Game development is a tough market, especially for smaller indie developers. I've seen quite a lot rise and fall over the last few years as creating games and getting them onto a store has become ridiculously easy compared to a few years ago so there's more competition than ever.

The problem in most cases is actually a staggering lack of community work.
Games nowadays have almost 0 chance of success if the developers do not spend time themselves to get into communities, introduce their game, and stick around and communicate openly and regularly.

That is, in addition to having a game that actually looks interesting to play (where this one also struggles a bit, IMO).

Getting some spotlight on large media outlets is out of the question anyway - and also no longer that relevant, as these non-niche sites continue to dwindle thanks to... well, that's a different topic.
Instead, you now have to get out there and communicate with streamers, youtubers and communities directly.
It is a lot of work, but I think indie devs can forget about any kind of success if they don't reserve some time for doing that every day for an hour or two.
Which certainly increases the workload, but I'd say most people going indie dev knew going in it's not going to be an 8hr/day job.

Case in point, I am part of a few communities (two of which have sections or are focused on strategy/sim games), but have never heard of this game before now.

But (yes, that's a large but).... this dev did the right thing, put money aside to focus on what is likely a dream of his or a life-bucket-list kind of thing and spent a year doing something that he likely loved doing. Without going into debt or anything like that.
Which is admirable. I plan to go the same route eventually.

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Before switching to Manjaro with KDE Plasma, I was also using Cinnamon (though I just installed it on top of a normal Ubuntu).
It is indeed fairly nice and I think one of the easiest interfaces for people switching from Windows (or just testing the waters in general).

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Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: TheSHEEEPEdit: Sorry if that all sounded too aggressive, but graphics-whorism always gets to me.

Then stop assuming everyone you disagree with are just whores. Cause what you released there was plain ignorant nonsense, hot air.

Of which you did not counter a single point, so I am most likely simply right about you.
If someone by their own admission primarily cares about secondary attributes of games like graphics, then sorry, but those people are graphics whores. That's kind of the definition here.

But hey, despair not! I know many people who are proud of that status, for some reason.

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Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: Samsaiat least to me this indie stuff is more interesting anyway because indie games feel like they at least have some soul

And that's your opinion, and one you are fully entitled to, of course. Just like I am entitled to mine. I respect your point of view. I'm glad for you. Cool! Enjoy the small games!

Your argument hinges on the absurd point that indie games would be small.
Small?!
Games like RimWorld, Stardew Valley, Dwarf Fortress, tons of Roguelikes, Atom RPG, Pathfinder, the list is endless .... they all have more depth, more gameplay to them than the majority of AAA titles combined.

I couldn't even spend more than 6 or so hours in the latest Tomb Raider as it was just so devoid of challenge, played itself for the most part (even went so far as to introduce skills that actively remove some of the gameplay that was left, now that's true AAA design) and was basically exactly like the one before.
Good port, though ;)

Meanwhile, something like Supraland with its singular vision and brillance in every detail didn't allow me to put it away from beginning to end.

Every once in a blue moon, a AAA title comes along that is actually more than just pretty to look at for a handful of hours and has something akin to actual challenge, creativity and good worldbuilding.
And it usually makes headlines when that happens.
But all the rest might as well just be a movie, because it is as deep as a pachinko machine. Just instant gratification in a Hollywood movie dress.

Quoting: BeamboomBut I've been a gamer for four decades now. I have played Pong on coin-up arcades back when people still paid to play that black'n'white game with coloured transparent stickers to create an illusion of colour. It's not like I've never played anything but the flagships of today.

Quite the contrary. I've played sprite based 2D games for thousands of hours back when that were the bleeding edge technology - there wasn't anything else. I played games back when they had to make them unfairly hard just to make them last, as they could not write bigger programs, the machines would not tackle it.

So for me, to go back to that kind of software - low budget, short games, small team efforts, limited resources, limited everything - well, I played nothing but that for years.

This is so incredibly sad to read.
You were never interested in what games are actually about: Gameplay.
You just went running after the currently best possible method to lull your brain to sleep that was one step above just being a movie, weren't you?
Well, you finally got what you always wanted. Just not on Linux.

If you want to lull your brain to sleep with AAA graphics - because that is exactly what happens, your brain got nothing to do there as it doesn't need to fill any blanks, the more realistic the graphics get - well, that's your choice. But then why not just watch movies and series (or read books)? Those can focus on nothing more than "graphics" and acting and stories - which seem to be the most important things to you.

I always watch one or two episodes of some series before going to bed. Or a movie. It's nice. Shuts me right down and makes me ready to sleep. Just like most AAA titles would.
But why the hell would I want to do that for the rest of the day (well, the free time part, anyway)?

Quoting: PatolaAnd I am also angry at the developers that try and use Pixel Graphics as pretending "being artsy" instead of plainly saying it's the small budget.

Not saying this is never true, as it sometimes is.
But nowadays, you can definitely go for more modern graphics with a small budget, too.
So I would argue that the majority of titles that do use Pixel Graphics or sprites do so not because of budget reasons but because they simply want to go with that style.

Because that's what it is, believe it or not: A style.
And a good one, too.

Since no amount of realistic graphics can ever replace the best renderer that ever was, is and will be: The space between our ears.
The early era (90s- early 2000s) had the incredible advantage of being restricted in graphical possibilities, and the solutions they came up with have advantages that are (thankfully!) being rediscovered today. And used for reasons other than technical or budget limitations.

