3 Linux games on the Be Mine Anniversary bundle

Shortly after publishing this article I contacted the developers of all the $5 tier games. So far I've received two answers:

1) Daedalic Entertainment, developers of Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes, replied:

Thank your for your interest in our games. We forwarded your request to our sales compartment, which replied that they are observing and considering it. In any case, do not expect anything, at least not very soon.

2) Kalypso Media, publishers of Dungeons: The Dark Lord (which is about to be unlocked as a bonus game at the time of writing), replied:

Thank you for your inquiry. Currently, there are no plans to create Linux versions for the games you have mentioned.

So at the moment there's no Linux support on the $5 level, don't bother to pay more than this (unless you think the 3 native Linux games deserve it, of course! :P)

So at the moment there's no Linux support on the $5 level, don't bother to pay more than this (unless you think the 3 native Linux games deserve it, of course! )

...or you fancy the OSTs! :)

More news!

First of all, Dungeons: The Dark Lord has been unlocked on the $1 tier, although with no foreseeable Linux port as I reported earlier today.

And secondly, I've just received the answer from Topware Interactive, publishers of Planets Under Attack and Two Worlds II:

I´m very sorry, but there are no plans for the moment.

I'm still waiting for the answer about Men of War: Assault Squad, but I guess it's gonna be the same as the other ones.

Next bonus item is an EP, but there's still another game to be unlocked (the Mistery Game on the $5 tier). Let's hope it's a Linux title and thus another reason to get this bundle (or raise the paid ammount).

Disappointing so far. I've tried Eschalon Book II but it won't work on Debian since it needs libc2.15. This problem is getting more and more common and it sucks, and they don't even care to warn about it. I can't even find and email address to ask for support.

There's a trend of game developers giving a fuck about their customers arriving to our platform lately. :-(

Disappointing so far. I've tried Eschalon Book II but it won't work on Debian since it needs libc2.15. This problem is getting more and more common and it sucks, and they don't even care to warn about it. I can't even find and email address to ask for support.

Ew, that's not cool. On my end I can only confirm that it works flawlessly on Ubuntu 12.10 64bit.

They warn about this in the README.txt file, but I agree that they should say it on their website.

RUNNING THE GAME ON LINUX
-----------------------------------
Eschalon: Book II was compiled and tested using Ubuntu 12.04LTS, and we can only verify that it runs on that version of Linux. Many people have managed to get the game to run on numerous other versions of Linux, but we do not, and cannot, support every Linux variation. Please check our forums for information on running the game on other variations of Linux.

Well, the Mistery Game was finally revealed last weekend and it's none other than AirBuccaneers. At the current rate of purchases it will be unlocked pretty soon.

At first I was very excited since it's a game built with Unity3D and I read that they had recently upgraded to Unity4, so a Linux port seemed a matter of (little) time. The game's FAQ isn't very definite about this question, though:

1.9 Will there be a Linux version of AirBuccaneers?

We have moved from Unity 3.5, which didn’t directly support Linux, to Unity 4 which does. AirBuccaneers has been seen running on Linux.

Quite an ambiguous answer, by any standard... So I decided to contact them by email and that's the answer I've got:

I'm sorry to inform you that we've currently put the AirBuccaneers Linux client development on hold.

We do aim to return to it as soon as possible, but can't really give any kind of estimation of when it might be done.

Nevertheless, have a great week!

While I appreciate their good wishes I'm a little disappointed to read this. So as it is we can only hope they retake the porting tasks ASAP so a native Linux port can finally see the light of day. If you're as hopeful as I am remember that this game will fit under the $5 tier, so you might need to raise your payment to get it.

RUNNING THE GAME ON LINUX
-----------------------------------
Eschalon: Book II was compiled and tested using Ubuntu 12.04LTS, and we can only verify that it runs on that version of Linux. Many people have managed to get the game to run on numerous other versions of Linux, but we do not, and cannot, support every Linux variation. Please check our forums for information on running the game on other variations of Linux.

That's a pretty dumb statement, and you'll only get to see it when you buy the game. Normally, I can run every game compiled and tested on Ubuntu 12.04LTS as long as it hasn't been linked with a glibc newer than 2.13. I bet no game needs the newest glibc version.

On Windows, these games are usually compatible with Windows XP (11 yo?), Vista (6 yo?) and 7 (3 yo?), but they won't make them compatible with a fundamental GNU/Linux library that is only 2 years old! Great!

We shouldn't buy the argument in the statement above about so many variations because truth is they don't care about GNU/Linux as they do for Windows. I'm not surprised but it's still unfair. I regret having paid for that since it seems I won't even get a support contact. I'm sticking to games by good known sources or with working demos, i.e. HIB et al.

Disappointing so far. I've tried Eschalon Book II but it won't work on Debian since it needs libc2.15. This problem is getting more and more common and it sucks, and they don't even care to warn about it. I can't even find and email address to ask for support.

There's a trend of game developers giving a fuck about their customers arriving to our platform lately. :-(

You can play libc2.15 games even if your distribution uses libc2.13. Try this:

1. Download the glibc 2.15 package from packages.ubuntu.com
2. Extract it with "dpkg -x". Note I wrote "extract", not "install".
4. Add the lib/i386-linux-gnu folder to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

5. Play.

It worked with all the games I tried so far, both 32 and 64 bits if you choose the proper package.

If you want to ask for support, Basilisk Games provides a lot of channels: http://basiliskgames.com/about-us

You can play libc2.15 games even if your distribution uses libc2.13. Try this:

1. Download the glibc 2.15 package from packages.ubuntu.com
2. Extract it with "dpkg -x". Note I wrote "extract", not "install".
4. Add the lib/i386-linux-gnu folder to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

5. Play.

It worked with all the games I tried so far, both 32 and 64 bits if you choose the proper package.

I tried this using glibc 2.17 from the Debian experimental repository and it didn't work, I got a crash. I'll try again with the Ubuntu package. I'm used to fiddling with libraries but replacing glibc is more complex than other ones.

If you want to ask for support, Basilisk Games provides a lot of channels: http://basiliskgames.com/about-us

Thanks, I'll use that, although I expected some kind of sale support from the bundle.

At least Eschalon works with the Ubuntu glibc package on Debian SID, I'll try with the others later. I've tried the Teleglitch demo (64bit) but it segfaults when using this method. While not a real solution it seems it can help with some of the games I already purchased. It's sad we're always fighting to fix what developers could fix in the blink of an eye if they tried.

Thanks for the advice.

Well, the Mistery Game was finally revealed last weekend and it's none other than AirBuccaneers. At the current rate of purchases it will be unlocked pretty soon.

Looks like I was totally wrong! AirBuccaneers has been unlocked today, but not on the $5 tier as the Mistery Game as I thought. Instead it's been unlocked on the $1 tier and the Mistery Game actually is The Cat Lady, available Windows-only at Desura.

As usual I've contacted the developers to inquire about a possible Linux port, but I've got no reply yet.

Less than two days till this bundle ends, and for the sake of completeness I must announce the last unlocked game: The Adventures of Shaggy, a Windows-only platformer. I haven't contacted the developers, but since the game is built on XNA there seem to be little chance it gets ported to Linux (at least anytime soon).