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Perhaps we need to actually begin to helping people switch over (again!).  I used to do that, but I stopped.  Instead, I focused my hobby-time (and often my work focus!) on improving the Linux ecosystem itself, between submitting patches and bug reports to just getting more people to rely on it, and see how robust it is.  However... it may be time to try to build the base with outreach efforts, working with LUGs, etc.

It's been years since I worked any direct advocacy;  in the past decade I quit with the zealotry and convincing others to give Linux a try, mostly because it didn't work.  One of the reasons it didn't work was due to the available software, including games.  Now, we have a wide variety of great native apps, as well as popular & very functional web-based (or mobile) versions of most media consumption and productivity applications, and hundreds of games.

Responding to Mike Frett;  we are not only shouting loudly enough, but we are well known for over-representing, at this point.  Pay-what-you-want initiatives like Humble and crowd-funding have finally permitted that over-representation to turn us from an intense annoyance into a viable market to serve.  In fact, RuneSoft was the only dev I ever remember trying to use a crude version of crowd-sourcing (and achieved pretty good success at the time!).  To continue this, though, we need some steady increases in our userbase, something consistent that concurs with our claims of increased adoption due to increased availability (of worthwhile stuff).

I'll just continue down the "build it, and they will come" path that I'm pursuing with my game porting work because I'm not sure that I'm clued-into the social media generation enough to do direct advocacy effectively, but some of you are!  Do it!

L4Linux:  I agree, but Unigine is having a tough time gaining traction because of the primitive nature of their game development tools in contrast with the sophistication of their engine.  It is an amazing engine, better than UE4 in some ways, but multiple devs (not just motorsep from Kot-In-Action) have expressed how difficult it is to actually work with.  That is a shame, and I hope that the situation improves with Unigine being able to invest further in tools and developer-relations.  Also, despite what developers and representatives of Unity Technologies has stated publicly, their Linux port seems at best a grudging concession after porting to literally every other viable platform first.  

Humble has, I think, done the most, by far.  Valve would never have listened up, otherwise.  The porting crew at Humble have done so much publicly, with open-source engines, tools, and other goodies, that they have made it easier for all Linux devs to port and distribute games.  Heck, for the indies I'm working with, I'll be packaging up their Linux games using MojoSetup, by icculus himself!  Valve has taken it to the next level, with some of the most awesome and well-respected triple-A titles (their own, of course!), as well as growing the Steam ecosystem to bring on hundreds of cool titles.

A current Windows core-gamer may not find what they're looking for in Steam, by switching, and may feel cramped in that small-ish games library.  But a new gamer, starting fresh with Steam on Linux today... well, that kid is hundreds of hours deep in amazing indie and triple-A titles, across a dozen genres (or more!) before remotely becoming bored.  Further, this entire website is a testament to the fact that new amazing games are becoming available every day.  So, any of you folks out there with little sisters & brothers, daughters & sons, or nieces & nephews entering high-school... get to them early!  Help them love Linux like we do!  Help them appreciate quirky indie titles that can do & say things the larger devs can't get away with, in addition to the deep immersive triple-A experiences!  The next generation is now...

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We still have a lot of indies releasing outside of HIB and Steam, we also have Planetary Annihilation which will have a Linux version in a few weeks (Alpha keys just started rolling out) so we will finally have a big RTS game as well (it will be on Steam and outside Steam).

Desura is also quite a big player for anyone who isn't a fan of Steam which adds new titles almost every week, so I wouldn't worry too much.

What I worry about is developers who only release on Steam, that's annoying.

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Quoting: liamdaweAdded more and accepted. Remember though berarma only pictures in taglines now, videos for the main post please. :)

I knew something would go wrong in my very first submission. In my defense, the text in the taglines box said I should put an image or video IIRC. :)

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I wouldn't fear so much with Unity3d, Unigine and other game engines being multi-platform. Indie developers should continue making Linux versions even without Steam and Humble Bundle. But it is true that these are the 2 biggest driving forces of Linux gaming, along with Unity3d of course.

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Bit of a thought, I find it quite frightening that the Core of Linux gaming is hanging on whether or not the Humble Bundle and Steam will continue to push Linux. As it seems that those two big names are the ones people are most familiar with. If they quit pushing, it might send ripples of fear through Devs.

I wish Linux Gaming had a few more fronts to fight on. It's a large battlefield and while our army is small, we are very vocal. But are we shouting loud enough?.

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Thanks I have "subscribed" to Sabun on youtube whatever that does...so hopefully i can use some of his videos for articles.

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Quoting: reedLaughed so much when I watched Sevadus play this on his stream. Cool game, though I think I'd prefer watching more of it instead of playing myself.

Well, we do have our own resident Linux gaming Let's Player, here in the community!  His name is Sabun, and if you haven't checked out any of his longish LP's, you ought:  http://www.youtube.com/user/PenguinRecordings

Of course there's room in this world for all different styles of LP, but he's pretty well differentiated by his upbeat, positive energy, which contrasts the usually cynical, grumpy, and humorous personalities we are typically used to.  Don't get me wrong, I avidly watch (and have respect for) TotalBiscuit, Kikoskia, and Northernlion as well, but for some reason, Sabun's earnest enthusiasm best fits a Linux gaming LP, in my opinion.

I'm sure we could convince him to LP the game when it comes out :D

Though... a game like this makes it tough to stay positive!

