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Latest Comments by Anza
What have you been playing recently and what's your pick this weekend?
28 June 2020 at 10:26 am UTC

I have been playing Train Valley 2 and Red Planet Farming.

For Train Valley 2, gameplay takes some time to get used to. It's kind of puzzle and resource management variant of a tycoon game. Might have to play some more to really get hang of it, but lets see if I get distracted with some other game before that happens.

Red Planet Farming is kind of simple but fun and also free. You basically have to get enough food while trying to get enough money for expanding. Challenge comes from providing all the necessities for the plants and also protecting them from hazards. So maybe not so simple after all...

The Steam Summer Sale 2020 is live with a Points Shop
26 June 2020 at 6:35 pm UTC

Quoting: GuppyIs there any way to get the recommderer https://store.steampowered.com/recommender/ to not display windows titles? I have steamos/linux only in my preferences already :s

AFAIK no and I don't know when it will be implemented if ever. Noninteractive version on the front page version seems to be still showing just Linux games at least for me. I don't know if it's coincidence or does that widget actually implement the OS filter.

The Steam Game Festival Summer Edition is over, here's our round-up
23 June 2020 at 7:17 pm UTC Likes: 1

I did roundup already earlier. I kind of tried to play all the available Linux demos, but fell little short. After the original post I played little bit of Vagrus - The Riven Realms , which seems to be kind of pen and paper RPG style thing, which makes it feel bit like visual novel. I tried also OFF GRID - Stealth Hacking, but controls were so horribly broken that I couldn't get past the menu.

Here's the original roundup:

Good
  • Sail Forth
    Pretty nice cute sailing simulator with little bit of FTL style area progression thrown in there
  • Midnight protocol
    Surprisingly fun hacking game. It expands bit on what could be a minigame in some other game and cyberpunk flavor works quite nicely.
  • Hadean tactics
    Very Slay the Spire inspired autobattler. Once I got over that and concentrated on just enjoying the game, game mechanics actually seem to work. I'm not sure if it's actually better than Slay the Spire though.
  • Ray's The Dead
    This one was bit of surprise. Beginning of the game felt like a generic beat'em up game, but there's a twist in the plot that makes it more tactical and more fun game.

Pretty good
  • Patrick's Parabox
    Unique twist on the puzzle genre. I got bit stuck, but I guess I should have another try.
  • The Long Gate
    Somewhat frustrating at first as it really doesn't instruct at all what the game wants you to do. Once you figure out what you actually need to do it gets actually bit fun. It takes bit of risk as puzzles are quite nerdy.
  • DRAG
    Quite challenging racing game. I had quite fun failing though, so basics are quite right.
  • HyperCore
    Pretty challenging bullet hell inspired rhythm game. I'm not sure if it would be still fun in longer sessions though
  • Deathbulge - Battle of the Bands
    Music themed game with quite clear JRPG influences. World is quite wacky and there's plenty of humor.
  • Protomancer
    Pretty interesting space base builder. Hopefully final game has enough content so it doesn't end up as another Spacebase DS-9
  • Nine Noir Lives
    Comedy point and click adventure with cats. Demo has just so much exposition that it gets slightly tiresome, even when it's funny at times. Developers hinted that they are going to change the pacing for the better, so final game might be even better (though you need to be bit of a cat person get all the jokes).

Dunno, maybe
  • Growbot
    Cute point and click adventure with bit more original backstory, demo is just so short that it's hard to say if it's good or not.
  • Fragment's Moonrise
    Seems to be old fashioned RTS, I'll have to play some more to figure out if it has still something surprising
  • ASYLUM
    Keeps crashing, hard to enjoy at the moment as it is
  • Port Valley
    Somewhat charming old fashioned adventure game. I got pretty stuck in it, so let's see if I have time to finish the demo on time
  • Monster Camp
    Maybe this one is better if you have played the first one. For me there was some funny moments, but everything seemed too random to feel like a game.
  • Mutropolis
    Interesting background story about future archaeologists. Characters could have been more intriguing if they had voice acting
  • Learning Factory
    Idea might be good, but demo was somewhat too simplistic. It's kind of Factorio inspired game with machine learning and cats.

