Wishlist for Porting Projects (Pt. 2)

[admax88]

Is IL-2 Sturmovik still a possibility? Am I the only one interested in it?

For those unfamiliar, IL-2 is an awesome WW2 combat flight sim. The physics and damage model are very impressive and the gameplay, which not as fast paced as the quake style games is very fun and addictive.

[Licaon]

I've asked the makers of the newly announced Pioneering: http://www.huntersofkentucky.com/about.html about the possibility of a Linux version:Any information on what renderer type ( DirectX/OpenGL ) and operating system ( Windows/Linux/Mac OS X ) the game will run on ?

I'm interested on the possibility of a Linux native version.
Answer:At the moment Pioneering will require Direct X9 and will run only on windows XP and Vista. Unfortunately we do not have any plans for a linux version of our title at this moment,

Darren
Pioneering, Producer

But i'm just a player, not a dev. ;)

[penguin_from_hell]

What about the indie game "Castle Crashers"?
I saw a video on youtube yesterday and that game looks really awesome. Mabye something to boost up usage of penguin play?

greets

[dashcloud]

What about the indie game "Castle Crashers"?
I saw a video on youtube yesterday and that game looks really awesome. Mabye something to boost up usage of penguin play?

greets

Is that the same Castle Crashers that was on Xbox 360? If so, could be a bit tricky.

[richi902]

what about blue-bytes the settlers-3 or 4?

[penguin_from_hell]

Is that the same Castle Crashers that was on Xbox 360? If so, could be a bit tricky.

Yep. But it looks like the dev's will get a ps3 port done within the next year as well.

www.castlecrashers.com (http://www.castlecrashers.com)

[wirrbeltier]

If the "being looked into" for Fallout 1&2 turned out to get more realistic, i'd love to seeArcanum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcanum:_Of_Steamworks_and_Magick_Obscura) also ported, because it mainly uses the same graphics engine (see Review (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/arcanum-of-steamworks-magick-obscura/reviews/reviewerId,44055/)), and IMHO has one of the best written storys and scenarios along computer RPGs.
Victorian-age steampunk, a great load of details all along and the beautiful soundtrack all combine to a nice game, would love to see this running natively on Linux :)

[Svartalf]

As an update, I was rather snowed under at work for the last little bit...

I'll be going through the list and there's a few efforts starting on some of the picks in the list that will get announced as the results of the inquiries come back.

[Svartalf]

If the "being looked into" for Fallout 1&2 turned out to get more realistic, i'd love to seeArcanum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcanum:_Of_Steamworks_and_Magick_Obscura) also ported, because it mainly uses the same graphics engine (see Review (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/arcanum-of-steamworks-magick-obscura/reviews/reviewerId,44055/)), and IMHO has one of the best written storys and scenarios along computer RPGs.
Victorian-age steampunk, a great load of details all along and the beautiful soundtrack all combine to a nice game, would love to see this running natively on Linux :)

Heh... Arcanum would be nice. However, I'm not wholly sure who to start asking about that one. Would it be Activision-Blizzard who I think owns the publishing rights? What happened when Troika imploded? Lots of questions. I'll place this one in the "Looking Into" pile for now- but keep in mind that if it's A-B that controls it's fate, it's a coin-flip as to whether it'd happen.

[Svartalf]

Is IL-2 Sturmovik still a possibility? Am I the only one interested in it?

IL-2 Sturmovik's nice. Ubisoft's got the publication rights and 1C's still around, I believe. ;) It'll be put on the "maybe" list for now and as I get through the ones in progress, I'll see if we're getting enough traction elswehere to see if we can make a go at that one as well.

[L33F3R]

As an update, I was rather snowed under at work for the last little bit...

I'll be going through the list and there's a few efforts starting on some of the picks in the list that will get announced as the results of the inquiries come back.

holy crap hes alive

[xav1r]

Hey Svartalf, glad to read your posts here again. Did you get my last msg? Any new findings??

[Svartalf]

holy crap hes alive

Heh... I've been wondering that myself for the last 3-5 weeks...trying to get a high-availability system working right for something on the order of 5-10k worth of systems out in the field without breaking them worse than the old H-A design did is...'fun'...

