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Love puzzle games like Portal and The Talos Principle? Photon Engineer might be one for you to have a look at.

An interesting note about this one and why it's being highlighted: the developer behind it created their own open source game engine with Vulkan, and then made this game with it. Seems like quite an impressive feat, while a lot of developers go for an off the shelf game engine. Features:

  • 40 levels/platforms to discover.
  • 95 puzzles (45 puzzles with lasers and 50 sliding puzzles).
  • 15 puzzle achievements that extend the game experience.
  • Each puzzle is unique and provides a new idea.
  • The further you go, the more complex mechanisms you'll encounter.
  • Lasers are all marked with symbols for colorblind players.

Check out the trailer:

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It has Native Linux support and you can buy it on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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6 comments

ShabbyX Apr 12, 2023
I'd buy it, if nothing just to commend the dev for the from-the-looks-of-the-code well done engine (that's also free software)!
itscalledreality Apr 13, 2023
Give me a DRM-free option and I’ll buy it!
gregp1987 Apr 14, 2023
(I'm the developer)
@Liam Dawe: Thank you for this article!

Quoting: itscalledrealityGive me a DRM-free option and I’ll buy it!
The Linux version is already DRM-free.
If you want to be "Steam-API-free", change the value "steam" by "universal" for the property "platform.type" in "{STEAM_GAME_FOLDER}/resources/game.properties" file. In this case, you will have local achievements instead of the Steam achievements and the game can be started without Steam. I know it can be constraining, and I'll check if I can release a version on Itch.io soon.
reaply Apr 14, 2023
Quoting: gregp1987(I'm the developer)
@Liam Dawe: Thank you for this article!

Quoting: itscalledrealityGive me a DRM-free option and I’ll buy it!
The Linux version is already DRM-free.
If you want to be "Steam-API-free", change the value "steam" by "universal" for the property "platform.type" in "{STEAM_GAME_FOLDER}/resources/game.properties" file. In this case, you will have local achievements instead of the Steam achievements and the game can be started without Steam. I know it can be constraining, and I'll check if I can release a version on Itch.io soon.

Great release and thank you for looking at the comments here. I will be looking into your game and also your engine. Thanks for your hard work ☺️.
itscalledreality Apr 15, 2023
Quoting: gregp1987(I'm the developer)
@Liam Dawe: Thank you for this article!

Quoting: itscalledrealityGive me a DRM-free option and I’ll buy it!
The Linux version is already DRM-free.
If you want to be "Steam-API-free", change the value "steam" by "universal" for the property "platform.type" in "{STEAM_GAME_FOLDER}/resources/game.properties" file. In this case, you will have local achievements instead of the Steam achievements and the game can be started without Steam. I know it can be constraining, and I'll check if I can release a version on Itch.io soon.

Will wait for Itch.io version, thank you for your consideration!

Side note to self: I didn’t know this was possible, I wonder how many games this will work with. I am building a game launcher client as a way to learn C++ and maybe this would be a good trick for the client to improve it’s DRM-freedom?


Last edited by itscalledreality on 15 April 2023 at 6:44 pm UTC
gregp1987 May 26, 2023
Photon Engineer has finally arrived on Itch.io: https://deervision.itch.io/photon-engineer

It is my first publication on Itch.io, and I really enjoyed the experience (compared to the other very popular platform).

I automated the deployment on Itch.io, and their Butler tool to upload the game is really easy to set up, and it's just a command line tool without a complex configuration file.

I also adapted my game to Itch.io: achievements are listed in the game and are saved locally; I interrogate the Itch.io API to detect the latest game version available to display an informative message to the player when necessary.
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