Nope, not for me.
  • art of rally
    Almost had fun with this one. DRAG looks much better.
  • Beat Beat
    Some kind of rhythm game. I didn't get past tutorial. Maybe I'll should try to finish 140 and Bit Trip Runner instead.
  • ProtoCorgi
    Shmup with dogs. Maybe it was too hard or I just don't like corgis...
  • Tenderfoot Tactics.
    I couldn't get excited after losing training match. I didn't have any sound, which made the game even less fun.


Learning Factory is an automation sim where you learn what your cat wants
22 June 2020 at 5:46 pm UTC Likes: 2

Based on the demo it's bit simple compared to Factorio, though store page promises more complex machine learning scenarios.

Maybe it works even as gateway drug to Factorio :)

What have you been playing recently?
21 June 2020 at 7:07 pm UTC Likes: 4

I have played lot of demos:

Good
  • Sail Forth
    Pretty nice cute sailing simulator with little bit of FTL style area progression thrown in there
  • Midnight protocol
    Surprisingly fun hacking game. It expands bit on what could be a minigame in some other game and cyberpunk flavor works quite nicely.
  • Hadean tactics
    Very Slay the Spire inspired autobattler. Once I got over that and concentrated on just enjoying the game, game mechanics actually seem to work. I'm not sure if it's actually better than Slay the Spire though.
  • Ray's The Dead
    This one was bit of surprise. Beginning of the game felt like a generic beat'em up game, but there's a twist in the plot that makes it more tactical and more fun game.

Pretty good
  • Patrick's Parabox
    Unique twist on the puzzle genre. I got bit stuck, but I guess I should have another try.
  • The Long Gate
    Somewhat frustrating at first as it really doesn't instruct at all what the game wants you to do. Once you figure out what you actually need to do it gets actually bit fun. It takes bit of risk as puzzles are quite nerdy.
  • DRAG
    Quite challenging racing game. I had quite fun failing though, so basics are quite right.
  • HyperCore
    Pretty challenging bullet hell inspired rhythm game. I'm not sure if it would be still fun in longer sessions though
  • Deathbulge - Battle of the Bands
    Music themed game with quite clear JRPG influences. World is quite wacky and there's plenty of humor.
  • Protomancer
    Pretty interesting space base builder. Hopefully final game has enough content so it doesn't end up as another Spacebase DS-9
  • Nine Noir Lives
    Comedy point and click adventure with cats. Demo has just so much exposition that it gets slightly tiresome, even when it's funny at times. Developers hinted that they are going to change the pacing for the better, so final game might be even better (though you need to be bit of a cat person get all the jokes).

Dunno, maybe
  • Growbot
    Cute point and click adventure with bit more original backstory, demo is just so short that it's hard to say if it's good or not.
  • Fragment's Moonrise
    Seems to be old fashioned RTS, I'll have to play some more to figure out if it has still something surprising
  • ASYLUM
    Keeps crashing, hard to enjoy at the moment as it is
  • Port Valley
    Somewhat charming old fashioned adventure game. I got pretty stuck in it, so let's see if I have time to finish the demo on time
  • Monster Camp
    Maybe this one is better if you have played the first one. For me there was some funny moments, but everything seemed too random to feel like a game.
  • Mutropolis
    Interesting background story about future archaeologists. Characters could have been more intriguing if they had voice acting
  • Learning Factory
    Idea might be good, but demo was somewhat too simplistic. It's kind of Factorio inspired game with machine learning and cats.

Nope, not for me.
  • art of rally
    Almost had fun with this one. DRAG looks much better.
  • Beat Beat
    Some kind of rhythm game. I didn't get past tutorial. Maybe I'll should try to finish 140 and Bit Trip Runner instead.
  • ProtoCorgi
    Shmup with dogs. Maybe it was too hard or I just don't like corgis...
  • Tenderfoot Tactics.
    I couldn't get excited after losing training match. I didn't have any sound, which made the game even less fun.


