LinuxGameCast Weekly EP204 – The Witches 3

Steam cracks down on gambling! Double Fine brings the tentacles, PAYDAY 2 takes a day off, and System Shock pretends to care about Linux. Then Brigador faces the CHAIRQUISITION! All this, plus your hate mail.

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Steam News:

Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Typical Steam
http ://store .steampowered .com /news /22883/

Poor VALVe, they had no idea this was going on until last week.
Don’t you know that the EULA is a binding agreement, held together by spells, demons and blood magic?
Seriously, has VALVe ever proactively un-fkd something before it became a PR nightmare?
- Why would they? Their audience is essentially captive, so very few consumer driven initiatives can push them the the right direction.
- Only the threat of proper expensive legal action can make GabeN’s nipples stand at attention
- They don’t even do it when it’s something which affects them internally, until people actually go public.
- It’s not like they’d be proactive in fixing something which stemmed from a public API.

Double down
https ://blog .twitch .tv /twitch –and –third –party –terms –of –service –and –user –agreements –b 9827599 e 0 fc #.hnnfdhc 3 u

Oh now it’s an issue.
Asses are being covered. Surprised it took them that long
And Twitch takes a page from VALVe’s book… seems fair after VALVe attempting to create a broadcasting system of their own (and never bringing it to Linux).

Shock through the heart
https ://www .kickstarter .com /projects /1598858095/system –shock /posts /1629008

Made with Unity personal edition.
And QAd on 12.04.
1.1M stretch 12 days left only at 1M
Right.
They didn’t release this because they lub teh Linux users.
Nay, this was done since pledges have tapered off and they want an influx of tux bux.
Oh, the Linux community will have a go with your demo but we’re not backing this.
If you gave one proper damn about Linux it would not have been a stretch goal AND you would have had a day-1 demo.
And don’t start with this b-b-b-b-ut #excuse BS because i’ve seen countless other Kickstarters with far smaller goals FKN deliver.
Transparent cash grab is transparent.
That said, the demo looks quite nice but there is no way they can make a full game at that level for 1M.
Also, our shitty middleware requires you to compile your fucking libraries instead of shipping them with the demo. Oh wait, what? You didn’t do any research to tell people to just yum/apt/pkg install it?
- You don’t really need it in 2016.
Oh, it definitely makes with the pretty, but I agree with Venn. This is some pretty heavy pandering to the linux crowd. As much as I’d like to see the full game completed (although like venn said, not for that budget), I can’t recommend giving them the cash for this bullshite
The campaign launched without a Linux demo and the dingleberry on top is the fact Linux is a fuck mothering stretch goal!
Do not give these people any money until they have officially released the Linux version.
It’s that simple.

Tentacles
http ://store .steampowered .com /app /388210

It took four months but the lot a DF delivered.
Two file game, four if you include the lib folder.
- I’m honestly surprised it isn’t just ScummVM with an updated visuals pack
And no one was shocked. And the people rejoiced.
Dunno why you’d do it but if you want to, it works great with the Mistress on the Steam Box.

PAYDOWN
http ://steamcommunity .com /app /218620/discussions /22/366298942102798604/?ctp =2

Can confirm, the hard nope is real.
It’s not like it’s only borked on one distro.
“Thank you for reporting it probably a small oversight and should be fixed soon”
- TIL pushing out an update without ANY QA is considered a small oversight.
  - We’ve all seen much worse.
Aaaaand they fixed it… 24+ hours later.

Steamy mechs
http ://forums .heavygear .com /discussion /1242/changelist –july -8-2016/p 1

WHAR Hawken!11!
- Surprisingly not dead yet: http ://steamcharts .com /app /271290
- Considering it’s F2P/P2W, woof.
Looking at the YT videos this seems more like EXO suits vs mechs.
- I don’t know if we saw the same video, but the one I watched was boring as fuck.
  - I didn’t say they were exciting.
“Our Java based backend technology now uses…”
- The Unreal Engine 4 is versatile, no questions asked. Why are you still using a “Java based backend” for a game which is still in development in 2016?

Infinium Strike
http ://store .steampowered .com /app /374050/?snr =1_7_7_230_150_1

Requires three Linux distributions.
I think they sent us A (singular) key when the game released, even though I specifically asked for 3.
But the Linux version only came out on the 14th.
Arcade style tower defenzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You missed DLC
https ://store .feralinteractive .com /en /mac –linux –games /xcom 2/#xcom 2 dlc 3

Hm, they released it for Linux before Mac.
- F1 and GIRD Autosquirt had no mac love. Not atypical of feral
Feral, are you feeling alright?
- In all fairness Linux gaming has more of a future than MAC gaming.
  - They just need to get that port reliability dealie down.

Painting DLC
http ://www .otakugamers .uk /2016/07/11/layers –fear –dlc –inbound /

More walking!
At this point, for a more rewarding experience, go play Pokemon Go.

News:

367.35
http ://www .geforce .com /drivers /results /105343

Compatible cards will now be capable of decoding 8K H265 Streams. Pretty nifty
Other than that, there are some bug and regression fixes, and the ability to query clock values
Can’t handle my multi-monitor setup though. The 2160×1920 screen doesn’t come up
- Resetting it fixed it
It also doesn’t seem to handle the Force Compositing Pipeline metamode.
It causes a black screen on boot.
It had certainly been awhile since NVidia had cocked up a driver release.

The WB
https ://www .ftc .gov /news –events /press –releases /2016/07/warner
http ://www .theverge .com /2016/7/12/12157310/pewdiepie –youtubers

WB I am frankly disgusted that you didn’t offer us some wet-stinky cash for a positive review.
- Seriously WB. Don’t you at least have the moral fortitude to get in contact with us? Just a little you guys?

