LinuxGameCast Weekly 283: Nope Sandwich

Robot Cache challenges Steam! BATTLETECH delays their Linux port, yuzu releases an emulator for the Nintendo Switch and CRYENGINE plays with penguins. All this plus your hate mail.

Special thanks to:
Thetargos (latest executive producer)

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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam News:

Another Brewmaster
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/2595630410189842232/

They goofed some stuff up on the last update
Apparently some folks were experiencing boot loops.
- I had a boot loop once because I wasn’t patient enough to wait for all the drivers to compile against all the kernels which were installed on my steambox.
That’s something which annoyed me. SteamOS doesn’t clear old kernels.

Sell those games
https://www.vg247.com/2018/01/16/robot-cache-is-a-steam-competitor-that-allows-players-to-sell-back-unwanted-games-for-cryptocurrencies/

Why does everything need a crypto component in 2018?
However being able to sell games does bring something new to the table.
Don’t think publishers will go for it, however.
That all seems like a nice idea, assuming you can cash-out in some way.
Otherwise, it’s no different to the Steam Wallet except you mine crypto rather than selling trading cards.
I wonder what the ROI is on Trading Cards vs Ethereum.
I dunno, to me it still seems like all it’s saying is you can sell your games for itchy and scratchy bucks
I suppose trying to create a secondary market for electronic goods is a worthwhile experiment but I’m 95% sure this’ll fizzle out

Let me tell you a story
http://steamcommunity.com/games/610410/announcements/detail/3271170355985141893

Really impressed with the amount of updates coming from this team.
It’s like they want to release a finished game or something… odd.

Yoink-a-Laylee
http://steamcommunity.com/app/360830/discussions/1/1620599015863378276/?ctp=3#c3277925755446167808

And nothing of value was lost.
Could be a cautionary tale (tail) about how linux support doesn’t necessarily mean good linux support
If you are going to pull a game for whatever reason at least take a second and remove the SteamOS support from the store page.
Nothing like spending $40 on a game which doesn’t work, amirite?

SwordFox
http://store.steampowered.com/app/777210/Vulpine/

Dog Souls lulz
This looks like a good idea but 99% chance its executed poorly.
- ^
Maybe they will fix the crappy looking animations until “Early 2019”

Blue shift on Source
http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-blue-shift-source-1

Blue shift was really the most MEH of all of the HL1 titles.
What I’d really like to see is a black mesa style redux of opposing force
- One that will probably never be finished?
Right now they just have the tutorial working

Earth’s Special Forces
https://esforces.com/download

Cuz despite the fact that Dragonball FighterZ is UE4, we’ll never see a linux port
Namcai Bando’s lawyers would like a word!

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Titanic
http://store.steampowered.com/app/467290/Starship_Titanic/

Original specs asked for 133MHz CPU, 16MB of RAM, 160MB of HDD and 16bit operating system.
This version needs a 2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 2GB of HDD and a 64bit operating system.
Did they rebuild it in UE4?
It’s a scummVM wrap, so it’ll work. On everything.
Can’t import your old save files. Might be a deal breaker for some, but seriously dude, this game shipped on a floppy. You don’t have to back up everything

News:

FlibOUT
https://www.patreon.com/posts/closing-16426237

“nobody at Patreon has received any sort of punishment whatsoever for what the company has done”
- They didn’t do anything, Brad.
- Well, they did do one thing. Listen.
- Jack has turned down more VC wet stinky than he’s taken.
That said, if they implement something stupid in the future by all means, nope them.
They didn’t do it but they showed the world they were willing to.
And until a service like Patreon rises up to be Kickstarter’s IndieGoGo, they don’t really have a reason not to try again.
I agree with Venn in the sense they didn’t actually do it and for all intents and purposes, they did take a step back after the community spoke out.
But there’s nothing stopping them from trying again.
Patreon’s going to have to do something eventually as the regulatory eye of sauron drifts to their direction.
- This could be construed as an overreaction, as we don’t exactly know what they are going to do.
But hey, if you’re going to have scruples, you might as well stick to them.

GG Epic
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/epic-games-announces-new-round-of-unreal-dev-grants-totaling-over-200-000

While CRYTEK is busy suing Star Citizen.
This is good!
But since I’m that asshole: Whar incentive for multi-platform development?
At least you’ll be able to watch the movie on linux

Meat David
https://www.cryengine.com/news/meet-the-team-david-kaye-lead-system-engineer

That’s a big task for one guy.
- Looks like he’s their B&R guy, so most of his job is probably mucking around in makefiles and setting up build/deployment automation
In 2018 devels are all Unity>UE4>Game Maker>GODOT>Ledwerks>CRYENGINE
- There are more asset flips out there using Cryengine than Leadwerks
I would like to think this is Amazon’s doing but smells like a last ditch effort.

Harebrained Mechs
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/2089189

Anyone defending this can go right out and play in traffic.
It’s unfortunate, because up until recently Hairbrained was pretty good about the linux support with the Shadowrun License
Linux users as a whole have been hurt too many times by these promises of “later support” never being honoured.
Hairbrained may come through in the end, but them penguins are right to be suspect
And yet another developer pushes Linux to the backburner of “maybe”, after having taken money on the promise that there would in fact be a Linux version.
I stopped backing projects on kickstarter because of this exact reason.

