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I thought the Tux icon was perfect, but I understand that Valve has a vested interest in pushing their own branded Linux distro, and I don't have a problem with that. However, they really need to brand their OS with something more distinctive than the generic Steam logo. Something like this:

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they should only add this Steamplay icon if the game supports all platforms steam supports.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: dubigrasuI'm pretty sure Valve put some thoughts into this at the time when they're changed the icon, most likely at some point they draw the line between supporting Linux gaming in general and (their own) Steamos gaming which they need to promote.

As such, if a game runs on SteamOS it will get an SteamOS icon and support, if not, it gets nothing.

Yes… But as a Linux user who will most likely never use SteamOS, it is not making me very happy.

Indeed, it wasn't a popular decision, we all love Tux and the Tux icon was ideal. I remember seeing it for the first time on Steam, got me very happy.
But from their (Valve) point of view it makes sense, and I'm sure they didn't took this decision lightly. They have a specific platform to support and promote, and if that platform gets successful, Linux gaming gets successful too.

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Quoting: MuffinmanUnder Desktop Environment, KDE and Steam are both purple. Is KDE more prevalent?

KDE is possibly one of the most popular DEs.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: dubigrasuWell, two different icons describing basically the same thing, now that's confusing.

It’s not the same thing. What’s confusing is games that run on linux even though they don’t have the steamos icon (dying light), and games that don’t even though they have it (most recent unity games).

I'm pretty sure Valve put some thoughts into this at the time when they're changed the icon, most likely at some point they draw the line between supporting Linux gaming in general and (their own) Steamos gaming which they need to promote.

As such, if a game runs on SteamOS it will get an SteamOS icon and support, if not, it gets nothing.

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Quoting: EzyRhino

Quoting: dubigrasuWell, their interest is to promote SteamOS (not necessarily Linux) and that's what the icon is for.
It may be confusing for some, but in the long run it was the right decision.

It's pretty simple actually. If a game on Steam supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and SteamOS, then each os/platform should have their own icon. Honestly, how can that be difficult for them? It's mind-boggling tbh...

Well, two different icons describing basically the same thing, now that's confusing.

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they have icons for Occulus and Vive now, so why not have SteamOS icon also in different place

Windows, Apple and Tux Icon for normal means and then extra icons for SteamOS and the VR stuff

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Quoting: dubigrasuWell, their interest is to promote SteamOS (not necessarily Linux) and that's what the icon is for.
It may be confusing for some, but in the long run it was the right decision.

It's pretty simple actually. If a game on Steam supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and SteamOS, then each os/platform should have their own icon. Honestly, how can that be difficult for them? It's mind-boggling tbh...

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: aristoriasJesus christ. It is unity. It is singleplayer.
There is no reason for this -.-

I was fucking waiting for this >:(

If they are talking about a "port" possibly in the future, maybe the game is less cross-platform than we know. It should be a simple click Export to Linux, but perhaps they've highly customized it?

It's almost never as simple as "click Export to Linux". This is probably another middleware issue.

Not a game I had any interest in, as exploring, trading, and building stations and trading empires is my jam in space sims, and this seems completely combat focused, but it's still sad to hear.

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Theres a few problems with the icon situation.

The first one is that having more then one linux icon is redundant, can be confusing and can make things look cluttered.
The next issue is having it as the steam icon means that people who don't use Linux don’t really know what its about, all games on steam are steam games so in a way they should all have that icon, but for people with a steam machine, the icon makes sense, you have a steam machine so you look for the steam icon because that works on your steam machine.

If you change the logo to a penguin you suddenly have to explain that the linux icon is what the icon that means you can play it on the steam machine, at that point you can be like "Ok have a steamOS icon and a linux penguin" in which, what about new Ubuntu users who are looking for that ubuntu icon, or mint icon, and then its going out of hand..

I think perhaps the best idea would be to detect your os, Steam does that automatically anyways so why not have it so that if you're running steamOS it shows you a steam icon, and if you're running on one of the most popular distros, steam show you your distro logo, and if you're on anything else, show both tux and steamOS, or either or?

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Imho tux icon and steamos icon should be separated things: if it works on linux put tux icon.

If if works on steamOs, has steam controller support (or at least is reasonable to play with that), has steam cloud support (without messing with different user savegames), etc etc put the steamOs icon.

Yea, 99% of the times if it support steamOs it supports linux too so the 2 icons may look redundant. But they're not. In addition this would allow Valve to put some stricter quality control on official SteamOs games. Sure if the game runs on linux you get the tux icon. But for the SteamOs logo they could demand some additional requirements.

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The SteamOS icon represents Steam's own platform and it makes sense to look like that. Things can be indeed done to clear up some remaining confusions, but basically they're are promoting SteamOS and SteamOS gaming, not Linux gaming in general.

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Quoting: dubigrasuWell, their interest is to promote SteamOS (not necessarily Linux) and that's what the icon is for.
It may be confusing for some, but in the long run it was the right decision.

i would argue against that. the SteamOS icon is stupid and similar to steam own logo. they should have both.
if you got to download steam client then it says its "Available on PC, Mac, and Linux" , so there should be general linux icon also or well at least Ubuntu icon even would work.
people know linux (tux) icon, even windows users who havent used linux at all.

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Huh. Well, on the one hand, he has been working on it for years it seems, so maybe he just wants something, anything, to launch, and Windows is where the bucks are. Ok, I can get that, I suppose.

But on the other hand, maybe it's like Mountain Man posted above:

Quoting: Mountain ManSounds like another developer who painted himself into a corner with the "develop for Windows now, port to Linux later" attitude.

I'm wondering if his mentioned "export tests" were the first time he realized that there was going to be more to creating Linux and Mac versions than simply clicking "Export."

