The Steam Integration project awakens! Linux support is not on the roadmap for the Epic Store, dispelling the fragmentation myth, and Linux beats VR in the 2018 Hardware & Software survey.
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Colour key – Venn Jordan Pedro
Steam: News
- Linux usage is up by .02%
- Manjaro usage is up by .05%. Woo! I think
- <insert rant about fallibility of the hardware survey results and how Valve has real numbers>
- I received my third survey on 01.01.19.
- Same!
- We’re bigger than VR so that’s a win.
- Forked by Ikey’s full time gig
- Spin the wheel of booga booga about Intel laying groundwork for their new GPU
- If you can control the runtime, you can control your play field.
- Good to see Ikey is still at it and that Intel’s project distro is still a thing.
- That said, Proton opened a can of nightmare fuel for the LSI and it needs a bit more work.
- Would say it came and went but it never really came.
- Guess I might keep it then!
- I mean, it also released at the ass end of the year. That’s gotta fuck numbers up somehow
- I mean, combined with nobody playing it
Steam: Game Updates
- It looks the pretty.
- Might try it with a gang of Freemans Friday.
- The super glowy combine eyes stick out a bit.
- I do like them making the SMG sound less like a hair dryer!
- Guess we won’t be getting that Linux port afterall.
- The overly glib reductive version of this is that there is ongoing, allegedly drawn out litigation based on the IP contained within the star control franchise.
- Stardock had their game on sale on steam and GOG, two people who worked on the original filed DMCA takedowns on the game and Steam/GOG complied
- Stardock has to lay off folks, judge says they shouldn’t have put the game on sale until they knew that they actually had the rights to the content within
- It’s Bethesda Vs Interplay but with shoestring budgets!
- If History is anything to go by, Stardock may have a shot.
- Though it seems the Judge they requested the preemptive injunction to is already done with this whole business.
- There was some mention of Stardock needing those game sales to remain functional as a company. Coincidentally, today they announced a new stardock humble bundle.
- Yeah, not Linux but a lot of people picked it up and it works well with Proton.
- Looks like some licensing deal has expired.
- Since we’re on the topic of Proton do this, save time.
- #LGCcares
- Alright, I took a minute to actually play it… WTF.
- Yeah, bayonetta has a very…unique aesthetic. I Like it anyways
- Played it on XBOX years ago and it’s pretty hard.
- Debated grabbing the bayonetta trilogy for switch, but again I’m confident the fucker wouldn’t survive a trip through the wall
Steam: New Games
- It has a demo that works, technically.
- That is one cursed ass-panda
- Space panda and space tiger which barf a track
News:
- Ethan made a fair, damn, point.
- Planetary Annihilation chimes in with the fragmentation mythos.
- Not shipping dependencies != distros are fragmented.
- Ah yes, this old gem.
- Apparently the game runs like ass on Linux anyways which probably indicates a few things highlighted by “In the end they accounted for <0.1% of sales but >20% of auto reported crashes and support tickets (most gfx driver related).”
- Usually what happens when your quality assurance doesn’t have necessary coverage
- Also, if you insist on using a custom engine, get ready to take on all of that technical debt.
- I’ll give it to him that drivers in 2014 on linux weren’t the greatest thing, specially for Intel and AMD and some devs were still learning how to linux like this guy
- Don’t write cheques your butt can’t cash
- How dare people demand value from what they purchase
- Also something that never gets addressed, releasing your game on Linux months or years later.
- By that time it’s been in a bundle or on hella sale so people already have it.
- Then you have the devs from Super Meat Boy and Democracy staunchly defending the other poor indie dev from the mean Linux users pointing out his ineptitude.
- https://twitter.com/bgolus/status/1080544133238800384?s=20
- Now that’s just perfect!
- How you say “womp womp”
- Regardless, the damage is done and the discourse hasn’t changed
- Now that’s just perfect!
- Some fries motherfucker
- I vote no more coverage until it lands in some form or another.
- A fairly comprehensive article about gaming and game development options on linux
- “Oh, and yes, my friend, the Unreal Engine is also available on Linux. I haven’t worked with that engine yet, so I can’t offer any feedback or advice, but if you want to install and run this powerful beast, here’s your starting point.”
