We take the Steam Link app for a test drive! Half Life 2 co-op mod Obsidian returns from the dead, WINE 3.0.1 Reacts and Duck Game receives an unofficial Linux port. Then Apocryph faces the CHAIRQASITION!
All this, plus your hate mail.
Special tanks to:
Madhi19
Morning zoo radio thinly disguised as a Linux gaming podcast. Whether you're a seasoned Linux gamer or just starting out, we have something for everyone. So join us on our journey into the world of Linux gaming!
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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro
Steam News:
Controllers controller controllers
https://steamcommunity.com/games/250820/announcements/detail/3809361199426010680
- They’ve added a steam input style configurator for vr
- This is also to help devs easily predefine and push out configuration profiles for games.
- Means they don’t have to have the game engine support all the various vr controllers
- Using this does make steam a hard dependency though which some devs won’t like
Rainbows
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta#announcements/detail/3808235299551317971
- They’ve finally fixed the stupid overlay freezing bug! Fuck me!
- Only took’em over a year.
- I guess this was never a problem for those of us over in Compton / XFCE land.
New Steamzone
https://www.roadtovr.com/valves-new-site-affirms-role-of-vr-in-companys-future-teases-top-secret-games/
- Hiring a writer are we?
- They “hired” an entire dev studio.
- Their OpEng position’s piqued my curiosity
- They “hired” an entire dev studio.
- Valve doubling down on hardware is an interesting proposition.
- Mind you with the cash Steam brings in, they might just try to nintendo it
Android Lank
https://store.steampowered.com/steamlink/about
- It connects… and crashes to remote desktop.
- It’s like Moonlight for Linux.
Cache
https://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/Building-Steam-Caching-Server-Faster-Game-Downloads
- That would make sense for a LAN party.
- Also for internet cafes or areas with poor networking. Like space Tanzania
- 250MB/s because it pegged one of the threads on the Ryzen server.
2 Steamy
https://techraptor.net/content/huniepop-other-adult-games-facing-removal-steam-store
- Oswald Heist once said “The opposite of war is fucking”
- You’re allowed to have as much war as you want. The opposite doesn’t hold true
- Steam’s priorities about what games are allowed on their service is pretty skewed these says. See Asset flipper.
- No more easy access to anime tiddies.
- Want to disembowel a nun with a frying pan while sodomizing a kitten with a shotgun?
- Shite son, go right ahead!
- Just don’t show no titties.
Steam: Game Updates
Apocryph 1.0.1
https://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=596240
- Was changing the game text to Russian a feature?
- I guess so, cuz everybody got it.
- Poo, still runs like it.
- Monster AI significantly improved?
- Geez, I would hate to see the original AI.
- Fixed some of the savegame glitches?
- Some, not all of them.
- More on that @ 11.
Farming Gordon
https://www.pcgamer.com/long-dormant-half-life-2-online-co-op-mod-obsidian-conflict-is-getting-a-steam-release/
- Seriously, farming & fishing included.
- So it’s Synergy with a load of custom modes, maps and NPCs.
- We could go fishing and reenact Of Mice and Men.
- Fuck your alfalfa
- It’s cool that this mod is getting resurrected. Maybe a should meet the freemans renewal is in order
Brodate
https://steamcommunity.com/games/274190/announcements/detail/3197997543182790329
- A whole whack of performance and ui improvements
- A bunch of multiplayer bug fixes as well
- I could never really get into Broforce.
180
https://steamcommunity.com/games/218620/announcements/detail/1664522414732229450
- The latest in payday’s neverending stream of updating stuff!
- They sorted and improved such a gang of stuff I zoned out reading it.
Steam: New Games
Right In the Bum
https://store.steampowered.com/app/855740/Bum_Simulator/
- If done correctly this could be good, really good.
- Has a POSTAL vibe about it.
- So, it’s Goat Stimulator but as an FPS?
- And urine.
- Pigeon taming and rat people. I have to say, I’m a bit intrigued
- Do you get a shotgun?
