Quoting: LinasGraphical design, 3D modeling, and video editing tools is a bigger problem for game development on Linux. At least if you are developing a game from scratch, and not making a port.

Actually, Linux is the defacto standard in the movie (post-production/VFX) industry, and basically every AAA blockbuster movie since the early 2000's up to today have been made on Linux workstations and rendered on Linux servers. Because of this, all relevant commercial 3D suites are available for Linux (except 3dsmax, but who cares.. even game studios use Maya nowadays). 2D (compositing and grading in this context) is done on Linux aswell. Of course Photoshop-ninjas won't change, but Krita is used by some studios and artists for concept art/graphics/textures, and even primarily game-dev apps such as Substance Painter is available for Linux (because it wants appeal to the VFX industry). Video editing, like sound design, have a harder time moving to Linux, even though commercial offerings are available. Commercial game engines and editors exists in some form (I guess Unity is in better shape than UE4.. don't know about CryEngine or Unigine).

In open source, we have Blender, Krita, GIMP (which is very capable despite its stigma), Ardour, Godot, Shotcut, Darktable, etc.

The notion that Linux is not a platform for graphical/"creative" work needs to stop. It is simply not true anymore, and haven't been for well over a decade. Next time you watch "Avengers" or "Star Wars" or whatever, enjoy the thought that all the CG/VFX was powered by Tux :)

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Like many here I don't trust Microsoft, living through their horrible and aggressive behaviour in the Gates/Ballmer era as a Linux user. Even today Microsoft is as two-faced as ever, with the "We love Linux" comment and what seems like trying too hard adopting the "open source" business model. They desperately want to appear as a "progressive" and "hip" company, while many of us old enough know that Microsoft is still just as conservative and monopolistic as ever. Unfortunately Microsoft has had time on its hands, and I see a new generation of developers who believe MS is actually a driving force behind Linux and Open Source, because "Free stuff!", while dismissing the whole point of GNU. Perception, it seems, can be bought..

I'm calling it now: Canonical will be acquired by Microsoft in the near future.

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Quoting: Naib

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: Naib( I explain distro's to windows users as people only applying certain kb)

That sounds like a very inaccurate explanation. It implies the biggest difference is the amount of security you get.

Lots of things are inaccurate... From a windows user perspective "there are thousands of distro's, what do people target"

There are hundreds of distro's but do you know what? at the core they are all the same. Once you reach the zen of Linux distributions you realise all they are are at different patchlevels compared to each other and different defaults.
Couple that with linux's extremely consistent api going backwards and well if you get something working for one you can get it working for another.

So if my "layman's" explanation to a windows user, in terminology they understand as to why it doesn't matter that there are hundreds of distros... WHAT do you suggest?

As always, the car analogy works here. Do you want a sports car, practical transportation or a bus? One look over another? I see Ubuntu as a cheap, and therefor very popular "car" (sorry, just my opinion)

I agree completely with you about "the zen of Linux distributions". I never understood the panic about fragmentation, when there are so many examples of (commercial) software that works perfectly across distros. Of course it makes sense from a support perspective to limit it to 1-2 distros, but ideally the choice of distro should be up to the individual user. Like trying different kinds of sports to see what fits your personality. In the meanwhile Ubuntu is fine as a "gateway drug" ;)

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I wanted this game no matter what, so if it would run badly, so be it. I'm positively surpriced to see it run so well so far on my system, from a purely subjective view. Love the graphics and animation. Lara looks so good and very realistic - no uncanny valley!

Thank you Feral Interactive, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix!

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SteamWorld Dig 2: Just finished it yesterday, but I'm certainly not done with it yet. Love the SteamWorld games so much! Sad that Image & Form Games said they are done with the series/franchise :(

Hollow Knight: Very beautiful game and great to play, but SteamWorld Dig 2 interupted my playthrough, so I hope I won't have a tough time getting back into it (don't think I will, but it's not as chill as SWD2)

Dirt Rally: This will probably be on my list for a long, long time.

