Vanguard Princess, a 2D fighting game that features an all-female cast is coming to Linux

The port is being done by codeweavers.

https://www.codeweavers.com/porting/clients-and-case-studies/vanguard-princess

This isn't a turnoff for me though. From all accounts I've heard, the game plays very well in wine. Also, if the linux ports in general have strong sales, more developers will plan for linux from the beginning. This is one more game on which we can make the linux community heard.

Vanguard Princess is a really good VS fighting game, and I'm not saying that because of the fair amount of fan-service that's provided by the game (even if I could, but that's another matter :p)

More particularly, the animation is top-notch, and the game is often said to have been developed by a former Street Fighter III developer (the best episode to date). Whether this is true or not, the game is really well crafted with some interesting gameplay ideas, and the hitting priorities and overall feeling is really pro-quality.

The game is essentially 1 vs 1, but it uses a second character based on the same model as strikers that can be found in Marvel vs Capcom or King of Fighters '99.

Definitely recommended, will buy when it's out.

Vanguard Princess is a really good VS fighting game, and I'm not saying that because of the fair amount of fan-service that's provided by the game (even if I could, but that's another matter :p)

More particularly, the animation is top-notch, and the game is often said to have been developed by a former Street Fighter III developer (the best episode to date). Whether this is true or not, the game is really well crafted with some interesting gameplay ideas, and the hitting priorities and overall feeling is really pro-quality.

The game is essentially 1 vs 1, but it uses a second character based on the same model as strikers that can be found in Marvel vs Capcom or King of Fighters '99.

Definitely recommended, will buy when it's out.

That's surprising. From what I remember, it seemed pretty shoddy even on Windows. It was a 2009 game made with the "Fighter Maker" program. It didn't even have support for widescreen monitors. Has it improved somehow? I'm not saying it won't be good, but it's hard to see how it could be better than Skullgirls.

Edit: I should note. I'm referring to how the game runs rather than the gameplay. It might be stellar.


Last edited by melkemind on 7 July 2016 at 11:39 pm UTC

Was not my intention to sound demeaning.

I didn't think you were! It's cool.

I do think that Wine is an amazing piece of software and I have great respect for Wine developers. Yet I do not consider Wine-wrapped games to be proper ports, just as I don't consider software running in DOSBox to be Linux software. Simply because it still runs non-native code, makes non-native system calls, and generally does not interact with system libraries and services the way native software is expected to.

That's fair from a dictionary definition standpoint. I'm not trying to set or change any definitions here. But if I can install a game and play it without having to do any extra manual steps configuring any sort of compatibility environment (like I don't have to with GOG's Dosbox ports; it's all handled behind the scenes by the install script) I have no problem calling it a "real Linux game" if nothing else.

This can lead to all sort of hard to diagnose problems, and imposes limitations on how much you can take advantage of the native system.

That certainly might be a problem, but it also might not be a problem. This is more of a case-by-case issue. Good Wine ports vs bad wine ports.

That is not why I dislike Wine-wrapped "ports" though. My main issue is that this method is very Windows-centric from the developers point of view, and does not encourage proper cross-platform development practices. That is why so many developers choose to use technologies that are inherently incompatible with Linux, such as DirectX 11, and then write off Linux ports as unfeasible.

The culture of development is far outside of my area of expertise, but you're probably right. But is it really necessary to denigrate Wine ports to encourage better programming practices for new software? It really seems like we should be able to encourage developers to adopt more cross-platform friendly programming habits for developing new games, while also acknowledging the value of the work and effort that goes in to making a good wrapper port for games that will never run under Linux without it.

That is exactly what projects like PlayOnLinux and Winetricks do. Also we are talking about a game that already has a platinum rating in Wine, therefore I cannot see how it is much more than just running it in Wine.

All I can offer is anecdotal evidence about how I've tried many games, with very good Wine compatibility ratings, under vanilla Wine and PlayOnLinux, and have almost always failed to get a good experience. It's why I don't use Wine or PlayOnLinux anymore. The most common problem I've had with games is the inability to switch to fullscreen without the entire desktop crashing. I've searched for hours for solutions online and never found any that worked. Also, I've been using Linux for 8 years but most of the options and settings in Winetricks are complete gibberish to me. You're free to say I don't know enough, and I would not argue, but we'll never get any new converts to Linux if we keep thinking like that.

For the sake of argument let us say that the game really is problematic and cannot simply be run in Wine. Would you not rather have all that effort put into a proper port instead of making workarounds for the non-native software?

