Don't adjust your screens, as you did read that correctly. Over 1,000 games have released on Steam this year alone with Linux support.
I've been slowly writing up an end of year roundup and something I wanted to know was how well we have done this year in terms of actual releases.
It took a while to add it all up, as some games show up in the list with a date that’s passed and they aren’t actually released. I had to be pretty careful and do it slowly to make sure it's right.
As of right now, I counted approximately 1,018 games with Linux support that have released this year. It's a silly amount of games and pretty impossible to play them all.
I would also like to point out something interesting that SteamSpy showed off, the fact that 38% of games on Steam have released this year:
38% of all Steam games were released in 2016 pic.twitter.com/JiX2pt6JhB
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 30, 2016
This is madness. That percentage will possibly rise too, depending on how many get released in total this month.
It just goes to show how easy it is for developers to get started developing now, and how Greenlight has changed Steam. All platforms get a lot more mobile ports and sadly rather a lot of complete shovelware too.
Thankfully, we have also seen quite a number of quality releases this year too!
Place your bets now! How many games do you think will be released by the end of 2016? The person closest will get a GOL postcard early next year. You have until December 15th to answer.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
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Steam has been going downhill in terms of quality for a few years now... That's why I've been trying to use GOG more and more. The lack of quality control will be Steam's downfall.
It's a tough balancing act, I reckon. They have this vision involving lots of user contribution; easy self-publishing in game-related space kind of like Amazon in the book space, except more so and with that driving the building of community and stuff. Not just selling games, but a whole gaming ecosystem with lots of participation (just incidentally leaving people attached to the platform where that all happens). If the game equivalent of, say, "The Martian" happens (or, sigh, Fifty Shades I guess), they want it to happen on Steam. This kind of stuff can be oversold, but there's some real potential to all that I'd figure.
But leaving it open like that means lots of people can publish crap, and at some point that's gonna impact people's experience of the simple "buying games" side of things. Their problem is how to have it both ways, so people who just want to buy games can still have a curated-feeling experience. A difficult problem.
1 Likes, Who?
oldrocker99 Dec 10, 2016
I'm just glad that there are so many games that I have to be picky in my selection.:)
4 Likes, Who?
Luke_Nukem Dec 10, 2016
Everybody is focusing on VR which is failing it will bar(e*)ly happen on Windows, Linux can forget about it; at least in this VR hype wave, last one failed in '90s.
90s VR was wank though? VR will happen one day if not now. Its been the dream since before TV existed.
Umm... VR is happening right now. Seriously. This is not something we can turn back from now, it's here to stay.
1 Likes, Who?
If you are comparing Linux gaming with Windows gaming, there is no question that, in the words of Harold Macmillan, we have "never had it so good". There has simply not been such a wide variety of games available for Linux before.
But this is not unequivocally a good sign. Along with all the genuine improvements that have been possible as games hardware and software technology have progressed, it has also become markedly easier to produce titles, leading to the huge number of games now being produced. The normal rules of supply and demand operate, meaning that most of these titles are low budget, low quality, and few will make any money.
Unfortunately, having to wade through so much junk to find the gems isn't the only problem I have these days. I also do not find many of the games trends of recent years to be particularly appealing.
I'm pretty ancient now, and started gaming in the physical world, progressing from "family" board games as a child, to complex map-and-counter games, tabletop wargames and early role-playing games in the 1970s. Computer gaming to me was a natural extension of these more mature/serious games markets, with niche appeal.
Games now have become mass-market more than specialist market; as revenue rather than craft or passion have taken front seat, many games seem to try to appeal to too many tastes in order to maximize revenue. The evidence of most titles seems to be, you can't add on-line multi-player without compromising single-player, you can't make heavy use of cinematic techniques without impacting good game-play, you can't make titles that have juvenile appeal without compromising adult appeal, and you can't use in-title payments without compromising any integrity the title might otherwise have had!
It seems to me that the mass-market causes most genres to stagnate pretty quickly. Just as with the film industry, most games become formulaic and risk-averse. I don't really think pure numbers is something Linux gamers should worry too much about, but rather that there are enough games of the type you want to play that meet a high standard of quality.
