Quoting: AnonymousLooks like a mashup of Bastion and Sworcery, which is no bad thing. Music sounds great too.

Yeah, set in the world of Supergiant Games' Transistor...

Love the graphics! Sweet, sweet pixels.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

This particular title is attractive looking, indeed!

In regards to where I would choose to buy it, Desura is my main service, with most of my games.  When it comes to free games, I guess I'm pretty satisfied with Desura having plenty of titles that don't make it onto Steam.  There is room for both to exist, and Desura can double down on it's strategy of inclusiveness and variety.  

Of course, there is a host of improvements Desura can make to it's service which would make me like it better, but I'm already a fan.  I suppose it could benefit from a recommendation system and facilitation of some co-op features (i.e., something similar to Steamplay) as well as improvements to it's Accolades system (to make it easy for devs to plumb their Achievement system through it, and reduce the work necessary to keep a Desura and Steam build in sync).

What would make me happiest would be improvements on the client for cross-platform delivery of community modding content along with paid DLCs (which are available, now, but only on a handful of games).  I think that could tie into the ModDB community pretty well, even though the services are somewhat separate, following the Linden acquisition.

I quite like the variety of oddities available on Desura, and it's clear that Valve hasn't figured out how to monetize completely free content (free-to-play, a la TF2, yes... free as in beer? Not so much).  In fact, other than ad revenues on the website proper, I'm not really sure how Desura is monetizing free content.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Finally, some further movement on this front specifically [External Link]:

Quoting: @scottreismanis@gamingonlinux we are adding DRM notification which will let you know what is required (99% of games are DRM free and are our focus)

It still appears that this will be part of their new "soon to be launched" version of the site, but at least they've not forgotten their chat with Hamish :)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: SamsaiI like the idea of a less toxic MOBA. So far the only MOBA like that has been Awesomenauts which isn't exactly like a traditional MOBA. :P

Agreed, Awesomenauts is loads of fun.  It's the only MOBA yet that I've figured out how to enjoy.  DOTA2 is definitely something, but that "something" to me is not yet "fun".  Interesting?  Impressive?  Perhaps. But not exactly fun.

That said, in my experience it degrades well graphically to run pretty well on Ivy Bridge GPU's, so I would consider it a pretty good port.  On the other hand, Awesomenauts is 2D, so it's a bit hard to compete with it in terms of performance.  It's always going to run smoothly!

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: JoeThere are already quite a few indie developers unhappy with how long it takes to get listed on Steam.

To be honest, I don't know of any indie devs who are happy about the listing delay and jumping the necessary hoops.  Most seem happy to do business with Valve once the gauntlet has been run, but I agree, it really does come off as being a kind of "indie dev hazing ritual".  :(

View this comment - View article - View full comments

First prediction:  next week's announcement will not show off the Steam Box to the world (maybe a prototype at most), but will reveal Valve's Steam Box strategy.

Second prediction:  HL3 will be announced as a first-party title to launch with the Box.  It will not be an exclusive, and will be announced to launch on each of Steam's three desktop platforms simultaneously with the Steam Box "console" version (which will really just be good controller support for the most part).

Those are pretty obvious (to me).  Now, wild and rampant speculation...

Third prediction:  We won't see a full launch title list (not remotely), but at least one title will be unportable, suggesting a thoroughly tested Wine experience.  Valve will put a lot of effort into making Wine ports very stable and performant on the specific hardware & distro employed in their Box platform, for the specific games they wish to sell, and a fair number of day-one ports will end up on the Box.  High-end ports will sort of peter out as Steam Box compatibility (via Wine-wrap, or at best, in-built winelib) becomes the new low bar for Linux porting of AAA's.

Alternate third prediction:  The Box will not actually be a specific hardware product, but rather a distro + software stack licensed out to OEM's to build their own branded Steam Boxen, e.g., the Alienware Steam Box, the Falcon Northwest Steam Box, the Maingear Steam Box, the HP Steam Box, etc.  Gabe will announce a certification program for OEM partners to qualify their hardware for Valve-approved "Steam Box" status (like Microsoft's WLK/WHC, Apple's MFi Program, or VMware's "Ready" program).  In this alternate future, Wine is not emphasized because system configurations vary, with the "bar" characterized by Valve's performance thresholds for certification of titles within the current gaming generation.

Not super excited about either outcome, but that's what my crystal ball reads.  :) It will be interesting to see what actually happens...

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Munt, I want to thank you for your amazing service, and commitment!  This has been a standout addition to the GOL community, and will be missed, no matter what shape this turns into.  I will help keep something going with Speedster, and think that others will help as well, but on a smaller scope (wow, you really set the bar!).  I definitely want to thank you, also, for continuing to shepherd the crowd-funding wiki, as it is almost a certainty that anyone continuing on this path would do well to subscribe to changes on that crowd-funding article (daily digest mode, preferably, haha!).

I wonder if we could bug you to continue contributing in a way that does not involve writing words or visiting Kickstarter pages?  Specifically... if we are able to crowd-source our articles (as Speedster is attempting to organize at this moment), would you mind cooking up your awesome article graphic for us, just like old-times?  You'd share your sense of humor with us with those, and they were always sure to entertain.  They were one of those details that really added a lot of fun to the column, and I know I miss them.  Of course, we have GOL Tux, as with this issue, and can continue to use him, but any time you want to contribute a nifty twisted version of him, it would be very welcome.

For my personal workload, I'd really need another writer or two to help.  I have some other scope-reduction ideas that I've passed on, and anyone else wanting but help in any way (including with only the graphics!) should send a PM to Speedster.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Great!  Been waiting a long time for this one.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

My favourite aspect of the GOL community is that it is, by far, the most inclusive of all Linux gaming communities.
Nowhere else do we find this level of distribution agnosticism.  Penguins of all styles have a home here!
Those who readily use DRM systems, those who oppose them, and those who are undecided, are all welcome.
Gamers who draw a hard line and never use Windows or even Wine are welcome, as well as those who dual boot, or are primarily Windows gamers that are curious and jumping in... along with the majority of us who fall somewhere in-between.

Beyond that, GOL's stalwart support for independent games (however one defines these) and the developers who make them, vies strongly for favourite, but in my case, Linux comes first.  The constant and (as Hamish rightly notes) unstoppable flow of fresh, relevant game announcements, from Munt's columns to Liam's features, continue to promote a giant gaping hole in my finances.

And then, there is that unholy abomination of a sales page, squeezing the last drop of pocket change from our weary pockets...

Oh, who am I fooling.  It's all obviously because of Liam's roguish charm and crushing wit, yes?   ;)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Looking great!  The game creator was the same designer that made Puzzle Bots, as well (an AGS title that I'm hoping to see come to Linux soon).

View this comment - View article - View full comments