After a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2018, developer Eggnut released their post-noir narrative adventure Backbone in June 2021. Sadly, they've decided not to go through with the official Linux support on it.
This is a crowdfunding campaign that did very clearly have Linux down as a platform from the beginning, so it's not the best of looks. Especially to get the announcement that it's no longer planned eight months after the initial launch. What's the reasoning being given? Here's what they said in the Kickstarter announcement:
We're very sorry to announce that we won't be porting Backbone to Linux in the near future. We did our best to do it in-house, but it took immeasurable amount of time and effort, and making it work properly would require creating a dev environment to work in which we don't have the resources for because we're deep in production for our next game. We are not in the financial position to hire another party to do the porting for us. We absolutely understand the frustration these news might bring, and we're ready to offer you these solutions:
For backers, they've offered a key for any other platform or a full refund if you prefer. That is at least a lot better than some, as we've seen plenty of other projects decide not to do Linux after including it in funding and not offer anything. Still, it's a frustrating situation, especially to be told they don't have a development environment set up for it — after being in development overall for multiple years and already being supported on Windows for over half a year.
What about Steam Play Proton, can you run it there? Reports seem mixed on it, although there's not many, with the big problem being cinematics not playing.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Hm... the reason I backed it was the promised Linux version. It's mind boggling they promise the Linux version and now realizing they have absolutely no clue how to do it and fail now trying. I would've thought that at least some preparation in that regard would have been done beforehand. At least to check if it's feasible.
Well, refunds are okay, trust is gone nonetheless.
Though missing cut-scenes sounds like: Proton-GE to the rescue!
Or just wait until Valve has re-encoded the videos, like they already did for many others (Exo One).
But I guess I'll take a copy for the Switch then.
Well, refunds are okay, trust is gone nonetheless.
Though missing cut-scenes sounds like: Proton-GE to the rescue!
Or just wait until Valve has re-encoded the videos, like they already did for many others (Exo One).
But I guess I'll take a copy for the Switch then.
10 Likes, Who?
And yet, somehow they managed to make a Mac version of this Unreal Engine 4 game.
Single player, no anti-cheat or anti-tamper as far as I can see, it's using FMOD, XAudio, Bink2... so what was the problem here?
Single player, no anti-cheat or anti-tamper as far as I can see, it's using FMOD, XAudio, Bink2... so what was the problem here?
11 Likes, Who?
The devs would go "yeah, we can make a Linux version", then develop the whole thing on Windows, include a bunch of third party libs without checking compatibility once, and then at the end would be like "uhmm, we're releasing next week, anyone here knows anything about this Linux thing? no? alrighty then".
22 Likes, Who?
Strange thing is they had a running demo on Linux. I was looking forward to the game. But then, recent reviews at 46%, 60% over all of them... I fear we're not missing something great.
9 Likes, Who?
soulsource Feb 10, 2022
And yet, somehow they managed to make a Mac version of this Unreal Engine 4 game.
Single player, no anti-cheat or anti-tamper as far as I can see, it's using FMOD, XAudio, Bink2... so what was the problem here?
I can only think of one potential explanation:
They focused fully on Windows development, and treated all other platforms as "let's get those working later". This means that all engine issues they encountered and fixed/worked around during development were those that affect the windows build. If you have one of those per week of development, well, that's filed under "overhead".
All engine issues that are specific to Linux were left undiscovered until they finally started the porting process, and they probably were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of problems...
In other words: "Expected that porting to Linux is clicking a button in the Editor, but turned out it's actually a list of 100 Unreal Engine bugs we need to work around or fix. We don't have the resources for that."
(But again, this is just a potential explanation for which I am sadly speaking out of experience with another Unreal game and another target platform - which happened in the end, but one year after the Windows release. I do not know if this applies to this particular case.)
13 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Feb 10, 2022
Ugh, whenever this happens I am reminded of Tower 57. Promised Linux port never happened... and what was released was an AmigaOS/MorphOS port...
5 Likes, Who?
Reminds me of Bloodstained, atleast these guys are offering a refund.
1 Likes, Who?
So the demo ran natively back in 2019, same year devs received an Epic Mega Grant for the game, then Linux support evaporated. I'm not suggesting anything, I'm sure this is just a coincidence. 
15 Likes, Who?
AussieEevee Feb 10, 2022
Is anyone actually asking for ports though? It takes a lot less development time and energy to support the game through Proton/Lutris/etc than it does to make a native port. Your game does NOT have to be native to be Linux compatible.
Last edited by AussieEevee on 10 February 2022 at 10:33 am UTC
Last edited by AussieEevee on 10 February 2022 at 10:33 am UTC
0 Likes
another developer that says they will work on a linux port then backs out. i guess they will not get the support then.
3 Likes, Who?
AussieEevee Feb 10, 2022
Is anyone actually asking for ports though? It takes a lot less development time and energy to support the game through Proton/Lutris/etc than it does to make a native port. Your game does NOT have to be native to be Linux compatible.
Wouldn't be as much of a problem if the game was wrapped up in wine and officially supported in that manner. This is what System Shock does. Still need to know how to properly bundle wine in with it however, and that's under the assumption there aren't any runtime problems.
I do like the idea of bundling it with wine, but they don't even need to do that to release on Steam, as Steam Play integrates wine though proton.
It'd still take a little bit of developer time and energy, of course but far far far less than making a native port.
0 Likes
gradyvuckovic Feb 10, 2022
We're very sorry to announce that we won't be porting Backbone to Linux in the near future.'Near future'... Just say it, you're not going to do it 'ever'.
