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Latest Comments by slaapliedje
Inspired by Boulder Dash and Supaplex, Gem Worlds is out now
2 Feb 2023 at 12:07 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: slaapliedjeI used to play it on my Atari 800xl, where I believe it was developed originally.
Ha, same here. Sort-of my number two favorite after <see_my_avatar> :grin:

(And those liking BD should definitely check out Rocks'n'Diamonds!)
There is also another clone of Boulder Dash called Epiphany. Yup, it's the reason the gnome browser package in Debian is called epiphany-browser instead of just 'epiphany'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9al2Gapvo [External Link] The new one on the VCS.

Ubisoft just broke their games on Linux desktop and Steam Deck
2 Feb 2023 at 12:01 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: christofinWhy do they force their launchers? Because these recycled Steam releases are literally just advertisements for the Ubisoft launcher, where they REALLY want you to end up at in the long-run.

Seriously, the Steam releases we've been getting have forced DRM and forced Uplay, no Steam Achievements, no trading cards, just no effort in whatsoever. They're just there so you have to put Uplay on your computer.

Case in point: The racing game they just announced yesterday has a nice little EGS logo at the end of the trailer. Ubisoft doesn't give a single crap about their Steam customers. These rereleases of old games is just another ploy to nickel and dime Steam users.
I honestly think they put them there because they actually can't get them to sell anywhere near the numbers that they sell on Steam. Their attempt at making some games exclusive to Uplay (or whatever the hell they call it these days) seems to have failed enough that they eventually give up after a time and just release on Steam, but having to actually make something that'll skip their shitty launcher... too much effort when you can just have it loaded up in the background anyhow. They also tie a LOT of stuff to their launcher / online stuff (like their own achievements, etc). It's all kind of trash. Unfortunately they do make a type of game I like to waste hours of my life playing... I should just read more books :P

Forspoken gets an update to improve Steam Deck performance
1 Feb 2023 at 1:24 am UTC

Quoting: gradyvuckovic
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: mr-victoryBut did they remove the necessity of the workaround for the Linux desktop? If they didn't but instead added fixes for Steam Deck, that's hilarious😂
I would not surprised seeing devs supporting Deck in the future, and still not caring about Linux, even when it's almost the same thing. Deck is "dev-friendly", because it's a defined system with known hardware and a known OS and it made mainsteam media, so it exists in their world.

Linux is still that "nerd operating system" that's hard to support because no two systems are the same, and people using don't want to spend money on software, anyway. Or so...

But hey, I expect issues like this one to be the exception rather than the norm, so it's all good.
I wonder if it would help to put together a 'Linux game development SDK' that includes documentation, build tools, tutorials, compile-able demos, debugging tools, and more, in a similar to fashion to how there is a Vulkan SDK.
There was some talk about this for Launchbox (emulator front end) to be ported to Linux, and the developers have mostly said that the Linux development tools just aren't as good... though I tend to think it is more like 'it isn't as good for the language that we chose to write things in', as development tools under Linux have always seemed superior to me over Windows.

Forspoken gets an update to improve Steam Deck performance
1 Feb 2023 at 1:22 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Pengling
Quoting: slaapliedjeThis game is one of those that makes me wonder "why don't people just emulate older computers and play the ton of games that came out 10-20 years ago instead of playing this shiny jaunt through shaders and lighting effects?" :P
/me waves from over in Emulationville. :grin: Join us! We have bombs and candy and bananas and health-restoring roast-chicken that spawns on floors!
Haha! Hell yeah! Granted I have enough real hardware these days that I don't really need to emulate. Recently added a modded Atari 800xl PAL system with a U1mb and VBXE so I can output via SCART to a lovely image to play awesome new games like Albert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNfWa4CyehE [External Link]

