Quoting: iskaputtWas totally hyped by the `Direct Download` link, but every game I was interested in is Steam key only :(

In other words, "Direct Download" is some sort of false advertizing, am I right?

As I can understand, none of the games there are DRM-free and Steam account is required.

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My bet is on "Steam-exclusive" release. GOG did not do a thing about Linux in the past and I doubt something changed this time.

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Never preorder!

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Quoting: WorthlessBumsEstimating is hard. I'd like to address the entire "2% is really good because we're 1% of the user base" argument. Not every game on Steam has Linux support. You'd expect the average number of Linux sales to be higher than the average percentage of Linux users, per game that does support Linux. If Linux was 10% of Steam's userbase but there was only 1 Steam game with Linux support you would not expect that game's userbase to be only 10% Linux users; the Linux users are simply flowing into fewer games than Windows users are. That said the Mac percentage numbers are low as well - maybe I'm missing something here.

Maybe :-)

1) If it is true that the Linux version arrived one year late to the party, then you probably sould not expect high sales due to marketing campaign long gone.

2) Did you advertize the game on the thematical resources? Or those who bought the game had found it themselves? We have more than 5 games available under Linux now and it is getting hard to know them all. :P

3) Humble Indie Bundles? Other stores besides DRM-ed Steam? You know, DRM-hatred is especially strong under Linux.

Quoting: WorthlessBumsIs 2% good or bad? If it's bad then there's presumably things I could do to get more Linux users.

Judging by Humble Indie Bundle sales, it is rather weak result, especially for a small indie project.

The recomendations are ordinary:
1) aim for day-1 release
2) if 1) is not possible, jump onto some "Mac and Linus debut" on Humble Sale or something similar
3) differentiate selling stores. I believe it is rather easy to get lost on Steam in that big pool, especially with (as was reported earlier) the "Linux only" filter permanently broken.

Quoting: WorthlessBums...I'm making the game in Unity instead of Torque2D. ... and I have Linux-specific bugs a mile long.

NO! It is not you who have Linux-specific bugs! It is Unity3D game engine. And if you are using commertial version then Unity3D-devs are obliged to provide you working engine. Go, hit them with something big and heavy! All of the Linux community will be grateful!

Quoting: WorthlessBumsIt's unlikely I'll release Steam Marines 2 with WML builds on day one just because of the volume of issues I'd have to work through. The current plan is to launch the Windows build first, hammer out any outstanding issues, then bring Mac and Linux builds to parity.

Than you should expect under-par sales. You know, all my friends are under Windows and I kinda like to play the game when they play it to share my opinions, for multiplayer etc. ... and not one year later when they already have forgotten about it.

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Quoting: orochikyo...there is a reason ... that actually any Mac OS doesnt have a terminal since 10 years ago.

To be honest, it doesn't look like the absense of the Terminal helped MacOS become "Gamers' Heaven" in any way. The same old 3,5%...

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Quoting: dmantioneThis month we are showing good market share of 2.72% on W3Counter:
It can no longer be dismissed as noise, one thing that is sure, is that Linux market share has risen in 2016!

We are not talking about Linux users here. We are talking about Linux gamers (or gamers converted from Windows to Linux)! Feel the difference. :D

While Linux can get more attractive to general user, it is lacking for the gamer. No AAAAAA-titles everyone is speaking about. Only Windows walkthroughs on www.gamefaqs.com. All friends around are using Windows. Heck, even console emulators! Pick one. Anyone. It has Windows support and Windows builds ready on its site and no Linux builds (if you are lucky, you will find a recomendation to get it from your distribution maintainer; otherwise, search forums for unofficial community builds and hope they will work).

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Quoting: AimelaWell, it's hard to say exactly how accurate this is, considering that some people may have received the hardware survey within Wine or Windows in a dual-boot situation.

I fail to see how this can tamper the purity of the survey. If they get their survey on Windows, then they are Windows users. Even WINE is Windows for all intents and purposes as it increases Windows-only games' audience and thus further discourages developers from working on Linux versions of their games.

Let's just face it: there are no points of growth for Linux at this stage. Ask yourself: "If I'm a gamer and want to play all of the hot best-sellers of the season, what OS should I use?" The answer is evident. :P

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Yes, it is very useful, but you will need to replace system's ffmpeg with a custom one, which is a hassle, and the card needs to be no less then GeForce GTX 650.

P.S. Lucky for me, I have exactly GeForce GTX 650!

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Quoting: skinnyrafFeral is answering a need.

Yes. "Need"... How appropriate for the case! As greedy water traders selling spoiled water droplets to thristy people in the desert for a steep price. Beggars can not be choosers.

Quoting: skinnyrafIf Feral's Mad Max or Deus Ex sells despite 20% performance hit, sooner or later one or another developer studio will start developing for Linux, then another.

Why would they? If they can sell outdated products for extra amount of cach while virtually doing nothing (everything in the technical aspect is being handled by porters) then why would they break their workflow and hire extra dedicated Linux programmers or teach Linux existing ones, replace game engines or plugins, enlarge their QA department and burden themselves with support for another platform?

Quoting: skinnyrafAnd Feral will flop if we don't buy their games because they're parasites, or because games are on Steam only, or because they use D3D->OGL translation.

And if Feral flops that will be Feral's problem, not AAAAAAA-developer's. I believe, AAAAAAA-developers just grant the right to tinker with the game's code and release the port (and to gain some fraction of the money from the port's sales). Developers do not risk anything, do not spend anything and do not care about anything.

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Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI thought my opinion about Feral already was rude, but this is... much technically acurate..

Well, it is not that they are outright bad for us. One can see it as some sort of symbiosis. But it is a big fallacy to think that we are obliged to them for our games.

Currently we are (to my delight) past the mark of "I can buy all of the Linux games" point so one must distribute resources.

Developers make games, not porters, so they should be our primary targets of persuasion and support.

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