Turbo
https://store.steampowered.com/app/389140/Horizon_Chase_Turbo/
- What the hell kind of aesthetic were they going for here?
- I know it says 90’s but I don’t recall anything looking like game from 6 years ago.
- A bit of Outrun with some V-Rally inspirations.
- Much like 90’s arcade racers this too lacks online multiplayer.
Uridium Hyper Pixels (Foxy)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/640880/
- Straight up that trailer music made me want to stab someone in the bum
- galaga with orientation flipping
- 1GB for a pixel game though
News:
I’m OUT
https://twitter.com/mdiluz/status/997160622663110657
- Do you think they will stop doing the Linux ports…
- <dalek>SPEC-U-LATE!</dalek>
- I think homeboy probably just got a better offer.
- Its fairly uncommon to see lifers in the industry.
- Because them ports weren’t few and far between enough, lately.
- This, this right here is the thing.
- Don’t get me right (we love Feral) but they deliver one or two games a year and there is a 60% chance of them being niche as all hell.
- Total WAR, F1, bullsh*t teen drama simulator etc.
- I don’t like the lead Linux human bouncing when ROTT is still a wee bit busted.
Jam results
http://cheesetalks.net/linuxgamejam2018.php
- A lot of Godot and a nice amount of SDL
- Some of those games look half decent. Good jerb guys
0 Wood
https://play0ad.com/new-release-0-a-d-alpha-23-ken-wood/
- They got that good kush
- The application can now be associated with mod files, so you can double click on the mod and 0ad will just load it
- Also got a handy dandy mod downloader
- Speaking of something that needs to get its arse on the Steam.
WINE 3.0.1
https://www.winehq.org/announce/3.0.1
- I spotted a lone ReactOS fix in there.
- It’s always fun going through the bugfix notes and seeing the random ass application specific fixes
Indivisible Delayed
http://www.indivisiblegame.com/2018/05/16/indivisible-delayed-2019/
- They got some more $$$ so they are making more game.
- Probably no baring on the Linux release what with cybik porting their engine
- Linux users are already used to waiting for lab zero games anyways
- The screenshots look nice, I just hope they will blend the 3D models with the 2D sprites better by go time.
- Erm, y’all just made a big arse-Steam controlla.
- With a metric fuckton of ports and connections on the back.
- All of which can be mapped as individual buttons or combinations thereof.
- Honestly, I wouldn’t mind trying it but it is fuckin’ huge!
Cold engine
https://github.com/eduard-permyakov/permafrost-engine
- Hell knight with a Fu Manchu style blood beard!
- Custom ascii model with a blender export script what
Unofficial Quack
https://github.com/0x0ade/DuckGame-Linux
- It works!
- This is a good example of someone pointing out that there’s literally no reason for game X not to have a Linux port.
- What’s cool about this is that this is the end result of a lot of the work that Flibit is doing. Basically 0 effort ports for XNA games
CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope
– Not sure if want
– Check it out
– Shutupandtakemymonies
Game: Apocryph
Devel: Bigzur Games
Engine: Unity
Price: £14.99 / US 19.99 / CA 21.99
Wazzat: Apocryph is a FPS set in a brutal dark fantasy world. It takes it’s roots in old-school fantasy shooters, so prepare for intense sword-and-sorcery FPS action amidst forgotten castles, evil shrines and decrepit dungeons!
Mandatory Disclosure: Them devs sent us keys
Makes with the working
Venn-
- Performance: @ 1080
- 70/74 LOW
- 50/60 HIGH.
- Launch Control:
- Fullscreen:✅
- Big Picture: ✅
- Windowed: ❌
- It’s not even an option, Brad.
- Quicksave, does, not, work.
Jordan-
- Performance: @ 1080
- Average 56fps on high
- Launch Control:
- Big Picture:✅
- Fullscreen:✅
- No quicksave either
Pedro-
- Performance: @ 1080
- 47/78
- Regardless of High or Very High settings, the performance is anywhere from 47-78 FerPS
- 47/78
- Launch Control:
- Fullscreen:✅
- Big Picture:✅
- Windowed: ❌
- Windowed mode requires editing the unity Prefs file.
