Game porter Ethan Lee, who has done tons of Linux ports went to SteamDevDays and he has now done a write-up of the experience.
It sounds like it was a good thing for Linux, with both Steam Machines going with plenty of games and the Vive being shown off working on Linux.
Ethan directly mentions Rocket League getting a lot of attention, and the fact that it was running so well on a Steam Machine that people didn't really pay attention to the fact that this was on SteamOS. That's encouraging, but we need many more games like that on our platform.
Also interesting to note is that the Steam Controller will be getting a proper API, but it will be still tied to Steamworks.
Attendees were gifted a Steam Controller and a Steam Link, not quite as flashy as when Valve gave out actual Steam Machines (much cheaper for Valve though!), but still a nice thing for them to do.
I hope Valve do more SteamDevDays, as it was really great to see lots of happy developers tweeting away about an overall positive experience. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
It sounds like it was a good thing for Linux, with both Steam Machines going with plenty of games and the Vive being shown off working on Linux.
Ethan directly mentions Rocket League getting a lot of attention, and the fact that it was running so well on a Steam Machine that people didn't really pay attention to the fact that this was on SteamOS. That's encouraging, but we need many more games like that on our platform.
Also interesting to note is that the Steam Controller will be getting a proper API, but it will be still tied to Steamworks.
Attendees were gifted a Steam Controller and a Steam Link, not quite as flashy as when Valve gave out actual Steam Machines (much cheaper for Valve though!), but still a nice thing for them to do.
I hope Valve do more SteamDevDays, as it was really great to see lots of happy developers tweeting away about an overall positive experience. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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10 comments
I really wish to believe that developers will start pushing Linux more as they see how viable of a platform SteamOS has become due to efforts of Valve, Feral and other awesome porting companies... They don't need to push linux as a whole, just support SteamOS and we would have a temporary solution for even more people to switch to Linux and embrace Linux gaming even more. With such positive experiences from these kind of things they might see that Vulkan and Cross-platform support is the way to go for the future :)
I agree, RocketLeague is a great port! Works flawlessly, we already have majority of e-sport titles availible Dota 2, CS GO (I'd love to see source 2/Vulkan rework), Hearthstone (Wine), League of Legends (Wine)... I really hope that we will see better Vulkan adoption from the developers in the future
Last edited by MaCroX95 on 26 October 2016 at 10:21 pm UTC
I agree, RocketLeague is a great port! Works flawlessly, we already have majority of e-sport titles availible Dota 2, CS GO (I'd love to see source 2/Vulkan rework), Hearthstone (Wine), League of Legends (Wine)... I really hope that we will see better Vulkan adoption from the developers in the future
Last edited by MaCroX95 on 26 October 2016 at 10:21 pm UTC
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GustyGhost Oct 26, 2016
Does anybody else have issues with Rocket League crashing + crashes permanently muting the game for all eternity? Maybe I should finally kill off my use of fglrx at this point?
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OLucasZanella Oct 27, 2016
While it is great to see Valve showing VR on Linux it def was a funny thing for the so called Linux haters there. "Oh look, Valve is showing VR on their little platform after we've had it already for like a year or more hahahah."
I sincerely doubt that there will be much more games going to VR Linux, I mean, Valve basically just gave them a head start and let them create their engines and things that don't support Linux. Now "it is just hard to port them to linux tho, and there is no market tho."
Unless the Linux app comes with extra features it was just a really long shoe-shooting.
I sincerely doubt that there will be much more games going to VR Linux, I mean, Valve basically just gave them a head start and let them create their engines and things that don't support Linux. Now "it is just hard to port them to linux tho, and there is no market tho."
Unless the Linux app comes with extra features it was just a really long shoe-shooting.
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Quoting: OLucasZanellaWhile it is great to see Valve showing VR on Linux it def was a funny thing for the so called Linux haters there. "Oh look, Valve is showing VR on their little platform after we've had it already for like a year or more hahahah."
I sincerely doubt that there will be much more games going to VR Linux, I mean, Valve basically just gave them a head start and let them create their engines and things that don't support Linux. Now "it is just hard to port them to linux tho, and there is no market tho."
Unless the Linux app comes with extra features it was just a really long shoe-shooting.