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Added more and accepted. Remember though berarma only pictures in taglines now, videos for the main post please. :)

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Laughed so much when I watched Sevadus play this on his stream. Cool game, though I think I'd prefer watching more of it instead of playing myself.

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For once the additional games aren't mostly stuff I already had. :-)  I had OilRush, but not the DLC for it.

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Paradox has really invested in the Linux Platform. Would be nice to see one of the darling "commercial" indie game Mount and Blade also featured on the Linux portfolio.

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Quoting: StevieGCrap article, proof read and get your facts straight before you post. For example, what's a "Unity" pack?

Ya this guy is just an idiot.

I'd ban him with your ban hammer just for fun :P

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Quoting: xmirrorxCranky Liam? Anyhow... Didn't see any game play in the video or did I miss it? Going to have to look this up.

Cranky? Not at all :) in a good mood today ;)

Just find it funny that the article was apparently crap and I needed to check my facts over one tiny spelling error, people make me laugh.

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Cranky Liam? Anyhow... Didn't see any game play in the video or did I miss it? Going to have to look this up.

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Quoteia32-libs does not make sense on 32bit (i686) linux. i solved it however by downgrading curl. still, it'd be nice to have it statically linked

hi jose you downgraded curl to version??

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Quoting: StevieGCrap article, proof read and get your facts straight before you post. For example, what's a "Unity" pack?

Wow I spelt one word wrong, move along. Oh and thanks for visiting :)·

What facts have I got wrong exactly? The answer is none as all the information comes from the developers directly, boom!

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Crap article, proof read and get your facts straight before you post. For example, what's a "Unity" pack?

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I saw this game on a video posted on GiantBomb and I really want to play it on Linux!

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Thanks for the compliments, guys! ;)

Quoting: fedsoAbout Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet, it's a 2D graphical adventure but character are modeled and rendered in 3D, the developer uses Blender. Updates are actually very interesting and explain the graphical design of the game.

Wow, thanks for that! I literally have no time to check every project's updates, so I was still under the impression the game would feature cell-shaded 2D characters. This really makes it even more interesting to me. :)

Quoting: entropyThere is a new adventure project by Bill Tiller on Kickstarter:

A Vampyre Story: Year One

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/876324751/a-vampyre-story-year-one?ref=live

QuoteWill you make this game for Mac, or Linux as well as for PC?

Quote

QuoteYes, if we raise enough money. We estimate it will cost $40,000 to $50,000 to convert the PC version to Mac and Linux based on past experience. but we are upgrading our PC game engine and that may (hopefully) lower the cost of conversion substantially.

Bill Tiller previously worked on 'The Dig' and 'The Curse of Monkey Island' (both Lucas Arts).
I really love his art.

Thanks for the tip! I actually had spotted this one, contacted the developers and received their reply in which they said they were considering Linux support as a stretch goal, but never saw that FAQ entry where they sort of quantify the cost of doing it. It's going straight to the wiki then, and will most likely be one of next column's Biggies. ^_^

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Some really good finds there, excellent article as always munt.

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I can't run it on Ubuntu 12.04 and I have no desire to upgrade until the next LTS version comes out. Help!

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There is a new adventure project by Bill Tiller on Kickstarter:

A Vampyre Story: Year One


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/876324751/a-vampyre-story-year-one?ref=live

QuoteWill you make this game for Mac, or Linux as well as for PC?

Quote

QuoteYes, if we raise enough money. We estimate it will cost $40,000 to $50,000 to convert the PC version to Mac and Linux based on past experience. but we are upgrading our PC game engine and that may (hopefully) lower the cost of conversion substantially.

Bill Tiller previously worked on 'The Dig' and 'The Curse of Monkey Island' (both Lucas Arts).
I really love his art.

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Thank you muntdefems, another great article! :)
About Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet, it's a 2D graphical adventure but character are modeled and rendered in 3D, the developer uses Blender. Updates are actually very interesting and explain the graphical design of the game.

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TBT, would not say its a biggie but it sure if very very interesting, but it needs more exposure to reach its goal on indiegogo

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looks like eve online.

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Well spotted, typo fixed!

Regarding St. Chris I'm afraid you might be right, although they certainly stick to a point-and-click definition and neither the word "visual" nor "novel" is ever used in the entire page. After seeing some of the images I also feared it could include silly puzzles or even ($DEITY forbid) some hidden-object hunts, but I think we can safely rule out this possibility after this:

Quoting: St. Chris' developersNow, let's talk gaming. Right from the get-go, we want to promise you:
-- NO meaningless fetch quests!
-- NO pixel hunts!
-- NO juggling eight hundred inventory items and combining them until you hit upon that one perfect puzzle solution by sheer accident!
-- NO deadly boring "find the key for this locked door" puzzles!
-- NO mazes!

The downside is that these promises rule out some of the core elements of old-time adventure games as well, so I don't really know what to say... Well, I pledged the minimum amount so I'll be getting the game by December 2014 (what, really!?) and I'll be able to tell you by then. :P

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Hmm... as an inveterate point-n-clicker, after taking a look at The St. Christopher's School Lockdown, this one is really looking like it ventures more into visual-novel territory than what I would consider a classic adventure game, for what it's worth.

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Great coverage, as usual!  VEEERY interesting, regarding the Kingsport Cases, indeed.

Also, broken URL w.r.t. Kicking It Forward, at the end.

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very much resembles frozen synapse. with more action.

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thats really nice

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