- Gotta address this though. If you’re gonna use UE4 on linux for game development you’re going to have a bad time
- 100% this.
- Especially if you think tapping that export button is going to give you something other than binaries that technically launch.
- I pity the first time game dev who looks at this and thinks it’s a good idea. Honestly I think the experience would be more harmful to linux as a development platform if people go in thinking that they’re not going to get a busted experience with Unreal.
- Gotta address this though. If you’re gonna use UE4 on linux for game development you’re going to have a bad time
- Dude took a swipe at XFCE, article is invalid.
- Unity game with an android and windows version
- I suppose it’s simple enough that you could click export to get a mostly functional linux version
CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope
– Not sure if want
– Check it out
– Shutupandtakemymonies
Game: Northguard
Webzone: Northgard
Devel: Shiro Games
Engine: https://github.com/HeapsIO/heaps
Price: £23.79 / US$29.99 / CA$33.99
Wazzat: Northgard is a strategy game based on Norse mythology in which you control a clan of Vikings vying for the control of a mysterious newfound continent.
Mandatory Disclosure: Pennywise bought us copies
Venn:
Does It Launch
- It works great.
- Kidding, no option to adjust resolution or run in a window.
Performance @ 1080
- N/A
- I’m guessing it runs around 60 @2160 but that’s a guess since Steam overlay no worky.
Graphics
- Looks like a nice mobile game.
Control
- WASD, logical.
Jordan:
Does It Launch
- yerp
Performance @ 1080
- I mean, no real issues. Can’t see the ferps cuz of no overlay
Graphics
- Holy UI scaling batman!
- There isn’t really a resolution option. You got fullscreen, which only work if you tick the exclusive box
- No poly resolutions for you
- By default on a UHD screen, the UI isn’t scaled and everything is all itty bitty. You have to set that manually.
Control
- Left click to select, right click to do
- Right click also selects all units of a type from the UI
Pedro:
Does It Launch
- That it does
Performance @ 1080
- It comes with something called automatic VSync.
- Couldn’t tell you what it does differently to regular Sync to VBlank
Graphics
- No resolution options.
- UI scaling isn’t particularly impressive, as text becomes a bit blurry at 2x.
Control
- Rebindable controls and several other options to allow you to scroll the map around.
QA Score:
Fedora:
Soulless:
Ubuntu:
Fun section:
Fun?:
- Venn:
- This is delightfully generic as all hell.
- It went like this.
- Build shit, build more shit, explore, try to keep people happy, colonize, build more shit and you’re two hours in wondering just WTF you should be doing.
- Two hours in I better have the slightest fucking idea what’s going on, I didn’t.
- It has multiplayer but at 6:30 pm on a Saturday a whopping 10 people were playing… in the world.
- I guess it’s kinda like Civ, if Civ was made with crayons, some glue sticks, and a few extra chromosomes.
- If you like games like 0 A.D. keep playing 0 A.D., it’s a better game.
- Sorry not sorry but Northguard left me with nothing more than a frosty hate-boner.
- And apparently the MSRP for hate boners is 29.99.
- Jordan
- They took a 4X game and added some real time elements to it, so you can wait!
- The waiting reduces as you progress, just cuz you have a lot more stuff to do or manage
- Get buildings to get units to gather resources to do more building to get more units
- Also gotta keep your doods happy or they won’t fuck
- However, this is the sort of lonely fun that doesn’t really appeal to me. At least there’s multiplayer
- It’s not like I have any sort of irrational hatred for this game, I personally just don’t find it entertaining
- I can’t really find anything wrong with it beyond it being fairly generic viking game number 87542 and that this particular sort of grindy loop doesn’t appeal to me
- Pedro
- Jordan’s description is perhaps the most fitting.
- It’s a real time 4X with exponentially increasing timers and costs for exploring.
- Which means you’re going to be waiting… a lot!
- But I feel like waiting is not such a bad thing.
- One of the reasons I liked Age of Empires 2 back in the day is because you had plenty of time to do everything.
- Which made me realize, I don’t hate Northgard.
- It’s a strategy game I don’t hate!
- Nothing better to start 2019 than a nice surprise.
Fun Score:
Venn:
Jordan:
Pedro:
Hate Mail:
