The developers of the RPG/Tower-Defense hybrid have announced that their upcoming free HD remake update won't be using Adobe AIR and instead will be a native port for Linux.
In a recent blog post the developer for Defender's Quest has stated that they've redone their engine in C++ instead of dealing with Adobe products. Linux is specifically mentioned as a beneficiary of this move. Not only that, since the upcoming sequel will be using the same engine, it seems possible that we'll get a native port upon release.
It's always awesome to get native ports. I've always deeply disliked Adobe products because of their numerous vulnerabilities and spotty Linux support so any move away from them is great news. Defender's Quest is a popular enough game which I admit I've been tempted to check out but haven't because I found out it needed AIR. I'll be looking forward to playing the native version eventually. The work they've put in making sure that their HD version looks just right inspires confidence in both the update and the upcoming sequel.
The blog mentions that a public demo of the HD update should be coming in the next month or two and the final release hopefully before the end of the year.
Official About
Defender's Quest is a Tower-Defense/RPG Hybrid (Think Final Fantasy Tactics meets Tower Defense). It focuses on three things: tactical depth, customization, and story. That means no random encounters, no spikey-haired emo kids, no forced time sinks, and no tedious, repetitive battles.
You can grab Defender's Quest and get it on Steam or a DRM-free version from its official site via a humble widget. Note that playing it on Linux currently requires manual installation of Adobe AIR.
What do you guys think? Any tower defense fans out there? Anyone else happy that they've ditched AIR and are going native? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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It's always awesome to get native ports. I've always deeply disliked Adobe products because of their numerous vulnerabilities and spotty Linux support so any move away from them is great news. Defender's Quest is a popular enough game which I admit I've been tempted to check out but haven't because I found out it needed AIR. I'll be looking forward to playing the native version eventually. The work they've put in making sure that their HD version looks just right inspires confidence in both the update and the upcoming sequel.
The blog mentions that a public demo of the HD update should be coming in the next month or two and the final release hopefully before the end of the year.
Official About
Defender's Quest is a Tower-Defense/RPG Hybrid (Think Final Fantasy Tactics meets Tower Defense). It focuses on three things: tactical depth, customization, and story. That means no random encounters, no spikey-haired emo kids, no forced time sinks, and no tedious, repetitive battles.
You can grab Defender's Quest and get it on Steam or a DRM-free version from its official site via a humble widget. Note that playing it on Linux currently requires manual installation of Adobe AIR.
What do you guys think? Any tower defense fans out there? Anyone else happy that they've ditched AIR and are going native? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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10 comments
Sweet! DQ is my favourite tower defense game, looking forward to playing it again. DQ2 is looking good, apparently it's planned for release the end of the year.
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Can't wait to play this - such a cool TD game. I'll be buying a couple of copies for this for my sons and I'll get the free upgrade for my version.
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boltronics Oct 16, 2015
I finished Defender's Quest some time ago. It was fun, although frustrating that I had to play it under Wine due to no GNU/Linux build being available. In fact, Steam and GOG still don't seem to have a native builds listed.
Last edited by boltronics on 16 October 2015 at 3:54 pm UTC
Last edited by boltronics on 16 October 2015 at 3:54 pm UTC
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Quoting: boltronicsI finished Defender's Quest some time ago. It was fun, although frustrating that I had to play it under Wine due to no GNU/Linux build being available. In fact, Steam and GOG still don't seem to have a native builds listed.
Defenders quest plays native on Linux if you install adobe air , doesnt need wine or anything else...
At least the Steam Version even though is not listed on Steam store that has Linux support...
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Quoting: wolfyrionQuoting: boltronicsI finished Defender's Quest some time ago. It was fun, although frustrating that I had to play it under Wine due to no GNU/Linux build being available. In fact, Steam and GOG still don't seem to have a native builds listed.
Defenders quest plays native on Linux if you install adobe air , doesnt need wine or anything else...
At least the Steam Version even though is not listed on Steam store that has Linux support...
I think something fishy is going on with Steam, Linux icons have been vanishing. DQ is most definitely on Steam for Linux. It's in my library right now. I've seen StarMade's icon also vanish.
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Quoting: boltronicsI finished Defender's Quest some time ago. It was fun, although frustrating that I had to play it under Wine due to no GNU/Linux build being available. In fact, Steam and GOG still don't seem to have a native builds listed.
We're waiting for the HD version of Defender's Quest due to the fact that the original Linux version of Defender's Quest uses a non-standalone version of Adobe AIR.
The HD version is Linux native without Adobe AIR and so the best thing for us would be to give that version instead...unless you LIKE having Adobe AIR on your system :)
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boltronics Oct 17, 2015
Quoting: liamdaweI think something fishy is going on with Steam, Linux icons have been vanishing. DQ is most definitely on Steam for Linux. It's in my library right now. I've seen StarMade's icon also vanish.
Interesting. Yes, I see it in my library there now too, although I only got it in Steam much later from a bundle. According to my records I originally purchased this through GOG and played that version, and I think to this day GOG still doesn't have the GNU/Linux version available there.
Basically, this is how I roll:
If there's a game I want to play and there is no native version, I'll purchase from GOG for better Wine compatibility (since it doesn't have Steam and the possibility of extra DRM which can cause complications). But IMO GOG has absolutely horrible GNU/Linux support, so I'll buy any native games (which is most games these days) from Steam.
Edit: The URL showed fine when I clicked preview (typed using "<a href...") but not after actually clicking the submit button. Seems to be a bug. :/
Last edited by boltronics on 17 October 2015 at 12:31 am UTC
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Way to go Defender's Quest devs! This update is going on my wishlist.
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The developers' blog post on HD upgrade was really nice to read. I liked the game a lot when playing it three years ago, and really look forward the the HD and sequel. By the way Arch Linux users could try my packages for the old game and its demo on AUR:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/defenders-quest
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/defenders-quest-demo
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/defenders-quest
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/defenders-quest-demo
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