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Dumping a listing of naughty developers that I had been compiling
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GustyGhost May 10, 2020
For a while, I was tracking developers that release their games for Gnu Linux but later dropped support. I later realized that the only way to ensure a game will remain available is if the source is freed, otherwise one will always be under the thumb of proprietary tyrants.

I have since stopped following news relating to non-free games entirely so I don't even see GoL posts that call out these developers anymore. Therefore I've decided to share the discontinued tracking list here. I urge to never give money, attention or help to any of the following organizations for any reason:

No Brakes Games
Thing Trunk
Snapshot Games
Transhuman Design
Eric Lengyel
Redbeet Interactive
Facepunch
Stoic
PixelTail
HopFrog

They are perfectly willing to stab their customersvictims in the back remorselessly. These clowns are no longer worth the 128 bytes of drive space that my list was taking up.

Tomas, CEO of No Brake Games, shame on you!

Thing Trunk, Maciej Biedrzycki, Konstanty Kalicki and Filip Starzyński, shame on you!

Snapshot Games, Julian Gollop and David Kaye, shame on you!

Transhuman Design, Michał Marcinkowski, shame on you!

Eric Lengyel, shame on you!

Redbeet Interactive, Andre Bengtsson, shame on you!

Facepunch, Garry Newman, shame on you!

Stoic, Arnie Jorgensen, John Watson and Alex Thomas, shame on you!

PixelTail, Macklin Guy, shame on you!

HopFrog, Mariano Cavallero, shame on you!
Cyril May 10, 2020
A bit funny as I started a similar list some weeks ago, a .ods file, to remember in one place the ones that didn't release a Linux version and/or a DRM-Free version, or abandoned ones, broken promises etc...
But to remember the "good" ones too, I think it's even, maybe, more important!
It shares the same interest of GOL's Crowdfunded Games List.

So, have you precisions about why these devs are on your list?
GustyGhost May 11, 2020
They only criteria was that a GoL article is published announcing their ending support after making sales. If you were to check the article dates, I imagine my list would look chronological.

Since I no longer dabble in proprietary anything, your suggestion is motivating. The world could use more positivity right now so maybe I'll start compiling a list of reformed good guys: studios who later freed their game code.
nullzero May 12, 2020
Quoting: CyrilA bit funny as I started a similar list some weeks ago, a .ods file, to remember in one place the ones that didn't release a Linux version and/or a DRM-Free version, or abandoned ones, broken promises etc...
But to remember the "good" ones too, I think it's even, maybe, more important!
It shares the same interest of GOL's Crowdfunded Games List.

So, have you precisions about why these devs are on your list?

I only recognize one, the Dev from my childhood favorites, Laser Squad and original X-COM: UFO Defense (or UFO: Enemy Unknown depending on the country), Julian Gollop. I was supper hyped for his/Snapshot Games' Phonix Point. It had Linux in the crowdfunding. Then in the middle of dev it droped Linux. Also it went Epic Games exclusive.

Liam had some posts here:

* Strategy game Phoenix Point from Julian Gollop and Snapshot Games has a new trailer
* Snapshot Games have cancelled the Linux version of Phoenix Point

Quoting Liam in the last post:

QuoteAs a reminder: After having a succesful Fig campaign last year, where they raised well over $750K which went up to over $780K after it finished, Snapshot Games also gained over $1.2 million in pre-orders from their own store. Linux was a platform advertised during their crowdfunding campaign along with it being clearly listed as a platform on their official website's FAQ. They went on to release two backer builds, both of which had Linux support and ran quite well. After spending quite a number of hours in their second backer beta, I was extremely keen for the third build which was expanding the feature-set quite a lot.

I ended up speaking to Snapshot Games, who gave me the news ahead of time so I've had a little time to think about this. Even so, I'm really not happy with the situation.

They put up a dedicated page to talk briefly about it, after I told them not to leave the reasons why up to people's imaginations. Citing reasons like Linux requiring "specialised graphics programming" as it uses OpenGL and not DirectX, they also mentioned that Linux drivers are "not as comprehensive as for Windows and Mac" requiring them to make "adaptations to graphical shaders" to get them working. Additionally, they mentioned the issue of Linux having many distributions, Linux-specific Unity bugs like "not being able to correctly render the video player" and input issues. I won't comment much on those points, since I am not a game developer and so I've no idea how Unity handles different APIs and everything else Unity does. It's clear Unity has had plenty of Linux issues in the past year though.

:(
Liam Dawe May 12, 2020
To be fair to Transhuman Design, they did change their mind and continued Linux support after speaking to the community and it was only for one of their titles. Additionally, MM from Transhuman Design is working on Soldat 2 which also supports Linux so I don't feel like they're deserving to be on anyone's naughty list.
Rooster May 12, 2020
I still say it is better to have Linux support and later drop it, than having no Linux support at all. But I guess that's just me.
GustyGhost May 14, 2020
Quoting: Liam DaweTo be fair to Transhuman Design, they did change their mind and continued Linux support after speaking to the community and it was only for one of their titles. Additionally, MM from Transhuman Design is working on Soldat 2 which also supports Linux so I don't feel like they're deserving to be on anyone's naughty list.

It took community push back to change their mind. "I'm sorry got caught" mentality. And regardless of whether support was reinstated, that does not change the fact that they sold a product to end users and subsequently took it away. I am probably safe in assuming that dropped support never involved automatic refunds to their victims. I feel like they deserve to be on a naughty list.

I was going to include a disclaimer involving my not knowing details of pitfalls they might have experienced internally, but then in dawned on me: when one receives a failed order at a restaurant, one does not care to hear the excuses that the chef dropped the meat or forgot such and such ingredients. As the customer, all you care is that the establishment dropped the ball and they need to own up to it. Either correct the order or waive the fee. Also today is my account birthday so I can post whatever I want, right?
oberjaeger Jun 10, 2020
Facepunch - As the name suggest
mos Jun 10, 2020
Stainless Games - the "authors" of carmageddon. The last installment (reincarnation) is crap anyway. However they not only defaulted on delivering a Linux version refusing to even talk about refunds, but went as far as (one of their devs) cheaply trolling Liam on soc media in response to his polite inquiries on the subject. Absolute bin.

Nightdive promising a Linux version of their port of Blood, then silently refusing to answer a single Q about why it went MIA. Like if it would hurt them.
Cyril Jun 10, 2020
Quoting: mosNightdive promising a Linux version of their port of Blood, then silently refusing to answer a single Q about why it went MIA. Like if it would hurt them.

This!
mos Jun 10, 2020
carma scumbags are way worse - obnoxious dickhe@ds who raised ppl's money just to then troll the backers (mac users as well). And I have a penchant for many things from the Albion! maybe this rubs the proverbial salt..

with blood there's no shortage of... red cells for Linux) This case is mostly about simply answering a Q. Stainless - borderline fraud.
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