Here to stay
https ://techcrunch .com /2016/07/13/unity –announces -181-million –monster –round –led –by –dfj –growth /

The Unity Ghetto isn’t going away any time soon.
- The Unity Ghetto will continue until MIT Scratch becomes a fast enough programming language to actually be able to make games.
- FSM Help us
Maybe with Na’Tosha Bard having managed to integrate SDL2 into it it won’t be as big a bane on Controllers and shit mouse sensitivity as it has been to this point.
$181M is more than enough to make a decent Input Manager.

Humble Get It For SG Bundle
https ://www .humblebundle .com /revelmode –bundle

Got excited for a moment when I saw Rocket League.
- Yeah, but then I moused over the thing.
It’s not a Humble INDIE Bundle, kids.
If you want to pay the full $15, make sure Psyonix gets 0 of your wet stinkies in the sliders.
While you’re at it, push the sliders for the other games which don’t support Linux down to 0 too.
Man, I really wish the nidhogg guys would get around to porting that shit to linux. It can’t be that complicated. Plus it looks super fun as a Vs game

LLAN64
http ://www .libretro .com /index .php /first –ever –revolutionary –n 64-vulkan

One of the big issues with N64 emulation is the overhead of emulating the GPU in software. Vulkan presents an interesting solution to the problem by providing a better pipeline to the actual GPU
Still early work, but with this and Dolphin, it looks like most of the big emulators are taking drinking the Spock-aid

Pandum
http ://pandum .net /home /index .html #

Venn’s favourite! Java!
Looks and controls leave something to be desired. I think I only saw one other player on.

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies

Game: Brigador
Webzone: http ://store .steampowered .com /app /274500/
Devel: Stellar Jockeys / Gausswerks
Engine: In-house custom, C++-based
Price: €17.99 / US$19.99 / CDN$21.99

Wazzat: Brigador is an isometric mech action game full of intense, tactical combat. Fight your way through the streets of Solo Nobre in a 21 mission story campaign as well as a free play mode with endless variety.

Mandatory Disclosure: Devs sent us keys

Makes with the working

V-

J-

P-

Total-

Shiny / Sounds

V-

Remember games from the 90’s?
The ones with bitching splash screen and in-game graphics that have fk and all to do with it?
Colour palette consists of brown.

J-

It doesn’t actually look too bad. The explodey bits are pretty satisfying
Soundtrack got noped really quickly’

P-

The only bit of “voice acting” I heard was the garbly Text-to-Speech voice.
Isometric camera view and nothing else.
Slightly less pixely than usual but still very much retro hipster.
I am not impressed.

Total-

Control

V-

One of two things are said when first playing the game
- 1. Nope, FK this.
- 2. What!?
Crotch mounted turning light.

J-

Literally Controls like a butt
Also, don’t try to play it with a controller. You will fail.

P-

For all my usual spiels about mechanics being the most important bit of a video game, mechanics are only as good as the way the player interfaces with them.
And that interfacing relies almost exclusively on how a game controls. Mouse & keyboard, game controller, and so on.
In this game, the controls are completely batty nuggets.
Who did they have on as testers that didn’t flip them off the moment they sat down with this?
If I want to make the Mechwarrior style mechs at least manageable I have to keep holding down E and even then, I can’t use the left and right inputs to strafe in those directions.
Why wasn’t this a toggle?
- When you had it enabled it would steer with the mouse, like any sane game of this genre would.
- And when you had it disabled it would do the double orientation thing.
Having the latter as default and not giving people an option to switch in most mechs is completely asinine.
I played an hour of this game and I couldn’t physically force myself to play any more because of the controls, but more on that later.
I can’t give it 1 chair, since it at least lets me play it with the Mistress if I set it to keyboard and mouse mode.

Total-

FUN

V-

Isometric WASD shooter disguised as a MECH game.

J-

Honestly, I’d be tempted to give this a two or three chairs for this category, if the controls didn’t suck so much ass
Seriously. Controls are one of the few parts of the game that you have to get at least passably right. And you didn’t
You had a neat concept, some cool gameplay, none of which I can engage with whilst fighting the rock stupid control scheme.
Nice try guys, but no cigar

P-

Sit down kids, Pedro’s Gaming History lesson is on!
In 1998, imo the best year in videogaming history, Future Cop L.A.P.D. came out.
That game was awesome! Admittedly, I was only 12 at the time, so I may have a pretty thick pair of nostalgia glasses going for it.
When I saw Brigador come out on Steam, I thought “Hey! Hipster pixel LAPD! I want some of that.”
So I shot Stellar Jockeys an email asking for keys and the moment I got them I went in all hyped up.
My thoughts at the time were something like “Oh! It’s a fixed isometric camera… “ “Why am I moving left when I press forward?” “Did I miss a toggle to set movement relative to the mouse? No… It’s just stupid by design.” “I can’t be the only one who thinks this is stupid, lemme check the Steam forums.” “Oh, okay! The devs are attempting to justify this decision.”
How skewed a vision do you have to have, to think this is not only a decent control scheme for a game but to actively defend it when people start complaining about it?
A game lives or dies, again in my opinion, based on its mechanics.
But I can’t even get a grasp on the mechanics you have in play when I’m actively fighting the controls.
It feels wrong to play this game.

Total-

Final –

Hate Mail:

FORCED
http ://linuxgamecast .com /bradley /?Cx 4 f 4 my

That’s just it. That didn’t work.
On my end, it would still recognize the Mistress as a controller not matter if I used the default mouse & keyboard layout or my own custom one for left-handed goodness.

FDBH
http ://linuxgamecast .com /bradley /?64 TyVdW