But this is not unequivocally a good sign. Along with all the genuine improvements that have been possible as games hardware and software technology have progressed, it has also become markedly easier to produce titles, leading to the huge number of games now being produced. The normal rules of supply and demand operate, meaning that most of these titles are low budget, low quality, and few will make any money.
Unfortunately, having to wade through so much junk to find the gems isn't the only problem I have these days. I also do not find many of the games trends of recent years to be particularly appealing.
I'm pretty ancient now, and started gaming in the physical world, progressing from "family" board games as a child, to complex map-and-counter games, tabletop wargames and early role-playing games in the 1970s. Computer gaming to me was a natural extension of these more mature/serious games markets, with niche appeal.
Games now have become mass-market more than specialist market; as revenue rather than craft or passion have taken front seat, many games seem to try to appeal to too many tastes in order to maximize revenue. The evidence of most titles seems to be, you can't add on-line multi-player without compromising single-player, you can't make heavy use of cinematic techniques without impacting good game-play, you can't make titles that have juvenile appeal without compromising adult appeal, and you can't use in-title payments without compromising any integrity the title might otherwise have had!
It seems to me that the mass-market causes most genres to stagnate pretty quickly. Just as with the film industry, most games become formulaic and risk-averse. I don't really think pure numbers is something Linux gamers should worry too much about, but rather that there are enough games of the type you want to play that meet a high standard of quality.
4 Likes, Who?
Sturgeon's Law 90% of everything is crap. All we can do is try to find the 10% that isn't.
On the topic of VR: it only works for a subset of people(A), so it'll never get really big. Although it will probably go into a bubble like the web did back in the '90s before crashing like all bubbles do.
A: I have a lazy eye and VR doesn't do much for me but give me a splitting headache. Other people have reported getting violently ill, headaches,... and that's ignoring the proven detrimental effect of monitors on visual acuity.
On the topic of VR: it only works for a subset of people(A), so it'll never get really big. Although it will probably go into a bubble like the web did back in the '90s before crashing like all bubbles do.
A: I have a lazy eye and VR doesn't do much for me but give me a splitting headache. Other people have reported getting violently ill, headaches,... and that's ignoring the proven detrimental effect of monitors on visual acuity.
0 Likes
Half of them are shitty visual novels, but 500 games are fine too :D
Thats why I dont use Steam since long time becomes trash. If u whant good game u have to spend a little time to find something good. Thats why Im using GoG free DRM and there is more and more new games.
1 Likes, Who?
UnholyVision Dec 11, 2016
1024 games..
I own an HTC Vive and I can say for a fact there is a lot of lackluster in games. All of which could make VR fail just from image itself. Anyway, the main problems, skipping all of the price issues are.
1) A majority of games are either super short or feel like nothing more than tech demos.
2) To many one trick ponies that make you pay a ton for so little & games that are basically a rinse and repeat of each other.
3) The most delivered genre of games are wave shooters, so that limits the population further.
4) There isn't to much variety or to many must have games so it's easily skippable.
5) Multiplayer games mostly die off or never get going so you're left with single player experiences. No pulling in friends with that. (I'm not counting non-VR player accepted games like Elite Dangerous. Because how do you even begin to poll the VR players).
6) Only a super small percentage can stand movement teleportation or unrealistic small burst forward movements. (A good example of small/slow movement forward would be Dig 4 Destruction if you need one).
7) Currently on Windows mainly with Oculous, games are locked to hardware. Either you can't play a game at all or maybe get lucky with a third party plugin, "Revive" that lets you play said game.
(FYI: I don't regret buying a Vive. It's a blast, but there are times it just collects dust. All of which is coming from a person with over hundreds of hours in Rec Room even).
Last edited by UnholyVision on 11 December 2016 at 9:31 am UTC
Umm... VR is happening right now. Seriously. This is not something we can turn back from now, it's here to stay.Only time will tell if this wave will really last. Even the PSVR isn't doing what they expected in numbers and thats the cheaper option in terms of price for the HMD.