Steam Game Festival - Summer Edition is live, lots of Linux demos
19 June 2020 at 8:02 pm UTC

Quoting: EikeAnybody having luck with Nine Noir Lives?

https://steamcommunity.com/app/914890/eventcomments/2246679252926496396/

I played the demo through. Audio was bit choppy, but otherwise it worked fine.

Maybe bit too dialogue heavy though. Demo is actually quite short if you skip all the dialogue.

Quoting: EikeGot two more:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/990900/Neon_Noodles__Cyberpunk_Kitchen_Automation/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/972660/Spiritfarer/

Not sure if they're new, but they've been on the festival page.

Neither one is new. Both could be worth a try and both have been mentioned here on GamingOnLinux several times. I personally liked Spriritfarer lot more than Neon Noodles. Neon Noodles went confusing pretty fast and I didn't finish the demo.

Struggling with regular expressions? Then visit 'Regex Crossword', a site to learn them through a Sudoku-like game
1 April 2020 at 6:26 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: tomaszgNice. Next step - regex golf! https://xkcd.com/1313/

This might have been inspiration for the comic: https://alf.nu/RegexGolf

Quoting: ArehandoroOh man, finally a -hopefully- way to learn better regex!

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: x_wing
Quoting: Purple Library GuyWeird. The definition sounds like a straightforward, fairly intuitive thing. What makes them so hard?

The infinity combinations you can get and that they aren't easy to read. IMO is one of the most powerful tool for text search but also a dangerous one (the day you create your RE it totally makes sense and it is hyper intuitive... six weeks later you want to cry).
I see. So the cautionary tale for young programmers is, if you aren't solid in your commenting and variable names, you'll be condemned to use this stuff.

I did some commenting in few regex I had to do at work the other day... and two days later when I revisit them it wouldn't work. Turned out with all the rush to leave the office I had confused some symbols and had messed it xD

The linked site, https://regex101.com/ is actually nice for situations like that. It parses the regular expression into components and explains what they do.

As for the crossword itself, it's actually doable and I completed almost all the official puzzles, only the hexagonal one is unfinished.

Steam Play Proton is correctly tracking Linux sales, a statement from Valve
20 February 2020 at 10:45 pm UTC

Quoting: scaine
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: BielFPsBut if I check, Steam will hide games which are not flagged as Linux compatible right? If not then I'll change in my profile ASAP


I have it checked and it shows me a lot of games that do not officially support Linux. I think the theory at this point is, with Proton, any game is a Linux game if you really believe.

It definitely affects queues and many elements of the primary store page, but there are lots of exceptions. The setting is ignored for big sales, for example, and mid-week madness. It's also ignored on all the steam labs stuff, like Deep Dive, which is pretty infuriating, as it renders those tools pretty useless for me.

Funnily enough, you mentioned Deep Dive as an example, which is the only one that honors the Linux store filter. Reason for that was that original implementation wasn't done by Valve and developer implemented Linux support just because people requested it.

However Diving Bell might pick non Linux game to the first set of selections, which is not actually bad thing as you can check if there are similar Linux games available.

The Humble Choice game bundle subscription has launched replacing Humble Monthly
7 December 2019 at 1:16 pm UTC

Quoting: Phlebiac
Quoting: bacattasteam keys ?

Yes, they still are (mostly) Steam keys. Sometimes there is also a DRM-free download also, and if the game isn't on Steam at all it's usually a DRM-free download (with occasional exceptions that are well noted, like Overwatch).


What I read that providing Steam keys is up to the developer. And developer has to request the keys from Valve and Valve has denied few requests.

Trove seems to be just DRM free downloads. So if you cancel your subscription, you can't download new copies, but in practice get to keep what you have already downloaded.

The Humble Choice game bundle subscription has launched replacing Humble Monthly
6 December 2019 at 9:53 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: bacattasteam keys ?

Linux support for the others ?

I checked Linux support on Steam and these have Linux support:

  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Horizon Chase Turbo
  • Desert Child


As for Proton, lot of silver, Dark Future: Blood Red States and Aegis Defenders don't have reports, Dead in Vinland is platinum.