LinuxGameCast Weekly 274: Robot Curious

GLXOSD is no more, Virtual Programming does us a favour, and Linus approves AMD DC for 4.15. Then Hand of Fate 2 faces the ChairQAsition! All this, plus your hate mail!

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Morning zoo radio thinly disguised as a Linux gaming podcast.


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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam News:

Unofficial Steam sale
http://www.pcgamer.com/steams-new-currency-supports-causes-chaos-for-international-pc-gamers/

  • It would be nice if this problem could be solved by, I don’t know, setting a static price in USD for a game and then converting appropriately.
  • I get that in some places such a solution isn’t feasible because not everything is valued the same in USD as it is in other countries. But it’s a goddamn start!
  • Not surprising that some publishers have already jacked their prices up to “compensate”
  • It’s amazing how VALVe keeps cocking up even while they’re trying to do the right thing.

Little fix
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/announcements/detail/1461843851749212399

  • Lookit valve, supporting the dx12. They know what’s up
  • Also, if you got old steamworks libraries in your games, your game should start up now
  • Never had a problem to begin with.
    • People who tried to use the open sauce drivers to run Steam and even some of the games would disagree.

The flood continues
http://www.pcgamer.com/more-than-6000-games-released-on-steam-this-year-almost-as-many-in-the-10-years-to-2015/

  • In other breaking news, letting go of something from a height will cause it to accelerate towards the ground
  • There’s been so much hipster pixel trash and shovelware it’s actually disheartening to check the new releases every day.
  • Steam Direct accelerated the influx of bullshit allowing Steam to rubber stamp everything.
  • That, and Unity is getting too easy to use.
  • Do keep in mind a lot of the “shovelware” is not malicious.
  • It’s teens using a free engine and burning $100 of allowance monies to say they have a game on the Steam.
  • I would have done the same shite back in the day.

Multibots
http://store.steampowered.com/app/651560/Clash_of_Robots/

  • It’s now out and priced to sell @ $9.99.
  • Just kidding! It’s a fee to win mobile game available for the low low price of free on the Playstore.
  • Steam really needs a (mobile) tag / warning for these type of games.

Jackbox Party Pack 3?
https://steamdb.info/app/434170/depots/

  • Would be cool if this actually came out. This is a game basically designed for the aftershowzen
  • Shite son, Friday night trivia could become a thing.
  • I’d really like this one to be available.

…woof
http://store.steampowered.com/app/657730/Direwolf/

  • There wolf….There castle
  • This is Computer version of the tabletop game werewolf, occasionally known as mafia
  • Use logic and deductive reasoning to determine who is the werewolf
  • Toss it on the aftershowzen pile!
  • That directX Linux requirement, though

No O
http://store.steampowered.com/app/457140/Oxygen_Not_Included/

  • So space dwarf fortress
  • It gets bonus points for the hand drawn aesthetic
  • Whar Linux?

Oh Tannenberg, oh Tannenberg
http://store.steampowered.com/app/633460/Tannenberg/

  • Does this really justify a new game?
  • I mean, this really should be a mission pack for Verdun.
  • That said, both games seem to have a legitimate fan base.
  • This one is still multiplayer only.
  • As someone who fondly remembers Medal of Honor Allied Assault, and don’t get me wrong I love the multiplayer on that too, I’d like to see a nice single player campaign.

Trust
http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/the-trust-factor/

  • The continuing saga of VALVe trying to automate things without the in-house talent required to do it properly.
    • In most situations, I’d agree.
  • Here, though, this is literally happening on the go as you queue up for a match.
  • It’s unfeasible to expect them to hire thousands of people to manage these.
  • That said, I do wonder just how your Steam lib2rary and your gaming habits affect the matchmaking.
  • Say you’re a youtuber like Jim Sterling who plays a lot of shovelware, are you going to be matched up against other shovelware players and everyone gets to commiserate together?

Arma Sync
https://twitter.com/Arma3official/status/930105427425218563
https://dev.arma3.com/ports

  • The entire premise of this tweet is just so shitty
  • “The lowest bidder we’ve contracted to toss a bone to Mac and linux users has shat out multiplayer compatibility for now. You’re still a second class citizen, go fuck yourself”
    • It’s like they are doing you a favour.
  • It’s nothing short of amazing and infuriating it is to see the Linux gaming community at large thanking them for this.
  • Thanking them for shitting from on high on people who spent the same amount of money as everyone else for what is literally an inferior version.
  • We’re the assholes for pointing this shit out, apparently.

News:

Pulling AMD
https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2017-November/157803.html

  • I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that -Linus
  • I think this code is slightly better than STAGING quality but not massively so, I’d
    really like to see that float/double magic gone and fixed point used, but
    AMD don’t seem
    to think the accuracy and revalidation of the code is worth the effort
    ”.
  • Dave is worried that if the code is left out much longer (4.15) distros will start carrying the code.
  • Dave is correct.
  • The backstory he provides is an interesting glimpse at their efforts to getting AMD to pull a Summer and have a Linux-friendly unified codebase for the hardware, to render things before the display server loads.
  • He says it’s not there yet, hence the whole spiel about having bits Linus may ding.
  • Aaaandd it’s in.
  • https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=f6705bf959efac87bca76d40050d342f1d212587
  • Holy mother of patch
  • Well, the Linux users who bought AMD cards are certainly going to be happy
  • Will it be the silver bullet patch that finally makes AMD hardware competitive on linux? Probably not

RIP GLXOSD
https://github.com/nickguletskii/GLXOSD/issues/109

  • Dude straight-up tapped out.
  • This is not a stealth solicitation for donations.
  • He’s willing to foist ownership to anyone willing to take the project over
  • Such is a common death knell of these projects, but real life has to take priority
  • This is a very useful tool I’d be very sad to see die out.