I own an HTC Vive and I can say for a fact there is a lot of lackluster in games. All of which could make VR fail just from image itself. Anyway, the main problems, skipping all of the price issues are.
1) A majority of games are either super short or feel like nothing more than tech demos.
2) To many one trick ponies that make you pay a ton for so little & games that are basically a rinse and repeat of each other.
3) The most delivered genre of games are wave shooters, so that limits the population further.
4) There isn't to much variety or to many must have games so it's easily skippable.
5) Multiplayer games mostly die off or never get going so you're left with single player experiences. No pulling in friends with that. (I'm not counting non-VR player accepted games like Elite Dangerous. Because how do you even begin to poll the VR players).
6) Only a super small percentage can stand movement teleportation or unrealistic small burst forward movements. (A good example of small/slow movement forward would be Dig 4 Destruction if you need one).
7) Currently on Windows mainly with Oculous, games are locked to hardware. Either you can't play a game at all or maybe get lucky with a third party plugin, "Revive" that lets you play said game.
(FYI: I don't regret buying a Vive. It's a blast, but there are times it just collects dust. All of which is coming from a person with over hundreds of hours in Rec Room even).
Last edited by UnholyVision on 11 December 2016 at 9:31 am UTC
0 Likes
@etonbears: That's some premium snobbery right there. There's so much of it, I couldn't decide which part of the misguided wall of tears I should quote. Games are easier to produce and release now, but that goes equally for those developers with "passion" or "integrity". There are tons of modern examples out there of lovingly produced games with niche appeal, and no evidence of mainstream cash-grabbing. But again, well done on the "nothing's as good as it was in the olden days" spiel.
To everyone whining about having to sift through the crap or wade through junk, what is actually a load of bullshit is that complaint. Why would you need to do that when sites like GOL do it for you? It's a pretty minuscule chance that you personally find a gem nobody else has already happened to find and review for your convenience. I certainly never need to spend time combing through Steam's catalog to find something worth playing. I leave that to GOL's editors (and the internet in general; these games aren't Linux-exclusive).
To everyone whining about having to sift through the crap or wade through junk, what is actually a load of bullshit is that complaint. Why would you need to do that when sites like GOL do it for you? It's a pretty minuscule chance that you personally find a gem nobody else has already happened to find and review for your convenience. I certainly never need to spend time combing through Steam's catalog to find something worth playing. I leave that to GOL's editors (and the internet in general; these games aren't Linux-exclusive).
1 Likes, Who?
Hi people.
I just registered to express my opinion about this, I had to.
Yeah, the number looks cool, but as others posted, many of those released are crap.
I visit GOL from time to time just to see what's new that can maybe a good time waster, but sadly, whole PC gaming business is what it is. I intentionally wrote "PC", not just Linux gaming.
I game since my MZ-800, I'm not a subject to ignorance as many younger people.
Today's titles, including most of so called AAA ones, suffer from two problems.
First, they suck as there is mostly just a lot of content, but missing game itself. More like interactive movie, often with completely unoriginal story on top of that. And open-world, crafting and sandbox words are making me sick. Or there isn't that much of movie parts either, just crap.
Like Doom. Seriously, feels like bad joke. Playability doesn't even reach the levels of original Doom, it all feels flat w/o any meaning, crappy sound and the brutal part just ripped from Brutal Doom mod. After experiencing this, stuff released by Id, I felt something is really, really wrong.
I fired up Quakespasm and made my run in dis_sp6. Unbelievable what kind of fun this can provide in contrast to this pos.
Second, their technical problems are so many, that even though there can be some real game inside, it's impossible to get to it, till like 5 patches were released. Dishonored 2 is a good example of a later game that falls in this category. It's tremendous performance problems on some hw configs is something I simply can't understand. Developing for many years, yet after release, crappy performance. Not just that, issues with different ARs then 16:9 etc. I would expect similar issues with some indie game, but not here where tons of money were poured, yet this.
I haven't played Dishonored 2 on PS4 e.g., but I'm not aware of similar problems there. But that is the case with other titles that are shared between consoles and PC, regardless of whether the PC version is Windows or Linux based.
