LinuxGameCast Weekly 273: I’m Night Partner!

SteamOS catches up with Debian 8.9, Hitman goes GOLD, Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE comes to Linux and Interstate ’76 engine reimplementation goodness. Then Heliborne faces the ChairQAsition! All this, plus your hate mail!

Special tanks:
Yishan (new patreon)
mlangston (new patreon)

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Steam News:

Brewmaster now with less KRACK
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/1483235412201331621/

Beta links
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/1456213434738131018

  • Precompiled Vulkan shaders.
  • One measly Linux fix and it’s possibly the least disruptive issue that they fixed.
  • They really have stopped giving a shit.
  • You can now steam-controllify your arcade sticks. But whar DDR pads!
  • Thirdparty xbox controllers can now work with steam-input too
  • One feature I’d really like to see is the steam input configurator available from the overlay when not in big picture mode. Would be handy when you’re fine tuning your configs

Alien Steam
http://store.steampowered.com/app/629540/Alien_Arena_Warriors_Of_Mars/

  • I don’t really feel like paying any money for another quake 3 engine based, first person arena shooter.
  • That said, this one does look good.
  • What exactly are we getting for $9.99 vs the free version?

Hitman GOLD|
http://store.steampowered.com/app/236870/HITMAN/

  • Ya know, I understand why people who picked up the “FULL EXPERIENCE” are a bit miffed.
  • Still runs like poo.
  • Not necessarily a lot of value add if you already own Hitman

Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE
http://store.steampowered.com/app/567670/Serious_Sam_3_VR_BFE/

  • “basically the same game but the devs just ticked a magical checkbox for VR”
    • Lulz
  • Will work with players on Fusion. So I want to see empty in this mode one thursday
    • With a camera on him in meatspace
  • Added dual wielding and teleportation. I’m honestly not sure how this’ll affect game balance

Manos 2
http://store.steampowered.com/app/456670/Hand_of_Fate_2/?newsId=34382

  • They’ve added a bunch more mission types, more cards and supposedly tightened up the combat system
    • Monotonous combat was our number one complaint with the first one so hopefully they stepped up their (Card) game
    • The combat looks better and that’s the only thing about the game the interests me so might be worth a look.
  • Since we’re not getting Batman anytime soon, you’re stuck with this and Hodor if you want that style of beat’em up
  • Beating the first one was a bitch and afterwards the game told me I could now play infinity mode, without any restrictions on the cards.
  • I really liked everything outside of the combat on the first game, so improving combat is probably gonna put this one up as a contender for game of the year.

Helidate
http://steamcommunity.com/games/433530/announcements/detail/1443828535192002007

  • You can now turn without slowing down… as much.
  • Minor network improvements
  • Stick around for the chairs and we’ll let you know more

LSI 0.6 & Runtime Snaps
https://github.com/solus-project/linux-steam-integration/releases/tag/v0.6
https://github.com/solus-project/runtime-snaps/blob/master/README.md
https://plus.google.com/collection/cfqHX

  • The one really cool feature I like in this release is being able to swap out SSL libraries for LibreSSL and use a nonvendored Libcurl
    • I need mah FIPS, but the ancient version of openSSL that a lot of games are using for no reason these days does need to be taken out back and shot. This is a reasonable alternative
  • It also writes settings on close. Which could trip some people up
  • They also include the snap with the runtime, client and the LSI.
  • Which aims to fix all the library cock ups which have slowly crept up with games not working, the open sauce driver issues and some of client functionality issues.
  • If that snap becomes officially supported, it’ll get rid of most issues with getting Steam to run outside of Ubuntu.

News:

Pay $10 or more for Skylines Bundle
https://www.humblebundle.com/strategy-sim-bundle

  • Plague inc isn’t terrible, but this seems like a whole whack of shovelware
  • Nothing in there I really want and $10 is more than want for a simulation game.
  • This is a safe one to pass up, in my opinion.

Why bundle, why?
http://gonewiththewin.com/why-humble-bundle-sold-out-itself-and-over-100-million-customers/

  • The advertising data thing is something I never really considered, but it does make a degree of sense
  • Basically, use purchase and browsing history to target better adds at unsuspecting customers.
  • The moral of the story here is don’t read IGN. I mean, y’all are already doing that, but shut up

Godot Reality (foxy)
https://godotengine.org/article/godot-3-vr-and-ar-support

  • Alpha 2 release is the ARVR Server architecture that makes VR and AR possible in Godot.
  • OpenVR is now supported in Godot through a GDNative module
  • It is unlikely for AR to be added to the official 3.0 release at this time.

Still Shocking Along
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/2036871

  • So they produced that demo last year in unity and then ditched the work they did
  • Now they’re working on a “Vertical slice” in UE4
  • Q: When is the release date?
    • Over under of 5 years?
  • At least they are (for now) keeping Linux support.
  • In theory, the idea of a modern System Shock sounds appealing to me.
  • Then I take a step back and look at all the modern re-releases of games that have come out and I’m not too thrilled anymore.
  • “Remember that Demo we used to sell you this pitch? Yeah, fuck that thing!”