I didn't abandon anything- just got so busy I didn't know if I was coming or going there for a bit.

[Svartalf]

Hey Svartalf, glad to read your posts here again. Did you get my last msg? Any new findings??

Yeah, got it. Nothing new...yet...should be getting more sometime next week or so, I'm hoping.

[whizse]

Eets (http://www.eetsgame.com/) and upcoming Shank (http://shankgame.com/) from Klei Entertainment (http://kleientertainment.com/).

[eXlin]

Empire: Total War or upcoming Napoleon: Total War would be awesome.
I'm big fan of total war series.

Same goes for car games from Bugbear Entertainment.

[whizse]

Captain Forever
http://www.captainforever.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1IQBR6cyrs

[L33F3R]

Captain Forever
http://www.captainforever.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1IQBR6cyrs

modular construction haxism. I like it.

[whizse]

Somebody mentioned this on the LGP blog: Torchlight (http://www.torchlightgame.com/), uses OGRE.

[Svartalf]

Somebody mentioned this on the LGP blog: Torchlight (http://www.torchlightgame.com/), uses OGRE.

Slick looking game. Added to the looking into list. :D

[geamandura]

Svartalf,

Harvest - Massive Encounter (http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/) is made by a small Swedish team. Small == friendly here, as observed on their forums. It's a 2D defense with excellent graphics and concepts.

SunAge (http://www.vertex4.com/sunage/) is some Austrian indie 2D strategy in the style of Starcraft. Has excellent graphics. Maybe indie == friendly, I don't know.

Motorm4x (http://www.easyco-games.com/games.html scroll down) is a Czech indie extreme truck driving game that looks very good. Released a year ago. I have a hint that the team is friendly because upon release I sent them a mail asking about availability. They have instantly replied, detailing a whole story about how they either got screwed over or couldn't find a good distribution worldwide.

[L33F3R]

MOTORM4X uses ogre to the best of my knowledge.

[xpander]

MOTORM4X uses ogre to the best of my knowledge.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
SpeedTree 4 RT license (Over 5.000 trees in one area)
Superior Car Physics
Shader-based car paint and water with Fresnel
Vertex and Pixel Shaders (Shader Model 2.0 required)
Postproduction filters and motion blur
Dynamic Grass and other effects (such as falling leafs)
Based on ingenious Ogre engine
Game runs on our own custom Vampire engine

--------------------------------

yep, based on Ogre Engine

[Apopas]

MOTORM4X uses ogre to the best of my knowledge.
n their forums they said, the Linux option is closed. I don't know what they mean though and it's a very interesting game.

[geamandura]

SunAge (http://www.vertex4.com/sunage/) is some Austrian indie 2D strategy in the style of Starcraft. Has excellent graphics. Maybe indie == friendly, I don't know.

Great news, it seems they are receptive. I launched the proposition to collaborate with LGP, in an email to Vertex4. Roman, the CEO, answered saying he's interested and he asks more details. Svartalf, will you take over? I'll send the details in a PM.

[Setlec]

I suppose that all LA's (Lucas Arts) games are not portable at all, right? I was thinking about "Indiana Jones and the emperor's tomb".

Cheers

[Apopas]

Great news, it seems they are receptive. I launched the proposition to collaborate with LGP, in an email to Vertex4. Roman, the CEO, answered saying he's interested and he asks more details. Svartalf, will you take over? I'll send the details in a PM.
Most of the reviews I read for this game say it's mediocre.

[geamandura]

It seems SunAge was rushed to being published, maybe because of the publisher? But since launch, they did release many patches for it.

Anyway here's how it looks:
http://static.computergames.ro/cg/assassin/images2/sunage/sunage067.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CUAtMelfo

And a fair review:
http://computergames.ro/en/games/viewitem/id/660/name/sunage/section/review.html

[Apopas]

It seems SunAge was rushed to being published, maybe because of the publisher? But since launch, they did release many patches for it.

Anyway here's how it looks:
http://static.computergames.ro/cg/assassin/images2/sunage/sunage067.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CUAtMelfo

And a fair review:
http://computergames.ro/en/games/viewitem/id/660/name/sunage/section/review.html

Yeah the graphics are neat.
The multiplayer mode is ready?

