LinuxGameCast Weekly 285: Weeb Garbage

GODOT hits 3.0! Feral teases new games, NVIDIA releases some buggy drivers and will Microsoft buy VALVE? All this plus your hate mail.

Special thanks to:
Daniel Y (new)
Corey K (increased pledge)

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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam News:

StemBoxX
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3253105/gaming/microsoft-buy-valve-steam-pc-gaming.html
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gabe-newell-responds-to-microsofts-rumoured-plans-to-acquire-valve/

SteamBox V incoming.
Speculation, fake news, people still talking about it.
- Yeah, full on rumour mill. Spin the wheel of boogabooga
I think this story resonates with people because a microsoft buy out of Valve would be a pretty bad case scenario.
Now keep in mind people called BS on the Minecraft acquisition.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft ended up acquiring a major AAA publisher, I just don’t see VALVe being receptive to that.
I don’t see the people behind Steam having that undermined and be incorporated into the Microsoft Store.
Origin, Uplay or Battle.net on the other hand…

VIVE Co$t
https://www.roadtovr.com/htc-vive-pro-targeted-prosumers-will-expensive-consumer-vive/

This is one of those situations where this is probably going to be the better product on the market that nobody buys because of price
People who’ve already dipped their toes in VR aren’t likely going to be interested in tossing another 1K for an updated headset
We’re still two (or three) generations out from a mass consumed product for face-organs.
It’s not like you will be able to afford a video card for it in the first place.

Do what now?
https://github.com/xomachine/SteamForwarder

Seriously, what does this do?
- I…genuinely could not tell you

Gods & Glory
http://steamcommunity.com/games/367520/announcements/detail/1671268301085910013

There are romance options in Hollow Knight? TIL
As if this game didn’t already already have enough going for and in it, to set it apart from the piles of shit on Steam these days, it also does the Free DLC drop to put the cherry on top.
I’m pretty sure it’d take me several years to go back into this game and finish all the major side quests and main plot line. Let alone the insane amount of stuff they keep adding.

Pawarumi (gold)
http://steamcommunity.com/games/610410/announcements/detail/1673519471562741779

Entered EA around Nov of last year and released a baked product 3 months later.
- It’s certainly a bit of a snowflake in that regard.
Oh boy, guess I get to stretch my schmup muscles while we go throw some chairs at it. I’m very excited…

Rockets
https://www.rocketleague.com/news/rocket-league-roadmap-spring-2018/

A list of things they intend to do in the coming months
They’re adding some network stats so we can finally see how bad we are when Foxy kicks our butts
It’s strange reading about all the other stuff in the game that people do / care about.
I try to boop the ball a few times and call it a night.

Feral radar
https://twitter.com/feralgames/status/958015341615091713
https://www.feralinteractive.com/en/upcoming/

The real news here is that all the games have been stuck on “quite soon” since F1.
Bet y’all a nickle it’s another total snore
Whar Rise of the Tomb Raider?
Probably wouldn’t mind Shadow of War, either.
Not exactly the kind of person to buy into microtransactions but I’m pretty sure I’d still enjoy the game.

Choo choo
http://store.steampowered.com/app/503940/Railway_Empire/

Exploit the economic opportunities of the United States
- Gonna smack that eject button right about now
Missing ticket to Ride on Linux? This is a more in depth replacement.

Where? (foxy)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/677160/We_Were_Here_Too/

Co-operative puzzle solving in a castle
I really like games that experiment with asymmetrical gameplay, so this piques my interest. Might be good for a stream
The whole co-op puzzle thing sounds great in theory, until you realize everyone around you who could play it with you is a bit of an asshole.

Delve deep
http://store.steampowered.com/app/249630/Delver/

This looks a lot like One More Dungeon.
I didn’t hate the concept behind OMD, but the implementation was a bit crap.
Maybe this will be better.

News:

390.25
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/130946/en-uk

Vulkan performance in Talos got a bit of a boost.
I got 241.2 Average FerPS in the benchmark.
Jank, jank everywhere.
You know I’m glad we have this non family friendly show so I can say what I really think.
I am rather displeased.
I ran into the mid-screen tearing/flicker issue myself.
https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1028754/linux/-390-25-random-flicker-in-mid-screen-when-deskop-is-mostly-idle-empty-/2
And judging by Aaron’s post they’re now tracking this issue, looks like they may be working on a fix.
I went back to the previous driver and 4.14 because shite is busted, yo.

Go 3.0
https://godotengine.org/article/godot-3-0-released

“A year ago, we decided to skip the release of Godot 2.2 (which would have included new multiplayer networking…)”
- Because nobody wants that…
So they’re working on a new core and they decide to get a stable base before adding network multiplayer.
Godot now is a competitive 3d engine with VR and WebAssembly support, which is pretty cool.
Some of the features like C# support work, but apparently need improvement

Taisei v1.2
https://taisei-project.org/news

Open source tohou like game
I’m aware of the fandom surrounding this particular “genre”, but not much else

UE4 on the web
https://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/Estranged-Demo-HTML5-Indie-Title-Unreal-Engine-4

Damn thing runs, I will give it that.
It’s not the most graphically intense things in the world but impressive nonetheless.
Behold the future of gaming, kids.