Well, and then there is Steam. And SteamOS.
People, I don't want to ruin anyone's day or something, but SteamOS feels like vaporware. It's all just steam. :D Yet, there is this sense of making it real to the Linux audience, but it's all just wrong. Whoa!, new controller design! Oh my! Another VR is going to be on it too, awesome! Uaaah. No.
What's more, Valve is not here for Linux. It's here only to use it for their possible profit. Even if SteamOS makes it somehow, there is not much work for them to make Linux Steam either problematic to use or to make it not work at all on Linux. Whether Valve would go that far is a question, nonetheless, possible.
Plus the whole idea of me paying for license and needing to have access to some third party to actually use it is sick. Yeah, I know many people don't consider it a problem, but I do. I think it's totally immoral.
I definitely prefer running native stuff on my CentOS, but I simply gave up on anything from later games.
If the particular game is worth anything, it's usually on Steam anyway. "Fortunately", there aren't many of those. There are notable exceptions though, like X Rebirth. ;)
All this leads me to console market.
Since PS4 is x86 based, devs making engines and games are not restricted by complicated rewrites for completely different arch, like in case of PS3 and it's Cell nightmare.
There are also crappy games on PS4, sure, but many titles can be considered games, with some of the best stuff I ever played. Last of Us remastered e.g. was a blast I haven't had in a long, long time. No stupid bugs, great performance and extraordinary symbiosis of gameplay and story.
I never liked consoles, never. But since PS4's switch to x86 and Xbox being x86 as well, the paradigm simply changes here. HW itself is powerful enough to provide great visuals, but it doesn't cost a fortune, yet no stupid issues that shouldn't exist. Especially on a system that is meant for simple fun time.
Some titles on PS4 also have patches for PS4 Pro and automatically use higher framerate or gfx improvements e.g. Basically, all stuff for PS4 will run on it, and some of them in 4K even. And if not in 4K, they will have more stable framerate and improved visuals on PS4 Pro. With the same game that can actually be played.
It's also the only market I'm aware of, where physical copies of games can be sold later. One just pops in the disc, it installs in the background. Then it's only needed for verification during the game launch.
But nothing is activated anywhere, no web connection required at all. Well, unless it's an online game. Playing that w/o net is complicated ;)
Physical copy where I actually have a right to use the license w/o any restrictions. Because physical copy in terms of any Windows game mostly means Steam game. Once installed, it's useless as it's bound to the account.
It wasn't easy, but the decision to use Linux simply for work and some light gaming, while using PS4 Pro for entertainment only was a good one for me. I no longer want to have unnecessary mental burden associated with finding some really good game to play, w/o possible stupid issues or being it Steam only.
Even if there were like 3 games on PS4 I want to play, just like those 3 I play now, it was a great investment, because all of those 3 really do rock. Probably the reason they are also PS4 exclusives. And my time is what is important, so money well spent.
So yes, the number in the article is looking nice, but is not telling me anything, although I wish it was.
Open source is great for general computing use and so I will always use Linux on my machine as I have for the past 9 years. And so it will of course be RedHat based for the same reason. And since PS4's system is based on FreeBSD, so it's not that far. :D
Nice weekend and have something real play, not to fight with. ;)
Last edited by amk on 11 December 2016 at 1:22 pm UTC
I just registered to express my opinion about this, I had to.
Yeah, the number looks cool, but as others posted, many of those released are crap.
I visit GOL from time to time just to see what's new that can maybe a good time waster, but sadly, whole PC gaming business is what it is. I intentionally wrote "PC", not just Linux gaming.
I game since my MZ-800, I'm not a subject to ignorance as many younger people.
Today's titles, including most of so called AAA ones, suffer from two problems.
First, they suck as there is mostly just a lot of content, but missing game itself. More like interactive movie, often with completely unoriginal story on top of that. And open-world, crafting and sandbox words are making me sick. Or there isn't that much of movie parts either, just crap.
