LinuxGameCast Weekly 411: UniCron

Steam threatens to invade ChromeOS! Lutris has a hot new release, Dark MOD lives up to its name, and Cyberpunk embraces DX12 over Vulkan.


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Timestamps:
05:38 Steam hardware survey
09:58 Steam on ChromeOS
13:08 7 Days 2 Dire Alpha 19
17:06 Dead Cells update o plenty
19:14 Bonfire Peaks
21:14 Shameless self promotion
25:10 Cyberpunk 2077 DX12 exclusive
27:20 Lutris 0.5.7
29:10 GODOT SDF
31:19 The Dark MOD 2.08
34:49 Atari VCS Missle Command
37:59 Search and rescue II 1.0
41:49 Cadmus
44:38 CHAIRQASITION: Something ate my Alien
57:17 Hate Mail


Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam: News

Still a rounding error

  • Next month will be interesting thanks to Linus, no not that one.
  • Ubuntu and Arch make up the normie mainstream distros.
  • AMD almost hit 30% CPU share.
  • I guess people are starting to ditch their 1060s? AMD is fighting for that 30%
  • It’s gonna be interesting watching all of those mac numbers drop off
  • The RX 480… I still remember when Raja Koduri went up on stage and said 2 of those in cross fire would outperform the GTX 1080.
  • I will keep reminding people of that now he’s working for Intel on the new Xe GPUs.

 

Steamy Chrome

  • It makes sense that google wants their laptops to be able to play games. Maybe they’ll start shipping with more local storage
  • Who knows, maybe a fringe benefit to stadia tanking is we’ll get a bunch of ports for chromeOS?
  • Hey Googs, make a popup informing people their glorified netbook can’t run OBS.
  • Period.
  • Ever.
  • Like, not even a little bit.
  • There are plenty of low-requirement games on Steam, it would be awesome if the option was there.
  • It looks like it will be.

Steam: Game Updates

Alpha 19 B-157

  • We’re running low on perpetual Early Access games but this one is sticking in there.
  • The lighting and textures have improved.
  • Still runs like but unless you give it the Proton poke.
  • What amazes me is how this game seems to be gaining popularity, unlike most of its ilk.

 

The Update of Plenty

  • I do like the change of removing the later game ++ scrolls and S class weapon scrolls
  • Not so much for their removal but because they also make the early game slightly less punishing if you make any mistakes.

Steam: New Games

Bonfire Peaks

  • Apparently, Sokoban, the genre of the game is actually a problem for computers to solve.
  • This one has pretty voxels and lighting
  • Looks like Sword & Sworcery with an extra dimension.

News:

RIP Cyberpunk

  • If you were wondering if it was going to be Windows 10 only.
  • I mean, it’s going to do Vulkan for Stadia and I’m guessing PS4/5 but, yeah.
  • Gotta get that super lucrative windows 7 market you guise

 

Lutris 0.5.7

  • MESS gets the boot in favor of MAME.
  • RPCS3 gets a no-gui option to launch the game without spawning the main RPCS3 window.
  • And apparently, Gallium Nine and DiXVicKs weren’t big fans of each other.
  • Apparently telling RADV to zero out video memory fixes some performance when running DirectX 12 games. Gotta get ready for cyberpunk, right?

 

Global GODOT

  • So this is the result of Epic’s middle finger to Unity
  • It’s pretty sophisticated real time lighting that can be done efficiently on GPU or CPU
  • Godot’s 3D stuff is really starting to come together. I’m excited to see what sorts of games will come out of it
  • That second screenshot showing the global illumination was really neat, until I noticed there is no Ambient Occlusion at all.
  • And since I didn’t immediately notice that, it speaks volumes about said global illumination.

 

Dark Mod 2.08

  • Eat. A. Bag. Of. Dicks.
  • In 2020 it lives up to the name Dark!
  • It managed to nuke all three of my displays.
  • I guess those modern techniques don’t involve not trying to exclusive fullscreen by default in GL contexts, uh?!

 

Atari Missiles

  • Yay Missile Command, that game that everyone loves finally gets that breath of life it desperately deservers
  • I guess it’s something. They have a game apparently.
  • I mean, that does look like something the VCS could run.
  • Still don’t see this thing shipping.