Given a choice I would of course always prefer a native port, but that's not the right question; the right question is "would you prefer a Wine port or nothing?" I know the answer that a lot of vocal Linux gamers would give is "nothing," and I just very much disagree with that. I still remember that GOL article titled "Why we want native ports only" and how insulting and discouraging I felt that was to a lot of good Wine port developers. And I can't help but feel like a lot of these Linux gamers who would say they want "nothing" rather than a Wine port are only saying it because they've already played through the game using a lot of Wine configurations that I am not knowledgeable enough to repeat.

...I believe that Wine ports will lead to more Wine ports. Which can do wonders for older games, but new games may prove problematic. For example Alien: Isolation has a garbage rating on Wine.

Again, if it means Wine ports leading to more wine ports of games we would not get otherwise, then I think that's a good thing! If it means more Wine ports of games that would have been native otherwise, that is a problem, but isn't that really hard to foresee? And again, does it really have to be this way? Is it really "either you're for us or you're against us?" Am I really harming native ports by liking Wine ports?

What we really need is more developers getting into Linux as a first-class development platform, and not as an afterthought.

I agree!

And that in my mind means going native.

Does going native mean ostracizing non-native ports? I'm not be sarcastic or snarky here! That is a legitimate question! I am just hoping the answer is no.

Thank you for the civilized debate Linas! This topic needs to be discussed constructively more often.

Vanguard Princess is a really good VS fighting game, and I'm not saying that because of the fair amount of fan-service that's provided by the game (even if I could, but that's another matter :p)

More particularly, the animation is top-notch, and the game is often said to have been developed by a former Street Fighter III developer (the best episode to date). Whether this is true or not, the game is really well crafted with some interesting gameplay ideas, and the hitting priorities and overall feeling is really pro-quality.

The game is essentially 1 vs 1, but it uses a second character based on the same model as strikers that can be found in Marvel vs Capcom or King of Fighters '99.

Definitely recommended, will buy when it's out.

That's surprising. From what I remember, it seemed pretty shoddy even on Windows. It was a 2009 game made with the "Fighter Maker" program. It didn't even have support for widescreen monitors. Has it improved somehow? I'm not saying it won't be good, but it's hard to see how it could be better than Skullgirls.

Edit: I should note. I'm referring to how the game runs rather than the gameplay. It might be stellar.

Well it depends on what you're expecting from a 2D fighter in general. Granted, Vanguard Princess is low-res, but I think the art direction is awesome. Skullgirls is hi-res, and overall it's technically superior, buy the art-style and gameplay don't appeal to me. I've had been having the game and it's DLCs in my library for a long time but I still haven't played it...

When you're used to playing SF III or Mark of the Wolves, Vanguard Princess' graphics aren't bad at all, quite impressive for a doujin game. Some series like King of Fighters or SNK vs Capcom kept low-res sprites for quite some time even after switching to 3D backgrounds, and in my opinion that looked way shoddier than Vanguard Princess.

Just my opinion though, and I never liked western fighting games that much, apart from the occasional Killer Instinct. Even Mortal Kombat, I find it gross and stiff in its gameplay. A matter of tastes, I think.


Last edited by omer666 on 8 July 2016 at 10:07 am UTC

Proper fighting games is something we lack

Er...Skullgirls, maybe? ;-)

I said we lack, not that we didn't have any.

This can lead to all sort of hard to diagnose problems, and imposes limitations on how much you can take advantage of the native system.

That certainly might be a problem, but it also might not be a problem. This is more of a case-by-case issue. Good Wine ports vs bad wine ports.

I honestly think it has more to do with Wines ability to run the game, than the effort put in by the developer. There are not that many Wine ports available, so my evidence is not extensive, but I have several examples:

System Shock 2 - platinum rating. Very old game, and the developer seems to have lost the source code.

Two Worlds - gold rating. An old and hilariously bad game, so it makes no sense for the developer to invest in a proper port.

Eador. Masters of the Broken World - garbage rating. Relatively new game. Sold a Wine port on Steam for a while, but it never really worked for anybody, and the developer dropped Linux support and never spoke of it since.

So Wine seems to be a shortcut solution for old and no longer profitable games that already run fine in Wine. And if the game does not run in Wine, there is very low chance for actually doing a Wine "port", because the complexity of that will very likely be higher than that of a proper port. There is no example of a Wine port known to me that actually took a game that was not able to run in Wine, and made it to.

Does going native mean ostracizing non-native ports? I'm not be sarcastic or snarky here! That is a legitimate question! I am just hoping the answer is no.

Probably not. I mean, I do understand that porting old games is an investment that makes no sense for most developers. They may be build on old technologies that are really platform-specific, using middleware that is no longer supported, etc. So if the game already runs in Wine, why not just package it and let some more people enjoy it? But in my mind Wine a tool for resurrecting old games, and not a viable porting option for new games.

Sorry if I did not answer all the points, because this is potentially an endless discussion. :)