It has come to my attention recently that some people have been taking a really hard stance against developers who want to gauge interest for a Linux port. I want to talk about it for a bit.
Note: This is an editorial, so this means these are my personal thoughts. Not agreeing (with me or anyone else who comments) is not an excuse for insults. Please be respectful in the comments.
I should note as well: I don't want to come across like some old know-it-all fart here, but I think this needs to be said.
There may be a large amount of games available for Linux now, but we aren’t even close when it comes to the amount or quality of those on Windows. I seriously don’t think we are at a stage where we can afford to turn away any developer yet. We’ve seen ports delayed in the past due to the attitudes of some people, and I don’t ever want that to happen again.
There’s also the financial aspect, it may be profitable for bigger titles getting ported by the likes of Feral with a lot of experience, but it’s often rather costly for developers to bring titles to Linux when they don’t know the system (time = money and all that). It’s easy to forget, so this is a simple call for calm.
When a developer comes along and responds to the inevitable “will this come to Linux?” email, Twitter or forum post, do remember you’re speaking to another human.
I’ve seen people claim things like “the developer wants us to beg” (and sometimes much more colourful language has been used), but that’s a truly terrible attitude to take and it has been annoying me more and more. It’s not begging if you’re showing a developer that their game is interesting to another potential audience.
We are a smaller community, so such remarks will be a lot louder to developers—especially when it’s an indie developer. You’re often talking to a one or two person setup probably working from home.
If you were a game developer and someone came along to ask for a port to another platform, how would you feel when your reply asking to see interest was met with such outright hostility? It’s idiotic, unhelpful and, to be honest, it’s yet another reason the Linux gaming community has been called Toxic in the past.
Be the Linux community I know and love, be helpful to developers, get in on beta testing when you can (I’ve seen plenty of developers give out free keys for this too!) and appreciate the good games we get. We are a smaller market in most people’s eyes, so let’s not turn away anything that could help us grow even a little.
The fact is, I’ve seen multiple games only come to Linux because Linux fans showed actual interest in it. One such example is Nightside, which I discovered on Steam. After a quick chat with the developer, I was able to convince them to do a Linux build and after a short test they then decided to support a Linux build. There’s many such examples like this, but due to the amount of games I cover that’s one I could quickly pull up (without having to sift through hundreds of articles).
I implore you to think about what you’re saying. Is it making the Linux community sound like entitled and self-important morons or are you being helpful? Be smart, be understanding and keep be awesome. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Note: This is an editorial, so this means these are my personal thoughts. Not agreeing (with me or anyone else who comments) is not an excuse for insults. Please be respectful in the comments.
I should note as well: I don't want to come across like some old know-it-all fart here, but I think this needs to be said.
There may be a large amount of games available for Linux now, but we aren’t even close when it comes to the amount or quality of those on Windows. I seriously don’t think we are at a stage where we can afford to turn away any developer yet. We’ve seen ports delayed in the past due to the attitudes of some people, and I don’t ever want that to happen again.
There’s also the financial aspect, it may be profitable for bigger titles getting ported by the likes of Feral with a lot of experience, but it’s often rather costly for developers to bring titles to Linux when they don’t know the system (time = money and all that). It’s easy to forget, so this is a simple call for calm.
When a developer comes along and responds to the inevitable “will this come to Linux?” email, Twitter or forum post, do remember you’re speaking to another human.
I’ve seen people claim things like “the developer wants us to beg” (and sometimes much more colourful language has been used), but that’s a truly terrible attitude to take and it has been annoying me more and more. It’s not begging if you’re showing a developer that their game is interesting to another potential audience.
We are a smaller community, so such remarks will be a lot louder to developers—especially when it’s an indie developer. You’re often talking to a one or two person setup probably working from home.
If you were a game developer and someone came along to ask for a port to another platform, how would you feel when your reply asking to see interest was met with such outright hostility? It’s idiotic, unhelpful and, to be honest, it’s yet another reason the Linux gaming community has been called Toxic in the past.
Be the Linux community I know and love, be helpful to developers, get in on beta testing when you can (I’ve seen plenty of developers give out free keys for this too!) and appreciate the good games we get. We are a smaller market in most people’s eyes, so let’s not turn away anything that could help us grow even a little.
The fact is, I’ve seen multiple games only come to Linux because Linux fans showed actual interest in it. One such example is Nightside, which I discovered on Steam. After a quick chat with the developer, I was able to convince them to do a Linux build and after a short test they then decided to support a Linux build. There’s many such examples like this, but due to the amount of games I cover that’s one I could quickly pull up (without having to sift through hundreds of articles).
I implore you to think about what you’re saying. Is it making the Linux community sound like entitled and self-important morons or are you being helpful? Be smart, be understanding and keep be awesome. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Duke Takeshi Dec 7, 2016
Amen! Thank you for this great article Liam!
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wintermute Dec 7, 2016
Quoting: 0aTTBut Larian was right.
No, they weren't.
Larian was wrong to use middleware that didn't support all platforms they'd promised to publish on. They were wrong to not even try building the game on all platforms they'd promised to support until it was too late to undo that decision.
They do appear to have learned something from that mistake, and they did eventually deliver a great game on Linux, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a mistake.
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Mountain Man Dec 7, 2016
Linux is a growing market. If a particular developer wants to support Linux, great. If they don't, there are plenty of other games I can spend my money on.
It's as simple as that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's as simple as that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Mountain Man Dec 7, 2016
Quoting: XelancerPS: I see a world in not too distant future were you need 3 consoles, 2 PC ‘stores’ and 2 mobile devices to get the games you *want* to play.Nah... you just pick your platform and then play the games that are available for it. There's no reason to feel like you're "missing out" just because every single game is not available on your platform of choice.