[geamandura]

Yes, it is.

[L33F3R]

interesting game. :D

Like a pimped out starcrack.

[DavidNielsen]

Great news, it seems they are receptive. I launched the proposition to collaborate with LGP, in an email to Vertex4. Roman, the CEO, answered saying he's interested and he asks more details. Svartalf, will you take over? I'll send the details in a PM.

That game looks well thought out, fun and beautiful. It seems to have a believable world which is important to me.

My one problem with their website is that the trailer is hosted on a 3rd party site and every download link 404's and flash is not an option for me.

I would preorder, payment upfront, a Linux version of this one. That is how cool that game looks and how much I desire it on my Foresight desktop.

[gforum]

great stuff that game looks real nice, gotta love rts!
and indie studios!

:D

[geamandura]

I would preorder, payment upfront, a Linux version of this one. That is how cool that game looks and how much I desire it

Me too!

Roman, the CEO of Vertex4, answered again. He'll wait for Svartalf to get in contact and he politely said my contact-establishing effort is appreciated. That made me feel warm and I just started liking this company :)

Let's see what Svartalf thinks.

[L33F3R]

he politely said my contact-establishing effort is appreciated. That made me feel warm and I just started liking this company :)

doesnt it feel good to do something good? If we all pitched in a few dollars to help facilitate the development of games on our platform to begin with. We would not be in this predicament. :D

[gforum]

you should always help where possible!

i myself have been making a considerable push in the paradox forums for our(hopefully) EU-engine ports/conversions over there...
and i believe we might actually make it this time around.

maybe even whole EU3 ports, if Svartalf can explain that a mac port is nearly a linux port.(and they listen/understand of course)


:p

always do that guys, GET THAT BUNNY!

or something like that, :D


cheers

[sobkas]

I think that Osmos is a good bet. They actually want to port it, onto other platforms, but I think that they probably lacks manpower for now.

http://www.hemispheregames.com/faq/#plat_release

[L33F3R]

igf winner. its a good call.

[bugmenot]

I think that Osmos is a good bet. They actually want to port it, onto other platforms, but I think that they probably lacks manpower for now.

http://www.hemispheregames.com/faq/#plat_release

^ I will second this. Also, it may be worth looking into is a game called "The Void"(1) by Ice-pick Lodge(2). Also, their earlier game "Pathologic"(3) may be of some interest.

(1) http://www.tension-game.com/index_en.php
(2) http://ice-pick.com/index_eng.htm
(3) http://www.pathologic-game.com/eng_index.htm

But, seeing as it's Atari I suppose it's a lost cause...

[Apopas]

Age of Decadence is a rather promising RPG which uses the Torque Game Engine and has neat graphics. It is a true RPG, not a hack n slash one and while its creators are rather friendly towards Linux, a Linux port has not been confirmed yet. They say, actually, that they will try to make it possible and find someone to port it. Ofcourse this means that Linux port will come (much?) later than windows and possibly till then, the users will play it with wine etc etc...
I believe such games could be more profitable than older ports and hell if LGP could make the port and release it simultaneously with the windows version and arrange an agreement to even sell it in plastic instead of the just digital download of the windows port, well that would be an extreme advtantage!

Age of Decadence (http://lgn.linux-hardcore.com/age-of-the-decadence/)

[ZyanKLee]

As I missed the 2nd part of this questionaire yesterday, I'll repeat my question here:

What about ...

* X: Beyond the Frontier
* X-Tension
* X³: Terran Conflict

?

[rhdunn]

I know PopCap have been mentioned (yay!), and if it would be possible to get the engine working on Linux so future titles work that would be awesome (Bejeweled 2, Peggle and Plants vs Zombies are awesome :D).

Has anyone mentioned other casual game titles/producers/distributors (I know Puzzle Quest has been mentioned). It would be great if Oberon Media, Big Fish Games, the YoudaGames and others distributed games that work on Linux.

I have been playing games distributed by Oberon Media in Wine with about a 50% success rate, but their launcher (and thus purchasing/registration) does not work well. It has gotten progressively worse to the point where I cannot register the new games anymore.