We did our best to do it in-house, but it took immeasurable amount of time and effort,Your game is made in Unreal Engine 4... was there really no one in your entire team who possesses the ability to handle installing Linux on a PC, downloading and compiling UE4 for Linux following a youtube tutorial to do so, then building your game on it?
and making it work properly would require creating a dev environment to work in... Yes.. that's generally how game development works.. ?...
which we don't have the resources for because we're deep in production for our next game.You don't have the resources to dual boot a PC you already own with a free OS?
We are not in the financial position to hire another party to do the porting for us.Not sure why you wouldn't be in a financial position to do so given you ran a kickstarter specifically to raise funding to do exactly what you're saying you don't have the finances to do.
We absolutely understand the frustration these news might bring, and we're ready to offer you these solutions:HA-HA-HA.
In summary: "We promised a Linux version just to get a bunch more folks to support our kickstarter to effectively use those people as an interest free loan. Now we've made the game and sold enough copies to repay that loan, we're willing to offer refunds."
Seriously, people, stop funding kickstarters. Just stop doing it. It's even worse than pre ordering a game. There have been maybe a handful of game kickstarter projects that haven't ended up producing a completely rubbish outcome.
Last edited by gradyvuckovic on 10 February 2022 at 11:00 am UTC
14 Likes, Who?
Or just wait until Valve has re-encoded the videos, like they already did for many others (Exo One).
The problem with that plan is that there are also games for which it never seems to happen.
2 Likes, Who?
Is anyone actually asking for ports though? It takes a lot less development time and energy to support the game through Proton/Lutris/etc than it does to make a native port. Your game does NOT have to be native to be Linux compatible.
Yes, it does.
I don't play lazy-arse "compatibility layer suported" games.
I use my money to invest in GNU/Linux native gaming.
The faster we kill Microsoft, the better use of computer resources we will have in the future.
Windows gaming only exists because they hold the largest share of the market, but Windows should be droped by everyone ASAP.
-----
In regards to the company's move, as someone said here, they took an interest free loan from GNU/Linux users. We are also a more envolved community, so they also beneffited from free mouth-to-mouth advertisement from us fools.
4 Likes, Who?
Reading between the lines of the statement in the article it suggests they are more interested in developing their current game than fulfilling their promise of a Linux port. With the ultimate reason being: they can't be arsed it seems.
8 Likes, Who?
Seriously, people, stop funding kickstarters. Just stop doing it. It's even worse than pre ordering a game. There have been maybe a handful of game kickstarter projects that haven't ended up producing a completely rubbish outcome.
Idontknow. Many good Linux ports came from Kickstarter projects.
7 Likes, Who?
thoughtfulhippo Feb 10, 2022
This irks me. Backed the Kickstarter and it all looked very promising, especially with the release of Backbone: Prologue which was available for Linux initially.
But then they released Backbone, no Linux version was available and they even removed the Linux build for the Prologue. I haven't redeemed by Steam key, waiting for the Linux release first. Guess I'll be asking for a refund.
But then they released Backbone, no Linux version was available and they even removed the Linux build for the Prologue. I haven't redeemed by Steam key, waiting for the Linux release first. Guess I'll be asking for a refund.
11 Likes, Who?
At least they finally decided to say it and also offer a refund.
This is why I don't kickstart anymore; I'll wishlist and open my wallet when the product actually exists.
This is why I don't kickstart anymore; I'll wishlist and open my wallet when the product actually exists.
5 Likes, Who?
AussieEevee Feb 10, 2022
if you are waiting for the day when native linux gaming is a thing, it'll never happen. We get a few native games but there will never be a day when all games are native.Is anyone actually asking for ports though? It takes a lot less development time and energy to support the game through Proton/Lutris/etc than it does to make a native port. Your game does NOT have to be native to be Linux compatible.
Yes, it does.
I don't play lazy-arse "compatibility layer suported" games.
I use my money to invest in GNU/Linux native gaming.
The faster we kill Microsoft, the better use of computer resources we will have in the future.
Windows gaming only exists because they hold the largest share of the market, but Windows should be droped by everyone ASAP.
-----
In regards to the company's move, as someone said here, they took an interest free loan from GNU/Linux users. We are also a more envolved community, so they also beneffited from free mouth-to-mouth advertisement from us fools.
and i'm okay with that. the goal isn't to kill Microsoft. The goal is to have a pleasant and playable alternate gaming pc platform. Thats what Proton does.
i don't have an answer to the support question, but i do think tweaking the games to fix wine compatibility issues is the way to go.Is anyone actually asking for ports though? It takes a lot less development time and energy to support the game through Proton/Lutris/etc than it does to make a native port. Your game does NOT have to be native to be Linux compatible.
Wouldn't be as much of a problem if the game was wrapped up in wine and officially supported in that manner. This is what System Shock does. Still need to know how to properly bundle wine in with it however, and that's under the assumption there aren't any runtime problems.
I do like the idea of bundling it with wine, but they don't even need to do that to release on Steam, as Steam Play integrates wine though proton.
It'd still take a little bit of developer time and energy, of course but far far far less than making a native port.
In that case, Valve is shouldering the support burden, but having such support outside the control of a developer isn't always a good idea. Basically if it doesn't work then customers are more likely to blame the developer rather than Valve, and that's not a desirable situation for the developer.
Also, not everybody buys their games through Steam, and companies might actually want to offer games outside of Steam (GOG, itch.io, direct sales, etc). The more direct to the developer, the better - particularly for small indie devs.
End of the day, support is the keyword.
i also hope other game stores adopt proton, which would solve your other note.
1 Likes, Who?
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