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Mountain Man Dec 7, 2016
Quoting: SalvatosA certain user in a previous article made a particularly cogent point: Linux ports typically get 1-3% of sales across the board. Asking people to raise their hands repeatedly (across multiple games/developers) to show interest is indeed pointless if you can just look at the stats and figure out if that percentage makes it worth it for you. In fact that's a lot more reliable and safe for developers than trying to gauge subjectively whether X number of posts in a Steam forum in a given time frame means sufficient sales to make a port viable.Indeed. There have been cases in the past where an enthusiastic response to a forum thread did not translate into huge Linux sales leaving the developer feeling disappointed and bitter.
I don't resent them at all for asking, but it would be more helpful for us to show them figures when we see them asking for a show of interest than to roll our eyes or say "yes please."
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Quoting: Mountain ManLinux is a growing market. If a particular developer wants to support Linux, great. If they don't, there are plenty of other games I can spend my money on.Then when not leave it as that? There's no need and it's actually quite rude to claim a developer is begging for requests when they just want to gauge interest. After all, what if many aren't interested? It turns into a wasted effort, gets low sales and becomes another "Linux doesn't sell well" attitude from a developer who could end up in future making a massively popular game.
It's as simple as that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Mountain Man Dec 7, 2016
Quoting: liamdaweLike I said in a follow-up post, there have been instances where an enthusiastic forum thread did not translate into a significant number of Linux sales which can be an even worse outcome if the developer ends up feeling betrayed by the Linux community (and some have). This leads to a situation where developers may be less willing to support Linux in the future.Quoting: Mountain ManLinux is a growing market. If a particular developer wants to support Linux, great. If they don't, there are plenty of other games I can spend my money on.Then when not leave it as that? There's no need and it's actually quite rude to claim a developer is begging for requests when they just want to gauge interest. After all, what if many aren't interested? It turns into a wasted effort, gets low sales and becomes another "Linux doesn't sell well" attitude from a developer who could end up in future making a massively popular game.
It's as simple as that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's also the matter that of course there is interest in a Linux version. There has been an active interest in Linux games for about as long as there has been Linux, so it strikes me as a silly question. A developer needs to look at typical Linux sales in the current market and decide if he's able and willing to take the risk.
Perhaps I've become a bit cynical when developers ask about "interest" in a Linux port because it's a pointless query, in my opinion, and that cynicism may have recently gotten the best of me. Thank you for your timely and pointed editorial.
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Quoting: Mountain ManIt's not pointless at all.Quoting: liamdaweLike I said in a follow-up post, there have been instances where an enthusiastic forum thread did not translate into a significant number of Linux sales which can be an even worse outcome if the developer ends up feeling betrayed by the Linux community (and some have). This leads to a situation where developers may be less willing to support Linux in the future.Quoting: Mountain ManLinux is a growing market. If a particular developer wants to support Linux, great. If they don't, there are plenty of other games I can spend my money on.Then when not leave it as that? There's no need and it's actually quite rude to claim a developer is begging for requests when they just want to gauge interest. After all, what if many aren't interested? It turns into a wasted effort, gets low sales and becomes another "Linux doesn't sell well" attitude from a developer who could end up in future making a massively popular game.
It's as simple as that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's also the matter that of course there is interest in a Linux version. There has been an active interest in Linux games for about as long as there has been Linux, so it strikes me as a silly question. A developer needs to look at typical Linux sales in the current market and decide if he's able and willing to take the risk.
Perhaps I've become a bit cynical when developers ask about "interest" in a Linux port because it's a pointless query, in my opinion, and that cynicism may have recently gotten the best of me. Thank you for your timely and pointed editorial.
There's a big difference between 10-12 individual requests (which is often), to tens of pages of people requesting a Linux version.
Part of the problem is people just commenting on every one they find with their support, even if they won't buy it which is where problems are created.
A developer asking if there's interest, is essentially asking "how much interest".
I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Outright saying a developer is begging is just small-minded and reeks of a self-important attitude.
Edit: Spelling.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 7 December 2016 at 2:24 pm UTC
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Quoting: XelancerTruth is the world of gaming is becoming so BIG that its fracturing itself under its own weight; windows store vs steam games not playing together (COD), console wars (PSN vs Xbox live), the high price of PC games - I remember the days when console games where proportionally much more expensive. If we are not careful then game developers are going to increasingly take sides...
I have been a gamer on every platform since the Atari 2600 back in the 80s. I can say that games these days are much more cross platform than any back in the days of old. True it does suck when that game you really want to play is not on your OS or console of choice, but its up to the developer and always has.
The cost of console games costing more was mostly due to the cartridge days. No way to make that cheaper (back then). The issue I see with the cost of console and PC or even physical and digital these days, is the dev cost of AAA games. When companies put armies of staff and huge budgets on marketing that game, the actual media ends up being such a small fraction of the total cost.
A lot of people these days seem to think that it is a given right to have any game they want on what ever platform they want.
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elbuglione Dec 7, 2016
Quoting: edddeduckferalQuoting: OLucasZanellaFeral Interactive, the lack of complaining means there is a texture bug in Shadow of Mordor that hasn't been corrected in maybe a year. To me, it's all a message: "do not take us lightly, for we too have claws"
For people reading about this and wondering about the issue I have a few bits of information. We've had a beta patch via support since just after this happened, unfortunately for various reasons this beta update is not yet on the main branch.
There is also a launch script alternative that you can do using the current release version if you prefer. Anyone who wants info on the beta just contact our support and we'll give you all the details.
that's reason way you rock, guys...
I just finish Life is Strange and i have to say, you are the best game developers in the Linux world.
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