FWIU, the YoudaGames are written in flash, so it should be easy to create the launcher for them (and any other casual games that are flash-based).

[gilboa]

As I missed the 2nd part of this questionaire yesterday, I'll repeat my question here:

What about ...

* X: Beyond the Frontier
* X-Tension
* X³: Terran Conflict

?

I doubt that LGP will port XB and XT (Too old, X2 and X3:R were already ported).
As for X3TC, in theory it was next in line when LGP finished porting X3:R (Back in Nov/08) - especially given the fact that both share the same engine, lower the cost of possible port.
However, thus far, LGP has been rather tight lipped about it with nothing official either way.

Given the fact that there's no official word on how well (or bad) X3:R/Linux sales were and/or how forthcoming Egosoft is (royalties wise), I'm not overly optimistic at the moment.

- Gilboa

[alazyworkaholic]

I'm curious - is there a website (& if not why hasn't it been done with all the commitment statements I've seen) with a list of (serious) potential porting projects that could be undertaken with a good chunk of cash, while offering a way to contribute to that? I'm thinking of an escrow account that could take thousands of ~$10 donations or ~$25 pre-orders (or something like that) to be paid out for the purchase of porting rights. I imagine it would have to be set up so that participants can withdraw their money from the fund if they want prior to the rights purchase, & also be able to select & give priority to which game-rights pools they're cash could contribute to. (so someone who wants to see crysis on Linux doesn't see their money "wasted" on a casual game they don't care about, & vice versa)
I'm no lawyer, but I imagine legal precautions that are necessary to prevent misuse of the money exist. Maybe LGP could coordenate it, or a third party who would hire independent porters; the cost of paying for the actual work of the port could be part of it or not - so long as I'd get the game & could take my money out of the fund if the whole idea seemed to fizzle (or I just wanted it back prior to it being committed).
I bet Linux gaming is widely seen as a small, risky, unproven market, & it'll probably grow faster if it's possible for us to pull games into it rather than hoping that LGP & others will be willing to take their chances with it. We'd get the games we want, the developers get their money, Linux gets better. What do you think?

[RealNC]

Is it just me, or nothing useful has come out of this thread? None of the games are ported, just people add new ones they want...

[penguin_from_hell]

@Svartalf:
You can remove Aquaria from the "Being Looked Into"-List. It already get's ported by Ryan.

[jonwil]

I dont know all that much about the games industry but I suspect a "donation drive"/"escrow account" idea (where we crowd-source the raising of enough money to get <title popular with/desired by the linux crowd> ported to Linux) wouldn't work.
Money-up-front alone is likely not going to be enough to convince a publisher/developer its worth porting an AAA title to Linux (or allowing a 3rd party to port) although its a start.

Some of the reasons publishers may reject a linux port even WITH money-up-front:
Lack of DRM on the linux platform (with the kernel and libraries open source, its pretty much impossible to implement the kinds of CD based or hardware based copy protection that many publishers are using on Windows)
Concern about IP (i.e. can those doing the port be trusted not to leak the source code)
Concern about quality (e.g. they may be worried about a poorly-made port appearing that devalues the title or franchise as a whole)
Issues with updates and making sure Linux patches appear at the same time as Windows patches (especially relavent for things like MMOs)

[Naib]

Torchlight!!!!

Seriously! it is using an engine which is linux-native and it is coming to the Mac so most of the work is done

please lobby this to happen
This game is great!

[MAXX]

Aye, I'd also definitely like to see Torchlight.

[Svartalf]

@Svartalf:
You can remove Aquaria from the "Being Looked Into"-List. It already get's ported by Ryan.

/me nods...

Been a bit more swamped than I'd envisioned (YOU try mounting a Civil case against someone sometime...it's not fun or easy, especially if there's qualified immunity involved...). I should get the list updated tomorrow when I get a window of time up at work.

[Svartalf]

Is it just me, or nothing useful has come out of this thread? None of the games are ported, just people add new ones they want...

