I don't usually point out developers blog posts unless they say something interesting, luckily the developer of Democracy 3, Gratuitous Space Battles, Redshirt & more has said something I bet a lot of developers now feel.
Truth be told I have been personally critical of Cliff in the past and now I am happy to say my critical points were right. I was critical that he didn't look into OpenGL and Linux support himself and it seems he now regrets it, one of those beautiful "I told you so" moments.
This isn't to say I don't respect Cliff, far from it. I think his games are excellent and I am pleased to see him doing well, but just read the excerpt below.
Blog Post Source
I really do think there will be a few developers feeling like that and I am really pleased SteamOS and Valve are pushing it like no other company has for desktop Linux.
What do you make of it folks? Have you seen any other developers talk about it? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Truth be told I have been personally critical of Cliff in the past and now I am happy to say my critical points were right. I was critical that he didn't look into OpenGL and Linux support himself and it seems he now regrets it, one of those beautiful "I told you so" moments.
This isn't to say I don't respect Cliff, far from it. I think his games are excellent and I am pleased to see him doing well, but just read the excerpt below.
Cliff HarrisLinux.
This is the big takeaway for me. I’m not a big Linux fan. Nothing ‘political’, I’m just so used to windows. I’ve used windows constantly since windows 3.11. I don’t know anything about Linux, and I now have to learn. Valve have made this clear. Not ‘Linux is growing’ more ‘learn Linux now… today…’. Personally, I’m not too bothered by this, especially now I have a steam box. What this really means for me is OpenGL. My hand-coded directx engine is now looking like a bit of a dead end. This is unfortunate…
Blog Post Source
I really do think there will be a few developers feeling like that and I am really pleased SteamOS and Valve are pushing it like no other company has for desktop Linux.
What do you make of it folks? Have you seen any other developers talk about it? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Everything is well illustrated in the above commentary! :)
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I'm sorry for the guys troubles, but it's about damn time. 
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Does that mean he will finally port GSB properly?
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It's always dangerous as a developer to build your entire business on a closed platform controlled by a single entity. If it's controlled by Microsoft, it's even more dangerous. Either the platform dies off (as we're seeing now) or it gets publicly discredited or shut down by its owner. In any case, you're out of business almost overnight and will need to spend top $$$ to catch up to everyone else on a different platform.
This guy should have seen the writing on the wall _at least_ one year ago, especially given that there have been hundreds of millions of mobile devices out there for a while now that use OpenGL as their primary graphics API.
This guy should have seen the writing on the wall _at least_ one year ago, especially given that there have been hundreds of millions of mobile devices out there for a while now that use OpenGL as their primary graphics API.
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Quoting: Quote from stanSome people in the comments on his blog are suggesting switching to Unity. I feel it would be the same mistake as using DirectX in the first place.care to explain more why do you feel that way?
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Quoting: Quote from stanAgreed. That's very bad. Unfortunately, we still have a way to go it seems...Quoting: Quote from Grofcare to explain more why do you feel that way?Unity is closed-source, so you don’t have any control on the supported platforms or bug fixes/improvements.
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Quoting: Quote from stanSome people in the comments on his blog are suggesting switching to Unity. I feel it would be the same mistake as using DirectX in the first place.Yes simply telling someone to use Unity is a problem.
Something I highlighted in an editorial: http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-indie-game-developer-community-unity3d.2611
I think most people using one tool is very dangerous.
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Quoting: Quote from liamdaweQuoting: Quote from stanSome people in the comments on his blog are suggesting switching to Unity. I feel it would be the same mistake as using DirectX in the first place.Yes simply telling someone to use Unity is a problem.
Something I highlighted in an editorial: http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-indie-game-developer-community-unity3d.2611
I think most people using one tool is very dangerous.
I agree but would qualify that further. Using one tool is fine if it is an open source project with an active developer base across a wide range of developers (i.e. not only those working for the project owner). In this case, even if the owner stops working on the tool, you'll have enough time to find a replacement tool in case the remaining developer community can't support the project well enough to keep it up to date in the long run.
So in this regard, I agree that switching from DirectX to Unity is just trading one evil for another as far as independence is concerned.
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"hand-coded directx engine" <- there's your problem
"I’ve used windows constantly since windows 3.11. I don’t know anything about Linux"
...so, no idea about POSIX? <- there's your other problem
"I’ve used windows constantly since windows 3.11. I don’t know anything about Linux"
...so, no idea about POSIX? <- there's your other problem
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