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I love this game, but calling this an expansion (mini or otherwise) is a bit of a stretch, and it doesn't help that it costs money. IMHO this feature should have been free just as the Stadium one, since the functionality seem alike. Sure it's a business, but I'm not interested in paying 7€ for this, and to be honest the Green Cities expansion doesn't seem that substantial to me either gameplay wise, atleast compared to Mass Transit. New (official) buildings are always cool, but the "strategy" of minimizing pollution is negated by the Eden Project monument.

That is actually one of my biggest issues with CS, that most of the "end-game" monuments changes the balance in your city in weird ways (one example: the Medical Center eliminates all sickness even though it has a patient capacity of 1000, and has 50 ambulances that are never used), and they feel generally broken and not well thought out. I will gladly pay for an expansion that only focuses on balancing, and I'm honestly turned off of the direction of practically cosmetic only expansions..

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I had the issue with my PS3 controller after I updated to Linux 4.12, and it was because of how the driver was refactored in the kernel (afaik the motion part was seperated to its own input device, among other things, getting the same treatment as the DS4 got in an earlier kernel). I have had issues using my DS4 in Steam games before, but I always been happy to use my PS3 controller instead, with it just working out-of-the-box and recognized as a Playstation controller in games, rumble and all. I have downgraded to kernel 4.11 so I can play with a controller.

It is nice to see it potentially getting fixed, and I'll have to try it for my self later. One thing I really hope though, is that the PS3/DS4 controller is used natively in games, and not mapped to "emulate" a Steam or Xbox controller...

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DiRT Rally: One of my most anticipated games on Linux, and love playing it. Finally got a better handle on the driving - I used to avoid the Greece courses, now they are some of my favorites.

Flinthook: Ok little game, but one of those I play primarily because the controls feels good and I can play in short sessions.

Hyper Light Drifter: I really need to complete this game, because I won't start 'Hollow Knight' before I do...

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I just indulged myself and bought the 3 games on my wishlist, even if it's a hit on my wallet.. Damn sales ;)

Quoting: stretch611The store has been slow for me all day. Pathetically slow. I do understand how overloaded their servers must be, but after all the years they have been running the sales they should have a good idea on what to expect and plan accordingly.

I didn't experience slowdowns in the store or checkout, but Valves network is definitely being punished (I'm seeing sustained speeds of bytes per second, and when it's good around 100KB/s..)
It's a tough decision for Valve to plan and fix this, unless they throw tons of cash after it. Look at Amazon, holiday sales is the reason they made AWS, as the huge amount of hardware required to handle these sales are unused 95% of the year otherwise. Seeing as Valve operates very privately, I'm not sure they are interested in using a public cloud service, and also not interested in the investment and creation of a cloud service themselves. I'm not trying to make excuses for them, just saying it's not a push of a button change.

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Quoting: GuestI couldn't disagree more. I love 2D games, but I hate fugly pixels...

I hear what you are saying, and personally I'm tired of the flood of games using "retro pixel art" style, as a visual gimmick, without proper reason. However, in some cases the style fits, and I'm impressed with the amount of detail that can be expressed. Especially the Castlevania games I associate with great pixel art, so for me it makes sense that "clones" (harsh word, but..) are expressed the same way. Would I prefer beautiful, highres sprite work ala Hollow Knight and SteamWorld Heist? Absolutely! I can still appreciate and respect the amount of work put into some "retro pixel art" games, though.

Quoting: GuestI'll be really happy if the Bloodstained trailer is representative of the final visual state of the game. It's already looking very nice IMO.

I cannot appreciate or respect the work put into the 3D art in Bloodstained as it looks now. Working with 3D myself (for TV/film, not games), I think the result looks cheap and lazy, and completely devoid of atmosphere. If this was early work in progress, fair enough, but looking at how Mighty No. 9 turned out, this is most likely as good as it gets. I'd choose "stairwells of ugliness" crafted with love and thought over generic and lifeless 3D anyday.

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