Quoting: chepatiIf memory serves me, I have backed 13 projects, of which 7 have delivered. Some of them with considerable delays (a year to two years).

In case of memory troubles, this link can help! :D

Quoting: chepatiSo I have a return-on-investment of more than 50% which is not too bad.

A good success rate indeed! (Not a pun) I personally expect somewhere near this number (I'm currently on 14/29, some projects still ongoing).

Quoting: chepatiHaving said that, I *always* support any project by King Art Games, if they promise a linux port, which they so far have always done. Not only do they always, and I mean ALWAYS, stick to their promises, but they always, and I stress ALWAYS, deliver on time. Must have something to do with the well-known German work ethics. I take their word at face value and they have never disappointed me.

There are a few proven developers, yes. But "KING Art Games" is an exception even among them. Currently, it is the only company to deliver on time. The exact same day as was promised!

Quoting: chepatiSo, yes, while kickstarter projects are a risky proposition, we should not shun the platform outright. There are some good, responsible developers, who get the freedom to experiment with new ideas without the pressure of having to get approved by publishers, who are by nature risk-averse and prefer sequels of successful franchises to interesting, but perhaps not so marketable ideas.

I wish more people could understand this... Kickstarter is not pre-order system. One should not go there if (s)he is not willing to part with the money for (potentially) nothing at all.

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Quoting: EikeI wonder if we talk about the same thing, then. Bank transfer ("Überweisung" in German) can be made from any computer, there are very safe methods to do so, and as far as I know I'm able to transfer money to any account.

Probably, not. On-line bank transfers are not a problem. What I have in mind is a very old sub-set of wired transfers, but it can be used without being a client of a bank at all (with only credentials of a recipient). Something like "Western Union", only slow, costly and uncomfortable.

Quoting: GempalmThey like not having to recognize the legal principle of first sale. They like selling the same game over and over to each player, with no secondary market.

Because they are not "selling" games. They are licensing them to end-users. That's why it is called End-User License Agreement and everyone "buying" a game should read that and not just clicking through the whole installation process. Thus, even sharing (or even allowing to play to a friend who just dropped at your house) is illegal. So re-selling is a big NO-NO! Steam (AFAIK) has the right to ban an account it Valve finds out you it was re-sold to someone other than original owner.

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Quoting: niarbehtHoly crap, you guys are getting shafted on banks.

Not so much lately. Even Sberbank implemented electronic queue and air-post system (tubes for fast document transport) and added couches to the room. And there are lots of options to get free (without upkeep) debit card (basically a credit card with zero overdraft) for anyone with a passport. So, wired transfers are something from the past.

Quoting: niarbehtThen again, have any of yours caused any financial collapses in recent memory? :P

Among the banks I used? No. But banks are exploding almost constantly. The prime reason is that there are a lot of precarious banks that were founded only for "money laundry" purposes. Apparently, it is insanely simple to open a bank here, every semi-big firm wants to own a bank just for salary distribution purpose. Some banks are virtual (without physical branches), so called "internet-banks". There are thousands of them!

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Quoting: M@GOid...I find funny when people say Unity was a disaster, when the students in my lab never showed problems using it. Very easy to learn DE if you ask me.

Unity was a disaster. But Gnome 3 was a disaster also! Even though I'm sitting on Fedora, I never used Gnome (apart some time at first, just to taste both "Gnome 2" and "KDE 3" and fall to the later). But I know, variety is a strong point of Linux. Come to think of it... in that sense, Mir vs. Wayland was also profitable in some way. It helped to chose the fittest, like in the evolution process. And now the weak shall become food for the strong!

Quoting: M@GOidWith that said, I bet Cannonical will put a makeup in Gnome 3 to make it look like Unity. If not, they will loose more users than they already have.

What? They will go to negative values?

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Quoting: EikeWow! Which country is this?

We used to have free bank accounts and free transfers (using forms way back in time), nowadays with low interest rates I pay I think 2 € per month and can have as many transfers as I want. I do them at my own computer. Really convenient and safe.

