Linux Game Cast 562: Ragu Poisoning

Linux Game Jam 2023 is open for submissions! Steam pulls the plug on Dolphin EMU, AMD Radeon RX 7600 reviews are meh, Portal Reloaded is getting co-op, toon shaders for Neverwinter Nights, and drifting in a cruise ship because reasons.

Special thanks to:
Kyjorei – Driver of Screws, Mystery K+M switch, 24c
YouthInAsia (new patron)
Grahf (new patron)
Nubbn (36mo resub)

Listen:

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:00 Compelling repairs
03:57 Emergency line ride
06:18 Hammertime
STEAM NEWS
07:28 Notes for the Steam Deck
NEW GAMES
09:18 Talos Principal 2 for Linux?
12:56 Summer Trip Cruise
GAME UPDATES
15:26 Portal Reloaded co-op
17:42 Neverwinter toon shader
21:04 Hero Siege
NEWS
29:06 RX7600 reviews
32:04 Just buy a 3060Ti
33:56 Dolphin EMU removed from Steam
43:02 Linux Game Jam 2023
44:50 Building an open-source game company
REVIEW
57:26 Wee Tanks!
HATE MAIL
01:01:29 Paying Forwards

Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam: News

Notes on Deck

Fixed an issue with adding flatpaks as non-Steam shortcuts.
Smol mode now matches the non-beta client.
Challenge note taking.
Depending on the games you’re into, the notes bit is a very powerful tool.
That said, the wireless random disconnect and then failing to reconnect with the wi-fi power save enabled is back.
Still unable to scroll on a 12-core Threadripper.

Steam: New Games

Robo laser show 2

I do hope we see this on Linux.
Could use an updated benchmark.
I doubt there will be a Linux version after Sam 4 never came
And I hope the puzzles feel less like a chore on this one.
We know croteam likes Vulkan so it’ll probably run fine on wine
It is kinda sad we’re likely not going to get a serious engine 4 port to linux.
Maybe one day someone will dump the code.

Summer Trip Cruise

Developed by Gius Caminiti a Spanish gamedev youtuber.
Watching the videos on his channel and the sick boat drifts he pulls off all had Dave Rodger’s Deja Vu playing in the back of my head.
So titanic simulator.
I want to jump ramps with a cruise ship.

Steam: Game Updates

Portal Reloaded co-op

Now one person controls the time portal and the other person controls the space portals.
The plan is to launch this summer.
You can play with it by selecting the public testing branch.
They highly recommend that at least one person play through the single campaign first.
- ……pffffft!
20 new puzzles.
I look forward to this new series.

Never toon nights

8 way multi class brings you one step closer to fully embodying Pun-Pun in NWN
- Fuck, now I’m really nostalgic for some 3.5 D&D.
- Anyone up for a game?
Toon shaders!
This patch was made by community members.
Edit …steamapps/common/Neverwinter Nights/ovr/ruleset.2da and search for multiclass.
Then change it from 3 to 8 and you’re good to go.
This changes the game just enough that it might justify yet another playthrough.

Hero Siege Update (2.0)

It’s a big rework of a lot of backend systems
All the classes are getting redesigned
Abilities are changing from passive focus to active focus
New environment art
Server’s are being broken up into regions.
You get one free migration then you gotta pay

News:

7600 Reviews

So the short version is that it’s better than than the 6600/6650 but the 4060ti still curbs it in DX12
They used to throw in a strange brigade bench to at least demo the Vulkan numbers but no such luck this time
The big takeaway is that both the 7600 and 4060 will trade blows with the Arc 750.
A GPU made to compete with last-gen offerings.
AMD changed the MSRP at the very last minute to $269 instead of $299
I guess we know how much the 4060 is going to cost and how much faster they expect it to be.
Looks like the smart move is to buy a used 3060 Tie?

DolphMCA

https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/13ss1o9/comment/jlry1kq/

Nintendo issued a DMCA against Dolphin’s Steam page?
NOPE? https://mastodon.delroth.net/@delroth/110440301402516214
How… Nintendo of them.
The DCMA letter sent to Valve cites the anti-circumvention language of the DMCA and specifically claims that “the Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime.
According to the Reddit thread, Nintendo is technically in the right as Dolphin is using illegally distributed decryption keys
- Ie how yuzu, pcsxr2 and the like require you to provide a bios and thus circumvent this
It’s still fucking stupid . Someone recommended this and I like it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Flag

Game jam 2023

Any engine but you must have a Linux build.
No theme and you can make sexy time games.
- They do have some suggested prompts such as orange, fractal, conduit, occupy and fire
Bonus points for being open-source but not a requirement.
Live from time of recording until June 5
Looks like there’s a couple of submissions already.

