UI is where a lot of open source projects tend to fall behind, especially games. Designing a good UI for a game can be really, really difficult, and most open source developers don't have the expertise.

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Just bought two new expansion packs for Crusader Kings II (Conclave and The Reaper's Due), so I've been putting some time into that. Crusader Kings II was one of the first games I bought when Steam for Linux was officially released, and it remains one of my favorite games to this day. The complexity and level of detail is something that I don't know if I'll ever fully wrap my head around, but it all makes for some terrific, open-ended gameplay.

Right now I'm playing as a duke in France. I started with a single province and three vassals, and through some nefarious scheming I was able to inherit a second province free and clear with no other claimants waiting in the wings (those children really should have been more careful around the castle parapets). Of course my character is a bit of a sociopath (he dug up a rival's body in order to steal his head and display the skull as a trophy!), but he'll die of old age soon, and then his more benevolent son will inherit the seat of power.

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Quoting: GuestIf they actually needed more money for developing a bigger game, then ask for more money for the complete version.

And this is when the anti-DLC crowd has me scratching my head.

If you don't mind paying extra for "the complete version" (whatever that means to you) then why do you have a problem with paying extra for DLC? Either way, you're paying more to get more, so what's the problem?

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Quoting: BeamboomAnother week, another turn-based rpg.

We certainly seem to have a glut of "old school" RPGs in Linux, don't we? :D

I won't be buying Tyranny but only because I currently have Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, and Shadowrun: Dragonfall in my backlog waiting to be played and/or finished. But once I'm done with those I will definitely consider it!

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Quoting: GuestAnother Paradox game to be ruthlessly bombarded by DLC afterward (or have a huge portion of the game withheld during development) so if you want the complete game you have to fork over way more $$$$$ later on? No thank you, I'll wait for the GOtY edition, as with all Paradox games.

Oh, please, not this BS again. Pillars of Eternity is a complete game with two meaty expansion packs. It's actually a rather old school approach if you think about it. As for Paradox's other games like Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis IV, etc., Paradox has always released the most critical gameplay features as part of their regular patches. Even if you never buy a single expansion, you will still have a complete game with substantial new content released for free with every major patch. If you want a little more then you're asked to pay a little more for the DLC which seems perfectly reasonable to me because we can't realistically expect Paradox to give everything away for free. Furthermore, since none of the DLC is essential, you're free to pick and choose only the DLC which actually appeals to you while ignoring the rest. If you're playing multiplayer against someone who has DLC that you don't, you will have access to the extra content for that play session. I find this approach to be the gold standard for DLC as far as I'm concerned.

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Looks great. I just hope it's not a broken mess like their previous game.

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Paradox is a model developer and publisher as far as I'm concerned. They have been an avid supporter of Linux since day one -- in this case meaning the day Steam for Linux was officially released. Crusader Kings II was one of the first Linux games I purchased on Steam, and I am proud to say that I have played it exclusively on Linux. :D

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I can't believe this project is still going. I've seen to so many promising open source games fall by the wayside over the years.

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Quoting: HyperdriveMaybe Gamingonlinux could help coordinate a legal action against people who take advantage of this scheme?

I doubt it. Kickstarter only requires that a "good faith effort" is made to complete a project as described. It's basically a risk-free source of free money.

"Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms to create a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse if they don't. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill."

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/accountability-on-kickstarter [External Link]

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Getting the game to run has become a major problem and as we've used new, platform-specific technology we can't directly port it over anymore like we've done in the past.

They try to phrase this like, "Oh, gee, whoops... Who could have known?" but what they're really saying is that at some point during development, they made the deliberate decision to screw their Linux and Mac backers.

This is why I despise crowd funding, because there is literally zero accountability.

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