Russia. And the bank in question is Sberbank™. The bank so huge due to its Soviet Union inherited branch tree (where in most of the small towns it is the sole bank) that for the 20 years after collapse it simply refused to change and adapt, instead flushing through itself insane stream of pension and grave-money from the elderly. The year is 2009 (or so), yet in order to get your money you have to stand (literally!) a queue of 15 people in a small stuffy room, then stand near operator while ancient (yet cost-efficient!) dot-matrix printer fills your income-outcome ribbon. Classic!

And the game was pre-order (my first and only) for "OilRush" from Unigine. Apparently this whole deal with pre-orders were new to them also (and there were no native banking at the time) so they had chosen "ABN AMRO Amsterdam" as their bank. For a 600₽ base price I parted with 1040₽ that day. Nice interest, Sberbank, very nice!

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Long Live Wayland! Finally!

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If there is something worse than Steam™, than it is Steam-Key-ResellersⓒⓇ™, basically, parasites on the Steam itself. The fewer of them remain the better.

Quoting: EikeI'm just not owning a credit card, I'm paying cash or via bank transfer. (Had to make an exception for Feral, using my wife's card.) I wonder if this would be possible in other countries, though. Germany seems to be more cash-friendly than others.

Used this method exactly once (so called "wired transfer" via "SWIFT" inter-bank relay system). Man, was it atrocious! On top of 40% commission I had to fill in a lot of papers in English, in the bank where the majority of the employees did not know English and (on top of that) was not trained in SWIFT transactions (they were just pointing towards each other). It took 2 hours and required a trip to adjacent town (in the so called "Main Office", which turned out just an ordinary office but with slightly more experienced workers). Never again!

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Very high chance I will back it on the Kickstarter...

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Quoting: LeopardProbably cutting deal with Codemasters for F1 2015 was cheaper than porting already good seller game.They simply tried to get maximum earning for porting that to Linux,because licence price would differ to targeted platforms. That was an experiment which failed; nothing more.They knew at the start that game won't sell good enough but yet they give it a shot.

LOLwut?! So, in other words, they picked the weak product to port (and not the strong one) because they hoped to feed it to Linux gamers based on the assumption we are experiencing deficiency of car simulators and ignorant about the superior product, thus will "eat what has been served" no matter the quality?

VERY! SHREWD! MOVE!

Quoting: LeopardThey're porting F1 2016 to only Mac because game has good reviews and with a game generally satisfies people you can sell more and Mac user base is bigger than Linux.

Edit:Yep,you can see that is proving my point.

https://twitter.com/feralgames/status/848881198696996869

Actually, not. It does not prove the point. It is known problem that a lot of Macs are quite weak hardware-wise and Feral bets heavily on Metal in hopes it will help them widen the reach on Apple products. This does not relate directly with "good reviews" and general satisfaction. But, I say this again, this is a gamble on Feral's part: even on the twitter some ask what about older Macs without Metal support.

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Quoting: JanYes. But if you buy a Steam key from Feral it counts as a Linux/Mac sale and they might even get a little bit more money for their efforts.

As long as they will provide only DRM-ed ports their efforts are meaningless to me, sorry.

Quoting: JanThere was no DRM, just a simple CD-check.

That is called DRM in my book. I'm fed up with StarForce and SecuROM "copy protection" technologies.

Quoting: JanNo porting company (except Aspyr's Bloober Team games) offers DRM-free titles on GOG or similar sites.

Their loss.

Quoting: JanThey have never been seriously interested in games.

No, sir! Be it that way they had not invented Metal API targeted directly against Vulkan ("Mantle" back at the day) and "Direct3D 12". Apple is clearly trying to dominate gaming market (mobile gaming market, specifically) by deliberately excluding "OpenGL ES" and placing developers in the "either/or" situation.

Quoting: Jan...I don't think Apple cares too much about Vulkan.

Cares? No! Is afraid of? Most probably, yes.

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