Quoting: OrkultusThis looks interesting. I will have to def check that out. I also found a beta release for another game that looks interesting!. http://www.verdungame.com/ [External Link] :D

Actually, Verdun probably deserves it's own article.  It's a Unity3D engine MMOFPS featuring 4-player squads, set in the WWI era, specifically the Battle of Verdun (hence the name).  It's not immediately apparent to me exactly how they plan to monetize it (direct sales, F2P, subscriptions?), so there are some unknowns, but otherwise, for fans of historical FPS, it might be quite a treat.

Their beta site:  http://beta.verdungame.com/ [External Link]
The direct beta link is (currently): http://beta.verdungame.com/builds/StandaloneLinux.zip [External Link]

There are beta forums, also:  http://forum.verdungame.com/viewforum.php?f=23 [External Link]

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Haha!  And you wrote and posted this whilst I was half-finished with my version of the article!

This is precisely the project I was thinking about in our e-mail correspondence about promoting specific crowd-funded games.

I can't say I'm unhappy, though!  Life of Pixel looks & feels like a playable piece of video gaming history, and I dearly hope it succeeds.

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Quoting: berarma

Quoting: s_dRegarding multiplayer, it is absolutely true, and I've a nice technical explanation from them.  It appears to be an architectural limitation:

http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/9178/ [External Link]

As much as I respect these guys and their work, I think that's a very poor design decision.

Yes, well, the engineer that answered my question did defend the method (sort of), but also didn't seem overly thrilled about it either :P

It is what it is.  The game is four years old, and was originally launched exclusively on two consoles (which probably couldn't match-make against each other for a whole set of other reasons).

Why would their publisher (EA!!!) have been willing to paying DF to build netcode that would make an unapproved future desktop port viable for cross-platform multi-player?

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Regarding multiplayer, it is absolutely true, and I've a nice technical explanation from them.  It appears to be an architectural limitation:

http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/9178/ [External Link]

Quoting: Quote from DF NathanBL’s matchmaking is restricted by platform/OS (i.e. 360 vs 360, Win vs Win, Linux vs Linux, etc).
The reason for this is that BL uses a deterministic peer-to-peer multiplayer model. In this model, there is no central/official server that makes all the important decisions and tells everyone else what happened. If there was, cross OS multiplayer would be much more possible. However, in the case of BL (and Iron Brigade), each player basically runs their own server and players only send their input to the other players. It’s as if everyone had their keyboards/mice/controllers plugged into a single machine. Except, they aren’t the same machine, but they have to act as if they are. What this means is that the game must be 100% deterministic, i.e. given the same inputs, each instance of the game must produce the same output. If the games don’t have the same output, then you get what we call a desync, which is sort of a butterfly effect where the games could continue, but each player would have an increasingly divergent version of the game.
In order to produce the exact same outputs, the game’s code needs to execute *exactly* the same on all of the machines involved. Any difference in how the process does, say, floating point math (i.e. PS3’s Cell vs Intel) would break that requirement. Even on machines with the same hardware (i.e. Windows vs Linux), we have to use different compilers and rely on different OSs. These differences in how, say, a compiler optimizes code can introduce subtle changes that will not be deterministic with the same code compiled on another processor.
It is, theoretically, possible to make a windows binary and a linux binary deterministic, but it’s a daunting proposition on a codebase as complex as Brutal Legend. It would require a vast investment of tech and QA, and would probably be quite fragile, easily broken by a subtle change in compiler behavior, OS update, etc.
Anyway, I hope that helps answer your question!

So, there you have it.  Each client sends state deltas to the others, and each client is expected to apply those deltas to the parameter lists of each object in play.  Then, each client's game engine is expected to play the resulting gameplay segment exactly as all the others (units spawn & die at the same time, attacks are issued & land in sync, etc.), and this is highly perturbed by engine variation, even compile-time optimization differences.

I can't say it's a happy result for me, but it's clear that they did not simply dismiss the feature, but did in fact put effort into discovering feasibility.

