Hero-U: rogue to redemption

I sent the author a message asking why because it sounds like a money grab since Unity does the exporting for you? No other developer using Unity has stated any extra work for Linux.

wonder what they will say, their FAQ states:

QuoteInitially we will support Windows and Macintosh. We are using the Unity engine, which works on a variety of platforms. However, there are significant costs involved in customizing and testing the game on each additional platform. As our first stretch goal, in addition to content improvements, we plan to support Linux, iPad, and selected additional iOS and Android devices.

Seems like a definite cashgrab for them. Win/Mac/Lin is in the standard package, you do not have to pay for it like for iOS and Android. Disappointing...

Add me to the "WTF" crowd. Makes as much sense as making a Flash game and not releasing it for GNU/Linux. Oo

Regarding Flash, VVVVVV wasn't on Linux until it was rewritten in C, because the flash version had some serious problems under Linux. However with Unity, there's literally no reason to say no to Linux, since there are absolutely no issues, and even if, Unity will solve them!

Ahaaaa, I didn't even know VVVVVV used to be Flash. ^^

I am chatting to the developer will put the info up tomorrow.

Great to hear that! I'll be checking back then, in hopes of more info.

Okay so as promised here is the chat between me and the developer.

Me:

QuoteHow can Linux be a stretch goal when you use Unity, it does the exporting for you? Sounds like a money grab to me.

Cole:

QuoteLinux will be *part* of a stretch goal that also includes paying the team better and adding significantly more content. We want to support Linux, and plan to, but we have to be realistic. Linux is part of the very first stretch goal (not yet announced, but currently I have it budgeted at $550K).
Unity charges $1,500 per seat per target operating system for their development kit. We will need multiple Linux Unity kits to port there. We will also need to test the game on various Linux distributions such as RedHat and Ubuntu to make sure everything works properly.
Frankly, at the $400K minimum goal, the team will be in austerity mode just getting the game out. That will give us the same budget we had for Hero's Quest, a 16-color EGA game, in 1989 when Sierra paid artists $18K/year. Our team members have families, and the cost of living has increased greatly in the meantime. So it isn't just about Linux, it's about making a great game on a shoestring.

Me:

QuoteI just checked and the 1,500 charge includes Linux publishing for Unity3D so its not per operating system? So i don't get what you mean at all.
If you don't already have unity licenses then that would be covered in your initial goal would it not?

Cole:

QuoteYes, that's correct. We are talking with some Linux experts about ways to reduce the cost. We might be able to have a single build machine with the Linux license, and have one person responsible for all Linux builds. We will still need to acquire multiple Linux systems and distributions to do testing, and pay a tester to exhaustively test each build. We'll be able to do some of that by releasing Beta versions to backers in the Linux community, but that's no substitute for professional Quality Assurance.
Other projects in the past have been slammed by Windows users for promising Linux support at the beginning. They feel (somewhat correctly) that resources will be taken away from Windows game development to port and test on Linux. Trust me, we definitely want to find a way to support Linux, but not at the cost of overall game quality.

Me:

QuoteAny machine and any single Unity3D license would support publishing to Linux so the cost of actually putting it onto Linux is what the cost of a distribution - free, unity license 1,500 covered by your initial goal and a computer which you can dual boot anyway with Windows which you would already have.
I just don't see why really it is being made out to be so expensive.
The Linux community LOVE play testing and can easily do a large part of it for you. Using Unity3D you would have nearly your whole codebase the same across Windows, Mac and Linux would you not? So i don't understand how it would take a large amount of Windows development time away.
I appreciate chatting with you like this its good to get a proper insight into what goes on with Unity and game devs.

Cole:

QuoteI admit my information was second-hand from our lead developer. When we started talking with him in April, Unity did not even support Linux. I'll talk with him this evening and see whether we can add it to the base build. Our stretch goal was to include Linux, iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. The rest of those require serious additional work on the graphics, user interface, and testing. Linux is admittedly much easier.
Clearly I will have to add Linux to my system. I used to work on unix back in the early 80's before I got into the game industry. I've had very little contact with Linux.

Me - Note - I of course know many other distros but we all know those two are the most popular.

QuoteWell for Linux Ubuntu and Fedora are the main ones to focus on. Redhat is really for workstations.
Dual booting Linux with Windows is a sinch nowadays.
In Unity Linux publishing is in the initial license but flash, android or ios re the extras.
If you need any other Linux advice give me a shout but since you are Using Unity it won't be hard.

Cole:

QuoteSounds good, thanks for the info. I'm told that Linux is part of Unity 4 - not yet released - but not the previous versions. I'll make sure when I get my license that I get v.4 and Linux support. As soon as I've had a chance to go through this with Andrew, I'll post something to the project (probably late tonight or tomorrow).

So they will be looking to support Linux from the get go now. Luckily in this case the developer is nice enough to chat and just wasn't educated on it at all, he said it himself he hasn't used Linux.

So in future folks if you see a Linux stretch goal...try just having a simple chat with them.

Thanks for taking the time to chat to them. Good to see they were just uninformed and didn't actually intend to simply make more cash on this. Obviously, they still have to change the info on the Kickstarter page, but it seems that will be fine. Hopefully they reach their goal of 400k as it seems like a nice game.