As sad as it is, I appreciate it when we see a developer being really honest. Limit Theory was a promising open-world space sim that was Kickstarted back in 2012 and the developer has reached their limit.
Writing in a post titled "The End", the developer talks about how they've essentially exhausted not only their finances but their energy emotionally and physically has been drained trying to complete it.
It is with a heart of lead that I write this announcement. Not in my darkest nightmares did I expect this day to ever come, but circumstances have reached a point that even my endless optimism can no longer rectify. I can not finish Limit Theory.
They go on to talk about how far it still is from completion, with plenty of half-finished bits. The silver lining here, is that they're going to release the source code:
Well, I will prepare the source code for release. It's not a working game, and in my frenzy to get things working I've left huge swaths of code in a half-refactored or half-complete state. But releasing it is the least I can do. I don't imagine it will be of any use to anyone, other than as a monument to a failed dream. Perhaps those who are interested in game engines will glean a thing or two from the engine, as it is a fairly solid piece of engineering, much more solid than the Lua game code.
This. This is how it should be done if you cannot finish a project funded by other people through crowdfunding. For one, other people can possibly pitch in and attempt to make something of it. Not only that, it means everything they've done up to this point won't go to waste and be lost forever. Hopefully they choose a good license.
It's also really nice to see quite a number of positive comments, when this sort of thing usually happens people end up getting a little heated.
For a look at it, they posted this video some time ago:
Direct Link
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Totally agree that this is the way it should be done.
If the assets are made open, this could really help others when making their own game.
slaapliedje Sep 30, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlIs it using its own custom engine?
Yes, it is indeed.
Quoting: slaapliedjeIf it's going to be open sourced, there's always the possibility of people stepping in and releasing *something*. At least it isn't going to be one of those things where the source is lost forever, like so many commercial games.
As liam said in the article, let's hope for a nice libre license.
Quoting: KristianAnd there we have the problem.Quoting: ShmerlIs it using its own custom engine?
Yes, it is indeed.
I think that when you start, you really have to be certain if you want to develop a game, or an engine/middleware.
If it is the first, don't do the second. Most of these attempts fail. I'd know, I lost two years to that myself ;)
Also reminds me a lot of Voxel Quest - though that project had the point that there was no engine out there capable of what it needed.
Not sure Unreal or Unity couldn't do what Limit Theory attempted.
All of that said, this project DID get very far.
TheRiddick Sep 30, 2018
In reality this sort of game needed a 500k-1million backing and at least 2-3 people working on it full time if not more.
Quoting: TheSHEEEPNot sure Unreal or Unity couldn't do what Limit Theory attempted.
I don't believe these engines have baked in procedural engines like what was attempted in LT, they need lots of custom coding and work to get them to function in such a way.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 30 September 2018 at 10:17 pm UTC
The game
What alternatives do we have then?
I thought up a few, super simple description below. Tried to include all the big ones and hopefully only listed 'good' games...
All of these should be available on Steam, possibly on other places too.
Linux native
Everspace, SP rogue-lite explore/combat
Overload, SP/MP combat (from the makers of Descent)
Endless Sky, 2D SP trade/combat (free to play)
Strike Suit Zero, SP combat
Astrokill, Early Access, SP combat
Drifter, Early Access, SP explore/trade procedural open world (dead?)
Avorion, Early Access, SP/MP explore/trade/combat
Windows titles
No Man's Sky, SP/MP explore/craft/survival procedural open world (Proton OK)
Elite Dangerous, SP/MP MMO trade/combat (does not work in Linux)
Star Citizen, SP/MP MMO trade/combat (most likely not working in Linux)
Maybe GoL could make a space shooty game article, in honor of a fallen project? :)
edit: forgot to mention Star Citizen which isn't available on Steam.
Last edited by dpanter on 1 October 2018 at 8:12 am UTC
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