Heh... I'm in talks with a few of the ones in this thread and Caster DID come out of this. Things DO take time- especially when it's not the day job and I had some...fun...a while back in the Courts that's not wholly over with yet. No, nothing involving all of this- just...something else with another venture and it wasn't my problem, it was something someone else caused.

[pvtcupcakes]

Aye, I'd also definitely like to see Torchlight.

For people who don't know, there is a thread in the Torchlight forums asking for a Linux port.

It's mostly 8 pages of newly registered members with one post supporting the Linux version.

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=901

[Svartalf]

For people who don't know, there is a thread in the Torchlight forums asking for a Linux port.

It's mostly 8 pages of newly registered members with one post supporting the Linux version.

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=901

Added to the list formally as a front-runner looking into item. :D

For the rest, I'm going back through the thread and updating the list proper and contacting a few of the studios for the titles on the "looking into" list over the next week or so. We'll see what comes of some of it.

[Svartalf]

Updated: List items.

Added a few to the looking into list- I'll add more from the threads (seems there's also a few stragglers over in the original thread...). I've got a few inquiries out already and planning on adding a few more to the mix here shortly. In another couple of days I intend on updating the list further and probably starting a new thread. Hopefully, I'll have the close on another deal here shortly on one of the top items in the looking into list.

[pvtcupcakes]

Hopefully, I'll have the close on another deal here shortly on one of the top items in the looking into list.

Any hints on what that may be?

Or do you mean literally the top of the looking into list? Natural Selection 2 maybe?

[disi]

Did you guys see my post in the other thread about Populous?
I figured this is the newer thread :mad:

[whizse]

Populous is owned by EA now? That could be a problem?

[disi]

Oh, I just checked damn them : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous

for "the Beginning" as well -.- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous:_The_Beginning

[Svartalf]

Oh, I just checked damn them : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous

for "the Beginning" as well -.- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous:_The_Beginning

Sadly, odds aren't good for either right at the moment. To be sure, they registered new trademarks on "Populous" and a few of their other back-catalog franchises. Odds are good they're going to be doing something with Populous and it's going to make it that much harder. Which stinks- I liked Populous, Populous2, and Populous3.

[Aradreth]

Serious Sam HD. Need I say more? :D


http://www.serioussamhd.com/
http://www.croteam.com/
http://www.devolverdigital.com/

Edit: Or would be eating into Ryan's territory as he ported the first two...

[whizse]

Serious Sam 2 never got out any further than beta form, so I would guess Croteam lost interest in Linux?

[penguin_from_hell]

I went through the list of games available at gog.com a few minutes ago, and i think "Evil Genius" would be a really cool port.

Never played that game before, but that basebuilding, similar to dungean keeper, within a "Austin Powers"-like Szenario sounds great to me. ;-)

[MAXX]

I just discovered Zombie Driver (http://www.moddb.com/games/zombie-driver/news/zombie-driver-is-now-available). It's a "kill zombies with a car" game and it's using the OGRE engine. it looks pretty nice.

[Naib]

I went through the list of games available at gog.com a few minutes ago, and i think "Evil Genius" would be a really cool port.

Never played that game before, but that basebuilding, similar to dungean keeper, within a "Austin Powers"-like Szenario sounds great to me. ;-)

its an epic game!! I do like to install it now and again to play
you end up wasting soo much time just trying to setup you ultimate traproute

[bugmenot]

@maxx: The guys that created zombie driver said they will port it to linux

" What's next for Exor Studios after your first release?
... Besides that we would like to create Linux and Mac ports and ... "

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/27/interview-we-chat-with-exor-studios-about-zombie-driver-two/

[whizse]

@maxx: The guys that created zombie driver said they will port it to linux

" What's next for Exor Studios after your first release?
... Besides that we would like to create Linux and Mac ports and ... "

http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/27/interview-we-chat-with-exor-studios-about-zombie-driver-two/

From their forum: (http://www.exorstudios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1179&p=4053)
"We would want to do it, so there is a chance... but I don't know if it will happen or when. Sorry"

So it seems to be up in the air. Having an actually programmer willing to do the port would change things I expect.

