Wishlist for Porting Projects (Pt. 2)

[blub]

Hope I'm not too late.
What i miss on Linux is a really good Strategy Game.

There are some good Strategy Games like Anno (1503, 1701, 1404) or Stronghold Crusader (that would be very very very good) or Settlers called Siedler in German.
One of those would be a very big step forward for me

[Svartalf]

I wouldn't be surprised if they unveil the new service, though, since it would explain them shutting down a few days prior (much easier to revamp stuff if you're not working on an active system).

You've never apparently done many e-commerce sites on the high-end of things. I have.

You pretty much never "revamp" on the production hardware. Ever.
You pretty much never "try something" on the production hardware. Ever.

When you do upgrades you stage new hardware or new hot-pluggable hard disks with the whole new system on the disk. That way, if something goes wrong, it's relatively painless to do a fallback to the older system so you only have a minor outage of service.

When you're trying something (Testing, prototyping), it's done on a mirror image of the production system that's currently running- but isn't connected to it in any way. This way, accidents don't cause service outages.

Breaking either of those "rules" means you haven't really worked at that level before- and you're just one mishap away from an egg on face moment or a brown paper bag over the head moment. If it's this, that tells people that they're more amateurs than anything else. If it's just this, it doesn't instill confidence.

[Svartalf]

Hope I'm not too late.
What i miss on Linux is a really good Strategy Game.

There are some good Strategy Games like Anno (1503, 1701, 1404) or Stronghold Crusader (that would be very very very good) or Settlers called Siedler in German.
One of those would be a very big step forward for me

Hm... Any SCI-FI related games in this Genre be acceptable for your desires?

[Svartalf]

Based on the YouTube video they put up yesterday, it's looking like they're moving to the full service- and this was a BAD IDEA from upper management. We'll know more in a short bit (12p EDT is the time of the official announcement...)

I MIGHT consider trying to work with them on their stuff and their publishers to get official Linux versions going on their stuff if that's the case- but I'm going to be...heh...leery...of working with them. I mean, if they're capable of this sort of boneheaded thing, what else are they capable of?

[blub]

Hi, Something like Command and Conquer you mean? Yes this would be awesome too.

[darkuttek]

Based on the YouTube video they put up yesterday, it's looking like they're moving to the full service- and this was a BAD IDEA from upper management. We'll know more in a short bit (12p EDT is the time of the official announcement...)

I MIGHT consider trying to work with them on their stuff and their publishers to get official Linux versions going on their stuff if that's the case- but I'm going to be...heh...leery...of working with them. I mean, if they're capable of this sort of boneheaded thing, what else are they capable of?

Their "press conference" was certainly spectacular It's not often you see conferences in which company representatives are clothed as monks, addressing each other as "brother". Who can be angry at them after something like that?

Anyway -- I myself hope that you still give the work with them a go -- I'd hate to see this possibility go unused. They have certainly renewed my trust in them as a "from gamers to gamers" --company, committed to drm-free gaming.

[Svartalf]

Their "press conference" was certainly spectacular It's not often you see conferences in which company representatives are clothed as monks, addressing each other as "brother". Who can be angry at them after something like that?

Anyway -- I myself hope that you still give the work with them a go -- I'd hate to see this possibility go unused. They have certainly renewed my trust in them as a "from gamers to gamers" --company, committed to drm-free gaming.

It's still an IDIOT thing they pulled there. They shouldn't have played it the way they did (Though they sort-of made up for part of it with the way they did the announcement...chuckle...)- and it leaves it open for concerns about them pulling similar stupid things down the line.

Having said this, I think I'll work at getting in touch with them again after a few of the other projects get out or into full beta proper. (Yes, I've got an RC3 release of Caster (the previous two were boggled because I just hadn't fully set up right down at the Contract location yet...) and a Beta of Cortex Command to launch (and QUICKLY- go sign up for the beta. I need more than the four or so that've signed up so far for this test.).

[darkuttek]

Having said this, I think I'll work at getting in touch with them again after a few of the other projects get out or into full beta proper. (Yes, I've got an RC3 release of Caster (the previous two were boggled because I just hadn't fully set up right down at the Contract location yet...) and a Beta of Cortex Command to launch (and QUICKLY- go sign up for the beta. I need more than the four or so that've signed up so far for this test.).

Done

...

[1Samildanach]

You've never apparently done many e-commerce sites on the high-end of things. I have.

You pretty much never "revamp" on the production hardware. Ever.
You pretty much never "try something" on the production hardware. Ever.

When you do upgrades you stage new hardware or new hot-pluggable hard disks with the whole new system on the disk. That way, if something goes wrong, it's relatively painless to do a fallback to the older system so you only have a minor outage of service.

When you're trying something (Testing, prototyping), it's done on a mirror image of the production system that's currently running- but isn't connected to it in any way. This way, accidents don't cause service outages.

Breaking either of those "rules" means you haven't really worked at that level before- and you're just one mishap away from an egg on face moment or a brown paper bag over the head moment. If it's this, that tells people that they're more amateurs than anything else. If it's just this, it doesn't instill confidence.

Yeah, I am/was aware that the standard way of doing things is more setting things up first and simply switching them over, rather than taking them down before reworking them.

But occasionally the people involved will choose to do extensive testing etc. on the main system before going back online, especially if its a very major change and they want things to go as smoothly as possible. And since not being able to sell stuff to people will have cost them some money, I would expect them to have good reason to take it offline (though they may have considered publicity a good enough reason...). Can certainly believe Executive Meddling was involved, though, whether there were technical-ish reasons or not.



Long story short; they definitely aren't Valve. There are definitely better ways they could have handled it.

[Aradreth]

It's still an IDIOT thing they pulled there. They shouldn't have played it the way they did (Though they sort-of made up for part of it with the way they did the announcement...chuckle...)- and it leaves it open for concerns about them pulling similar stupid things down the line.

I agree that it was a dumb move but they have access to some very nice titles that I'd love to see ported so.

Having said this, I think I'll work at getting in touch with them again after a few of the other projects get out or into full beta proper. (Yes, I've got an RC3 release of Caster (the previous two were boggled because I just hadn't fully set up right down at the Contract location yet...) and a Beta of Cortex Command to launch (and QUICKLY- go sign up for the beta. I need more than the four or so that've signed up so far for this test.).

I'd sign up for the beta but life gets in the way. Also are you porting Cortex Command (or anything else for that matter) to the pandora?