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Latest Comments by g000h
Here’s a look at some good FPS games available on Linux & SteamOS
19 October 2017 at 2:51 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: KelsI'd love to see more articles like this, highlighting different types of games. They're just the ticket for helping convince people who are on the fence about switching to Linux due to the old "there aren't any games" myth.

While on that subject it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a searchable area, maybe part of GOL, or maybe a separate website, where lists of Linux games per genre, maybe with rankings information. So you could list the games in order of popularity.

Also, I would like access to a list of games on Steam, where it appears they don't have a Linux release (e.g. Hurtworld) but in fact they do have one (just not "supported" by the publisher).

Maybe a further searchable database of games which are expected to come to Linux, owing to publisher statements. On which note, I was just hunting around on the GOL site and can't find the GOL calendar of imminent game releases to Linux.

The open source recreation of Daggerfall hits an important milestone
19 October 2017 at 12:55 am UTC

Decided to download and try it out for myself. It worked easily enough. I was actually quite looking forward to trying this properly... BUT.... that mouse weapon control scheme is horrible. I would have a hard time bringing myself to play this unless they completely change the weapon control. UGHHH with all caps!

The Humble Down Under Bundle is a very good deal for Linux gamers
19 October 2017 at 12:12 am UTC

The IGN take-over hasn't affected my Humble purchasing. I picked up the BTA of this new Down Under Bundle. In fact I was very happy to see how many games were for Linux ("ALL" the games, although Hurtworld isn't advertised as supporting Linux) and also very pleased with the number of DRM Free Downloads in the bundle too. Had I been really keen on Armello, I might have got the full Bundle, but I wasn't that bothered about it and the Lowest tier + BTA tier is fantastic.

I haven't changed the default sliders in my purchase either. I guess my primary concern with IGN is whether the Linux titles in future bundles or store sales will suffer. As long as Humble continues to operate similar to how it does now, I'll be happy to keep on purchasing, same as I've been doing the last few years.

Here's a way to fix the broken water in ARK: Survival Evolved on Linux
15 October 2017 at 11:51 pm UTC

Just out of interest, does changing the file in the Windows version mess up the Windows version?

Take a look at some awesome Linux games on sale right now
13 October 2017 at 3:44 pm UTC Likes: 1

Not available when Liam wrote the article, but available today... Friday 13th :)

Kingdom: New Lands is at 75% discount on Bundlestars. Possibly the lowest I've ever seen it. Great game, already own it. The offer doesn't last long, if you decide to grab it.

Amazon Lumberyard game engine is no longer going to support Linux, not enough demand
13 October 2017 at 1:46 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: SLGamesStudioMost big engines claim support for Linux but lowball it. Last time I tried either Unity or Unreal on Linux they didn't really work and were full of bugs. There's always Godot though, which works flawlessly on Linux

Don't worry... Unity runs like s**t on all platforms. ;)

Amazon Lumberyard game engine is no longer going to support Linux, not enough demand
12 October 2017 at 10:19 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: gort818
Quotethere's much more demand for a MacOS editor

I wonder how they are gauging demand, who is demanding?

Game companies have staff who use Macs by preference. For instance, Server Engineers who like working on a slick Unix-like when they're setting up game back-end servers. Artists who favour using Photoshop on Mac. Producers who like pretty, stylish laptops that they can take into meetings. Macs are seen as luxury items with slick interfaces, and they're easy and pleasant to use too.

Also, if you are coding mobile games for iPhones or iPads - you're forced to use a Mac to create builds.

What have you been playing and what do you think?
12 October 2017 at 5:02 pm UTC

I feel like having a bit of a rant about "Rust" - the latest Early Access version which is available.

First, I'll say some good things...

For me, it has great graphics, it runs without crashing, it's pretty fun, I've put in over 80 hours of play.

But, they changed how it works. I spent ~ 40 hours playing on the previous version. Now I've been playing 40 hours on the new version.

