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City-building strategy game 'Banished' is no longer having a Linux port

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This is a weird one, after blogging for a while about porting Banished to Linux (and Mac), the developer seems to have given up on it.

I'm sad, because it's a game I still haven't played and was really looking forward to a Linux version. I find it strange, because they previously blogged about the process and everything seemed to be going so well. They even said the game was actually running on both platforms back in February.

That's changed, since the latest blog post where they said:

This will likely be the last update of Banished, except for any major bug fixes. The OSX and Linux versions development has stopped, and won’t be released. Going forward I’ll be focusing on new games and projects.

It's possible it was just taking too much time. It's also possible that sales of this early-2014 title have dropped off, making the developer reassess what they're doing. Shame to see all their work go to waste and for us to get no game.

Hopefully Icculus, or someone else can pick up the port and finish it.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc, Strategy
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mangue Sep 13, 2017
This sucks. I also bought because a Linux port was announced.
Whitewolfe80 Sep 13, 2017
Cool another game i do not have to care about, cancelled port loss of interest
cRaZy-bisCuiT Sep 14, 2017
Actually I expected this to happen a few years ago already. It was pretty damn clear there won't be any port since it got postponed all the time.

I'm a bit sad since the game is supposed to be fun when a few mods. The game itself has not enough content.


The problem about the port was the engine was self-written without any usage of SDL whatsoever. It's pretty hard to manage rendering, I/O and stuff without anything like SDL, especially if the code should run on at least 3 different OS.


Last edited by cRaZy-bisCuiT on 14 September 2017 at 1:26 am UTC
Crazy Penguin Sep 14, 2017
Quoting: BrissePlayed the game a bit on Windows back when it launched, and honestly, it's kind of dissapointing. Intriguing at first, but with very dissapointing end-game and very little replay value. Gets booring really fast.
Exactly! Never understood the hype around that game.
beko Sep 14, 2017
Quoting: cRaZy-bisCuiTActually I expected this to happen a few years ago already. It was pretty damn clear there won't be any port since it got postponed all the time.

I'm a bit sad since the game is supposed to be fun when a few mods. The game itself has not enough content.


The problem about the port was the engine was self-written without any usage of SDL whatsoever. It's pretty hard to manage rendering, I/O and stuff without anything like SDL, especially if the code should run on at least 3 different OS.
This. I remember some dev blogs talking about all the X issues and stuff. I guess reinventing the wheel tool a lot of time. There's a reason why libs like SDL are used by many devs. It eases so much pain.
leillo1975 Sep 14, 2017
Quoting: inlinuxdudeRemoved from my wishlist... :(

Idem
Nezchan Sep 14, 2017
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that after three years of occasional blogs that mentioned how hard he was working on the Mac and Linux ports, they're finally dropped by the wayside. I never would have expected it.

I've wanted to play this for a long time, and was actually given it as a Christmas present two years ago. But alas, for me it's utterly unplayable in Wine so I guess I never will.
edo Sep 14, 2017
isn't this the guy who preferred to write an x11 game instead of using SDL2? that kind of decisions ended up on this.
Sir_Diealot Sep 15, 2017
I think he went a bit too low-level to begin with, given the lack of manpower. He probably should have used some engine or at least SDL for input and somesuch.
I've played it in wine and while it's OK it does not have a lot going on. You run out of buildings to build very quickly and it has a fair amount of bugs. He could have spent more time working on the actual game if he worked at a higher level. Porting would likely also be easier and quicker.
AFAIK it uses OpenGL, so the graphics side shouldn't require much effort, but pretty much everything else likely does. I'm not surprised. These kinds of projects rarely work out. Stardew Valley is a similar case, but there different and more people took on porting to various platforms and work on multiplayer. The original dev wouldn't have been able to do it in an acceptable timeframe.
NovenTheHero Sep 15, 2017
Sucks, I really wanted this port to happen. Especially since the developer said that it was working and just needed tweaks. This puts a bad taste in my mouth and would make me think twice about buying another game from him.
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