We already knew that the second and third parts of The Banner Saga wouldn't be coming to Linux, but now the original The Banner Saga is no longer supported on Linux.
Speaking about it on the Steam forum, one of their moderators said this:
Linux and SteamOS are no longer officially supported. You can probably still play the game with in an outdated/obsolete BETAS branch, but most players have problems ("game won't start").
No plans to update/support Linux at this time, sorry
As it turns out, one of the developers actually posted about it on Reddit last year (the same moderator as quoted above pointed this out in a later post) where they explained it a bit more thoroughly:
The problem is, the external developer that did our linux porting went out of business right after it launched, and before we could fix all its issue, tidy it up, and update its supporting technology. There's no way to get a refund or a financial remedy because, well, they ran out of cash. To extend the linux build to GOG, we'd have to be able to make a new build (Steam builds won't run on GOG), and we don't have the developer or budget available to do that.
Financially speaking, the total amount of income we've made from our Linux port on Steam after 2 years on the market is about 1/4 the cost of porting it.
Why is it so expensive and difficult? Because of the underlying technology we chose as a framework. The game rests on Adobe AIR, which provides platform level abstractions like low level graphics, file IO, networking, etc... At the time we started development, Adobe was strongly supporting Linux. Adobe then abandoned Linux and left both the developers and the players flapping in the breeze. Our linux port takes essentially the same approach as our console ports, removing Adobe AIR completely from the equation.
Hope that sheds some light on it.
It's always a shame when this happens. I know a number of developers who were stung by Adobe AIR dropping Linux support back in 2011. Most of them have moved onto using different tools by now, thankfully.
This is a sad case of multiple issues coming together. Luckily, it's not something that happens all that often.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
It's a shame that they couldn't continue working on that port, and I'm sad that I can't play the follow-up games, but I understand their reasons. Adobe is definitely not Linux's friend.
QuoteAt the time we started development, Adobe was strongly supporting Linux
I don't really buy this. When I bought Anodyne in 2013, it was a struggle getting it working on Linux even with the developer and other Linux users being very helpful in the Steam forums. This wasn't a new situation in 2013, so when they launched their kickstarter in 2012, Adobe's support for AIR on Linux was definitely not "strong".
I get that they thought they'd be able to make it work on Linux with AIR, but let's not put all the blame on Adobe. There has never been good Linux support from Adobe.
Last edited by km3k on 14 August 2018 at 12:53 pm UTC
Doc Angelo Aug 14, 2018
Quoting: Doc AngeloThat right there is one big reason why one shouldn't rely on closed source products.More like a reason not to use Adobe AIR (or other Adobe products for that matter).
Even when Flash was still a thing, AIR was just downright terrible, with bugs galore, cross-platform support shoddy (including Mac and Android), memory leaks, performance problems and so on and so forth.
When they claim Adobe was strongly supporting linux, that's just nonsense. That has never been the case as long as I can remember - and I had the "honor" of working with it and Flash back then.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 14 August 2018 at 1:02 pm UTC
Doc Angelo Aug 14, 2018
Quoting: TheSHEEEPMore like a reason not to use Adobe AIR (or other Adobe products for that matter).
Na, I really extend it to all closed source projects. Better be safe than sorry.
officernice Aug 14, 2018
For those interested there is Ash of Gods: Redemption which looks a lot like Banner Saga.
Quoting: Doc AngeloWhat safety?Quoting: TheSHEEEPMore like a reason not to use Adobe AIR (or other Adobe products for that matter).
Na, I really extend it to all closed source projects. Better be safe than sorry.
If the maintainers of some project decide to drop linux, there's nothing you can do about that, either. The chances of someone picking up the pieces and continuing the support in their free time are slim at best - nothing a developer using the software can rely on. And even if that happens, do you truly want to place your products in the hand of some hobbyist who might just drop the whole thing again due to lack of interest or free time?
Sure, the developer could maintain the linux part themselves, maybe backporting changes from the main branch, but that would be costly which is exactly the problem the devs here faced when they hired someone to do a port.
Open source or not has absolutely nothing to do with the problem.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 14 August 2018 at 1:11 pm UTC
SilverCode Aug 14, 2018
Quoting: km3kQuoteAt the time we started development, Adobe was strongly supporting Linux
I don't really buy this. When I bought Anodyne in 2013, it was a struggle getting it working on Linux even with the developer and other Linux users being very helpful in the Steam forums. This wasn't a new situation in 2013, so when they launched their kickstarter in 2012, Adobe's support for AIR on Linux was definitely not "strong".
I get that they thought they'd be able to make it work on Linux with AIR, but let's not put all the blame on Adobe. There has never been good Linux support from Adobe.
According to Wikipedia, Adobe AIR dropped support in version 2.7, which was released in June 2011. The Banner Saga launched its Kickstarter in March 2012 and promised Linux support on 6th April 2012, almost a full year after Adobe had already dropped Linux support.
I don't think ANY blame can be put on Adobe. They announced a year before that they no longer supported Linux, it didn't just come out of nowhere.
Last edited by SilverCode on 14 August 2018 at 1:31 pm UTC
Arehandoro Aug 14, 2018
On the other hand, about the 1/4 of gains from the cost... well, it's ta vicious circle. If there isn't a proper supported port, there aren't sells. If they don't sell, the port isn't profiterol* and so on.
Anyway, I liked the first one so much that I bought the other 2, and the boardgame, regardless of their support. Both are playable under Wine, if someone is interested.
* I like profiterols more than profitable.
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