Totes coming to Linux you guys
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/21183638/starcraft-ii-40-patch-notes-11-14-2017

  • So basically, if you want to watch your simulation play out, now you can. That’s it
  • Of course errybody’s going to hop on the “ZOMG ACTIBLIZZION FINALLY SUPPORTING LINUX” bandwagon.
  • I’ll believe it when I can play Diablo 3 natively

Nimbatus
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strayfawnstudio/nimbatus-the-space-drone-constructor

Hipster click
https://sol705.itch.io/sol705

  • Fully voice acted, so that’s a thing. But when you get internet actors, YMMV. Just look at our resident star

Cities in motion not your thing?
https://www.skyscrapersim.com/index.shtml

  • Just ran across this critter and wanted to give it a plug.
  • Sorta sim-tower esque, but more emphasis on the actual building design

Voxel pew pew
http://openspades.yvt.jp/

  • Lighting effects look nice.
  • Still looks like budget Minecraft and that was programmer art!
  • It works but the shooting is even more basic than the models.
  • The lighting is really good, though!
  • It…builds
  • So basically an open source blockstorm

Linux on the go
https://magazine.odroid.com/article/linux-gaming-mobile-entertainment-system/

  • It’s a little less sophisticated than the pi “switch”, but it’ll get the job done, but if you need a tiny arcade box and don’t have a 3d printer, this’ll certainly get the job done
  • Doesn’t look anywhere near as sketchy as something our resident Tanzanian representative would do.
  • And you can slap android on it for media consumption.

CHAIRQqaSITION:
CHAIR– Nooope

CHAIRCHAIR– Not sure if want

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Check it out

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Shutupandtakemymonies


Game: Hand of Fate 2
Webzone: http://store.steampowered.com/app/456670/Hand_of_Fate_2/
Devel: Defiant Development
Engine: Unity
Price: £23.79 / €27.99 / US&CA$29.99

Wazzat: A new hero rises to challenge the Dealer in Hand of Fate 2! Master a living boardgame of infinitely replayable quests – unlock new cards, build your adventure, then defeat your foes in brutal real-time combat! Draw your cards, play your hand and discover your fate!

Mandatory Disclosure: They sent us keys


Makes with the working

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • So far I have experienced 0 fuckery and that’s a rarity in the land of Unity.
  • 80/90 @1080p and 30’ish @ 2160p.
  • This is with everything maxed the hell out.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Shiny / Sounds

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Graphically it looks next-gen compared to the original Hand of Fate.
  • However, the original looked a bit jank so set your expectations accordingly.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Certainty an improvement over the first one
  • The David Warner-ass narrator certainly sounds super shitty when the RNG fucks you over

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • There’s some z-fighting with some of the card textures which causes that weird flickering effect.

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Control

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • So, do we have any real camera control or is it just me?
  • Block and roll can become a tad unresponsive, Brad.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • The game seems to really not want you to button mash. Everything has a wind up animation and you gotta wait for it to finish before the next thing happens
  • Means that block and rolls never seem to land when you want them to
  • Takes some getting used to but every once in a while it still fucks you
  • Also, no correct prompts on the dual shock

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Nope, no camera movement still.
  • I figured out why sometimes your character doesn’t do what you’re telling it to even if you’re smacking the button.
  • It queues up actions as you press buttons.
  • That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just the cut off point in the queue and which actions are queued or done instantly that feel arbitrary at points.
  • I guess this is to prevent button mashing but it doesn’t work as well as you’d expect.

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


FUN

VCHAIRCHAIR

  • I really really don’t like losing my equipment after each level.
  • They didn’t go full Arkam Knight with the combat system.
  • Once you figure out how to roll spam the battles become tedious and unchallenging.
  • FFS let me skip the dude talking bits.
  • Yeah, FK this RNG bullshit.
  • It’s not a bad indie game it’s just a bad genre.
  • For HOF3 they really need to bring in someone who understands what makes combat good.
  • Straight-up hack n slash is fun for a few minutes but without any depth it quickly becomes a chore.
  • Combos, attack progression and AI that acts less like sheep is a must.
  • Soooooo close guys… so, damn, close.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • They’ve certainly gone back and done some changes
  • I like how they’ve varied up the type of missions. It’s cool to see the same core mechanic recontextualized to create some very different experiences
  • Hell, they’ve even addressed some of the complaints we had with combat. Some, but not all
  • As Pedro mentioned, that action queuing thing gets real annoying. Your weapon helps determine how badly you’ll get screwed by it, but the differences are pretty superficial
  • They’ve also added a lot more card synergy
  • I’m not sure I feel about the fame mechanic. It’s already a crapshoot whether or not you get the equipment you put in your deck, this just makes you wait longer. I guess it’s to stop you from breezing through some of the early challenges
  • Regardless, the short missions means that you can pick up and play this game and have some decent fun doing it.
  • Good jerb guys

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Much like the first one, I liked it.
  • It’s like they took all of what made Hand of Fate what it was and expanded on it.
  • There are more minigames, there is a much bigger variety in mechanics and they even expanded the deck building aspect.
  • Now you get more weapon types, a companion, bigger map variety (there’s even some more openish type of maps) and the combat even feels a lot better.
  • It’s still not perfect.
  • The texture flickering and control queue make sure of that but, much like last time, I really enjoyed this one.
  • It’s a roguelite with real time-ish combat.

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Final –CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Hate Mail:

Performance
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?1HdGL54

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