Quoting: PublicNuisanceI forgot to ask before, what Linux games have you made ?

My Linux games are at https://nooskewl.itch.io. All simple RPGs. I'm working on a new one now.

I do think they matter, and as a fellow gamedev (although im more a hobbyist) I think we have power to try to make Linux native builds more of a thing.

Whatever makes it easy to people enjoy my games, I always build for the big three: Win, Mac, Linux.

Quoting: goob256My Linux games are at https://nooskewl.itch.io. All simple RPGs. I'm working on a new one now.

I remember looking at these. You had the source code on github for a while. I still have monster rpg 2 source code on my machine although I haven't had the time to try it.

For new games, you should add achievements. Gamerzilla is my open source game achievement system.

Of course they are. Usually the "works better in proton" argument only holds for games that were ported as an afterthought and are not updated alongside with other versions of the game.

I definitely prefer native games as the proton / wine stuff lacks compatibility. If if it's gold or platin on protonDB I often have to fiddle with the stuff and find the right proton version. And even then it's not assured that a full playthrough works. So it's always with a bit of insecurity.
OK, a couple of windows-only games also break after updates on Windows and can't be played on newer versions anymore. But I rarely see that for native Linux games. The Linux developers often keep lots of compatibility versions for older essential libraries, so in most cases chances are very high you can have fun with your games/apps for a long time even if they're not actively maintained (my experience).

And I don't pay full price for Windows only games (OK, maybe if it's only a single euro or less), I only buy them when they're on a good sale and have a very positive protonDB rating. Especially if there was a native Linux version announced before (hello Slightly Mad Studios), then they have to be on a huge sale.

Quoting: peta77OK, a couple of windows-only games also break after updates on Windows and can't be played on newer versions anymore. But I rarely see that for native Linux games. The Linux developers often keep lots of compatibility versions for older essential libraries, so in most cases chances are very high you can have fun with your games/apps for a long time even if they're not actively maintained (my experience

I totally agree that native games are playable longer. My oldest native game is from 2001 (Neverwinter Nights), and I was able to get it to run several years ago (took a little work). Impossible for windows.

I think one thing WINE does well is it allows very old games to be played that there is no hope of support, like games from the late 90s era, WIN95/98. Something not possible in Windows by my understanding, no? And maybe even a stretch for Linux native titles (few as they were) from that era.

I just realized I might be making argument against native, which wasn't my starting intention. But I think WINE is due some consideration. I can play games via WINE long after Windows, and eventually Linux, have deprecated support.

Quoting: denyasisI totally agree that native games are playable longer. My oldest native game is from 2001 (Neverwinter Nights), and I was able to get it to run several years ago (took a little work). Impossible for windows.

I think one thing WINE does well is it allows very old games to be played that there is no hope of support, like games from the late 90s era, WIN95/98. Something not possible in Windows by my understanding, no? And maybe even a stretch for Linux native titles (few as they were) from that era.

I just realized I might be making argument against native, which wasn't my starting intention. But I think WINE is due some consideration. I can play games via WINE long after Windows, and eventually Linux, have deprecated support.

That is not at all untrue. Windows will run old software better than Linux but Wine and DOSBox are great. I have a native game that is still running that was built in 2007 on Linux though so it's not terrible. It had one bug that the icon didn't appear on Ubuntu so I fixed it and recompiled it this year.

Last edited by goob256 on 13 August 2021 at 6:33 am UTC

Personally I prefer native Linux games as long as it's in a genre I enjoy and offers high quality. I will play Windows only games as long as I can get them to work with one of the Proton versions that ships with the Linux Steam client. I used to try to get them working with Wine but these days I don't feel like trying to manually tweak Wine settings.

So in summary, I prefer:
1: Linux Native
2: Windows games that work with Steam provided Proton settings

My collection is small but I prefer buying DRM FREE Linux native games. I don't pick up Windows games at all. I've open myself up to picking up CLOUD BASED games but only if they are ONLINE MP ONLY. So far I've not pull the trigger on SP or Local MP games.

Quoting: goob256That is not at all untrue. Windows will run old software better than Linux but Wine and DOSBox are great.

Really? I had always thought the opposite. I thought there were some hard lines set when Windows 7 and Windows 10 came out that made it hard or impossible for some older games to work. Granted most of my deep windows experience ended with XP, so I can only go on what I read online...

Now that I think about it, that doesn't make sense. Windows tries to maintain backwards compatibility for a lot of stuff and I have business software I use at work on a Window 7/10 machine that is at least 20 years old (probably closer to 25)

Weird, I mentally separated Windows games and Windows business software as if they were two different things, but they aren't, at least in the eyes of the OS, lol.