Sad news, the survival game 'Raft' that really caught my interest for doing something very different has decided to drop Linux support.
It's a real shame as it was the first survival game to come along for quite some time that properly interested me.
The developers didn't go into specifics as to why, other than being a small team and dealing with platform-specific issues is time consuming. They noted the change on their blog:
QuoteUnfortunately, we will no longer support Mac and Linux. Since we are three people, and we do not work on Linux or Mac, we don’t have the time or resources to develop to these platforms. As the game becomes more complex, more and more problems arise specifically on Mac and Linux, which means we would have to spend too much time fixing those problems. We’re really sorry about this, and we hope to be able to port to these platforms in the future! We hope you understand!
I asked for a bit more info on Twitter and they didn't give me any, other than being a small team and several bugs appearing.
I totally understand being a small team and dealing with multiple platforms can get interesting, but it's a shame for us to miss out. Hopefully they will change their mind in future. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Oh how unfortunate, I just downloaded their alpha build too.
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Actually doing QA on three platforms when you are only three is probably really time consuming. Especially if none of those thre person know anything about OS X and Linux. Maybe when the game will be finish they could ask a porter to do the job.
Last edited by Nyamiou on 23 Jan 2017 at 12:23 am UTC
Last edited by Nyamiou on 23 Jan 2017 at 12:23 am UTC
4 Likes, Who?
Too bad, I was interested in this game. Developers should learn how to work with Linux. May be they should find someone who knows Linux development for their team? Leaving to "may be in the future" is prone to bite them, when they'll realize they used too much Windows only stuff along the way.
Last edited by Shmerl on 23 Jan 2017 at 12:27 am UTC
Last edited by Shmerl on 23 Jan 2017 at 12:27 am UTC
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There are other titles to play rather than this one.
Quern, Greenwood, and Detention are available.
Quern, Greenwood, and Detention are available.
1 Likes, Who?
I discovered this title earlier today and just downloaded it, now to discover it will no longer available. Sad.
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They should update their Itch.io page then. It still says they support Linux.
2 Likes, Who?
good thing i didnt thow money at them yet.
i can understand their decision though, it might be hard to keep testing and debugging for 3 different platforms if they could use that time to add more content.
hopefully they will port it later down the road though
i can understand their decision though, it might be hard to keep testing and debugging for 3 different platforms if they could use that time to add more content.
hopefully they will port it later down the road though
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They would probably find them easier to fix if they named some of the issues they ran into. I get the limitations of a three man team, but this does seem a bit like giving up before even really trying.
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They would probably find them easier to fix if they named some of the issues they ran into. I get the limitations of a three man team, but this does seem a bit like giving up before even really trying.Yeah i asked a few times on Twitter, but they wouldn't give me specifics.
1 Likes, Who?
They would probably find them easier to fix if they named some of the issues they ran into. I get the limitations of a three man team, but this does seem a bit like giving up before even really trying.Yeah i asked a few times on Twitter, but they wouldn't give me specifics.
It's a bad sign already, they are most probably using Windows only plugins and such.
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Or the just simple things like typically CaseSensitivity problems which don't show up in windows ...
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Making a Linux version takes willingness to do so. "We don't want to use Linux" is not a good excuse, but it is an honest one.
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Is this game available for android or for Windows??
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I downloaded a version sometime last week, though I haven't played it beyond starting it up. It seemed to work, so maybe I'll get lucky and will be able to play the version as long as I don't update it.
It is a pity that it won't be on the most important platform ever, but a lot of aspiring Linux game makers are simply not of a high enough caliber and must fall back to one step above Flash games: Windows.
So, Raft isn't coming to Linux? Ummmmmmm --- yup. I'm already over it.
Last edited by Nanobang on 23 Jan 2017 at 1:28 pm UTC
It is a pity that it won't be on the most important platform ever, but a lot of aspiring Linux game makers are simply not of a high enough caliber and must fall back to one step above Flash games: Windows.
So, Raft isn't coming to Linux? Ummmmmmm --- yup. I'm already over it.
Last edited by Nanobang on 23 Jan 2017 at 1:28 pm UTC
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Tremendously disappointing to lose a game with this much potential. I've played a good deal of it in the previous state, and it's got a solid foundation (well, figuratively at least). I guess the option is still there to run it in Wine, but I don't really consider that a good option by any means.
I really hope they reconsider. As far as good games on Itch goes, this is a real loss.
I really hope they reconsider. As far as good games on Itch goes, this is a real loss.
1 Likes, Who?
I'd buy it if they committed to linux :)
Heck, I'm sure a bunch of us would be willing to test and report bugs too :)
Last edited by psymin on 23 Jan 2017 at 5:03 pm UTC
Heck, I'm sure a bunch of us would be willing to test and report bugs too :)
Last edited by psymin on 23 Jan 2017 at 5:03 pm UTC
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Perkeleen_Vittupää 23 Jan 2017
And already i spread the word about (also) this game quite a bit for the sake of Linux. Oh well, we should learn from these. I too want to email them about the details of their problems even though they seem to be just through..
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IIRC they are three college kids who work in the game part-time. So it's understandable, really.
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