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Update: Mentions of a Linux version have now been removed from the Steam store. According to the developer, they will not remove the Linux version and people on Linux did buy a "completed game" but it won't see any more support going forward (source). They also said the Linux version will see updates "but Linux specific bugs won't be addressed" however "gameplay balance, graphical bugs, most game crashes, etc will be fixed regardless of what your OS is" (source).


How about a kick in the teeth with your coffee this Friday morning? Well, that's what I've got for you. Developer HopFrog has announced they will be removing Linux support for Forager and Mac is no longer coming. Forager only released in April this year too.

Buried in their Q&A post on Steam was this:

Unfortunately, both Linux and Mac have proven very difficult for us to work with. Forager will no longer be available for Mac and Linux moving forward. Any plans to bring the game to Mac have now officially been canceled. This is a very difficult choice I had to make, and if you are interested in knowing why I and hundreds of other game developers are ditching Mac/Linux, take a look at this article!

I'm particularly annoyed about this one, since I consider it to be a fantastic game and gave it a very positive look. Not just that but to announce it in such an almost casual way, feels pretty uncaring about all the people that have already purchased and played it on Linux.

To get into what they linked to, it's an article talking about problems with supporting Mac due to a bunch of changes Apple are doing. It doesn't really touch on Linux and HopFrog bundling Linux into this feels quite wrong because no, hundreds of game developers are not ditching Linux that's just false.

What the linked article shows is an image from the developer Robotality for their 2014 strategy game Halfway, showing Linux at 2% sales/Mac at 4% with support requests for Linux at 30%/Mac at 50%. Sales around that mark for Linux are quite normal, any developer expecting more must have done no research. I would like to point out that Robotality themselves do continue to support Linux, with Pathway releasing in April this year.

Now onto the support requests bit. Looking over the Forager forum, the main issues on Linux seem to be the game running too fast and no gamepad support. The first issue was already solved and was a problem in Game Maker, the second is another Game Maker engine problem as YoYo Games seem to be reinventing the wheel rather than just using something like SDL 2 to get awesome gamepad support (and lots of other things not just for Linux). If you release a game on a platform that has two issues you would see if you booted it up even once, you're clearly not testing.

I've reached out to HopFrog to ask about their plans for refunds since it was not mentioned.

Additionally, I've reached out to Valve to see what they have to say about this repeating situation since that's Rust, Natural Selection 2 and now Forager that have all decided to dump Linux support after release. Not a lot of course but even one removing support is not a good look and doesn't look great on Valve either if they do nothing to help their customers out. You can argue "Steam Play" but to go over my previous point on this, the question of actual support arises once again there too and people purchased this on Linux because the developer supported the platform.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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LosButch Oct 4, 2019
Quoting: ZigZagSad news, I had absolutely no issues with this game on Manjaro, and enjoyed it quite a lot, I actually completed it all the way! So having this few issues being this big of a factor sounds a bit off! :(
Exactly the same for me. It's a fun little game :-)
Didn't see a single issue, other than an achievement not unlocking, but that wasn't Linux specific and it has been fixed.

But why is the game still listed with Linux support on Steam?
Liam Dawe Oct 4, 2019
Quoting: LosButch
Quoting: ZigZagSad news, I had absolutely no issues with this game on Manjaro, and enjoyed it quite a lot, I actually completed it all the way! So having this few issues being this big of a factor sounds a bit off! :(
Exactly the same for me. It's a fun little game :-)
Didn't see a single issue, other than an achievement not unlocking, but that wasn't Linux specific and it has been fixed.

But why is the game still listed with Linux support on Steam?
Well, considering it was just dropped into the middle of the Q&A post, they likely didn't think many would actually be bothered or notice it enough so they've yet to get around to actually removing it.
micke1m Oct 4, 2019
Sadly I bought it on the Humble store so I can't request a refund.
rcrit Oct 4, 2019
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Ironically Ryan Gordon tweeted yesterday offering to help port Game Maker 2 games to Linux (and Nintendo Switch).
kokoko3k Oct 4, 2019
Quotef you are interested in knowing why I and hundreds of other game developers are ditching Mac/Linux, take a look at this article!
But that article just speaks about new MacOs, nothing about Linux... meh.


Last edited by kokoko3k on 4 October 2019 at 1:40 pm UTC
sub Oct 4, 2019
Quoteand if you are interested in knowing why I and hundreds of other game developers are ditching Mac/Linux, take a look at this article!

Well, that link is entirely about the Apple ecosystem.

Btw, I'm not a fanboy but if Ron Gilbert says it's a great game, it's worth giving it a try.

https://grumpygamer.com/forager

What a pity.


Last edited by sub on 4 October 2019 at 1:56 pm UTC
eldaking Oct 4, 2019
This is particularly bad. If you say you are dropping Linux support because of Apple's policies on their system, you sound ignorant on top of unreliable.

Yes, supporting more platforms can be hard, it's not always worth it. Developers have to decide that before you actually start selling it for that platform, though. An then HopFrog goes on to tell people that developers are leaving Linux en masse because of some bullshit that Apple is doing (which is bullshit alright, but they should have known about that before...).
14 Oct 4, 2019
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Whew. I can tell that you are, while still professional, a bit angry about this one. I am too.

Silver lining? Now I want coffee.
fagnerln Oct 4, 2019
I really don't care anymore, if a dev release a native version, it's appreciated, support them, if not, f*** it. If the game really interest you and run well on proton, just do a favour to yourself, buy.

I was a anti-wine-no-tux-no-bux guy, but as I see that proton runs great, native games runs better on proton, windows games runs as good as in windows. Proton is doing a very good job, it's what flatpak/snap/appimage wants to achieve, runs on any distro and it's "future proof".

If numbers matters, there's 6000 native games.

The only thing that I care is if the game that I want to play runs well on proton. I'm enjoying Doom a lot btw
Sayuri Oct 4, 2019
I built my engine myself and had to port my game manually to Linux and macOSX and its not really the hassle the developer makes it out to be? Also, the macOSX notarization process can be automated from the command line, you can just add it to your Makefile and get the notarized build back. Its still going to be a huge confusing hassle, but you're doing it for your playerbase?

(How to notarize an app package, binary, or ZIP file)
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/notarizing_your_app_before_distribution/customizing_the_notarization_workflow#3087734
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