Heroes of Hammerwatch released on Steam for Linux, no GOG release due to missing Galaxy

But make no mistake, GOG is NOT a Linux friendly company, ...

I disagree. EA is not a Linux friendly company. Bethesda is not a Linux friendly company.

While GOG may not be a champion of the Linux cause, the fact that they sell and support Linux games makes them a Linux friendly company.

Beth & Co. are openly hostile towards Linux. GOG is just "not friendly". Not the same thing. And sorry, but I don't consider a company that doesn't even port its own games to Linux "Linux friendly".

Yes, yes, I know that they are selling Linux games. And I appreciate that. But they have otherwise shown ZERO support to our platform. Compare that to Valve, which has actually invested money into Linux development, AND pushed developers into supporting it, AND ported their platform, AND ported all their games. Or Paradox or Square Enix, or all the other publishers that are actively supporting it, despite barely making any money with us. When GOG cannot even be bothered to pay a contractor for a few days of work to port their platform, let alone port their own games to Linux. Yet people think they are the salvation for Linux gaming and happily keep bashing that other company that actually DID push us more than any other. For no other reason than because they decided not to refuse doing business with those publishers that insist on putting DRM in their games. *shrug*

Developers should learn how to make this optional because it's not a multiplayer only game. Seriously, it's quite unprofessional. Added another Galaxy victim to the list.

That's the real problem with Galaxy, and not the lack of the client.

I think it's quite unprofessional to call an engineer unprofessional without ever having spoken to him/her
or without ever having seen a bit of code.

No , actually you got Shmerl wrong.

Because absence of Gog Galaxy and according to that some Linux versions are not on GOG , Shmerl will took the route of blaming either game devs or he will say " Galaxy Client is not needed " ; instead of blaming GOG for not providing such as a useful tool ( networking , game organizing and keeping them update) for Linux at first place.

...back on topic, I'm really enjoying this game. The play styles between the core four characters is pretty extreme, but it does feel a bit grindy at the moment. The problem with that grind is that all you fight in the first three levels of the mines is grubs and bugs. Then you get murdered by the mine boss and you start again.

I'm four hours in and all I've done is those three levels, then murdered. It's a bit samey.

Of course, part of the problem is that I've tried all four characters to at least level 2, which means that I'm never quite levelling up one character to be powerful enough to take the boss, but still.

And you need that grind anyway, to unlock all of the town features which allow your character to upgrade beyond the first tier.

So yeah, great game, probably needs multiplayer to be properly fun and a bit grindy in solo mode. I'm gonna keep playing for a bit longer though - there's a "just one more shot" addictive quality to the game that keeps bringing me back for more, even if it does end a rock monster murdering me repeatedly.

[Well, literally after posting this comment, I picked up my controller and "had one more game". Beat the stone boss! Yaay! The game becomes much more interesting after this, with early mines levels filling with grubs/bugs and that resulted in my Warlock zooming up another level. Plus, there are portals to challenge levels. Not sure if I can start in the new "Dungeon" level though, seems like I have to grind though the mines each time and beat the stone boss again <sigh>. Maybe I'll just have one more go...]


Last edited by scaine on 2 March 2018 at 7:49 pm UTC

I think it's quite unprofessional to call an engineer unprofessional without ever having spoken to him/her
or without ever having seen a bit of code.

Unfortunately not making multiplayer optional as a release blocker is so rampant, that it is unprofessional, because developers didn't do due research on this topic.

GOG are very explicit, that Galaxy is indeed not a requirement. But it's developers' responsibility to make sure they don't code it in as mandatory. GOG aren't forcing anyone to do it. And multiple developers managed to make Linux releases without Galaxy just fine, even though they are using Galaxy in their Windows versions.

Sure, GOG can be blamed for not releasing Galaxy, and in result causing this mess. But developers can be blamed all the same for not releasing without it. According to GOG Linux support, they offer all resources and help to explain to developers how to handle that. It's up to them whether to actually do it.


