GOG have officially supported Linux for just over a year, and to mark the occasion they have worked out new official installers for all their Linux games.
It was only recently they phased out the .deb installers in favour of simple .tar.gz files to extract, and now we know why!
Here's an example of their new installer on Linux:
They are right, it looks much closer to what Windows has, and I think that's a really good thing for them to do. Having installers on Linux look and work similar to how they do on Windows lowers a barrier for less knowledgeable gamers. I think it makes Linux look better too.
Forum post copied below:
It was only recently they phased out the .deb installers in favour of simple .tar.gz files to extract, and now we know why!
Here's an example of their new installer on Linux:
They are right, it looks much closer to what Windows has, and I think that's a really good thing for them to do. Having installers on Linux look and work similar to how they do on Windows lowers a barrier for less knowledgeable gamers. I think it makes Linux look better too.
Forum post copied below:
QuoteIt's a year of Linux gaming on GOG.com!Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Today, we want to share with you a few new updates to the way that installing our games on Linux will work. Based on what we've learned and on your feedback, we have revamped our installers to offer a much improved experience, and make it more consistent with the way we do things on Windows and OS X.
Starting today, our Linux games will come with all-new installers that include more features, combine the best of our previous solutions, and plain ol' look better. Among other things, here's what you can expect:
--The new installers will be distro-agnostic. That means that you'll be able to run and try them out on virtually any Linux distribution without any tweaks.
--A simple installation process, done in just two steps that we all know well: simply add executable privileges to the installer, then simply run it.
--Patches. Differential patches. No one likes downloading lots of data for an update, now you'll be able to grab future patches for big games with frequent updates.
--Support for installing DLC.
--Pretty backgrounds, pretty desktop icons.
For more info about the new installers, you can always check out our Linux FAQ.
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Quoting: tuubiWith support, that is fine. I wasn't asking for support on other distros.Quoting: PitWhat good is an distribution-agnostic installer if you cannot get a refund if the game doesn't work?Basically they require you to reproduce your problem on one of the supported distros if your problem is technical. Seems sane to me. After all, it's arguably not a technical problem in the game if it doesn't work on an unsupported and untested platform.
Quoting: tuubiHowever distribution-agnostic the installers are and how many distributions the games actually run on, they are still only supported on Ubuntu and Mint. Just like Valve only officially supports running the Linux version of Steam on SteamOS or specific releases of Ubuntu the last I heard. How strict this policy is in practice, I cannot say. I've never asked for a refund from either company.It still is is (IMHO) nonsense to lure people with an easy install on all distros, just to tell them "but if the game doesn't run you'll get neither support nor your money back".
This is really one of the positive things of steam: The no-questions-asked money back policy. Maybe they are just big enough to be able to do so.
I just think it would be a minimal risk offering refund for other distros: The majority runs the supported distros anyhow, and those running others typically are linux-aware enough to fix many isues themselves.....
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