Open76
https://github.com/r1sc/Open76

  • Apparently the original game used the mechwarrior 2 engine. I’d like to see this turn into a proper engine port o’ that!
    • Probably unlikely as there’s a significant delta between the original engine and the one used in this game. But a girl can dream
  • I’m one of those people who much prefered ‘82.

Couples game
https://github.com/Couple-quest/Couple-quest

  • I smell aftershow bait!
    • Or maybe it’s something else…

PiSwitch (steveO)
https://hackaday.com/2017/10/20/diy-nintendo-switch-may-be-better-than-real-thing/

  • Lets’ be fair here, this is more of a wii-u than a switch. YOu can’t separate the controller sides from the unit
  • The switch also has some beefier hardware
  • That said, this is a really cool DIY project. I like the goal of adding all sorts of crazy button chord combinations to do stuff
  • Still a better love story than the Schmuck-Zero
  • Bonus soda: it’ll play more games than the Switch does, right now.
  • It just needs some shoddy, ant sized bluetooth controllers and done!

CHAIRQUISITION:
CHAIR– Nooope

CHAIRCHAIR– Not sure if want

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Check it out

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Shutupandtakemymonies


Game: Heliborne
Webzone: Jetcat Games
Devel: http://store.steampowered.com/app/433530/Heliborne/
Engine: Unity
Price: £15.49 / US$ 19.99 / CA$ 22.79

Wazzat: Get behind the cockpits of the best helicopters in the world – from the classic machines of the 1950s to the modern gunships of the 21st century. Play missions with your friends and compete with players from all around the world in various multiplayer modes!

Mandatory Disclosure: The devs sent us keys.


Makes with the working

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • I’m assuming you could, in fact, run this on a calculator or low end mobile device.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Unity bloop of noop
  • Holy shader compile times batman!

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Shiny / Sounds

V-CHAIRCHAIR

  • Yeah, the choppa models look fine but that’s about it.
  • The terrain is bog standard.
  • There is an attempt at having a fitting background track but it gets old with a quickness.

J-CHAIRCHAIR

  • Thupathupathupathupa
  • Mute the sounds and put on either “you spin me right round” or hatredcopter. Cuz you’re gonna get bored of the guitar noodleing fast
  • Visually this game is pretty meh
  • Da choppas definitely look like their historical counterparts, but you’re not doing anything fantastic in the looks department

P-CHAIRCHAIR

  • Even at the highest settings, the pop in is very much still there
  • The soldier animations when you land to drop some off or pick some up, look so bad!
  • The sounds are rather meh, too.
  • It works, but aesthetically speaking it’s nothing to write home about.

Total-CHAIRCHAIR


Control

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Standard WASD + gerbil nothing to complain about.
  • Using (or attempting to) the Areola conrolla is a fkn nightmare.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Do not play this witha controller. No sir. You’ll have a good time
  • Gotta manage tilt, pitch and yaw like a regular ass helicopter
  • Game doesn’t care where your rotors are.

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • In simple control mode, the mouse and keyboard do actually let you control the game reasonably well.
  • It takes a little getting used to but it is just a little.
  • After a few minutes you’re already feeling like you’re actually in control, even you still end up crashing to the side of a mountain on occasion.

TotalCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


FUN

V-CHAIR

  • The friggin UX lost this game a full Chair.
  • Online multiplayer it wicked-dead.
  • Single player exists but contains absolutely no joy.

J-CHAIR

  • I would chock this game in the simulator category
  • I’m sure amateur drone pilots and people into RC helicopters would absolutely get a kick out of this game
  • It does nothing for me though
  • The gameplay boils down to the capture and hold mode of windward, with more awkward controls and Russians
  • I’m sure all the various sorts of helicopters are cool for the enthusiasts, but again, does nothing for me

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • I didn’t hate it!
  • On Thursday, Jordan mentioned the similarity with Windward in the sense you’re going from one spot to the other doing some less than exciting stuff, while at the same time having to do some combat.
  • I’d say Heliborne is the opposite of Windward in this sense, because in Windward both combat and transportation bits were equally important.
  • Here, combat is where the focus is and, in our case, just being able to maneuver the helicopter.
  • The dropping offs and picking ups are mostly secondary unless a mission specifically requires it.
  • Windward is also more open worldy, while here it’s purely mission/scenario based.
  • But I did enjoy Heliborne in the same way I enjoyed Windward or American/Euro Truck Simulator for that matter.
  • It’s about the sailing, driving or flying for me.
  • I really enjoyed just starting heliborne in one of the longer missions and just flying around
  • In that respect, Windward still wins because it doesn’t cost $20.

Total-CHAIR


Final –CHAIRCHAIR


Hate Mail:

F1
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?INXW6Gq

Eggs
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?aqdkpQj
https://imgur.com/jjsjaM9

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