A reader pointed out that the FAQ for the Amazon Lumberyard [Official Site] game engine no longer lists Linux support, so I reached out to Amazon to see what's going on.
Here's what it said originally:
Q. What device platforms does Lumberyard support?
Lumberyard currently supports PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Mobile support for iOS and Android devices is coming soon, along with additional support for Mac and Linux. […]
And now:
Q. What device platforms does Lumberyard support?
Lumberyard currently supports PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS (iPhone 5S+ and iOS 7.0+), and Android (Nexus 5 and equivalents with support for OpenGL 3.0+). Lumberyard also supports dedicated servers on Windows and Linux. Additional support for MacOS is coming soon. […]
I reached out to Amazon about this, since another AAA game engine supporting Linux would have been a really great thing. It seems they haven't seen enough demand for it:
Hi Liam, Lumberyard does support Linux for dedicated servers (which it didn't at the time the FAQ was written). Linux support for servers was a very important request from many of our customers.
As for a Linux-based editor / runtime support, we're keeping a close eye on what our customers are asking for. Right now, there's much more demand for a MacOS editor, which we're working on. If we get more demand for Linux for the editor and runtime, we'll definitely add it to our roadmap.
Thank you for reaching out to us and letting us know that you're interested in Linux support, I've let the team know.
I know there's a few people excited about Star Citizen, which switched over to the Lumberyard game engine, so hopefully this isn't too big a roadblock for them. Well, that's if Star Citizen is ever finished.
The silver lining here, is that not many games are actually using Lumberyard, so it's not a major issue. The most popular game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine do support Linux. I would actually be rather surprised if many developers did use the Lumberyard engine, since Unreal and Unity are so deeply entrenched in the minds of game developers.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
Afaik , Star Citizen team is customized the Lumberyard engine for their own use. So you can say they forked it for their own use long ago , Lumberyard without Linux support won't be an issue for them i guess.
2 Likes, Who?
DamonLinuxPL 12 Oct 2017
I think for (Linux community) switch from CryEngine (Linux support) to it fork Lumberyard (no Linux) is huge mistake but who know...
3 Likes, Who?
mishugashu 12 Oct 2017
How disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
3 Likes, Who?
How disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
But there in lies the rub, we need a big time publisher with a big time triple a game to do a day one release on linux so there is no advantage to being on windows. I know there are big ish publishers supporting linux with some of their titles but landing something like COD/BF/Witcher 3 or no way linux companies like Bethesda or Rockstar launching games on linux, would love to see Red Dead 2 but i doubt its even coming to pc at this point.
0 Likes
there's much more demand for a MacOS editor
I wonder how they are gauging demand, who is demanding?
0 Likes
natewardawg 12 Oct 2017
But, the good news is that another open source engine, the Banshee Engine, is currently adding Linux support including the editor! :)
I was just talking with the developer about an hour ago:
https://github.com/BearishSun/BansheeEngine/issues/97
I was just talking with the developer about an hour ago:
https://github.com/BearishSun/BansheeEngine/issues/97
9 Likes, Who?
there's much more demand for a MacOS editor
I wonder how they are gauging demand, who is demanding?
Game companies have staff who use Macs by preference. For instance, Server Engineers who like working on a slick Unix-like when they're setting up game back-end servers. Artists who favour using Photoshop on Mac. Producers who like pretty, stylish laptops that they can take into meetings. Macs are seen as luxury items with slick interfaces, and they're easy and pleasant to use too.
Also, if you are coding mobile games for iPhones or iPads - you're forced to use a Mac to create builds.
2 Likes, Who?
GustyGhost 12 Oct 2017
It feels so wrong to "like" an article reporting on such a cowardly backstabbing.
0 Likes
TheRiddick 12 Oct 2017
its a real shame, looks like the future for Linux gaming could be getting harder even while the drivers and performance issues are being sorted out. Not much can be done,
1 Likes, Who?
hmm... This is not good, really need SC for Linux. Nothing confirmed here, but Im slowly losing hope.
0 Likes
TheRiddick 12 Oct 2017
Star Citizen doesn't really use Lumberyard, they forked it long ago and its their own inhouse revision. If they do get it running on Linux (I've heard they have inhouse rendering working on Linux) then maybe they will license it out to developers.