Like Doom. Seriously, feels like bad joke. Playability doesn't even reach the levels of original Doom, it all feels flat w/o any meaning, crappy sound and the brutal part just ripped from Brutal Doom mod. After experiencing this, stuff released by Id, I felt something is really, really wrong.
I fired up Quakespasm and made my run in dis_sp6. Unbelievable what kind of fun this can provide in contrast to this pos.
Second, their technical problems are so many, that even though there can be some real game inside, it's impossible to get to it, till like 5 patches were released. Dishonored 2 is a good example of a later game that falls in this category. It's tremendous performance problems on some hw configs is something I simply can't understand. Developing for many years, yet after release, crappy performance. Not just that, issues with different ARs then 16:9 etc. I would expect similar issues with some indie game, but not here where tons of money were poured, yet this.
I haven't played Dishonored 2 on PS4 e.g., but I'm not aware of similar problems there. But that is the case with other titles that are shared between consoles and PC, regardless of whether the PC version is Windows or Linux based.
Well, and then there is Steam. And SteamOS.
People, I don't want to ruin anyone's day or something, but SteamOS feels like vaporware. It's all just steam. :D Yet, there is this sense of making it real to the Linux audience, but it's all just wrong. Whoa!, new controller design! Oh my! Another VR is going to be on it too, awesome! Uaaah. No.
What's more, Valve is not here for Linux. It's here only to use it for their possible profit. Even if SteamOS makes it somehow, there is not much work for them to make Linux Steam either problematic to use or to make it not work at all on Linux. Whether Valve would go that far is a question, nonetheless, possible.
Plus the whole idea of me paying for license and needing to have access to some third party to actually use it is sick. Yeah, I know many people don't consider it a problem, but I do. I think it's totally immoral.
I definitely prefer running native stuff on my CentOS, but I simply gave up on anything from later games.
If the particular game is worth anything, it's usually on Steam anyway. "Fortunately", there aren't many of those. There are notable exceptions though, like X Rebirth. ;)
All this leads me to console market.
Since PS4 is x86 based, devs making engines and games are not restricted by complicated rewrites for completely different arch, like in case of PS3 and it's Cell nightmare.
There are also crappy games on PS4, sure, but many titles can be considered games, with some of the best stuff I ever played. Last of Us remastered e.g. was a blast I haven't had in a long, long time. No stupid bugs, great performance and extraordinary symbiosis of gameplay and story.
I never liked consoles, never. But since PS4's switch to x86 and Xbox being x86 as well, the paradigm simply changes here. HW itself is powerful enough to provide great visuals, but it doesn't cost a fortune, yet no stupid issues that shouldn't exist. Especially on a system that is meant for simple fun time.
Some titles on PS4 also have patches for PS4 Pro and automatically use higher framerate or gfx improvements e.g. Basically, all stuff for PS4 will run on it, and some of them in 4K even. And if not in 4K, they will have more stable framerate and improved visuals on PS4 Pro. With the same game that can actually be played.
It's also the only market I'm aware of, where physical copies of games can be sold later. One just pops in the disc, it installs in the background. Then it's only needed for verification during the game launch.
But nothing is activated anywhere, no web connection required at all. Well, unless it's an online game. Playing that w/o net is complicated ;)
Physical copy where I actually have a right to use the license w/o any restrictions. Because physical copy in terms of any Windows game mostly means Steam game. Once installed, it's useless as it's bound to the account.
It wasn't easy, but the decision to use Linux simply for work and some light gaming, while using PS4 Pro for entertainment only was a good one for me. I no longer want to have unnecessary mental burden associated with finding some really good game to play, w/o possible stupid issues or being it Steam only.
Even if there were like 3 games on PS4 I want to play, just like those 3 I play now, it was a great investment, because all of those 3 really do rock. Probably the reason they are also PS4 exclusives. And my time is what is important, so money well spent.
So yes, the number in the article is looking nice, but is not telling me anything, although I wish it was.
