The System Shock remake from Nightdive Studios was originally funded on Kickstarter, and after delays it was eventually released on May 30th, 2023 but two platforms have been missing - Linux and macOS.
For their crowdfunding campaign, the Linux and macOS versions were a stretch-goal. The base goal for the campaign was $900,000, but they put both Linux and macOS together on a $1.1 million additional goal which was hit, as the campaign finished on around $1,350,700.
Nightdive were pretty silent on both platforms for a long time, especially after they ended up having a lot of issues actually making the game, at one point they entirely paused development on it.
In a new Kickstarter update posted May 21st, 2024 they confirmed neither versions will happen now:
Is System Shock still coming to MacOS and Linux?
Unfortunately no, plans for MacOS and Linux releases of System Shock have been shelved.
macOS is not exactly surprising, Apple are notorious for making things more and more difficult for developers. On the Linux side, it's also not overly surprising given that we have Proton now which enables the game to run with a tick of box on Steam. I even showed it previously running really nicely on Steam Deck with Proton using the demo.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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witchymary May 22
Probably for the better. Any native UE4 port is very likely to lose to proton, to begin with. Would be wasted effort.
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Disappointing.
I'm wondering if they've put in real effort to make it work, or if they knew they're not going to keep their stretch goal promise.
With no details at all I guess they didn't really try. Maybe one or two attempts to hit that magical "build for Linux" button, but as that rarely works ootb, they might not have investigated further. Really sad.
Here Rockfish Games was much more transparent: promising to give it a real shot. They tried, had hired an extra engineer for it, but with UE being crap it turned out performance is too bad, while with Proton it works almost flawless. And they officially support Proton.
Too bad Nightdive Studios has chosen to put it into a stretch goal...
I'm wondering if they've put in real effort to make it work, or if they knew they're not going to keep their stretch goal promise.
With no details at all I guess they didn't really try. Maybe one or two attempts to hit that magical "build for Linux" button, but as that rarely works ootb, they might not have investigated further. Really sad.
Here Rockfish Games was much more transparent: promising to give it a real shot. They tried, had hired an extra engineer for it, but with UE being crap it turned out performance is too bad, while with Proton it works almost flawless. And they officially support Proton.
Too bad Nightdive Studios has chosen to put it into a stretch goal...
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Quoting: scaineThis encompasses perfectly why I gave up on Kickstarter years ago. Particularly disappointing given how much I advocated for it in its early days. Absolutely zero accountability from KS.
Completely agree about the lack of shits given by Kickstarter. I've slowed down on backing myself, but there are still projects that follow through; a couple recent ones:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1751680/A_Twisted_Tale/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159090/Zoria_Age_of_Shattering/
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StoneColdSpider May 23
Thankfully I avoided the Kickstarter craze mostly.......
I only ever backed 1 project (Wasteland 2) and that was actually quite successful and everything was released...... Even if it was released a bit late...... But thats almost par of the cause for KS projects........
Sadly nothing is ever guaranteed..... And you have to keep your fingers crossed and pray that the stretch goals dont get dropped......
It could be worse though..... Even a game that doesnt work is still better than a OUYA.......
But yeah....... I wont be buying this game anywhere near full price now.......
I only ever backed 1 project (Wasteland 2) and that was actually quite successful and everything was released...... Even if it was released a bit late...... But thats almost par of the cause for KS projects........
Sadly nothing is ever guaranteed..... And you have to keep your fingers crossed and pray that the stretch goals dont get dropped......
It could be worse though..... Even a game that doesnt work is still better than a OUYA.......
But yeah....... I wont be buying this game anywhere near full price now.......
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: PyrateQuoting: rambo919Given that the ONLY linux native version of any game to never give me problems that I can remember has been Stellaris..... this might be for the best.
This. I mean, the only bad part about this is that it was a goal, or a promise or whatever, that they're now throwing away or "giving up" on. Which is still pretty bad, don't get me wrong, not downplaying that part, especially for MacOS users, I don't think they have a Proton equivalent to play the game there? MacOS backers should get refunded.
But on Linux, I booted the game up yesterday, and it just works.... like, who the hell cares beyond this point? I asked the other day on this website what could the actual, real world disadvantages of playing through Proton vs Native, bearing in mind that Proton is slowly becoming the defacto Linux-supported method from game developers side, and other than large prefix folders potentially eating up space over time, it's pretty much nothing to bring up.
They do have Wine(nowadays even as a default app under the name Rosetta), but most of them nowadays also need an x86_64 emulator, which really slows it down to nearly useless.
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pleasereadthemanual May 23
Quoting: LoudTechieMost macOS users are using CrossOver or Whisky, I gather.Quoting: PyrateQuoting: rambo919Given that the ONLY linux native version of any game to never give me problems that I can remember has been Stellaris..... this might be for the best.