[MAXX]

The interview also states this: "Besides that we would like to create Linux and Mac ports and of course bring the game to XBLA and PSN but that depends also on our partners.", so I'm uncertain whether the partners is only connected to XBox-live and PSN, but they could also refer to Mac and Linux with that. It surely couldn't hurt if someone would have a talk with them.

[ad_267]

How about Natural Selection 2 (http://www.naturalselection2.com/)? It seems kind of similar to Tremulous with a commander mode like Savage.

It isn't released yet, but their FAQ says:
We will initially release NS2 on Windows (through our web-site and through Steam). After that we plan to bring it to the Mac and the Xbox 360. Maybe even Linux.

[L33F3R]

its not going to come. I can pretty much assure you that. They have a "they will just use wine" mentality.

[King InuYasha]

its not going to come. I can pretty much assure you that. They have a "they will just use wine" mentality.

Wine is one of the best and worst things to happen to Linux.

It seems we are only in a slightly better position than OS/2 was a little more than a decade ago.

[Svartalf]

How about Natural Selection 2 (http://www.naturalselection2.com/)? It seems kind of similar to Tremulous with a commander mode like Savage.

It isn't released yet, but their FAQ says:

Heh... If you look at the list on page 1...they're on it.

[Svartalf]

its not going to come. I can pretty much assure you that. They have a "they will just use wine" mentality.

How do you know this, L33F3R? I didn't see evidence of that, save from the Windows users mouthing off, over in their forum when I was over there a while back. Maybe I missed something in the Forums, but unless I've got proof from them, all your post amounts to is cynicism.

As for efforts... I've got the close on another one from the list (not the one of discussion) in progress right now. I hope to be in contact with them shortly to actually find out if there's a prospect there or not.

[ad_267]

Heh... If you look at the list on page 1...they're on it.

Oops, don't know how I missed that. Sorry!

[L33F3R]

How do you know this, L33F3R? I didn't see evidence of that, save from the Windows users mouthing off, over in their forum when I was over there a while back. Maybe I missed something in the Forums, but unless I've got proof from them, all your post amounts to is cynicism.

you are partly correct. I just get a bad vibe when i read up the ranks. People who know whats going on, but dont really give a shit, when what we truly need is people to give a shit. Lets assume for a second that they do make it out the door, its going to be windows first. Nothing new on that front. Then the focus is on mac and linux respectively, ahh no. after 360 that is. After all it amounts to the next largest market doesn't it? Heck it would be alot easier to port in many respects. Then mac is next it seems.

But what rly tips the boat, is all the linux users who already paid for it. They are betting on a linux version of the game and in the meantime using wine. In the meantime using wine? Now a big chunk of the potential market has already paid for it.

Cynicism maybe, but its justified to an extent. Memories of UT3 dont help much either. As i recall they were going to port unrealED and stuff as well. This is just too similar to what happened with EPIC. Resulting action is me putting my best foot behind a brick wall. Svartalf if it was you behind it, the story would be different. Unfortunately nothing is in stone at this point, at least not to my knowledge.

[ZedDB]

As i posted in the last wish list thread:
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showpost.php?p=48968&postcount=1
I think that the NS2 devs are quite open to a linux port. As imo is indicated in this post that i linked before:
http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/forums/index.php?showtopic=104522&view=findpost&p=1684238

[Apopas]

As for efforts... I've got the close on another one from the list (not the one of discussion) in progress right now. I hope to be in contact with them shortly to actually find out if there's a prospect there or not.

Cool! Keep us informed :D

[joeelmex]

Why not msg blizzard and ask if you can make a port of World of Warcraft. There are so many of us playing and paying their game,

[Svartalf]

Why not msg blizzard and ask if you can make a port of World of Warcraft. There are so many of us playing and paying their game,

Heh... I wish... Let me get a few more wins under my belt and I might just try- but for now, they're kinda out of reach considering the publisher HAD an unofficial version for Linux that they axed.

[Svartalf]

you are partly correct. I just get a bad vibe when i read up the ranks. People who know whats going on, but dont really give a shit, when what we truly need is people to give a shit. Lets assume for a second that they do make it out the door, its going to be windows first. Nothing new on that front. Then the focus is on mac and linux respectively, ahh no. after 360 that is. After all it amounts to the next largest market doesn't it? Heck it would be alot easier to port in many respects. Then mac is next it seems.

