O
:	O
Added	O
support	O
for	O
QuickTime	B-Application
VR	I-Application
1.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
March	O
1998	O
:	O
Quark	O
announces	O
that	O
v2.0	O
would	O
be	O
furnished	O
free-of-charge	O
to	O
registered	O
mTropolis	B-Application
v1	O
customers	O
,	O
but	O
that	O
the	O
product	O
will	O
not	O
be	O
made	O
available	O
for	O
general	O
purchase	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
the	O
way	O
the	O
mTropolis	B-Application
Player	O
was	O
separate	O
from	O
developer	O
content	O
,	O
by	O
viewing	O
the	O
files	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
easy	O
to	O
tell	O
if	O
a	O
title	O
was	O
developed	O
with	O
mTropolis	B-Application
.	O
</s>