 

Search And Rescue 2 2.5.0

  • Helicopter and plane simulator.
  • Seems odd to be introducing OSX support at this particular point in time, but whatevs.
  • Latest version seems to also be highly focused on wind, it’s effects and toggleability.

 

Zatackax 1.0

  • 10 years old, dude.
  • Particle effects 1.0
  • Explosion on death, that time honoured tradition

 

Real time pulse voice

  • Trying to make something as simple as RTX voice for Linux.
  • RIP clacky keyboards.
  • Comes in a handy appimage. Or an AUR if that’s too hard for you
  • Very simple, very small, very easy to use.

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies


Game: Something Ate My Alien
Devel: Rokabium Games
Engine: Unity
Price: £13.99 / U$16.99 / C$19.49

Wazzat: SAMA is a hand painted, digging and puzzle adventure where you take the role of a mining ship and the little Alien blob crew hijacked by a pirate ship. Your Aliens have to dig, fight and puzzle their way through the subterranean worlds fulfilling the ransom demand. Can you do it?

Mandatory Disclosure: Dev sent us keys



Venn:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • Your controls are backwards, brad.
  • I ended up playing with the PS4 since ABXY mapped better in my brain meats.

Fun?

  • I would like to kick off this session by wishing everyone involved in this game a swift death by fire.
  • I’ve had diggy diggy hole stuck in my head for most of this week.
  • And I’m blaming it on you.
  • Brass tax: You’re a bipedal egg with a mining and pew laser.
  • While you can’t jump, full-metal R2D2 mode is available.
  • Granted, most of your movement will be done via mining because diggy diggy hole.
  • You shoot baddies, collect resources, solve some block puzzles and upgrade yo shite.
  • And none of that has any business being enjoyable… but it is.
  • What we have here is a stealth metroidvania with pretty graphics, a kicking little soundtrack, and the right balance of exploration, resource gathering, and flamy death drago…ahhh, RUN!
  • Seriously, FK that thing.
  • It’s enjoyable and priced to sell at $17.
  • I can give it a solid three but fix your damn controller mapping.
  • That just SCREAMS nobody tested the Linux build with a controller.


Jordan:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • It crashed once during the tutorial, but It did save my progress so I didn’t have to repeat too much
  • Holds 1100Ferps @UHD.
  • All the blocks and sprites are clear, everything has a clear visual identity
  • It does all look the same, but that’s kind of the point of navigation puzzles
  • Xbox prompts on my dualshock. Le sigh

Fun?

  • The exploration aspect of this game is alright. No direct routes, lots of branching and intersecting pathways
  • And then you run out of jet fuel and plummet to your death
  • Honestly, the spaces you have to navigate are tight enough that letting you hover indefinitely probably wouldn’t impact gameplay balance
  • Beyond that, it’s basically just a terraria style game, minus all the building and crafting
  • I’m usually not a fan of those, but taking those elements out doesn’t seem to do this game too many favours

Pedro:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • It launched out of the box.
  • It was hitting somewhere between 1100 and 1300 FerPS with VSync disabled.
  • Enabling VSync brought that down to 144 as it should
  • Very good work with the audio queues and subverting some of the established visual ones.
  • Like skeletons in the ground.
  • I had to rebind all the keyboard buttons, but then again I have to do that with just about every single game out there, so…

Fun?

  • On many an occasion I complained that the game under the chairs had no charm at all.
  • Once again, I have to admit that it is a game aimed at children that gets just about everything right while still offering plenty of charm.
  • It also has a tiny HUD window which shows the last thing the AI explained to you.
  • It makes you pay attention to the HUD and actively use it, which in comparison to many other games is an actual improvement.
  • It also introduces natural break points by having you take a teleporter back to the ship when your backpack is at maximum weight or space capacity.
  • The puzzles are simple and for the most part, everything is on screen allowing you everything you need to solve them.
  • Why is it always the kid oriented games which get this stuff right?

Verdict:

Venn:
Jordan:
Pedro:


Hate Mail:

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