Don't fault them for what they think will work better for themselves- mainly because we're just an unknown. I got to talking with a different studio first because they were one of the IGF winners this year and it'd be a fairly easy deal to get a Linux version out with what I'd heard they'd done to get the game working overall. Plus it'd make a pretty decent Android/Maemo/Bada/Pandora/Angstrom game to sell as well once there was some tuning/optimization of the physics code done.

Right now, I've got a bit of dickering with them to do on my compensation for my efforts and a smidge of a change on one of their agreements and the deal will be done. Once I get the code in hand and produce some decent packaging for what they've done, I can actually talk with the NS2 team next- and they're the front-runner for the next deal I'll try to close since they're very amenable to it from what I understand, much like the studio I'm dealing with right now.


But what rly tips the boat, is all the linux users who already paid for it. They are betting on a linux version of the game and in the meantime using wine. In the meantime using wine? Now a big chunk of the potential market has already paid for it.


No... Only a PART of the potential market, part of the ones they knew would buy a Linux version have went WINE- you already said something in the forums, so have I... There's a GOOD reason I keep saying WINE's a band-aid and it hurts us as much as it helps. However, I think you're understating the potential market more than it really is... ;) I understand the reason, I just don't think it's as bad as you think it is.


Cynicism maybe, but its justified to an extent. Memories of UT3 dont help much either. As i recall they were going to port unrealED and stuff as well. This is just too similar to what happened with EPIC. Resulting action is me putting my best foot behind a brick wall. Svartalf if it was you behind it, the story would be different. Unfortunately nothing is in stone at this point, at least not to my knowledge.

No, you're right there. Nothing is set in stone- yet. And it's going to be too similar "to what happened with EPIC" for words for a while yet to come- and yet it isn't if you play your cards right on things.

Believe me when I say the Indies are ALL looking at Linux now because of World of Goo and Caster3D... We showed them we're starving for games, there's a BUNCH of us (more than the Windows crowd in many cases, believe it or not...), and we're fiercely loyal right at the moment for ANYONE that does a Linux version of their game. I'm getting told this quite a bit of late, actually. They may not do one for bias reasons, or for lack of knowing anything about doing development for Linux, but they're all at least passingly giving it consideration.

[L33F3R]

well few people know as much about this kind of stuff as you do ;). When you give us the thumbs up i will be 1 happy L33F3R. Until then its probably best to keep a conservative outlook with progressive thinking. A major factor comes into play, and thats that UW is an indie and EPIC, doesn't really need Linux. This day and age it would almost be stupid for an independent to ignore Linux as a potential market after recent successes as you state. Those fancy charts and slices of pie are working towards us. :D

[Apopas]

... and thats that UW is an indie and EPIC, doesn't really need Linux.
Yeah but if they continue like this, soon enough are going to need every penny they can collect...

[Svartalf]

well few people know as much about this kind of stuff as you do ;). When you give us the thumbs up i will be 1 happy L33F3R. Until then its probably best to keep a conservative outlook with progressive thinking. A major factor comes into play, and thats that UW is an indie and EPIC, doesn't really need Linux. This day and age it would almost be stupid for an independent to ignore Linux as a potential market after recent successes as you state. Those fancy charts and slices of pie are working towards us. :D

Indeed they are. Conservative's cool. Mildly cynical's even that. if you want my take on things.

We've had promises made before in the past only to have one of the main players we believed in fall through on them (...and we're still not sure what in the heck caused it, if you want the truth of the matter...Ryan's not telling nor is Epic, for that matter. It's odd to say the least to see Epic trying to throw the man under the bus on this... And he DID give them the server and then all of a sudden, he pulls all mention of UT3 from his online copy of his resume...) and it would leave many gunshy.

Only request I'd make if you're going to be cynical is not be QUITE as cynical as you were earlier in the thread... ;)

[Svartalf]

Yeah but if they continue like this, soon enough are going to need every penny they can collect...