Last edited by Shmerl on 2 March 2018 at 7:04 pm UTC

Beth & Co. are openly hostile towards Linux. GOG is just "not friendly". Not the same thing. And sorry, but I don't consider a company that doesn't even port its own games to Linux "Linux friendly".

GOG isn't run by CDPR, they are related, but not the same people are making decisions for each. So while CDPR can now be considered not Linux friendly because they totally borked The Witcher 3 Linux release, GOG is Linux friendly, because they support Linux games. However, I'd say they are not doing enough to avoid problems such as these, i.e. lack of Galaxy preventing Linux releases.

I think it's quite unprofessional to call an engineer unprofessional without ever having spoken to him/her
or without ever having seen a bit of code.

Unfortunately not making multiplayer optional as a release blocker is so rampant, that it is unprofessional, because developers didn't do due research on this topic.

I can't image that you know what has been discussed between the engineers and publisher of this game, so I guess you are just assuming things.
It's sad to see that you feel the need to call game devs idiots (in your words "unprofessional" or "there is no excuse" ) only if they don't do things according to your (partially) extreme views.

I can't image that you know what has been discussed between the engineers and publisher of this game, so I guess you are just assuming things.

There is no need to assume here. They explicitly said, lack of Galaxy needed for MP is release blocker here. If you want to blame it on the publisher - it doesn't make a difference to the end user. The result is still messed up. And yes, I consider such result unprofessional.


Last edited by Shmerl on 2 March 2018 at 7:17 pm UTC

I can't image that you know what has been discussed between the engineers and publisher of this game, so I guess you are just assuming things.

There is no need to assume here. They explicitly said, lack of Galaxy needed for MP is release blocker here. If you want to blame it on the publisher - it doesn't make a difference to the end user. The result is still messed up. And yes, I consider such result unprofessional.

Contrary to you I don't want to blame anyone here nor want to call anyone unprofessional either. My guess is that they deliberately decided that the very few Linux GOG only users are simply not worth the effort (which would be a professional business decision). Though just assuming here, thus these are my thoughts only.

Beth & Co. are openly hostile towards Linux. GOG is just "not friendly". Not the same thing. And sorry, but I don't consider a company that doesn't even port its own games to Linux "Linux friendly".

GOG isn't run by CDPR, they are related, but not the same people are making decisions for each. So while CDPR can now be considered not Linux friendly because they totally borked The Witcher 3 Linux release, GOG is Linux friendly, because they support Linux games. However, I'd say they are not doing enough to avoid problems such as these, i.e. lack of Galaxy preventing Linux releases.

You know what , that is like saying " I hate MS and all of it's paywalls but i like MS Office and i like it's paywalls."

Totally absurd , they're targeting Windows and Mac only. That's it , they're just same companies under different divisions with game makers and market supervisors. Their vision is same.

My guess is that they deliberately decided that the very few Linux GOG only users are simply not worth the effort (which would be a professional business decision). Though just assuming here, thus these are my thoughts only.

Treating GOG Linux users as second class citizens isn't something I consider professional either, so your hypothetical scenario only highlights my point.

Their vision is same.

I don't really know what CDPR vision is, they are completely non talkative and never explain their reasoning (unlike GOG employees who gave AMAs and actually answer questions). Did you see any CDPR developers here? You can find GOG developers here on GamingOnLinux.


Last edited by Shmerl on 2 March 2018 at 7:37 pm UTC

My guess is that they deliberately decided that the very few Linux GOG only users are simply not worth the effort (which would be a professional business decision). Though just assuming here, thus these are my thoughts only.

Treating GOG Linux users as second class citizens isn't something I consider professional either, so your hypothetical scenario only highlights my point.

Please come down from your elitism. Linux GOG only users are a small minority of a small minority. Doing lots of extra effort for this very small number of potential customers would be nothing but a courtesy.

These people just forget that DRM-free games on GOG are also DRM-free on Steam...

Nope. You forget that nothing is DRM-free on Steam.