5.5 years later
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stainlessgames/carmageddon-reincarnation/posts/2093502?ref=backer_project_update

5+ years after funding.
No Linux, no MAC, no physical rewards.
Wankers, the lot of them.
Guessing you farted out the DRM-free version because you have run out of money, again.
They have released so much unasked for bullsh*t without fulfilling the damn physical rewards and let me tell you what, those were not cheap to get.
Now, if we focus on the good.
- Your Kickstarter was the reason we implemented the “no Linux as a stretch goal policy”
- That’s right other Kickstarter projects you can thank Stainless for that.
- You helped calibrate thousands of Linux gamers bullsh*t detectors.
I really want to call Stainless scam artists but that would be a put down to scam artists.
Greed driven incompetent arse-banjos seems a better fit.
And they push out this announcement openly declaring they have failed to deliver the physical rewards, more than half a decade after the original campaign.
Motherfuckers!

Just buy a Switch?
https://github.com/yuzu-emu/yuzu

Man it’s a good thing nobody went out and bought a Switch recently.
Started to build it but cmake was being extra derptastic and I don’t have any games so I tapped out.
In principle, HW emulation for the switch already exists. ARM emulation + a vulkan compatible GPU
- SHIELD Tablet? The prototype NVidia built to show Nintendo they could do it?
For now it can only run homebrew software, so I can feel a little more secure in my purchase for another few months
Plus I get to play with a cardboard box!

First Access
https://hofstudios.itch.io/doe

Honestly, this looks like it’s right up my alley
17 bucks seems a little steep tho

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies

Game: Inner Space
Webzone: InnerSpace
Devel: PolyKnight Games (published by Asspyre)
Engine: Unity
Price: £14.99 / US$19.99 / CA$21.99

Wazzat: InnerSpace is an exploration flying game set in the Inverse, a world of inside-out planets with no horizons. Soar through ancient skies and abandoned oceans to discover the lost history of this fading realm, where gods still wander. Your greatest journey is within.

Mandatory Disclosure: Aspyr sent us keys

Makes with the working

V-

The hell is up with that initial load time?
You ain’t doing nothing.
60 @2160 and 1080

J-

P-

Total-

Shiny / Sounds

V-

So, much, pop-in.
WHAR AA.
I don’t normally bitch about AA but it’s just a damn shame to see something that’s kinda pretty be all jaggy.
If you like pastel boy do I have the game for you.
Ever play a Mario/Zelda game from the N64 era with a HD texture pack?
Yeah, that.
Even the first airframe looks like something straight out of the Zelda.
I like it, tis pretty, and the music in completely inoffensive.

J-

It’s very pretty
The visuals and sound design all mesh nicely together
But there do be some issues
The lack of AA didn’t really bother me at UHD
The Texture pop in did

P-

Seriously! Whar Anti-Aliasing?
Even pushing it through the NVidia drivers doesn’t apply it to everything.
It seems like someone got some prebuilt AA system which didn’t take GL into consideration.
For a game with such a smooth color palette it is jarring to see the aliased… everything.
Also, what hell is going on with the background music at some points?
It’s like someone is stepping on a cat’s tail and then running the resulting sound through a midi converter and then playing that on a synthesizer.

Total-

Control

V-

Kinda worked OOTB with the Steamy controlla but P-man is right.
Change it two the twin-schtick config.
That said the controls are dogsh*t.
Well, I guess I should say the camera controls (lack of) are, in fact, dogsh*t.
I think this is the first time I ever wanted a POV slider.
In closing, the controls “work” but the lack of options don’t.

J-

DAMN YOU INVERTED CONTROLS
Everything worked fine on the dualshock 4. Unlike some games
The perches being the only thing that let you scout can get annoying

P-

The controls would be fine if it weren’t for the fact you can’t bind certain things to the triggers on the Steam Controlla.
- Not without having to use the controller configuration outside the game to bind that key, somewhere else.
Also, by default, the Steam Controlla is set to mouse-like joystick behaviour and that makes it almost impossible to control with the right areola.

Total-

FUN

V-

You know what would get me a bit more engaged in the game?
Damage.
Until that happens it’s bounce off shite until you reach the destinatiom Simulator 2018.
Your menus are bad, really bad.
Also, no option to back out of a conversation once its started… grr.
This might make for a fun mobile / VR experience but $19.99 is a hard sell for what amounts to a FK around simulator even if it makes with the pretty.

J-

Gotta agree with Venn on the damage thing. Otherwise the only thing to encourage you improving the flying is the whiplash that knocking into things gets you
The “Upgrade” system doesn’t seem to be very well explained either
It’s also a little unclear what the game wants you to do sometimes. I guess it’s kinda fun experimenting until you find what you need to do to progress, but that can pivot to frustration really quickly
And while all the environments are gorgeous, flying around them repeatedly looking for wind and relics can get a bit boring
Also, some of the spots you need to go require either some expert maneuvering or some god tier pong skills

P-

For a game where you’re flying around, setting it inside a spherical “inverse” world is somewhat counter intuitive.
Sure, cave flier is a genre but this isn’t it.
The point here isn’t to navigate a difficult tight space to avoid death and reach the objective.
The point is to explore and find the relics, find the story of what happened to the world(s), find the demi-gods, become the ultimate Wind creature and restore life to the world(s).
It’s about exploration, it’s about movement, it’s about enjoying the visuals.
And that is all limited when you’re stuck around the inside of the sphere-world and keep running into walls.
If their intention with this game was to induce claustrophobia, mission accomplished.

Total-

Final –

Hate Mail:

Free advice
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?s2kFucp

1K (Stolen from LWDW)
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?mZf4EYa