Well they have their own platform that is stable, open for developers and has a huge potential... This could become really appealing to developers since they still get their support and gameDB that users love. If Microsoft does keep closing things down and bloating Win10 with the Windows store SteamOS could take off quickly. The only downside is that big AAA titles are ports and their performance still lacks behind a bit. They are great to have here but it reflects to Windows users that "Linux sucks for gaming". But eventually the gap is closing because as people buy new hardware they don't care much about whether the games work on 70 or 80 fps but does make a difference if it is 20 vs 30... If the Vulkan gets adopted Linux gaming would skyrocket because not only we would get more titles but ones that we don't get would be playable on Wine much easier and with better performance than dx games
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QuoteEthan directly mentions Rocket League getting a lot of attention, and the fact that it was running so well on a Steam Machine that people didn't really pay attention to the fact that this was on SteamOS.
Well, that's not enough. Many important titles are missing, and the best SteamOS can offer is that one game runs so well, it is indistinguishable from the same game running on Windows. Steam Machines will have a chance when games are running better on SteamOS than on Windows.
In related news, recent Nvidia drivers for Windows broke Windows 10 and the rushed patch fixed that, but broke Windows 8 :)
4 Likes, Who?
MasterSleort Oct 27, 2016
I actually think it might be a worthwhile investment to develop every game for Linux, besides the main target platform. They should do it, not necessarily to get a huge return or even a positive return in terms of income, but as QA.
If developers also have to develop for Linux, they first of all need to make sure it runs on Linux. Alone accomplishing that will often squash several bugs (even critical ones) and may even improve performance of the game on both Windows and Linux (and every other platform) - often the code also gets cleaned up.
I think in today's world, where lots of AAA-games are released with groundbreaking issues, it would help with some more QA - and generally cross-platform coding results in a much higher product quality. Therefore, I don't think developers should look for a huge return of investment on Linux, but instead see it as a way to get a higher return of investment on Windows. Of course in long term the Linux platform may also give more substantial profits as a result of this.
Last edited by MasterSleort on 27 October 2016 at 7:46 am UTC
If developers also have to develop for Linux, they first of all need to make sure it runs on Linux. Alone accomplishing that will often squash several bugs (even critical ones) and may even improve performance of the game on both Windows and Linux (and every other platform) - often the code also gets cleaned up.
I think in today's world, where lots of AAA-games are released with groundbreaking issues, it would help with some more QA - and generally cross-platform coding results in a much higher product quality. Therefore, I don't think developers should look for a huge return of investment on Linux, but instead see it as a way to get a higher return of investment on Windows. Of course in long term the Linux platform may also give more substantial profits as a result of this.
Last edited by MasterSleort on 27 October 2016 at 7:46 am UTC
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That was quite an interesting read, thank you. I wish more developers would stick to these rules. For example, in Mad Max:
- Simultaneous mousse And joystick input is not possible, which means I stick to my keyboard, which is less than ideal for driving.
- I have an AZERTY keyboards. Mappings are right (I think they are using scancodes, which is great), but in game hints are wrong (displays WASD instead of ZQSD, for instance).
I tried Stacking the other day. Same issues. And the game stopped responding to inputs after a while.
I also hope they will make they controller configuration utility standalone/open source. And portable. How great would it be to play with a Steam Controller on an Xbox?
- Simultaneous mousse And joystick input is not possible, which means I stick to my keyboard, which is less than ideal for driving.
- I have an AZERTY keyboards. Mappings are right (I think they are using scancodes, which is great), but in game hints are wrong (displays WASD instead of ZQSD, for instance).
I tried Stacking the other day. Same issues. And the game stopped responding to inputs after a while.
I also hope they will make they controller configuration utility standalone/open source. And portable. How great would it be to play with a Steam Controller on an Xbox?
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I think sending Devs cookies is the way forward.
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Quoting: AnxiousInfusionDoes anybody else have issues with Rocket League crashing + crashes permanently muting the game for all eternity? Maybe I should finally kill off my use of fglrx at this point?
Never had this happen to me on a regular Ubuntu Gnome system. In my experience this is probably the best port we got today. Right up there with Divinity: Original Sin, who also were an excellent port.
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GustyGhost Oct 28, 2016
Quoting: BeamboomNever had this happen to me on a regular Ubuntu Gnome system. In my experience this is probably the best port we got today. Right up there with Divinity: Original Sin, who also were an excellent port.
Since I seem to be the only one to experience these issues, it is probably my set up.
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