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Today's news is sponsored by Radiant Entertainment, who've decided that five years after their Kickstarter that a Linux version of Stonehearth [Official Site] would be "more work than our team can handle". From their post about "Leaving the Nest":
I’m afraid it’s more work than our team can handle at this point. We’re going to cut this feature, and apologies to all of you who backed for this explicit reason. If there is no other way for you to play this game other than on Linux, and you backed for this reason only, please reach out to us via Kickstarter and we’ll see what we can do to make it right.
Linux (and Mac) support was a stretch goal too at $200K (although "only" $20K was specifically for it after the previous goal), so they took extra money to make it happen, which is why it's quite frustrating. Mac fans aren't being left with egg on their face like us though, since they're still getting a version. They've also said they will cease support for the game as a whole after January 2019.
It comes as no surprise really, since Riot Games (League of Legends) actually acquired Radiant Entertainment back in 2016 and Radiant Entertainment themselves said in the linked post that Stonehearth is "not a priority from Riot’s overall strategic perspective".
We would urge anyone who backed it for Linux support, to act sooner rather than later if you want that refund.
They don't hold the crown for broken promises though, that is firmly on the head of Stainless Games for Carmageddon.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
After all this time, that broken promise still hurts.
Quoting: dpanterAww, why'd ya have to bring up Carmageddon... :'(At least they're giving refunds for Stonehearth...
After all this time, that broken promise still hurts.
ObsidianBlk Jul 6, 2018
Quoting: soulsourceWhat should I say?
There are two options, basically: Either developers frequently make and test builds for all platforms they are planning to support, or they don't. In the first case they are likely to release for all platforms they were planning, in the latter case those platforms for which they didn't make and test builds frequently will not be supported in the end (unless they invest extra time/money to effectively port their game).
I feel this is key. Those developers that develop for Windows first really only say that for two reasons. 1) They really have NO intention of porting to Linux and really just hope you forget about the project. 2) They have absolutely no idea how complex their project will be and seriously under-estimate a post development port.
I've only backed a couple of Kickstarter games, personally. One of the big things I consider when backing... Are they committing to a same day release (or, have a solid reason for staggering). If Linux is a "stretch goal" with ner a word regarding Linux throughout the description... it's a pass for me.
Stonehearth is a one of the better polished games in that genre. It works and it is fun, regardless of what checkboxes in the theoretical featurelist are not checked. So I encourage to give it a try with Wine (though requesting the refund is probably politically the better statement.)
By now I don't believe in Linux support, unless the game uses a cross-platform third party engine. And having entire platforms as a stretch goal is a clear sign of developers being too inexeprienced with cross-platform development to actually pull it off.
This goes double for city-builder games. These games thrive most, while they are not officially finished, so either they have Linux support from day 1, or even if they get it at the end, it won't matter anymore.
Regarding the cut features... Definitely disappointing, but it really is within expectations, given the nature of Kickstarter campaigns. Thankfully I purchased the game as-is based on an early-access review on PCGamer, so I didn't have specific expectations, so I'm probably not a fair reference though.
Last edited by Klaus on 9 July 2018 at 9:51 am UTC
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