This. I mean, the only bad part about this is that it was a goal, or a promise or whatever, that they're now throwing away or "giving up" on. Which is still pretty bad, don't get me wrong, not downplaying that part, especially for MacOS users, I don't think they have a Proton equivalent to play the game there? MacOS backers should get refunded.
But on Linux, I booted the game up yesterday, and it just works.... like, who the hell cares beyond this point? I asked the other day on this website what could the actual, real world disadvantages of playing through Proton vs Native, bearing in mind that Proton is slowly becoming the defacto Linux-supported method from game developers side, and other than large prefix folders potentially eating up space over time, it's pretty much nothing to bring up.
They do have Wine(nowadays even as a default app under the name Rosetta), but most of them nowadays also need an x86_64 emulator, which really slows it down to nearly useless.
1 Likes, Who?
[quote=scaine][quote=EagleDelta]
the issue is that every investiment is a risk.
when someone decide to open an company , the person has no way to tell if the money they are investing, the time, the effort will be enough to make the product they want to make, and they will be able to recoup the investment.
kickstarter was an way to try to transfer the risks to the end user.
we can do that, we promisse, just trust us bro!
then the company have the guarantee they have the money to invest, but we have no guarantee they will actually try to develop such product, even when they try we dont know how much they invest and even if they are honest and put every single cent into the promissed features, there is no guarantee they didnt under estimated the problem and charged too litle.
hell some people promissed impossible things all the time.
kickstarter changed their policies and now you need to show at least an prototype, indiegogo? not even that.
another big issue is that some companies promissed things under an impossible low budget, because their real goals was to attract investors that would put more money into it, and as an result, even when they did delivred the procut as promissed, they did more harm than good, they proved to the public that its possible to develop such an product under such an low budget and the public started to belive even more in impossible promisses and to think that everyone else was over charging then.
honestly i can understand that some companies arent able to fulfil their promisses, but at least we should gain something.
couldnt finish the game? open source it, distribute every asset and stuff you made under copyleft/creative commons or public domain, give the fans something and let then decide what to do with it.
Last edited by elmapul on 23 May 2024 at 11:55 am UTC
Quoting: scaineQuoting: EagleDeltaNever go into Crowdfunding of any kind thinking you're money is related to being a customer. It's NOT, you're an investor that doesn't get any stake in the company or payout. Instead you get exclusive content and (usually for physical products) earlier access to the product than the rest of the public.
Okay, but I'm not arguing the definition of crowdfunding. I'm noting that KS doesn't look, or encourage a crowdfunding engagement mentality. KS encourages engagement through awards and promises. But they have no accountability when their platform is used to blatantly break those promises.
the issue is that every investiment is a risk.
when someone decide to open an company , the person has no way to tell if the money they are investing, the time, the effort will be enough to make the product they want to make, and they will be able to recoup the investment.
kickstarter was an way to try to transfer the risks to the end user.
we can do that, we promisse, just trust us bro!
then the company have the guarantee they have the money to invest, but we have no guarantee they will actually try to develop such product, even when they try we dont know how much they invest and even if they are honest and put every single cent into the promissed features, there is no guarantee they didnt under estimated the problem and charged too litle.
hell some people promissed impossible things all the time.
kickstarter changed their policies and now you need to show at least an prototype, indiegogo? not even that.
another big issue is that some companies promissed things under an impossible low budget, because their real goals was to attract investors that would put more money into it, and as an result, even when they did delivred the procut as promissed, they did more harm than good, they proved to the public that its possible to develop such an product under such an low budget and the public started to belive even more in impossible promisses and to think that everyone else was over charging then.
honestly i can understand that some companies arent able to fulfil their promisses, but at least we should gain something.
couldnt finish the game? open source it, distribute every asset and stuff you made under copyleft/creative commons or public domain, give the fans something and let then decide what to do with it.
Last edited by elmapul on 23 May 2024 at 11:55 am UTC
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Quoting: pleasereadthemanualMost macOS users are using CrossOver or Whisky, I gather.I suppose if I were a MacOS user I, too, might be driven to Whisky.
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Quoting: pleasereadthemanualtive ports are still better if they are well-maintained and tested, and built in an engine that cares about high performance on Linux. Factorio comes to mind.
the issue is that dont benefit anyone.
an linux version will earn about 4% of the income for the game, and they either will spend more than that, or have to quit supporting windows sooner to keep their promisse of treating every platform equally.
only platform owners care about an specific platform ecosystem, nintendo do with their consoles, microsoft with windows and xbox, and now valve with linux, the main difference is that valve isnt the only linux provider but they have nothing to lose with it growing even if its not their distro, they have everything to lose with microsoft gaining ground on the other hand.
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