Open-source game company

Dude got burned out working for facebook and stripe and decided to make a game company
Their stack is javascript, which is fine for a pixel game like athena crisis, and makes sure that it can run on anything that can run a browser
The game itself kinda reminds me of advance wars, but they’re saying that there’s going to be ranked multiplayer too
Don’t describe your own characters as likable, that’s just giving assholes like me ammunition.
Best of luck out there, it’s awesome to see people coming out from under Zuck’s clutches.

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope
– Not sure if want
– Check it out
– Shutupandtakemymonies

Game: Wee Tanks!
Webzone: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1797680/Wee_Tanks/
Devel: Studio Kit
Engine: Unity
Price: £7.99 / $9.99 / $11.49

Wazzat: Welcome to Wee Tanks! Control a cute tank, destroy hundreds of enemies across maps and modes. With explosive battles and endless fun. Gear up and show those enemies who’s boss!

Mandatory Disclosure: Dev sent us keys on Curator Connect

Venn:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

Performance drops off a cliff after you go past 1080p.
Struggling to hit 60 in the menu at 1440p on nice but we’re seeing 120’ish at 2160p in game.
Navigating the menu with the controller can be challenging.
Graphics are alright for what it is.
Cheerful soundtrack.

Fun?

How many of you visited Tanky Town?
I ran across whateverthehell that was whilst looking for FPT mode.
FPT mode is hidden behind unlocking an achievement.
Shit like that doesn’t encourage people to play your game, quite the opposite.
I played through the first few levels of the campaign on Adult mode.
Nothing groundbreaking, but the AI is not completely pants on head so that’s nice.
Got killed to death and had to do some regular ordinary human things.
When I came back I went to continue from the checkpoint.
Checkpoints are dispersed in intervals of 10.
Wild, damn, guess how many stages I had completed.
Rolled around in survival mode. Waves of tanks, pew pew pew.
Anyway, we played multiplayer DM and teams last week in the aftershowzen and had a blast.
If you have $40 to pick up a copy for you and a couple of friends go for it, good times to be had.
Servers are empty at 4PM on a Saturday and I can’t recommend buying it to play in forever alone mode.
Also, performance issues need to be addressed.

Jordan:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

Launcghes OOTB
The graphics are pretty basic, but you probably don’t want a lot of whoosh with 16 people on the map and their bullets
Manages to hold 60 @1080
Controller worked OOTB and everything is sanely mapped
However I was getting p1s input being duplicated on p2 when you do couch

Fun?

This is another one of those games whose fun is purely determined by the number of people you can get playing
This supports up to 4 players locally and 16 people online, so you can get some pretty good chaos going
Forever alone mode is a bit of a sadder story
There are a series of challenges that you gotta do. Ever 10 you complete gives you a checkpoint otherwise you gotta start from the last checkpoint
That’s kinda it. There are workshop levels that can give you a bit more variety, but not much
It’s a “live service’ style game so it wants you to log on daily and unlock stuff as you go, but it isn’t super obnoxious. You just get cosmetics and level editor stuff
But yeah, you need friends to play this.

Pedro:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

Launches out of the box on the desktop and the Deck
It has a frame limiter but it seems to actually slow down the engine itself.
Use gamescope or MangoHUD to limit the FerPS instead.
It also doesn’t seem to be able to hold steady at any of the limits.
Not that it matters much, the physics don’t seem to be tied to the framerate.
Which is very good!
Controllers work out of the box and you can rebind all the buttons and all the keys.

Fun?

The proverbial meat on these potatoes is very much the multiplayer.
With that said, there’s enough single player here to get you to be “that person” in multiplayer games.
The one who knows all the in and outs, but somehow still manages to lose track of his bouncy shots and wrecks themselves.
It is chaos in a tiny little wooden box and I actually enjoy landing the extremely unlikely shot from across the map.
If you have a group of people to play games with regularly, Wee Tanks! is a solid recommendation.
If you prefer the forever alone mode… like yours truly, then it will be a bit more limited.
If I had to make a complaint is that it needs more modes.
Not saying a soccer mode specifically, but something like that and the usual suspects.
Like capture the flag or adventure mode, where you’d be going across a larger map in little missions.
There’s a lot of potential for growth here.

Verdict:

Venn:
Jordan:
Pedro:

Hate Mail:

Thanks