Humble Double Fine Bundle launches, we were right!

Brutal Legend doesn't have a Linux binary on Steam yet, and Costume Quest on Steam doesn't work for me (black screen). Hope they fix that soon. With how the Cave hasn't been updated, I fear the worst but hope for the best.

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: AnonNo cross-platform multiplayer in BL. No fun for Linux users I guess :(

Really? Man that's pants.

Pretty sure that's just the DRM-free version.  I'd be a tad surprised if multi-player is not included in the Steam version when it is ready.  Someone could probably get clarification from DF via twitter.  I will ask on the DF forums.

Quoting: s_d

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: AnonNo cross-platform multiplayer in BL. No fun for Linux users I guess :(

Really? Man that's pants.

Pretty sure that's just the DRM-free version.  I'd be a tad surprised if multi-player is not included in the Steam version when it is ready.  Someone could probably get clarification from DF via twitter.  I will ask on the DF forums.

 I know what I'm saying. Multiplayer is Linux-Linux, Mac-Mac, Windows-Windows only, no cross-platform multiplayer is what I said. Hopefully they can get it fixed.

I would have thought Steamworks would have worked out such wrinkles. Isn't that supposed to be the whole point, other than the DRM component?

Quoting: HamishI would have thought Steamworks would have worked out such wrinkles. Isn't that supposed to be the whole point, other than the DRM component?

I think sometimes it's down to the developer.

I've seen Black Ops (call of duty) released on mac and only have mac-mac online play even though its on steam for windows too.

It's odd.

Regarding multiplayer, it is absolutely true, and I've a nice technical explanation from them.  It appears to be an architectural limitation:

http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/9178/

Quoting: Quote from DF NathanBL’s matchmaking is restricted by platform/OS (i.e. 360 vs 360, Win vs Win, Linux vs Linux, etc).
The reason for this is that BL uses a deterministic peer-to-peer multiplayer model. In this model, there is no central/official server that makes all the important decisions and tells everyone else what happened. If there was, cross OS multiplayer would be much more possible. However, in the case of BL (and Iron Brigade), each player basically runs their own server and players only send their input to the other players. It’s as if everyone had their keyboards/mice/controllers plugged into a single machine. Except, they aren’t the same machine, but they have to act as if they are. What this means is that the game must be 100% deterministic, i.e. given the same inputs, each instance of the game must produce the same output. If the games don’t have the same output, then you get what we call a desync, which is sort of a butterfly effect where the games could continue, but each player would have an increasingly divergent version of the game.
In order to produce the exact same outputs, the game’s code needs to execute *exactly* the same on all of the machines involved. Any difference in how the process does, say, floating point math (i.e. PS3’s Cell vs Intel) would break that requirement. Even on machines with the same hardware (i.e. Windows vs Linux), we have to use different compilers and rely on different OSs. These differences in how, say, a compiler optimizes code can introduce subtle changes that will not be deterministic with the same code compiled on another processor.
It is, theoretically, possible to make a windows binary and a linux binary deterministic, but it’s a daunting proposition on a codebase as complex as Brutal Legend. It would require a vast investment of tech and QA, and would probably be quite fragile, easily broken by a subtle change in compiler behavior, OS update, etc.
Anyway, I hope that helps answer your question!

So, there you have it.  Each client sends state deltas to the others, and each client is expected to apply those deltas to the parameter lists of each object in play.  Then, each client's game engine is expected to play the resulting gameplay segment exactly as all the others (units spawn & die at the same time, attacks are issued & land in sync, etc.), and this is highly perturbed by engine variation, even compile-time optimization differences.

I can't say it's a happy result for me, but it's clear that they did not simply dismiss the feature, but did in fact put effort into discovering feasibility.

Beyond that, I'm conflicted... I'm not much of a multi-player kind of guy.  So, it shouldn't be a big deal.  But when I do, the two genres I enjoy are RTS and co-op RPG's (e.g., NWN1).  I've had a chat with some co-workers, regarding the PC release of BL, and they all pretty much agree that the game's RTS mode was not at all appropriate for a console (big surprise), and that the game is most fun to play with a gamepad for the action-adventure segments, and mouse/keyboard for the RTS battles.

Oooo, this looks like a proper Humble Bundle to me. Yes, we already have Psychonauts from an earlier HB, and Broken Age from the kickstarter, but I'm happy to see those other games really did get ported to Linux!

Omg i want this; but i am so broke right now.

Great bundle! Great company (Double Fine)! Great video! Support for Electronic Frontier Foundation! Tim Schafer is a good guy and totally deserves my $35 alone! 

just bought it for $35 and I recommend everyone else to do the same. Show your support when you can! Money talks and you have the opportunity. This is unprecented times for free open source platforms, so support while you can ;)

Quoting: OrkultusOmg i want this; but i am so broke right now.

Welcome to the club... :(