Just like you still have all the classical instruments around, even though we now have the capabilities to do tons of other stuff electronically. They aren't "just old", they are different.

They spark the imagination, they are just more interesting to look at than "realistic plant and rock number 67632487", they make your brain go into (or stay in) active mode.
If I wanted high-end realism, I could spend my time hiking through the forest. No PC could beat that. Yet.
There is so much more a title like Ion Fury or Dusk offer to you (single-player-wise, anyway) than something like the last 10 Call Of Duties or abominations like the latest Wolfenstein would. It's a damn shame you are declining the offer.

Edit: Sorry if that all sounded too aggressive, but graphics-whorism always gets to me.

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Quoting: KorsAnd for sure, Dusk has the best OST in 2019.

Loved its OST as well as the one of Ion Fury - and thankfully, two votes were allowed ;)

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Quoting: redneckdrowGuys, you've gotta chill out. TheSheep, if you don't like the controls, Dfhack has plugins that improve the UI a great deal. Also if you want to remove the menus, just hit TAB twice. What do ya expect from two a game designed by two Math Phds? If you'd like, here's the link [External Link] to the latest Linux version of the Lazy Newb pack, which is what I use myself.

Wormzy, he's entitled to his opinion and as my Psychology teacher used to say in high school "Opinions are like rear-ends, everyone's got one, and no one wants to hear about anyone elses.".

There's never a need to get mad at anyone over a video game. We're all friends here.:)

Discussions are like soups.
Boring without spice.

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Quoting: WorMzyYeah, there's no need for all that.

Aka "I'm fine with it, therefore it is perfect".
Very convincing.

Quoting: WorMzyAdding mouse-driven menus and buttons would just slow things down and add nothing to the game. :|

You heard it here first, folks:
Making your game more smooth and comfortable to play, or playable for some to begin with, adds nothing to your game.

You should go ahead and spread the word.
I think most developers (probably all of them except this one) still believe having a proper User Interface and making their game accessible without sacrificing anything is actually something important.
Just think about the resources wasted developing UIs for games like these in the past 40 years! If only we had known earlier...

I cannot wait for the mod that finally removes all those annoying menus and buttons from Cities: Skylines or RimWorld so that I can enjoy the experience without all that clutter!

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Quoting: WorMzy

Quoting: TheSHEEEPNow that the most important feature, animal petting, is in, maybe now they will have time to work on minor, unimportant stuff like.... F*CKING MOUSE SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I tried to play it. I even succeeded (well, as much as you can succeed until everyone goes mad).
But what a chore to play without mouse support.
I won't even take another look at it while this isn't in - which likely means I'll never take another look at it, I know.

It's had mouse support for over a decade. It's even enabled by default:

data/init/init.txt:
Change this to NO if you don't want to have the mouse involved at all.

[MOUSE:YES]

:P

That's not real mouse support. You can do a few select things via mouse, but not nearly close to what you really want to do with the mouse. You still need to know pretty much all of the hotkeys to get anything done.

That's more akin to mouse support in something like lazygit or certain things in SSH sessions.

The entire UI would need to be overhauled in Dwarf Fortress for proper mouse support.
Or, rather, there would have to be a UI to begin with, not just "beautified" ASCII. You know, with buttons 'n stuff.
Basically, it would have to become like a game that was released after 1980 ;)

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Now that the most important feature, animal petting, is in, maybe now they will have time to work on minor, unimportant stuff like.... F*CKING MOUSE SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I tried to play it. I even succeeded (well, as much as you can succeed until everyone goes mad).
But what a chore to play without mouse support.
I won't even take another look at it while this isn't in - which likely means I'll never take another look at it, I know.

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Quoting: KuJoGuys, the service is not even 90 days old!

In my eyes, that really is "whining." Because in my eyes, many things are seen in a wrong light and a perceived situation becomes reality.

And I encourage everyone to see for themselves. If you look at it you see the real shine and not just the black patina that is on the outside because of all the whining.

The problem lies with Google themselves, and people willing to look at how Google actually behaves now and how they did in the past figured that out by now.

Everybody (except Google, I guess) knows by now the service was started almost a year too early. Google had no need to push this thing out when they did - and they did it anyway.

This project has all the same markings as all the other failed Google projects from Google Plus, to Hangouts, to Glasses, to...
And where did all of those projects end up? Abandoned. And those are just the most famous ones.
Which is extremely likely the same fate that awaits Stadia.

Anyone wanting to spend money on Stadia - or rather, single games on Stadia - should know that they are spending money on something that might just cease to be usable based on how Google "feels" about it.
And since Stadia is (and rightfully so) getting mostly negative press and reactions by now, the chances of Google wanting to potentially sink even more resources aren't exactly high.

Google is quite simply the last company one should put their faith in when it comes to struggling projects.
They shoot out ideas and see what sticks and what doesn't. And Stadia clearly isn't very sticky.

That has nothing to do with whining, I sure wish the situation was different, it is just an accurate analysis of the situation. Spending money on it right now is just not a good idea.

And the reactions Stadia gets are also partly so sour because all of this would have been perfectly avoidable. This sinking ship situation was entirely unnecessary - and that does not inspire confidence, either.

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