Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: s_d

Quoting: jlibsterbecause all require you to install a client

Wrong.  Desura does not.  I just explained that. :-(

Indeed it's up to the developers of the games if they have stand alone downloads, client downloads or both on Desura.

It's also worth noting that we can (within Desura) vote with our wallets, as well.  We can choose to further support developers who refuse to "wine-wrap" in favor of native Linux builds, and those who offer stand-alone downloads.  Still, no other platform has that capability.

Further, as I mentioned, the desktop client is GPL3, and hosted on github (called "Desurium").  Why not go read the sources and see how "invasive" the "tracking" really is?  Why not hook up a "don't track me, bro" option in the settings dialogues, and build one's own binary executable desktop client?  Nobody is stopping us! :-)

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Quoting: jlibsterbecause all require you to install a client

Wrong.  Desura does not.  I just explained that. :-(

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Quoting: Kame

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: Kame

Quoting: liamdaweActually the difference here is that gog.com's downloaders once downloaded will still work (you could backup your collection).

If Steam went down you don't have that choice since your game downloads are tied directly to their client?

Not exactly sure what you're saying here? If steam went down you'd still be able to play any games which the devs didn't put drm into.

I don't know about you but I don't have every game I own on Steam downloaded, what would happen if it went down - I wouldn't be able to download my games and play them.

It's a risk we all take and it is a risk.

Right, which is no different from GOG, which is the point I was trying to make.

(and yes actually, I do have all of my steam games downloaded :p)

No, I disagree.

There is a difference between your local Steam library, and someone else's folder full of game installers.  Valve could go out of business (I hope not), or offline, and you could continue play games in your local library.

What if you change gaming machines?  Say, you buy a new one, and want to sell or gift the old one?  If you still want to play your games, you'd have to transplant your Steam library from one machine to another manually, if you were unable to log in.  They must keep their service running indefinitely for you to have proper access to all of your games, indefinitely, on whatever future machine you wish to play them on.

With GOG, and most Desura games, simply keep a copy of the installer.  No matter which distributor goes out of business, you've still got a version of the game installer.  Yes, it may be unpatched (update clients are nice for that), yes, there may be content unavailable, like Steam workshop mods, but the basic game is yours in 15 years from now.

If we choose not to download all of our games, then yes, that risk is the same.  If we do choose to download all of them, I contend there is still a difference.  :-)

It is completely fair to say "well, I don't care about that risk", but not so fair to say "that risk doesn't exist".

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Quoting: Mike FrettI recently got into Desura, I like the way the client works by offering me only games that work on my platform, Linux. I wish Steam would do that also, I can't count the number of times I almost bought a game because I unknowingly rambled into a different platform.

And to my surprise, Desura seems to have a lot more games that Steam just doesn't have. Even some AAA titles like Fallout and Freespace. I really like it and Steam is turning out to be a letdown for me as far as Games I want to play.

Yeah, Desura is a no-brainer here.

They have a serious messaging problem;  Steam people see it as weird and small, with some old games like GOG.  GOG people see it as DRM (it is not!).  For heaven's sake, if the developer bothers to post one, it even lets you download a GOG-like installer for any platform, directly off the webpage, no desktop client required.

And the desktop client?  If someone doesn't actually believe that it will be DRM-free, they can just read the sources... because the desktop client is GPL3.  I really can't see what more they could possibly do make the point more clear that they are cool & different.  :-(

inXile entertainment is pretty much ahead in this, and Wasteland 2 is announced to be on Desura.  That's where I'll redeem my copy.

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My guess?  3-4 months for the DRM-free Linux version.  Or, 4-6 months for everything if they bother to do the editor.  Less by a month or so, for the Steam Linux version.

So, we'll soon see how right or wrong I am :D

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Air Forte is the only game I paid for.  I had AZS already, and (as you all mentioned) the others are not ported to Linux.  I like Brendon Chung, and I feel that he's worth supporting, but I won't pay for Win/Mac games (except certain classics off of GOG if their engine has been reimplemented, as with ScummVM/ResidualVM/GemRB).

I am also unhappy with the turn the Humble store has taken, but I don't feel it's any less worthy of my support than, for example, Desura.  Unfortunately... it's not more worthy, either.

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Quoting: liamdaweNothing like Frozen Synapse, it's all real time, you only control your character, it's a top down action shooter.

Ah, suppose I should bother to watch the video then! :)

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Haven't had a chance to play the demo, or watch the linked video here, but I did click through (many of) the screenshots on Desura... have to say, it looks like a wicked piece of tactical combat fun!

Obviously it's a totally different game (co-op, real-time, etc), but is it just me, or is there a bit of a Frozen Synapse feel to it?

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Quoting: edgleyAlso, while I don't mind so much if the editor is not on Linux initially, I would really love them to port that at some point.

Isometric RPGs are my favorite of the RPG genre.  I enjoy turn based, real-time w/pause, and the occasional action-RPG (less so).  Both Shadowrun Returns and also Shadowrun Online are pretty exciting to me, and I backed both... but this video... holy mother of drek, it's fragging badass!

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Quoting: Innocent BystanderYou are right. That was my experience as well. Here I would like to know specifically how a gamer feels in the Linux world, especially those who moved from Windows.

Well, I feel like I buy a hell of a lot of indie games (really REALLY good ones, actually), and spend way way way too much money on crowd-funding!  :P

In seriousness, it's kind of a hard road at first.  Once your back-catalog of games to play is stacked dozens deep, then it doesn't feel like too big a deal.  I bought nearly all the Humble Bundles, most of the best Desura games, and now on Steam, I've bought The Cave (which I'm really liking) and The Book Unwritten Tales games.

There's no way I'll be able to finish all of those before my Kickstarter games begin to hit...  also, I'm active in the Adventure Game Studio community, helping get the Linux port pretty solid.  I'm confident that soon, Wadjet Eye Games, who use AGS almost exclusively, will have their catalog of retro-styled 2D adventure games available (and adventure games are my favorite kind), and so I'll buy all of those. 

Not to mention, the AGS community has created loads of hilarious and brilliant free adventure games (hundreds actually) which mostly work.

To make a very long point short;  unless one is a console-addict, or favors AAA mainstream titles, one will never run out of great Linux games to play.  Even then, a few quite old AAA mainstream titles are also available.  At the end of the day... nobody has to pay for Nethack, or Dwarf Fortress either (both are crazy brilliant) but you're also not stuck with only them :D

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