Ethan Lee, the programmer responsible for creating the FNA project along with porting 40+ titles to Linux is going to put FNA into 'maintenance mode indefinitely' and hopefully work on Steam Play's Proton with Valve.
This won't come as a shock to anyone who read our previous article, the one where we spoke to Ethan Lee about his thoughts on Steam Play. To save you clicking around (still a great read though), he said this in it:
[…] I would really like to spend the time that used to be on FNA and maybe try to work as an official Proton developer, if somebody lets me do that.
Shortly after our article went up, Lee sent out a Twitter post hinting at it for those who didn't see my comments in the previous article. So it looks like our little chat helped push this forwards.
In his lengthy post on Google+, he did expand on what his plans are for it this time:
As for what's next, I'm still in the mood to save old games, so I'm currently figuring out a deal to work on Proton as an official developer alongside my usual Linux-native work. If we do figure something out (a bunch of background stuff has to happen before we get the paperwork drafted, let alone signed), I'm going to be working on Wine's migration to FAudio as well as Wine's .NET support, which should help out a lot with games that have C#-based launcher programs.
Personally, I couldn't be happier if it means another proven developer is able to get their hands even dirtier to improve Linux gaming with Steam Play's Proton.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuotePersonally, I couldn't be happier if it means another proven developer is able to get their hands even dirtier to improve Linux gaming with Steam Play's Proton.
Just the opposite for me.
He had been one of the most active porters in the DRM-free regime. It looks like those times are over now, so for me this is quite a set-back.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: ScooptaMaybe it's just me and maybe I'm just synical but I read this a little differently. I read this as a developer who has been actively working on porting games natively to Linux is now moving to proton which is the exact opposite of what I hope to see. Proton shouldn't replace native titles it should merely be a stop gap till we get more.
Improvements in audio and .net support for windows games will trickle down to native ports as well.
Agreed, I think at this point Proton is the way to go simply to increase adoption rates. With adoption rates comes demand, and with demand comes financial justification to "actually" support linux.
Quoting: Geppeto35we can't accept that games "works" with bugs, workaround, fixes, etc...
How to attract new users and players on linux if they have to code, tricks etc. just to play a very common and old games as Skyrim?? My son of 13 want to play Skyrim SE, subnautica, etc. I have to spend hours to find that or this trick so he can play them. It's not an acceptable situation.
That's an important point. When I look at a game that looks really fun and some nerd is like "you just have to run a script" I'm like hold it right there! To someone new to Linux who hasn't got a background in coding, that shit's intimidating as hell and will definitely set up a barrier to adopting the platform. And adoption by "normal folks" is part of the point of initiatives like Proton.
We need to get to a point where a game like Skyrim SE or Subnautica or Overwatch or what have you "just works" without needing command-line parameters or scripts or awkward workarounds, or you can say goodbye to a lot of potential new Linux users.
Quoting: dibzAgreed, I think at this point Proton is the way to go simply to increase adoption rates. With adoption rates comes demand, and with demand comes financial justification to "actually" support linux.
Way I see it, we've had a chicken-and-egg situation for a long time now. We don't have "good" (that is, AAA) games on Linux because we don't have market share. But we don't have market share because we don't offer good games. And around and around we go.
Steam finally decided fine, we'll just pick a point on the cycle and start from there.
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