Open source is great for general computing use and so I will always use Linux on my machine as I have for the past 9 years. And so it will of course be RedHat based for the same reason. And since PS4's system is based on FreeBSD, so it's not that far. :D
Nice weekend and have something real play, not to fight with. ;)
Last edited by amk on 11 December 2016 at 1:22 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
LinuxGamesTV Dec 11, 2016
Back to Topic: 1023 Games
Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 11 December 2016 at 5:26 pm UTC
Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 11 December 2016 at 5:26 pm UTC
0 Likes
slaapliedje Dec 11, 2016
80% of steam catalog was released in last 3 years and you dont see any problem with that? EA, Greenlight?
Gaming industry is going down and all you can say is 1k games are supporting Linux?!?!? First of all, pushing "Build for Linux" in Unity editor is not SPUPPROTING LINUX you stupid traitors!!! 99% of games in last 3 years where Unity crap default assets games, indy bullshit and poor AAA console DLC/Seasson_pass fest "ports".
Everybody is focusing on VR which is failing it will barly happen on Windows, Linux can forget about it; at least in this VR hype wave, last one failed in '90s.
Is it even possible with you traitors to have a game that is "ported" on Linux and to say that that game is objectively tehnicaly bad?(not looking at content)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNLemHpDQ60
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983
^this happened because games where pure shit
How old are you?
I have start Videogaming with the Pong Console, then with the Atari 2600, the CBS (ColecoVision, the Commodore VC 20, C64, Amiga 500, A2000, A4000 and from 1998 on a Windows PC.
So i know the Gaming History and why Manufacturers went bankruptcy. In the 1980-1990 it was not because the games are crap. It was about the self-marketing. Many small game companies in UK went bankruptcy in this time, because they don't have a Publisher at this time.
Now you say all Unity Games are Crap, yes many of the Unity Games are Crap (70 %), but not all.
You say many AAA Games Ports are Crap? Yes here you are right: Many AAA Ports (Windows -> Console, Console -> Windows) have Crap Ports, because people like you buy every AAA Shit.
So if Windows have a Crap AAA Console Port you think the Port was better, if the game was a Windows (Crap Console port) to Linux Port?
So you think many Indi Games are Crap? Yes on Steam are 20 % Indi Games Crap.
And yes on Steam's EA and GL are some Scammers. Most of the big AAA (Who decides whether a game is high-class (AAA)?) productions are Crap.
If you support Publisher like Ubisoft or EA, then you are an Idiot.
Did you know thats we had on Linux until the year 2013 ~90 Commercial Gameports?
After 2013 we got more and more Games on Linux. Yes most are Crap, but this Crap you have on Windows, too.
In your words: 60 % of all Games on Windows are Crap.
To the VR thing: If VR fails in the future we will see.
The VR in the 90 fails, because the technology was not yet so far and the people had since there was no desire for VR.
Did you remember the Commodore CDTV?
This was the first Gaming Console with CD's 1990/1991.
Did you know thats this Console fails, because it used CD's at this time? Now look at the Consoles today: Every big Console maker use CD's/BR's.
I hope you know what it means to be ahead of its time and thus also fail on the technical side. This happened exactly in the 1990s
The opposite was true in the US. It was the publishers themselves that pretty much caused the Video Game crash in the 80s. Activision had split off from Atari because Time Warner had changed their royalty policies, and suddenly all these other video game companies started splintering off and publishing whatever crap they could. People were tired of being shoveled shitty arcade ports (Pacman on 2600 was atrocious, and Joust had floating eggs that would never land). So Most brand new games would hit stores, sit there for a few weeks then go into the bargain bin.
Fortunately, most of the games that are 'indie' are already straight into the cheap end of things. It's the 60 dollar games with 60 more dollars worth of DLC upon release that are ending up in the list of 'will buy when on sale'. Ultimately I hope more and more people will refuse to buy games that are empty shells without DLC. I have enough video games to last me the rest of my life at this point.
I do find the comment earlier about VR failing in the 90's. It never actually took off. Atari canned the headset with the most potential, and disappeared into Video game history. Apparently Virtuality never even got paid for their efforts. But even then, it was pretty simple head tracking. With the Vive and full roomscale, Virtual Reality is an actual thing now. It's just a matter of the big guns firing their bullets (Bethesda releasing Fallout 4 VR) and then others will join in.
