Serious Sam 4 announced for August, confirmed for Stadia (updated)

Update:

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay in answering, but I'm sure you can imagine the chaos we've been through in preparation for this.

I'll be on point - Serious Sam 4 won't be available natively on Linux on launch. What happens later, we don't know. We're currently focused on Windows and if that changes we'll let everyone know.

Yuk! Huge disappointment.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 21 May 2020 at 3:31 pm UTC

I can see no sign of a Linux Version on Steam. Perhaps there will be one, perhaps not.
I would only buy it discounted anyways. I played SS3 only for about 20 hours, then I got bored, because it was just dumb enemies running at me. It is ok for a few hours of shooting, but I am not hyped.

Linux support -> I will buy it
Non linux support-> play cracked version on windows

I am very disappointed, but I will still support Croteam when the game is discounted. May I also add my support to the "I don't want it on Stadia" movement? I like my games installed locally, even if they require online authentication.

Not good to hear. But who knows, maybe it's just one person not knowing. They have put quite a bit of work into getting their engine to run on Linux. Sure, part of it helps Stadia, but it would be a waste not to use it after the work is done. Anyway, I'll see what happens.

Every time I hear a dev say they skipped Linux at launch I can't help but wonder, "Is there something that could be done to make developing software for Linux easier?". Is there some kind of SDK that the open source community should be putting together, something that reduces the burden?

Every time I hear a dev say they skipped Linux at launch I can't help but wonder, "Is there something that could be done to make developing software for Linux easier?". Is there some kind of SDK that the open source community should be putting together, something that reduces the burden?

It's not the development: they've already done that. Everyone that's put their game on Stadia has already done that.

It's QA and support costs that scare people away: they fear those costs are open-ended and they won't make them back from sales. Developers that use Linux themselves and are comfortable with how everything works can more accurately gauge those future costs (although they still might judge that the returns aren't there) but to ones that have only ever used Windows Linux is a big, mysterious, scary money hole just waiting to eat their company.

When you get influential devs in a company that fall into the former category they can champion our cause with realistic projections, or they do it as a passion project that isn't expected to make a big profit but isn't expected to make a loss either, and we get native versions. When all the influential devs in a company fall into the latter category we don't.

Games companies want reassurance that they aren't going to be on the hook for costs that will extinguish their profits. Either from someone inside that's trusted and knows what they're talking about with a costed support plan, or from someone outside that strictly limits the amount of future work they need to do as Google does with their only one hardware/software combo with Stadia. Or the prospect of future growth that will outpace future costs that games companies thought they had with Steam Machines.

We need growth, so that games companies feel there's enough potential income to offset the potential costs, and we need more developers familiar with Linux (which we may get as a result of people making Debian/Vulkan games for Stadia) so that they have a realistic idea of what those costs are, and can minimise them, and we need other games companies being bold and successful with their Linux games to show that they don't need to be so terrified.

Feral's attraction for games companies is that they don't need the games companies to do anything and they limit the support costs to their fee and whatever they take from sales they themselves generate. Their ports are great and their support is excellent, but Feral porting a game doesn't give the developers better Linux skills or more Linux mindshare, which means Linux stays as a bogeyman for the developers themselves.

They're showing they care about two evil corporations that only care about money and the ultimate form of DRM rather than the free and open world that has supported them.

So disappointed with Croteam.

Don't be overdramatic. I'm sure they will port SS4 to Linux eventually. Croteam used to support Linux well so far. They were one of the first developers who ported their game (SS3) on Linux just after one month Steam for Linux appeared. And the first developers whose game ran on Vulkan.
At least SS4 isn't EGS exclusive.

I don't know what people wrote to CD Project Red so they turned away from Linux.
I just hope it won't be the case here again...

I don't know what people wrote to CD Project Red so they turned away from Linux.
I just hope it won't be the case here again...

Have developed myself some games and tried to make them as cross-platformed as possible.
I also am a Linux user (Fedora and Mint).

1.
Linux graphic drivers.
Developing games on Linux is a pretty hard thing since even if you use vulkan some shaders don't work because of differences in graphic drivers.
I would release the game , work perfectly on Windows and on Linux you would see the shaders fail , either pure fail (pink rendering) or very strange effects like you see in dieing graphic cards (artefacts), and that would happen randomly (you could play that exact location 100 times and 95 times would work perfectly and 5 times it would just be weird).
I am not even going to talk about the performance degradation in Linux compared to Windows.

2.
Linux gamers as a whole.
Keep aside what I said above about the troubles and headaches that Linux gives you , as a developer you want money.
That's your job , that's how you survive.
Not only the linux sales were less than 4% of the total sales , but the users were also the most toxic.
Death threats , insults , and trolling overall.
I would say that over 50% of the trolling were from linux users.

Is it worth over 50% toxicity + development headaches for 4% sales?
For me...it sure was worth it because Linux is a mindset, it represents freedom, something worth fighting for.
But for most developers? No.... and I totally understand them.

I don't know what people wrote to CD Project Red so they turned away from Linux.
I just hope it won't be the case here again...

Have developed myself some games and tried to make them as cross-platformed as possible.
I also am a Linux user (Fedora and Mint).

1.
Linux graphic drivers.
Developing games on Linux is a pretty hard thing since even if you use vulkan some shaders don't work because of differences in graphic drivers.
I would release the game , work perfectly on Windows and on Linux you would see the shaders fail , either pure fail (pink rendering) or very strange effects like you see in dieing graphic cards (artefacts), and that would happen randomly (you could play that exact location 100 times and 95 times would work perfectly and 5 times it would just be weird).
I am not even going to talk about the performance degradation in Linux compared to Windows.

2.
Linux gamers as a whole.
Keep aside what I said above about the troubles and headaches that Linux gives you , as a developer you want money.
That's your job , that's how you survive.
Not only the linux sales were less than 4% of the total sales , but the users were also the most toxic.
Death threats , insults , and trolling overall.
I would say that over 50% of the trolling were from linux users.

Is it worth over 50% toxicity + development headaches for 4% sales?
For me...it sure was worth it because Linux is a mindset, it represents freedom, something worth fighting for.
But for most developers? No.... and I totally understand them.

What game was that? I'm interested to see examples of this toxic behaviour you speak of.

Have developed myself some games and tried to make them as cross-platformed as possible.

Thanks!

Not only the linux sales were less than 4% of the total sales , but the users were also the most toxic.
Death threats , insults , and trolling overall.
I would say that over 50% of the trolling were from linux users.

While the sales come as no surprise, I am surprised by the amount of hostility you got. I know we've got our share our toxic people, but taking aside people that are maybe a bit too loud about some stuff, I got the impression we at least don't have more toxic people than other OSs.

Are you still making games; does it work out for you?