Beyond that, I'm conflicted... I'm not much of a multi-player kind of guy.  So, it shouldn't be a big deal.  But when I do, the two genres I enjoy are RTS and co-op RPG's (e.g., NWN1).  I've had a chat with some co-workers, regarding the PC release of BL, and they all pretty much agree that the game's RTS mode was not at all appropriate for a console (big surprise), and that the game is most fun to play with a gamepad for the action-adventure segments, and mouse/keyboard for the RTS battles.

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Quoting: MaximBI'm not saying that all oldies are bad games, far from it - but why port an ancient title and try to sell it instead of porting newer titles.

They intend to do so, but there are two problems.  First, gauging the market, and second, bringing in some income to fund the Linux porting operation with minimal cost.  The older games solve both of the problems.

I'm pretty sure that they're aware that older games are less desirable, and likely factor that into their decision-making process.  If they can be sure that gamers remember, and are interested in, the older titles, then there is a greater chance that the newer games in the series may also see similar attention.  GOG.com has, until very recently, built a successful business entirely around that concept; adding low-priced newer independent titles & Mac games is pretty new.

Lastly, achieving good performance on modern Linux with little work is much easier with old code, so the porting burden is lower.

I'm hoping this strategy pays off!  It's definitely a huge risk to bring decades-old titles that people may have forgotten.  I suppose they will need to grow a reputation for bringing old games people like, so that their Desura page becomes like a mini-GOG for Linux or something.

How about this... GOG solves their Linux support problem by long-term contracting RuneSoft to do the work and build that strategy for them, as well as assisting them with their growing Mac catalogue.  RuneSoft then uses some of that revenue to bring new games, hence raising their profile and improving their list of offerings :)

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Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: HamishPeople should keep in mind that Runesoft are doing this to port more of their old catalogue to Linux, rather than just grabbing new tittles. Personally, I applaud them for it.

Not just that, they update their older titles to fix bugs like their other Linux ports on Desura.

Yeah, like the best parts of GOG/CD Projekt RED's patching/fixing operation for good old games... but for Linux.  RuneSoft have been our allies for longer than almost any other developer.  We just have to continue showing them that it's financially worth the effort.

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Quoting: SpeedsterI enjoyed this game, hope someday the sequel gets ported to Linux as well

Yeah, I asked RuneSoft about this, and they said that depending on how well their back catalog does on Desura, they want to bring the Ankh games, as well as games that have never been on Linux before, like Jack Keane and the Fire Within and Ankh 3.

I really hope that works out!

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Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: AnonNo cross-platform multiplayer in BL. No fun for Linux users I guess :(

Really? Man that's pants.

Pretty sure that's just the DRM-free version.  I'd be a tad surprised if multi-player is not included in the Steam version when it is ready.  Someone could probably get clarification from DF via twitter.  I will ask on the DF forums.

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Quoting: GuestFollowing the info 'Paying more than average will give you the steam key for Brütal Legends' - can anyone comment on that?  Will I get a download from Humble, or just a key?

I believe that both games will be available as DRM-free downloads.  Brütal Legend has a single-player campaign, which I believe is what will land in your Humble Library, but the game is recently being heavily promoted by Double Fine as a multi-player PC RTS, and that online multi-player & match-making functionality was all plumbed up using Steamworks (which is both DRM as well as a set of libraries & API's that hugely simplify the engineering of such features for game developers).

Broken Age is a single-player, 2D graphical point-n-click adventure (formerly Double Fine Adventure from Kickstarter), with no online features.  A DRM-free version was promised to all backers of the project, so I believe that the Humble version will probably be the same downloadable installer.

Thusly, I suspect that the Steam keys are both for Steam fans and for unlocking online multi-player matches for Brütal Legend.

However;  my statement is pure speculation and reasoning on my part.  Caveat emptor.  :)

The real question unanswered question... will the DLC's for Costume Quest & Brütal Legend ever be available & usable for the DRM-free version?

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Hot damn, this is fantastic!  I'm perfectly happy to play all the single-player campaigns.  I'm thinking that I'll claim my HIB version of Broken Age and gift the backer's key I have.

Not at all surprised about The Cave, as it just came out, Sega has distribution rights, and will probably (if ever) launch DRM-free at a fixed price before becoming a PWYW deal.

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