The new version requires you to learn Blue-Prints for all but the most basic of items. Without studying a Blue-Print, you can't repair any of your damaged gear.

You need to do loads of "boring" grinding to gather "scrap" in order to unlock Blue-Prints. For instance the Hoodie Top - In order to learn to make or repair your own - You need to gather 250 Scrap, you need to build a Research table, research a Hoodie Top that you already own (losing it in the process), and also have Work Bench Level 1 and Work Bench Level 2 - before you're able to make one out of cloth.

The Hoodie Top is just an example item. You need to do similar for ALL the other items in the game. It can easily take 20 or more minutes of scavenging to collect up scrap and items (and then visit a recycler) for 250 scrap, which you then use up in research.

The barrels and boxes in the game which provide access to the many items in the game - Well, someone can be lucky and get just what they want (and then that can turn out to be a major advantage for the rest of the game) and others (like me) can just keep on going back to boxes and barrels again and again, and never find any decent items.

As it currently stands with the recent change, I don't think the balance is good. You get frustrated with the game. Scavenging is just too grindy. The knock-on effect is that your very few semi-decent items, you are worried about going into combat, because there's a good chance you'll lose them and then many hours of scavenging later, you might not have a replacement. In the current (40 hour+) game I haven't had a decent gun or C4 or Armored doors or Rocket launcher... you get the picture.

EDIT:

In the short time since I wrote this there has been a tiny bit of game re-balancing. I now have found 1x C4 and a couple of decent guns. But I'm not planning to wander around the map with them, they're still too precious / difficult to replace / easy to lose.

Meanwhile a little gang invaded the GOL Rust server, and have been going after people "as a gang". Initially I was a little irritated about this, but I actually had quite an exciting session as a result of them camping outside one of my bases (and blowing up walls trying to get to 'whatever' was inside). At one point I was lurking outside at night, gun at the ready, waiting to snipe at them when daylight returned. Well, I wasn't fancying my chances - 1 vs 3 or 4 - but if I remained hidden I might be able to take a couple of them out.

Then there was an air-drop and they decided to run off towards it. I took the opportunity to leg it carefully to the base, and repair all the broken walls (before they came back). Enjoy wasting the explosives again, suckers!

GOG are offering you a copy of Torchlight II if you own it from Steam or Runic directly
12 October 2017 at 4:41 pm UTC

My Steam account is correctly linked to my GOG account. I visited www.gog.com/connect/ and the two Steam Torchlights were available. I clicked and added them both to my GOG account.

Like someone else has already mentioned, I deliberately bought "Torchlight" from Humble store to get the LINUX DRM-Free download version that is hosted there. They don't like making it available because I believe it is buggy and they don't like dealing with Linux support calls. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

According to netmarketshare Linux hit 6.91% market share last month, higher than Mac
11 October 2017 at 6:38 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Linas
Quoting: g000h... Here are my figures ...
This is very interesting. If you would care to make it into an full blown article, I would love to see more.

Well, it requires 3 things...

- A lot of effort to go through the data (Either manual effort, or coding effort to scrape the data).

- Collecting the data for as many bundles as possible, noting that I do not personally purchase every Humble Bundle released each month.

- Good statistical and data science skills

The more bundles analysed, the better the quality of the results (More statistically significant, heh).

EDIT:

One more thing to note with this Humble Bundle method for examining Linux gamer market share - Unfortunately the data is relatively inaccurate due to rounding errors. It is one reason why you want to do the calculations on a larger number of bundles, so that the disparities average out.

The statistics give percentage Windows, Mac, Linux rounded to the nearest percent. So, the percentage in a particular bundle might be given as 3% (let's say), but the accurate value could be 2.51%, or 3.49% (assuming that they actually bother to perform correct mathematical rounding).

Of course, Humble themselves have this data in fully accurate form. Oh, to be a Humble Data Analyst / Scientist ;)

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