I'm inclined to be less impressed with Enemy Starfighter than I might have been because that, to me, implies a dearth of planning skills, foresight, and even imagination. Even the title, Enemy Starfighter, seems more like a utilitarian afterthought than any real attempt to capture the imagination.

Developers who fail to follow through on a promised Linux port are no loss to me. The loss is all theirs.

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Quoting: TheRiddickDoes Shadow of Mordor have Vulkan support? that would be awesome if it did!

Highly unlikely that ever happens. It's pretty miraculous that The Talos Principle is in the process of getting a Vulkan backend, it's probably only because Croteam are going to be using the same engine for Serious Sam 4, so modifying the engine is something that will benefit future games too. From a purely financial perspective, it doesn't make sense to port older games to Vulkan. It basically costs you time and money in exchange for zero sales. The only scenarios it makes sense in are:

a) The same engine will be used in a future game and this serves as a testing ground to learn and tweak (see: The Talos Principle)
b) It's a game that's continually updated and evolving and likely will be for many years to come (see: DotA 2)
c) It's a game from a company heavily invested in Vulkan and they're using it as a tech demo. For example, I wouldn't be shocked if Epic did this, given how involved they are with Vulkan, though they're just as likely to create a new small tech demo than port a Vulkan backend into an existing game)

Basically, I only expect Vulkan backends for games that are not out yet, and more specifically, games that have yet to start development or are fairly early in development. Games deep into development, like Homefront: Revolution, are an iffy case on whether putting in the work to make a Vulkan backend is worth it at that point (and it's also more up to Crytek to get Vulkan support into CryEngine), though I hold on to some irrational hope that Homefront: Revolution does indeed come to Linux with a Vulkan backend.

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Well, their interest is to promote SteamOS (not necessarily Linux) and that's what the icon is for.
It may be confusing for some, but in the long run it was the right decision.

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QuoteBut if SteamOS gains traction, I will take another look at supporting that.

Back to the old catch 22. We need games like yours in order for it to gain traction in the first place!

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So they build the game for Windows and when they tried to export it they found unforseen issues with the process, as has happened countless times before. Some companies make good on their words, even if later down the road, like Larian, others simply cancel the game.

The developers should start referring to the Linux version as port, it should cause less surprises in the future when they decide to cancel or delay it. That's the difference between planing a real cross platform support and treating other systems as an afterthought. I'm fine with either, Windows has the marketshare and I understand that a developer may decide to focus on it, but at least they could say so from the beginning talking about ports and not supported platforms.

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On their Blog they say the following:

"

Bad News: Mac and Linux Versions

After reading a hugely informative launch thread on the Indie MEGABOOTH alumni list, Enemy Starfighter will only be launching on Windows. Mac and Linux versions are now off the schedule, and I'm not sure if/when they will come back. After doing some export tests, I came to the conclusion that I simply don't have the resources to make these versions happen without sacrificing the quality of the lead Windows build.

Oculus's decision to focus on Windows makes this an easier choice for me too. But if SteamOS gains traction, I will take another look at supporting that.

"

Thats really sad because i like such Games very much.
This was an must buy Title for me.

So sadly i have to say:
"No Tux, no Bucks !"

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: aristoriasJesus christ. It is unity. It is singleplayer.
There is no reason for this -.-

I was fucking waiting for this >:(

If they are talking about a "port" possibly in the future, maybe the game is less cross-platform than we know. It should be a simple click Export to Linux, but perhaps they've highly customized it?

doesn't make sense.
rather looks like he don't want to test/support it.

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Sounds like another developer who painted himself into a corner with the "develop for Windows now, port to Linux later" attitude. I really hope developers will start being more conscientious about cross-platform support in the future.

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I agree that the logo is confusing.

Regarding some games not having the icon, however, I think Valve is doing the right thing. In fact I think they should take it a step further. Games that claim to support Linux but have horrible performance (particularly games like Son of Nor where you can't even maintain 30 fps on low settings) should have their icons removed. It makes Valve and their Steam Machines look bad when they are selling something for their own OS that is unplayable.

They need better quality control in general. It's pretty ridiculous for a game to have a "full controller support" icon but not work with the Steam controller. Maybe they should just hire a librarian (and I mean me, of course). I'd have their store organized and efficient. :D

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Yes, why? was really looking forward to it, especially with a VR headset :(

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Jesus christ. It is unity. It is singleplayer.
There is no reason for this -.-

I was fucking waiting for this >:(

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QuoteI do think Valve need to do something to address this

They did it ... refund

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Quoting: StianTheDarkWhat consequences would it have for them as a company to not change it? Nothing. Therefore, they probably wont change it. It's just making more people use SteamOS because they don't realize the games support Linux. If there was some sort of sanction against Valve, they would probably do something.

yep. i talked with a few friends a few days ago and no one knew how to recognize a linux game on steam. its very misleading at the moment and i dont get why valve does not show the tux icon aswell... everyone know tux is linux but most people dont know that the steamos logo is linux and even worse, the dont even know it is steamos, they thought it is the steamplay logo...

valve officially supports linux, but does not show the os icon on the store. what is the point of it? is valve ashamed to show his linux support?

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Noooooooooooo! I want this one so badly. :-(

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First they co-opted the linux name and replaced tux with steam icon, then they removed that stupid icon on games that need a desktop environment. Tsk tsk. As if it's hard to have two icons.

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I noticed the difference after buying The Binding of Isaac and looking desperatly for it in my steam library for like 15 minutes(the filter steamos+Linux was on).

A bad day :'(

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I think there is no perfect solution. Enough people might find either confusing. I think the SteamOS logo is the least problematic but I can absolutely see why somebody would think otherwise.

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