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Mac (Apple Silicon) Setup

Hello. Has something gone wrong?

Don't worry. This page will walk you through everything step by step. Take your time. By the end, you'll have FlashBoss running beautifully.

What Even Is a Terminal?

A terminal is a text-based way to talk to your computer. Instead of clicking icons, you type commands. It looks like something from an 80s hacker movie, but it's actually quite friendly once you get the hang of it.

FlashBoss runs in a terminal because it gives us complete control over colors, sounds, and that retro aesthetic you're about to experience.

The Rosetta 2 Requirement

Your Mac has an Apple Silicon chip (M1, M2, M3, or M4). These are fantastic processors, but they use a different instruction set than older Intel Macs.

FlashBoss is currently built for Intel. To run it on Apple Silicon, you need Rosetta 2 — Apple's translation layer that lets Intel apps run on your M-series chip.

Installing Rosetta 2

Open Terminal and run:

softwareupdate --install-rosetta

Follow the prompts. It's a one-time installation — once Rosetta 2 is installed, it works automatically for all Intel apps.

You might already have it installed if you've run other Intel apps before. In that case, the command will just tell you it's already there.

Opening Terminal on Mac

The easiest way:

  1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight
  2. Type Terminal
  3. Press Enter

Or find it in Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

The Dark Mode Requirement

FlashBoss uses carefully chosen colors that look great on a dark background. On a light background, they wash out and become hard to read.

The fix is simple: use a dark terminal theme.

Setting a Dark Theme

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Go to Terminal > Settings (or press Cmd + ,)
  3. Click the "Profiles" tab
  4. Choose a dark profile like "Pro" or "Homebrew"
  5. Click "Default" at the bottom to make it your default

That's it. Your terminal will now use a dark background, and FlashBoss will look as intended.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • One-time Rosetta 2 install
  • Runs seamlessly after setup
  • Terminal is built into macOS
  • Full color and emoji support
  • Highly customizable

Cons

  • Extra Rosetta 2 install step
  • Slight performance overhead (unnoticeable for FlashBoss)
  • Light themes wash out colors

Customizing Your Terminal

Mac's Terminal is fully customizable. Here's how to make it your own.

Background Color

For the authentic FlashBoss experience, set your background to:

#171421 — the same dark purple we use in the game

In Settings > Profiles, click the "Background" color box and enter this value.

Fonts

The terminal uses monospace fonts by default. Here are some we recommend:

Download from Google Fonts, install them (double-click the .ttf file), then select in Terminal Settings > Profiles > Font.

Start with 14pt font size and adjust from there.

Note: Non-monospace fonts might look odd in some contexts, but Terminal handles them surprisingly well. Experiment and see what you like.

Basic Commands

Once you're in the terminal, here's how to navigate:

cd FlashBoss — enter the FlashBoss folder

./FlashBoss — run the game

./FlashBoss --hierarchyaudio — test audio playback

Mac uses forward slashes / for paths, like a sensible operating system.

You're Ready

That's it. Rosetta 2 is installed, dark theme is set, and FlashBoss is waiting for you.

If you launched from Steam, everything should just work. If you're running manually, navigate to the FlashBoss folder and run ./FlashBoss.

Good luck, hero.