0 Likes
slaapliedje Dec 11, 2016
Hi people.
I just registered to express my opinion about this, I had to.
Yeah, the number looks cool, but as others posted, many of those released are crap.
I visit GOL from time to time just to see what's new that can maybe a good time waster, but sadly, whole PC gaming business is what it is. I intentionally wrote "PC", not just Linux gaming.
I game since my MZ-800, I'm not a subject to ignorance as many younger people.
Today's titles, including most of so called AAA ones, suffer from two problems.
First, they suck as there is mostly just a lot of content, but missing game itself. More like interactive movie, often with completely unoriginal story on top of that. And open-world, crafting and sandbox words are making me sick. Or there isn't that much of movie parts either, just crap.
-- snipped a lot of good rant.
This is pretty much why I pulled out my Atari STs and have been playing games on those, even though I have just over 1700 games in Steam.
0 Likes
@tuubi : Oh dear, I sincerely apologize that my comment seems to have upset or angered you. I do not comment very often, and generally try to keep my tone as neutral as possible to avoid giving offence, but I have clearly failed on this occasion.
On re-reading, I should probably have avoided the word "junk" to describe the games explosion. Some truly are that bad, but most are just uninspired. That may be in part because the games engines powering many titles lack flexibility, but is also influenced by a lot of copying what is out there already.
The rest of my comments are generalizations ( i.e. don't apply to every developer ) relating to the effect of PC gaming going mainstream. These are examples of the trends in gaming that people complain about that resonate with me, as I can think of titles that reflect each of these, especially in the big-budget portion of the market. These particular trends may not concern you, but I would be surprised if you never found a title to be unexpectedly disappointing.
I don't think old PC games are better, but the move from niche to mainstream has changed the dynamic. In the niche market developers had less competition for gamers money, and with less diverse gamer opinions could focus on fewer "hot" areas and arguably afford to be more radical in design evolution.
The larger market provides a greater opportunity to make money, but is more diverse, and more difficult to address, since gamer demands and volume of criticism reflect the added diversity. This is particularly difficult if you are a small or independent developer with low budgets and low visibility, as EgoSoft - one of my favourite indy developers and an early Linux adopter - found when they released X Rebirth.
I would also say that I agree with your earlier comment that you would never have expected this many Linux titles to even be available. I have a hundred or so, most of which I have not played yet; good or bad, I hope they keep coming.
On re-reading, I should probably have avoided the word "junk" to describe the games explosion. Some truly are that bad, but most are just uninspired. That may be in part because the games engines powering many titles lack flexibility, but is also influenced by a lot of copying what is out there already.
The rest of my comments are generalizations ( i.e. don't apply to every developer ) relating to the effect of PC gaming going mainstream. These are examples of the trends in gaming that people complain about that resonate with me, as I can think of titles that reflect each of these, especially in the big-budget portion of the market. These particular trends may not concern you, but I would be surprised if you never found a title to be unexpectedly disappointing.
I don't think old PC games are better, but the move from niche to mainstream has changed the dynamic. In the niche market developers had less competition for gamers money, and with less diverse gamer opinions could focus on fewer "hot" areas and arguably afford to be more radical in design evolution.
The larger market provides a greater opportunity to make money, but is more diverse, and more difficult to address, since gamer demands and volume of criticism reflect the added diversity. This is particularly difficult if you are a small or independent developer with low budgets and low visibility, as EgoSoft - one of my favourite indy developers and an early Linux adopter - found when they released X Rebirth.
I would also say that I agree with your earlier comment that you would never have expected this many Linux titles to even be available. I have a hundred or so, most of which I have not played yet; good or bad, I hope they keep coming.
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@tuubi : Oh dear, I sincerely apologize that my comment seems to have upset or angered you. I do not comment very often, and generally try to keep my tone as neutral as possible to avoid giving offence, but I have clearly failed on this occasion.But I was not upset, angry or offended. I just rather bluntly (sorry about that, too sleep-deprived for diplomacy) expressed my opinion that your rant came from the gut, not the head. There's a lot of feeling and no real attempt at rational justification. Nothing but vague, nostalgic tales of bygone times when every game was golden and crap was yet to be invented.
