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PayPalAccording to TorrentFreak, Serious Sam's Bogus Detour [Steam] is being pirated by Voksi, one of the people known for cracking Denuvo.
In this article, Torrent freak describes how the pirate Voksi is a fan of the Serious Sam Franchise and was actually a beta tester of Serious Sam, as well as being listed in the credits for that reason.
The game was released in June which included day-1 Linux support. Despite positive reviews and a "Very Positive" user rating on steam, 6 months later, the game didn't even cover development costs, let alone make a profit. It was a flop!
Voksi contacted the developers and they agreed to have him pirate the game for marketing purposes. They created a special build that's fully playable, even with network play. The special build is slightly less polished and always displays a message at the bottom of the screen saying,
We are small indie studio. If you liked the game, please consider buying it. Thank you and enjoy the game!
While the special build is for Windows, these developers are unconventional in their methods. They support Linux which unfortunately is also unconventional in the gaming industry. Serious Sam's Bogus detour has been mentioned here a few times before on GOL. (Note: It is available on GOG as well, but not the Linux version)
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Since Steam Linux version and Steam being good with refunds I never pirated a game anymore, I just wish devs and publishers put a demo for we to try out, I must say most games I won't even buy to test because I think it will not run or not being good enough for the hassle. I have all Serious Sam games on Fusion but never tried this one, I guess the marketing worked for me I will try out :D
Never would have known about this game were it not for the piracy news. Buying it! Looks fun.
Thinking it is a shame that it isn't generating more sales. It is a good game!
If a game is good people will pay for it, yes (so ditch that silly DRM and make a GNU/Linux port).
That's a bit harsh. It is one of these retro-style pixel-art games, like "Enter The Gungeon" or "Hammerwatch". The characters are animated fine, the game plays well. The audio is good too with Serious Sam quotes cropping up all over. The different monsters and levels are designed to be like they've come from the 3D Serious Sam FPS games.
Well, I do have similar thoughts about a good deal of those releases using the "retro" label as a shield against criticism. The game mechanics/"ai" here - all judged by the video - looks like one of the games I wrote as a hobby project while still in school. I think we are too forgiving as soon as someone take claim of the "retro" label.
Where did you release those?
Release? :D Dude that wasn't even an idea that struck my mind. This is pre-"indie" era, you had to have a distributor. And my games were nothing to release, they are just a few hours worth of coding, to try out stuff. Games with logic like Pac-Man, Snake, Caterpillar etc. Ridiculously simple logic based on positioning, with enemy movement responding to your position.
It really was nothing to bother the masses with at all. :)
Last edited by Beamboom on 15 Mar 2018 at 1:23 pm UTC
So, in short, if they hadn't pulled the free-piracy-trick, it would have remained missed for me. Good work Voksi and Devolver Digital!