- Crashy crashy crashy
- Quicksaving jacks up the brightness like crazy
Total-
Shiny / Sounds
Venn-
- Three main modes: High, fugly, EXTREME fugly + pixels and graphical glitches.
- Seriously, the pixel mode is one step above Quake ASCII render.
- I don’t hate the background music?
- The monster noises do a really good job of keeping me on edge.
- It looks good but you quickly notice the baddies are on the maps, not in them.
- Level design is half decent and have a solid Quake vibe.
Jordan-
- The background music is overly distored guitar noodling. Seum had a better soundtrack though
- Yup, this is a hexxen clone. It looks the part, but that’s not saying much given the performance
Pedro-
- The amount of particle effects on screen is detrimental to my ability to play this game.
- Pixel mode made me, someone who played Quake on the Saturn, feel queasy.
- The background music is alright, if a bit too loud by default.
- Like I mentioned earlier, when you quicksave the gamma gets shifted to the brightest setting and it makes the game look god awful.
Total-
Control
Venn-
- WASD default layout is workable.
- Agree /w P-man on the random stickies.
- Homeboy has a serious problem with certain stairs and other various areas.
- Collision issues and a byproduct of lazy dev being lazy.
Jordan-
- If WASD ain’t broke, don’t fix it
- Did everyone else basically forget there’s a bullet time mode. I kept getting killed a bunch in a couple sections, then I realized that was a thing
- Other than that, yeah there are some collision issues
- Also inconsistent invisible walls
Pedro-
- Protagonist character has this nasty habit of getting stuck in random bits of terrain.
- You can tell the developers were aware of this but, instead of fixing it, they just lined the levels with various bits of invisible walls at different angles.
- The hitboxes on enemies are very poorly represent by their model.
- And by very poorly, I mean you’ll be fucking miles from one of the melee enemies and the fucker will still damage you.
Total-
FUN
Venn-
- I had to dial this FKR down to easy after 30 minutes of getting killed to death.
- I did this because the AI == trigger + bum rush and they would get stuck on just about everything imaginable.
- I found myself triggering them, getting them stuck, and merking from a distance. .
- Not fun, this is supposed to be about strafing, running backwards, and slaughtering.
- Enemies do NOT handle stairs well.
- More often than not they jump into space and land on your head-organ.
- However you do get to see plenty of monster taint.
- Could really do with an autosave feature.
- Save scumming quickly becomes a way of life.
- However,
- You know what, FK however.
- Your quicksave does. Not. Work!
- I’m out, not going through that slog of bullsh*t again.
- And that’s a FSM damned shame since I was starting to kinda-sorta like the game.
- YAY I get to repeat something I’ve said before.
- If this was an Early Access title I would be hopeful, nay, borderline impressed.
Jordan-
- The entire time I spent playing this game I was thinking how so much better ziggurat was in basically every aspect
- After you get used to the AI’s stupidity and the game’s tendency to hide a ton of monster around every blind corner, you very quickly start devolving into what we in the biz call “dungeon pace”
- Peek around every corner to draw aggro and run away
- Then the game just becomes a slog, and you take venn’s advice to just save scum
- The level design isn’t actually half bad. In true quake/hexen fashion you got to get through a series of secondary objectives before you can just unlock the main door
- The game also likes to put the main door right in front of you and make you explore
- I would like to see a few more branching paths, loops and interconnects tho
Pedro-
- Apocryph could have been the STRAFE of Hexxen.
- Instead is a gallery of simplistic, ameteur hour, design and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some of these enemies before.
- I remember having my mind blown by Hexxen 2 in 1997.
- In my head, this game had a pretty good shot of getting me to slap on my nostalgia goggles and just enjoy it.
- Instead I got stuck on top of yet another set of stairs and then it crashed.
- Damn you, Apocryph.
Total-
Final –
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