Heh... They did rather well with Gears of War. Sufficiently well enough to rate a sequel of the game. They have people lining up for the engine license, especially since you don't need to pay diddly if you're making a freebie game- and the rates are purportedly fair for Indies on up to the main-line publishers. If there was Linux/MacOS support it'd rock. But, as it stands right now, they're not hurting QUITE as bad as one would believe- they're just not sitting rosy like they were before the release of UT3.

[Apopas]

Heh... They did rather well with Gears of War.
Yeah I forgot about that. Pity... pity...

[ad_267]

Machinarium should be taken off the list, it was available for Linux at the same time as Windows.

From the purchasing page:
You will get download links for 3 versions of the game (Windows, Mac, 32bit Linux) and the soundtrack (in MP3 format).

[Svartalf]

Machinarium should be taken off the list, it was available for Linux at the same time as Windows.

From the purchasing page:

Heh... They were still on the fence prior to the release- thanks for the catch... It'll be updated here...in a moment...

[King InuYasha]

The release of the ancient SimCity game is not called Metropolis. It is called Micropolis.

[Svartalf]

The release of the ancient SimCity game is not called Metropolis. It is called Micropolis.

What's really odd about the error there is I actually knew that and the goof up got in all the same... 0_o


Corrected in the list. :D

[Wyatt]

Speaking of deals in progress, any news on Europa Universalis? Just curious.

[Svartalf]

Speaking of deals in progress, any news on Europa Universalis? Just curious.

None as of yet... We signed paperwork only to have no word back. Going to be rattling cages over there at the same time I'm talking with UW over NS2.

[dashcloud]

I've noticed that more and more now classic games are being sold that use DOSBOX to run them- is it possible to get a Linux version for those types of games?

[King InuYasha]

I've noticed that more and more now classic games are being sold that use DOSBOX to run them- is it possible to get a Linux version for those types of games?

Most of those companies probably don't have the source code anymore. The ones that do, might be compelled to release as open source. Otherwise, you could get them to release customized DOSBOX for Linux to make those classic games available to Linux.

[dashcloud]

Most of those companies probably don't have the source code anymore. The ones that do, might be compelled to release as open source. Otherwise, you could get them to release customized DOSBOX for Linux to make those classic games available to Linux.

While I'd prefer that they open-source them if possible, I'd be perfectly happy if they used your second idea of having a DOSBOX Linux build+the game.

Maybe they could even just have the game with a note on any non-default settings DOSBOX is using, and assign that a separate SKU for Linux.

[Svartalf]

As an announcement, the list has been updated... :D

Another game deal has been closed- the documents for Cortex Command have now been actioned and I'm waiting to hear back from DataRealms to get access to the codebase and get started. I'm rattling Paradox' cage over the next couple of weeks to see if they're going to step up to the plate and let me and RobbieAB do what they said they'd let us do, and failing that, I'll at least try to get For The Glory to allow me access through the 3rd party NDA agreement path so we can at least get that one going.

Next up, talking with the studios and publishers associated with the looking into list to see what's the next one I can rattle out of the tree.

[whizse]

Wohoo! Cortex Command seems like a great game, already looking forward to it! :)

[Apopas]

Looks rather interesting indeed.

[L33F3R]

omg omg omg

i cant wait :D

[gforum]

+1 on FTG, hope we get it!

[penguin_from_hell]

Maybe "Ankh 3" would be an option too. It looks like Rune-Soft doesn't plan to release any linux ports in the future so far.

I just want to know how the story goes on. ;-)

[xav1r]

As an announcement, the list has been updated... :D

Another game deal has been closed- the documents for Cortex Command have now been actioned and I'm waiting to hear back from DataRealms to get access to the codebase and get started. I'm rattling Paradox' cage over the next couple of weeks to see if they're going to step up to the plate and let me and RobbieAB do what they said they'd let us do, and failing that, I'll at least try to get For The Glory to allow me access through the 3rd party NDA agreement path so we can at least get that one going.

Next up, talking with the studios and publishers associated with the looking into list to see what's the next one I can rattle out of the tree.

Is the paradox deal only for that europe game, or can it apply to other games by them? I'd like to see Hearts of Iron III ported to linux. ;)