Croteam lurve Vulkan
https://www.back2gaming.com/b2g-interviews/an-interview-with-croteam-the-developer-of-serious-sam-and-the-talos-principle/

we’ve upgraded our engine and made it so that it’s easy to make ports to all platforms of our interest.
- Devs take note. We’ve been screaming that this is the smart thing to do, not just for linux support but in general
general lack of interest in playing video games on Linux would be the first barrier, …and the huge amount of fragmentation in the Linux community.
- I’m a little sad the fragmentation argument is still being brought up, considering there are now a number of tools that can mitigate this
- It’s a bullsh*t argument.
- Target SteamOS and provide support for, you guessed it, SteamOS.
- Or fo full-Feral and target the latest Ubuntu.

GL Adopters Program
https://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-launches-opengl-4.6-adopters-program
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/VK-GL-CTS

It took almost 2 minutes to compile with the make -j13
The 390.25 drivers don’t seem to be the fully compliant ones Bob Pete is talking about since of the tests just spawn a black window.
Access to this bit o’ software used to set you back about 60 Grand. Now all y’all get it for free
This should help the Mesa project immensely

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies

Game: Steamroll
Webzone: http://store.steampowered.com/app/378810/Steamroll
Devel: Anticto
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Price: £9.99 / US$12.99 / CA$13.99

Wazzat: In Steamroll you are a young engineer in his first day of work and take control of the Scarabeus, the greatest new steam-fuelled vehicle invention, while you try to survive in a crumbling mine and look for a way out. Steamroll is a puzzle game with a touch of arcade action and adventure.

Mandatory Disclosure: Devs sent us keys

Makes with the working

Venn-

Unreal engine, neat.
Does not remember screen resolution.
Only does 2160p fullscreen, everything elks has to be windowed.
Chugs at a solid 40 @ UHD.
Steam screenshots do not work.
This reads like a checklist of what happens when you smash the export button and ship.

Jordan-

Yup, doesn’t remember your graphical settings after restarts
Seeing the same performance as venn in UHD Land

Pedro-

Holds 60 at 1080p with everything on “Epic”
Remembered the changes I made to controls
Honestly, I didn’t try the steam screenshot but it opens the overlay if you hit shift+tab
Can’t really ding it a chair on my end.

Total-

Shiny / Sounds

Venn-

It’s well done.
Yeah, I knew it was UE4 by the texture popin but that’s been a thing since UE3.
Not seeing the popin while playing.
I looks alright for an indie puzzle game and double so if you were into the Steampunk fad when it was a thing.
Never tried the sound because puzzle game.
Slayer, it gets puzzles done.

Jordan-

Just because it’s UE4 doesn’t mean it automatically makes with the pretties
Yes the textures are modern, detailed and lighted using the fancy new engine
But the end result is just meh. Unremarkable

Pedro-

Texture pop in. Texture pop in everywhere!
Did you just roll into a new room? Docked with one of the floor circles?
Look at all the texture pop-in!
Now, when the textures have loaded, they look good.
The music is exactly what you’d expect from puzzle game.
Mild, inoffensive and completely suited to your standard elevator experience.
Which I guess it’s a bit ironic since the first achievement you get is for blowing up an elevator.

Total-

Control

Venn-

Works OOTB the box with the Steam controlla.
It gives you a FSM damn trajectory line so it’s not like you need to be hella precise.
Can’t say anything about movement since it was designed to be FKY.
Camera is a bit shite, I will say that.

Jordan-

It might’ve been designed to be fucky, but that’s not really a great excuse
The trajectory line is a bit weird to set up, mainly because it seems really over sensitive to set up. Especially when you’re dealing with the shot’s power.
Has an issue where sometimes it’ll get stuck using the mouse for aim until you right click

Pedro-

Controls work but the physics are a bit of a crapshoot.
It is very possible to be completely stuck because the shot ball trajectory, which the game outlines for you, seems to be pretty fucking random.
I’m stuck on the fourth level because I can’t seem to get the ball to go across a pipe, which results from my inability to find the exact amount power to shoot it for the trajectory to completely change.
Working controls are all well and good but if the physics are trial and error, that doesn’t really matter does it?

Total-

FUN

Venn-

You got a half decent puzzle game here.
Clunky (but manageable) interface.
Priced to sell @ $.12.99
Good graphics and decent performance when run @ 1080p.
You also have a Linux port that was not tested with UHD displays for multi-displays running separate X screens.
Not testing UHD support in 2018 is inexcusable.
On top of that it does not remember it’s in the windowed mode that I had to put it in to run @ 1080 so I could play the damn thing.
Despite that I crawled my way to the 4th map 45 FEPRS @ a time.
Developers, please test yo shite and that goes double for anyone using the UE4 engine.

Jordan-

Fucking minigolf. The bane of my goddamn existence
At least this game is nice enough to let you know where your shot is going before you shoot, so that’s a thing
Ya know, this game isn’t too horrible. The puzzle’s aren’t entirely horseshit and there’s enough variety to keep things semi-fresh.
It definitely has issues and needed more time in the oven.

Pedro-

I like puzzle games.
It’s not my favorite genre but Stephen’s Sausage Roll proved that even the simplest concept can make for an enjoyable experience.
Steamroll has an even higher potential of being awesome.
The graphics look alright, if you don’t mind the pop-in.
The music is acceptable.
The controls even work as well as can be expected.
But the nail in this physics puzzler coffin is the trial and error physics.
There’s no rhyme or reason for why the aiming system says the ball is going to go a certain way and, when you shoot it, it doesn’t.
Why at 76% power it would go exactly where you want it to and 75% it goes completely off.
And that’s when it fucks up even more because sometimes the trajectory thing is completely inconsistent, and it’s impossible to replicate a certain path it showed you no matter how careful you are.

Total-

Final –

Hate Mail:

WRONG
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?RGgIQVu