UPDATE: The developer provided some clarifications here. I think the key point to take away is this "Last but not least, we are shelving the Linux port, not outright killing it. This doesn't mean we won't do it after the launch."
ORIGINAL: Book of Demons [Steam], a dungeon crawling hack and slash with deck-building will no longer get a native Linux port. Steam Play is part of the reason.
It won't be the last game to do this I'm sure. At least in this case, they aren't pulling support for an already released game like Human: Fall Flat as Book of Demons didn't have a public Linux version. Anyway, writing on the Steam forum the developer noted a few vague issues they were having.
Things like "We had as many different issues with the build as testers. With each flavor of Linux came different issues." along with "Right now everything indicates that Linux port would be very high maintenance.". I always find these types of statements highly unhelpful, unless they actually say why that is. Let's be clear on this again too, you do not need to support all Linux distributions, support the most popular.
They went on to mention the issue of users only getting a single choice between Native or Proton, since Steam has no built-in way of picking between Steam Play or a Native build. An issue that seems to be mentioned more lately by gamers and developers. So, they said they will "focus our efforts on supporting Steam Play and Proton.".;
This does bring up some interesting thoughts. To be clear, I'm very open minded about Steam Play especially since sales will still show up as Linux and that I do like.
However, there's a lot that's unclear right now. When developers say they will support Steam Play/Proton, how will they do that? It would at the very least, require them to test every single patch they do on a Linux system through Steam Play to ensure they haven't broken it. Anything less than that and I wouldn't say they were actually supporting it. If it is broken, finding out why might end up being a hassle and hold them back and end up causing more issues. They can't really guarantee any degree of support since it is Valve and co handling it for them, the way I see it is that the game developer is not really doing anything.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Last edited by serge on 5 November 2018 at 5:23 pm UTC
However, my perspective on this is - As a Linux gamer, I am very unlikely to buy this unless it gets a Linux build. I have other games that I'm really keen on, and have been waiting for them to be released on Linux and I have held off buying them until that Linux release happens: Into The Breach, Shadow Warrior 2 (got it for free), Dungeon Warfare 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Divinity Original Sin 2, etc.
It is a rare thing for me to buy a Windows-only title.
stretch611 Nov 5, 2018
One other thing... the developers that are willing to put in the extra effort to learn the right way to do things will generally be the ones that are willing to try and actually spend time and effort trying to figure out what is wrong with their program when errors occur. They are the ones that will eventually fix their errors. Unlike the people who only know how to program by "Googling StackOverflow" which will generally throw up their arms and say "I can't fix it."
If someone wants to only support SteamPlay which implies no effort on their part that is fine for them; However, I choose to support developers who are willing to learn instead.
Though of course I would have been happier if they prepared a native build, which is not even that difficult nowadays. Unless they are using DirectX or something. In which case "supporting through SteamPlay" does not make much sense anyways; that is practically saying "We are just releasing a Windows version. Linux users can try to run it via SteamPlay and see if that works".
I realise that I don't have much buying "power" with the tux-then-bucks mantra, but it really sums up how I feel.
That said, I am signed up to Humble Monthly, so I'll get a handful of windows-only titles "for free" that way and that's about the only way Steam Play will really affect me.
Oh, and Mirv's comment that this ties Linux support to Steam. That's not good. That's really, really not good.
Avehicle7887 Nov 5, 2018
Quoting: PatolaWith Steam Play being much more uniform across linux distros, they'll have less trouble.While I get what you are trying to say, just have a look at protondb and you will see that your lineage can change a great deal depending on the distro and hardware used, so if they want to officially support Proton, they will need to either bundle it within the game or test it across all distros, which cancel their point.
As far as buying Windows games is concerned, I personally do it a great deal since I know it counts as a Linux sale. It is so much fun to know that companies like Namco or Square Enix who never ever considered porting games to Linux, let alone macOS, see users playing their games in their stats.
Definition of supporting SteamPlay : we wouldn't mind extra cash but we also don't want to make any effort towards it.
Most they will do is not using a Drm which is also not an issue in indie titles ever.
So after all , supporting SteamPlay means nothing.
I can understand big shots won't support Linux directly but easen out SteamPlay usage with using Vulkan , using at least compatible drm's etc but when it comes from an indie dev it means nothing.
Also that is a bad sign if every title goes for that route , even Valve can't overcome with all titles tied to SteamPlay kind of situation.
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