Speaking of those times, I for one seem to remember a lot of shitty games from the eighties and nineties with simplistic, half-baked or recycled gameplay wrapped in the thinnest veneer of content. Every platform had their share. Some obvious mass-market franchise cash-grabs as well, as soon as the market was there. No DLC, but that's only because there was no way for us gamers to actually DL that C, and what passed for DRM was printed in the game manual or inside the cassette cover. Sure there were many great games as well, but those still pop up at a healthy pace. It's simply unfair to compare the worst of today to the best of the past.
Tabletop and pen-and-paper gaming have very little to do with the discussion, as both genres obviously still survive and thrive in their own little niches.
I think it's silly to condemn the fact that it's easier to produce and market a game than it used to be, or to insist that we're all somehow forced to personally suffer through every single piece of shovelware out there. Surprisingly little of consequence has changed for the worse, and quite a lot for the better. Just my
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1040I was ready to buy *any* game just to support developers.
Remember when you were looking to buy a game and there was simply nothing you wanted available for Linux? Because I do. Strange to think this was only a few years ago.
Now I can't because the amount of great and cool new games >> budget. And I also want to play them.
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Steam has been going downhill in terms of quality for a few years now... That's why I've been trying to use GOG more and more. The lack of quality control will be Steam's downfall.I think steam has gone uphill. But what they really did is put quality control in the hands of gamers, which I think is where it belongs. Gamers just need to adjust to their QA position.
Playing and promoting games will be another big social thing.
And you just have to find the person that has the same interest as you, and read that persons reviews and recommendations.
There are a lot of games that I consider lost money while a lot of people think it's great. The good thing is that I won't cry over money spend on linux games.
There are games that I was sure about that it was not well spend after 1 hour playing although screenshots convinced me otherwise. A game I bought from EA, which was too blocky in my opinion ended up sucking > 1100 hours, and I am now a patreon supporter of the developer.
EA helps and works wonders. But we as players have to choose carefully, and we even have to ask ourselves if we are ready to invest in EA.
Things I did not regret buying in EA:
Fortresscraft evolved ( > 1100hours..., still a noob)
Dying light ( >100h )
Ark: survival ( >100h I think, I am basically still nowhere)
Planet Explorer
And probably much more.
I have planet nomads in the alpha trials, which looks prommising for an alpha.
Not so happy with sky break yet, but I have yet to replay it to give it a review, while Far Sky from the same developers, really has blown me away, and set me on the path of FCE, PE and PN.
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Ardje: may be this the first nonwhiny post in this topic? +iternet
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But this is not unequivocally a good sign. Along with all the genuine improvements that have been possible as games hardware and software technology have progressed, it has also become markedly easier to produce titles, leading to the huge number of games now being produced. The normal rules of supply and demand operate, meaning that most of these titles are low budget, low quality, and few will make any money.I think this is a misinterpretation. As you say, it is markedly easier to produce titles. That is, it is markedly cheaper--a "low budget" gets you more game than it ever would have before. This in turn means that a simple game can break even with lower sales than ever before. It also means that a slightly more ambitious game can break even with lower sales than a game of that level of ambition could before, and that a game with sophistication equivalent to what would have been AAA a few years ago can break even with lower sales than ever before. So hobbyists can now be indies, indies can be mid-tier, mid-tier can be AAA, and AAA . . . can lard on even more graphics and celebrity voice overs?
Does that mean average quality will be lower? I don't see why. I might posit that the number of available broad genres of gaming will not grow as fast as the number of games, and furthermore time will continue to simply move forward, so more and more games will be derivative (at the dawn of computer gaming, no game could be derivative because there were none to derive from; the more games exist, the harder it is for them to be original). But the simple fact that people with less money can now make games of a given complexity level doesn't seem to me to imply those games will be worse. More uneven, maybe, but also games at any given sophistication level will have less commercial bureaucracy involved to stifle the creativity.
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