What? That's not true. Plenty of DRM-free games on Steam [1]. Unless you're being all Stallman-like and saying "goddamit, I want to use a web page to download my game... not a client". If you are, then <sigh>. You're entitled to your opinion, but you'll never convince me that you're on the right path. Remember - I don't want the hassle of "web download, make executable, run dubious executable, never gets updated". I want that client, to take the pain away. Then, I'm only doing that shit ONCE. Even Itch realise this. Only GOG don't get it.

Their vision is same.

I don't really know what CDPR vision is, they are completely non talkative and never explain their reasoning (unlike GOG employees who gave AMAs and actually answer questions). Did you see any CDPR developers here? You can find GOG developers here on GamingOnLinux.

What?

So i need to see developers before guessing their visions by depending their previous actions. I saw GOG devs on here , Reddit and BoilingSteam. They were very strict with Galaxy.

So , answer honestly please.

Did you see any MS dev on here and there? Yet you will say MS is a scumbag company , right?

Did you see any Valve dev on here and there? Yet you will say Valve is DRM'ed evil , right?

So ignore this simple fact while you can , until the very end Shmerl. Being a Polish person is not automatically means being an advocate of GOG , CDPR. Drop it. Please.

So ignore this simple fact while you can , until the very end Shmerl. Being a Polish person is not automatically means being an advocate of GOG , CDPR. Drop it. Please.

C'mon, no need for the attitude. Everyone is a friend here and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Please come down from your elitism.

Please come down from your comfortable position of using the incumbent, and don't think that if you are comfortable with the situation, everyone else should be. Apply the same logic to yourself as a Linux user, except from the indifferent Windows user's perspective. We hear this narrative all the time, so be considerate and don't use it.


Last edited by Shmerl on 2 March 2018 at 8:06 pm UTC

For no other reason than because they decided not to refuse doing business with those publishers that insist on putting DRM in their games.

Which happens to include Valve themselves with Steamworks, a DRM platform they developed and encourage game developers to actively use in their games. My issue with Valve is not so much that they tolerate DRM on Steam, but that they themselves actively create and promote it through Steamworks.

Please come down from your elitism. Linux GOG only users are a small minority of a small minority. Doing lots of extra effort for this very small number of potential customers would be nothing but a courtesy.

The same is true for the entire Linux gaming market. Shall we all just close up shop then?


Last edited by Hamish on 2 March 2018 at 8:04 pm UTC

Please come down from your elitism.

Please come down from your comfortable position of using the incumbent, and don't think that if you are comfortable with the situation, everyone else should be.

I'm not doing this, I'm happy for every GOG user that is happy with GOG. Enjoy your games!
What I don't like is the constant Valve/Steam bashing from the GOG fraction that feels the need to highlight that DRM-free is the only allowed religion. Have you seen lately how many threads here on GOL about Valve/Steam/Feral got hijacked and turned into a bashing Valve session?


Last edited by jens on 2 March 2018 at 8:15 pm UTC

So ignore this simple fact while you can , until the very end Shmerl. Being a Polish person is not automatically means being an advocate of GOG , CDPR. Drop it. Please.

C'mon, no need for the attitude. Everyone is a friend here and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I don't get his attitude here instead of mine.

( Mine is much more a reaction to it)

He likes these:

- Nvidia shitposting , AMD praising. Even ignoring that Nvidia was the only successful provider on Linux for a long time.

- Steam shitposting , GOG praising. Despite he is only getting these games on GOG still thanks to Steam on Linux launch and SteamMachines push.

- Dev blaming , rather than the system won't give them chance to use equal tools on Linux.

There is no need for being ungreatful to some companies even if you don't like them. Because they did so much good things on Linux and still keep doing.

Have you seen lately how many threads here on GOL about Valve/Steam/Feral got hijacked and turned into a bashing Steam session?

And this is far from the first thread to turn into a "GOG.com bashing session", as you would put it. It seems to be the GOL equivalent to the standard Linux distribution or text editor holy wars.

Here is my question though; GOG.com insists that Galaxy is completely optional, so how do Crackshell handle the Windows version of the game on GOG.com? Surely they must have a Windows version on GOG.com that does not have multiplayer available in order to have a non-Galaxy standalone installer?