Colossal Cave returns from the 1970s in a 3D reimagining
1 Feb 2023 at 1:20 am UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Pengling
Quoting: Purple Library GuyHm. This is one of those ones where I can't decide if it's nice that they updated it, or if it will just kind of ruin my nostalgia.
This kind of reminds me of how generations had their own imaginations' versions of what Hobbits looked like, but those who came along after the Hollywood Lord of the Rings movies tend to see them as Elijah Wood with big feet and funny clothes. :tongue:
Yeah . . . although to be fair, as a massive LoTR fan I found that most of the Peter Jackson representations did amazingly little violence to my existing notions of how Middle Earth is. Exceptions: Paths of the Dead, Shelob's lair, to some extent Elrond, Denethor, in a way Eowyn (I liked the movies' Eowyn, but I was picturing someone slimmer and wirier and grimmer), the Mouth of Sauron. But those are far less major worries than I was expecting.
The Ralph Bakshi ones definitely had big feet and goofy clothes over the Peter Jackson interpretation. Though they definitely 'borrowed' some of the scenes directly from that version!

My biggest disappointment with the Jackson trilogy is the treetment (pun intended) of the Ents. The extended version made it seem a little bit better, but still seemed to do a disservice to them deciding on their own that they should help.

Forspoken gets an update to improve Steam Deck performance
31 Jan 2023 at 11:44 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: crseForspoken regional pricing lol, it's half of the minimum wage in my country... (in certain city, if I want to be pedantic).
You know what bothers me the most about the pricing of video games these days? Even when they first started being digital only, they were the same damn price as a physical copy that potentially had a printed manual, maps, box, etc. The sound tracks were ON the CD by default as well, now that's an extra! Or it's 'Deluxe edition' or 'gold edition' with an eventual 'ultimate edition!'

Some of us complain about how bad a game is, but when it's priced so people can't even afford it to see how bad it sucks, I guess that's an entirely different issue.

This game is one of those that makes me wonder "why don't people just emulate older computers and play the ton of games that came out 10-20 years ago instead of playing this shiny jaunt through shaders and lighting effects?" :P

Inspired by Boulder Dash and Supaplex, Gem Worlds is out now
31 Jan 2023 at 10:48 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: MohandevirBoulder Dash! OMG!... Lol!

Used to play this game on an Apple IIE!
I used to play it on my Atari 800xl, where I believe it was developed originally.

The version on the AtariVCS is amazing, not sure if they released it on Steam or not. I played it a lot when I first got my VCS just over a year ago.

Forspoken gets an update to improve Steam Deck performance
31 Jan 2023 at 3:49 pm UTC Likes: 7

But did they make the game not 'meh'? Ha, everything I have heard online about this game makes me think the writers of the dialog were angsty teens.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 19: SiNsational
31 Jan 2023 at 1:24 am UTC

Quoting: Lightkey
Quoting: Hamish
Quoting: gbudnyDo you plan to write the article about Devil whiskey for Linux?
I had never even heard of this game before, so thanks for the suggestion. I will certainly consider it. :smile:
Me neither! That makes two old Linux games already that I didn't know about. Tux Games didn't sell it or I would have gotten it.

Quoting: gbudnySimilarly, Titan Computer was interested in releasing Gorky 17 for Linux. I'm guessing Hyperion didn't want to work with Titan Computer after publishing Shogo and Sin for Linux. They decided to spend a few years porting Gorky 17 to Linux x86/PPC with a Linux team of Michael Simms. LGP replaced the gap after Loki, Tribsoft, and Titan Computer.
I played the demo of Gorky 17 on Linux/ppc and it was one of my favourite games. Was really looking forward to playing the full game only to encounter a crash shortly after where the demo ended. Michael Simms told me they didn't have the sources, so instead LGP ultimately stopped supporting PPC ports and I had to complete it on my x86 machine. :sad:
I don't know what happened to my copy of Devil's Whiskey... but I never could get it to work, it requires an old Python or something.

Wine 8.0 is out now with major compatibility improvements
31 Jan 2023 at 1:20 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: SynchroAnarchyI remember back in 2018 when i moved to Linux, wine version was 3.xx i believe, no media foundation, no fsync, time surely flies by...
Ha, yeah it took a very long time to hit 1.0, I first used Wine when it could barely launch Notepad.