0 Likes
A Linux console is still probably the best chance at getting broad game support. They turn it on and don't even know that it's powered by Linux. While it doesn't immediately create loyalists, it gets more games on our preferred platform.
0 Likes
There are STILL people believing Star Citizen will ever come out?
Impressive!
Optimism never dies ;)
Impressive!
Optimism never dies ;)
0 Likes
there's much more demand for a MacOS editor
I wonder how they are gauging demand, who is demanding?
Game companies have staff who use Macs by preference...
I work for a non-game software development company, and I can attest to this. Macs are very prevalent. At one point everything that our marketing department produced came in proprietary iWork formats. Until we went like WTF guys, you do realize that at least half of your colleagues have no way of using any of that?
As far as developers go, Mac is like 60%, with Linux and Windows about 20% each. Android developers are among the biggest Linux users.
It is usually much easier to cooperate between Linux- and Mac-using developers, because both are Unixes, and a lot of tools are the same.
So it is a double edged sword. Mac can be the best friend or the worst enemy of Linux. Often both at the same time.
4 Likes, Who?
How disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
But there in lies the rub, we need a big time publisher with a big time triple a game to do a day one release on linux so there is no advantage to being on windows. I know there are big ish publishers supporting linux with some of their titles but landing something like COD/BF/Witcher 3 or no way linux companies like Bethesda or Rockstar launching games on linux, would love to see Red Dead 2 but i doubt its even coming to pc at this point.
This is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only. How would the world react? Would there be unity among the PC windows players to switch over to Linux or rather cry, that rockstar newest engine iteration focuses on Linux instead of windows?
0 Likes
TheRiddick 13 Oct 2017
Well if the Atari console isn't a launch disaster, then we might just get our Linux console under the hood. But I do hope they get the drivers setup right, and also a decent enough GPU. The $299usd pricetag better not be all marketing and brand name because if so then it will sink REAL fast!
By mass executions I'd assume.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 13 Oct 2017 at 7:14 am UTC
This is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only.
By mass executions I'd assume.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 13 Oct 2017 at 7:14 am UTC
0 Likes
I can safely say that the second solution ("cry baby" ) will happen. People don't like to get the hand forced, even though they accept (but rant a bit about) this when it comes to console exclusivities.How disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
But there in lies the rub, we need a big time publisher with a big time triple a game to do a day one release on linux so there is no advantage to being on windows. I know there are big ish publishers supporting linux with some of their titles but landing something like COD/BF/Witcher 3 or no way linux companies like Bethesda or Rockstar launching games on linux, would love to see Red Dead 2 but i doubt its even coming to pc at this point.
This is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only. How would the world react? Would there be unity among the PC windows players to switch over to Linux or rather cry, that rockstar newest engine iteration focuses on Linux instead of windows?
Last edited by StraToN on 13 Oct 2017 at 7:35 am UTC
0 Likes
TheRiddick 13 Oct 2017
I think its more of a issue of Linux being in the ´too hard´ basket still. Drivers are getting better, and maybe kernel 4.15 will offer some uniform performance for AMD users. The switch from X.org to Wayland is probably also scaring some off, I don't think games will JUST WORK, without special attention.
0 Likes
There are STILL people believing Star Citizen will ever come out?
Impressive!
Optimism never dies ;)
I'm neither fan nor hater, but according to my favorite game magazine, they are making good process are creating - and showing - stuff that I've never seen before (shooting through holes in ships, ships flying in mother ships, ...).
0 Likes
Sure, but none of that is any proof that the game will ever come out. At that rate of progress, they would have to uphold their scheme for about 5-10 years more.There are STILL people believing Star Citizen will ever come out?
Impressive!
Optimism never dies ;)
I'm neither fan nor hater, but according to my favorite game magazine, they are making good process are creating - and showing - stuff that I've never seen before (shooting through holes in ships, ships flying in mother ships, ...).
And I have serious doubts they can do that.
What I expect is a half-finished something to be cancelled in 2 years or so.
1 Likes, Who?
Patreon
PayPal
An idiots guide to setting up Minecraft on Steam Deck / SteamOS with controller support
How to install extra software, apps and games on SteamOS and Steam Deck
See more from me