Quoting: F.UltraWhile I agree with you, they did perform tests just on a virtual machine, yes you won't catch amd/nvidia/intel specific GPU driver oddities (but then they don't seem to use advanced 3d capabilities anyway), but everything else should be similar to testing on real hw.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to single these guys out. Releasing for Linux and trying to help others release for Linux are both good things. Just that attitude expressed (obliquely) by some devs that it doesn't matter how shabbily they treat their Linux customers because it's only 1% of the market, right?

Game devs should use their whole arse.

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Quoting: PhiladelphusI believe the point is that fence-sitters can go both ways. I download a demo because I'm not sure that the fun I'll get out of a game is subjectively worth its asking price to me. There are games I've bought because I played the demo and enjoyed it, and there are also games I ultimately did not buy after playing the demo; not—and I stress this—because the game was at all bad, but simply because it turned out it just didn't fit my interests.

The thing is, all your* marketing and hype building and whatnot is to get people to look at your page. If your page gets them to buy the game, great, and if it makes them choose to not get your game, that's a shame. Having a demo doesn't change things in either of those cases.

That leaves the fence-sitters. Demos give you a chance to engage them, and gives you the potential to turn them into a sale. With no demo, those fence-sitters only have the option of navigating away to something else (no sale), torrenting the game as try-before-you-buy (no sale) (I believe that a non-zero number of people will go back and pay for something they've enjoyed, but it's definitely not all of them, and you've provided no mechanism for them to do so), or they buy it and refund it (no sale) (which also means that they'll look upon your future games less kindly because you've made them go through the hassle of refunding).

Some fence-sitters are going to take a chance on the game and like it (sale), but those users would have also been converted to a sale by an enjoyable demo, so it's not a win to not have a demo in that case. That leaves the remaining non-demo class that does create an additional sale: people who take a chance on your game, don't like it, but miss the refund window. People should feel bad if they're chasing this class. Those customers are going to have a negative view of all your future products, and you've managed a one-time picking of their pockets: good job.

I think you're** onto something with the misguided application of sales metrics interpretation.

*(not you you, hypothetical game dev you)
**(you you this time)

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"While I came across opinions that demos hurt game sales, in my experience they help - and help a lot."

I am really surprised that people would think that. I can see it being true if your game's crap, and no one would pay for it if they ever tried it, so you're trying to bilk them on hype, or if people could use the files from the demo to defeat your DRM.

If you've made a good game that people will want to play, though, then demos seem to me like a great way to get exposure and get fence-sitters hooked on your gameplay loop or intrigued by your story. I grew up with shareware and the demoscene, and it was definitely the case then that you built hype and increased sales by having a demo.

I can see arguments that making a demo is time-consuming, to select exactly the parts that will get people interested, or a pain in the arse because you need to maintain a version that people don't pay for as well as a version that they do, but I don't see it hurting sales unless the game's so bad that people shouldn't be paying for it anyway.

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I would say that it's not a game that you'd have to wait for a sale (although, as it happens, it's on sale now for less than a tenner). The base price is perfectly reasonable for what you get: it's not as extensive as a AAA game, but it is pretty big for an indie. The ~£25 seems fair.

I do agree with getting the base game first and then only getting the DLC clans later if you particularly want them. They do support continued operations of the devs, and they do provide new mechanics and ways of playing for the player, and the price on them seems fair, too. But if you just can't stand the game at all then not being able to mine, or not being able to build ships, or the other mechanics changes, aren't going to make you suddenly like it if the Settlers-with-Vikings didn't already.

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Quoting: PublicNuisanceI am really happy they went through the effort to add Linux support but at the same time I can't help but notice this:

"We don't have a Linux-powered computer available for testing yet so Outer Wonders has been tested only in virtual Ubuntu machines so far."

I see so many developers say this. Do developers seriously not know how to dual boot an OS ? Failing that do they not have a spare HDD they can toss Linux onto and boot onto that ?

It does seem extremely unprofessional. If you were making a Windows game, you wouldn't release it without testing it on a Windows machine; if you were making a Mac game, you wouldn't release it without testing it on a Mac; the same with PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch. And Linux is free: you don't need a whole new machine, you just boot your test machine into a different environment.

"Here's a thing. We didn't check to see if it works. Give us some money." isn't really adequate. You get better service than that at the flea market.

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Quoting: SupayWould a device with swappable controller bits work? Like a way to have the section where a D pad/stick would go instead be able to have it unclipped and fitted with a physical D pad or stick or the touchpad like the Steam controller or potentially even something else. Customise the controller setup to your preference.

Valve do hold a patent on doing exactly that.

Edit: found the patent [External Link].

As well as having an ecosystem of widgets so that people can customise the controls how they want, that would also make replacing them easy if they got faulty or gunged up or whatever.

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Quoting: GuestSo you don't think all the investments valve put on Linux gaming were finalized to this (still hypothetical) handheld console?
Microsoft store thing never convinced me too much.

Not really, no. A decade of investment predicated on things that didn't exist at the time, for a product that we don't really know anything about, isn't out yet, and might still be a flop, isn't a great plan.

Microsoft muscling them out of Windows would be an existential threat to them, even if the probability is low; having an escape plan, and visibly having an escape plan as leverage, is in Valve's interest. It doesn't cost much, and their work on it is probably sufficiently supported by Linux sales even with our small market share (if not, they're getting money elsewhere); open source development is incremental, so they can add bits as and when, so they don't have to go all in at once, and it lets them do things that they couldn't do otherwise (they can't change Windows' shader compiler, for example); and I expect that the work is interesting in itself for their engineers.

I'd imagine that they thought they'd come up with something, and success of a handheld console and success of desktop Linux would be mutually reinforcing if it happens, but I don't think they were driven by this as a Grand Plan, no.

Small improvements to help more people buy more games is entirely how they approach things. This could be one of them. Or it could be a massive hit, or it could be a massive flop. Whatever happens, Steam is trucking on with minimal risk. And they'd still need to support existing Linux customers, which is easier if Linux customers keep giving you money than if they don't.

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Quoting: GuestIf this is the final Valve bet on Linux, what will happen to Linux gaming if this will not succeed7

They still need to support their existing Linux customers; it's easier to do that if you have future sales to fund it. The risk of Microsoft cutting them off from Windows customers is still there, and Linux support is something that their competitors don't offer.

So if their new project is a success it might have a virtuous cycle relationship with desktop Linux gaming, but if it's a flop I don't expect anything to get worse on that front.

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Quoting: Luke_NukemLast I heard was that DLSS was built in to the Windows driver and may not ever come to Linux. Anyone confirm?

DLSS support has been included with their Linux driver for about a year.

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Northgard [External Link] still has me in its icy grip, since before the last of these articles. Some of the challenges are really hard.

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