A Radical Idea For More Linux Game Ports

[Ardje]

Why are people hellbent on giving me exceptions ("a lot of") as an example of broken compatibility in Windows, whereas in Linux API/ABI compatibility is just not there at all? ISVs will not create games for Linux unless they can be sure that their games run for years without any hassle.

Yeah, you are right I am trying desperate to say that linux games do not have a problem with abi compatability and, that's why I mention that almost none of the linux games I have actually work.
Try reading first...
Both linux and windows have ABI problems. Windows because they have changed the API's completely. That's why you see games on GOG being distributed with DirectX based engines instead of DirectDraw or how you call those things. (See problems with divine divinity).
So yes, they both have problems. Windows slightly less than linux.
But the thing that *always* works, and only keeps on getting better is old windows games with wine on linux. I can run games on my linux box that do not run on windows. That's a fact.

[Kemosabe]

I am an indie game developer. My game is called Block Story.

The work I do is very much driven by what customers ask. The most expensive resource I have is time, so I have to prioritize the work that makes the most people happy.
I can tell you the reason I have not ported the game to Linux is that almost nobody has asked for it. I just don't see the demand for it, so my time is better spent adding other things.

If Valve or Redhat were to pay for the development, it could help compensate for the lack of demand.

And if you would do a port i would most probably not buy.
Mobile games on PC? Just LOL.

[nanonyme]

Even mentioning Blizzard onto this, is strange. why should we reward the worst (most evil) and maybe nearly richest gaming company for totaly ignoring linux.

I always thought that was Disney

[paulpach]

@paulpach

I do not really understand why you don't port your game, especially with help of sdl it should run on OS X as well with little changes. Basically you get one arch for free if you do it right. But i would not say that the world needs another Minecraft on Linux, the original already runs.

Well, for one thing my game is not another Minecraft. While it does have mining and crafting (which we added because people asked for it), and Minecraft was certainly an inspiration, the game is first and foremost an RPG, with leveling up, skill points and quests. If you want a rationale for why I did this game here it is. I have 7 million downloads and counting, so obviously people do like the game.

The game is already ported to OSX. Porting to linux means spending time porting it (not just a recompile), and maintaining it. If all I can expect is a handful of sales per month, it is very much not worth it.

I have nothing against linux, heck I have contributed code to several open source packages (even the kernel once), and I use linux on any server I set up. But I have not seen any significant demand for linux games unlike Windows. Hopefully Valve will change that with SteamOS.

[duby229]

Well, for one thing my game is not another Minecraft. While it does have mining and crafting (which we added because people asked for it), and Minecraft was certainly an inspiration, the game is first and foremost an RPG, with leveling up, skill points and quests. If you want a rationale for why I did this game here it is. I have 7 million downloads and counting, so obviously people do like the game.

The game is already ported to OSX. Porting to linux means spending time porting it (not just a recompile), and maintaining it. If all I can expect is a handful of sales per month, it is very much not worth it.

I have nothing against linux, heck I have contributed code to several open source packages (even the kernel once), and I use linux on any server I set up. But I have not seen any significant demand for linux games unlike Windows. Hopefully Valve will change that with SteamOS.

I certainly don't blame you. I don't work for free either. But that is the catch22, no games means no gamers and vise versa.

[blackiwid]

I always thought that was Disney

do they produce pc games or do you talk about other games, and yes I am shure they produced in history 1-2 games that got sold a few thousend times... buts it not what they primary do (or did I miss something)

[duby229]

do they produce pc games or do you talk about other games, and yes I am shure they produced in history 1-2 games that got sold a few thousend times... buts it not what they primary do (or did I miss something)

Yeah, Disney has made a lot of very popular commercial games. I doubt many of them ever made it to linux though.

[kgonzales]

What do you guys think ? Does this make sense ?

No it doesn't.

[Kano]

@paulpach

You can port it or not, that does not matter for me. It is no must have game, some might like to play it on Linux, but i would not expect too many - Linux is not the first gaming platform. Basically most free to play games are about leveling and making money if you pay for fast leveling. If i could write games multiplatform i would do - by porting you usually find bugs in other implementation as well. If you need help, open source your game and hope that some clever people want to improve it. But as you have got OS X ready i can not see where your huge problem is. Too hard to get Linux running? I could help with that...

[Kano]

You can get fully automatic binary driver detection with an easy way to switch to mesa (via boot option). With an open PC case you can test all 3 major drivers within a few minutes.