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Latest Comments by TheSHEEEP
Ion Maiden has become Ion Fury, release date announced for August 15th
11 Jul 2019 at 2:21 pm UTC Likes: 3

Ion Maiden, Ion Fury. Whatever!
I just want to have some really nice proof that oldschool graphics aren't dead at all and a very legitimate style choice.
Same for that kind of gameplay, of course.

Seems that the Linux version of Supraland will not be heading to GOG (updated)
10 Jul 2019 at 4:31 pm UTC Likes: 3

[quote=Guest]
Quoting: Chronarius
Quoting: GuestIf it’s on Steam then it’s not DRM-free, because it requires Steam.

Sorry, for being so blunt: B U L L S H I T ! ! !

The game dosn't require Steam! It runs perfectly without it!
But that doesn't help much. I'm against DRM, therefore by no way I'll get a Steam account. If I cancel my GOG account, I can keep and play all my games. And do so legally. What you 'buy' in Steam is legally tied to your account. So even if you would keep your DRM-free game (by copying it out of the steam folders) when closing the account, it legally is a pirated copy.
Your argument is based on an eventuality that will simply never happen. You think police will kick down your door and arrest you for using a copy of a game you bought some time ago, but no longer "own"? Come on!
Might as well argue that you can't play your GOG games any more if you get abducted by aliens and they only have an old Commodore lying around.

Preparing for such an eventuality makes about as much sense as never using ROMs to play old games, as you are actually only allowed to play ROMs of games you own (and afaik only if you made the ROM yourself).
That's the very essence of tinfoil-hattery. Why waste valuable lifetime to prepare for something that will never happen? Just so, that in the 0.005% of it happening you can point and say "Told you so!"?

While, even if that happened, everyone would just rage for a moment and then move on and buy the games they actually still want to play somewhere else, for the price of a meal...
Seriously, all my games on Steam could be gone in this very moment and I'd be all "Well, that's too bad.". This is not some kind of physical collection I'm carrying around with me. So I really just can't get into the mindset of this "apocalypse day" preparation.

Seems that the Linux version of Supraland will not be heading to GOG (updated)
10 Jul 2019 at 9:15 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: WouldAvoidValveOnLinux
Quoting: TheSHEEEPYou can do exactly that with Steam, too. It's called Family Share. Been doing that many years with my GF for some games. She can play something from my lib while I play something else. Only requirement is that both have Steam, but since that is free, it's a non-issue.
No. She would be kicked out of one of your games if you play a completely different game from your library. She has five minutes to wrap up any unfinished business.
Then you obviously did it wrong.
Download game from the library, go offline, now you can play.
This obviously won't work for most online-games, but you shouldn't be able to play someone else's online games without buying them anyway.

Quoting: WouldAvoidValveOnLinuxNow if she was playing a GOG game of your own and you play another GOG game, there is virtually nothing tracking either of you to make sure your GF can't play when you're playing a game...you don't even need to login to her PC and add it to your account, just give her the game installer and be on your merry way.
Oh, yeah, Steam's Family Sharing is user unfriendly and pretty much sucks (as many things in Steam do...), I won't disagree with that. But it IS possible to use it.

Quoting: WouldAvoidValveOnLinux
Quoting: TheSHEEEP
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: TheBardDRM-Free on Steam does exist! When a game is DRM-Free on Steam, you don't need to login to play. You can even use steamcmd to install games without the client. Indeed it's a bit more complex that downloading a file from a website but actually it's more convenient because stemcmd deal with lots of stuff. When the download is complete, you can backup the game directly the way you want, move it where you want and play without Steam. I've tested it myself several times! Steam is not a DRM but Steam offer a DRM solution for the devs who want it. It's up to the devs to make their game DRM-Free or not on Steam.
I don't think saying users can learn steamcmd is a reasonable argument personally, for those who prefer fully DRM-free.
Something is not easy to use, so it isn't DRM-free? That's your argument?
I'm all for Steam adding a simple "Download as installer/archive" button or something along those lines to DRM-free games in their store, but not having that button doesn't make them games with DRM.
On GOG, the games are readily available as installers with no further work on your part. I download them, double click, then click install and sit back and enjoy. You're expecting users to be savvy enough to use steamcmd, let alone know it exists, for the pursuit of DRM-free.
I'm not expecting users to do anything, I'm just saying that ease-of-use has nothing to do with DRM or no DRM.
The matter of fact is that there are DRM-free games on Steam.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPWhat makes GOG better than valve with DRM-free is that they guarantee their games are DRM-free. Valve does not, and will not mind if devs suddenly start using DRM in a later version of the game.
That is true. If being DRM-free is someone's primary concern, they are better off with GOG.
Though only on Windows, as GOG on Linux, well... You really have to value DRM-free extremely to want to use GOG's crappy slow installers and lack of auto-updates and everything else Steam/Galaxy offers...

Seems that the Linux version of Supraland will not be heading to GOG (updated)
10 Jul 2019 at 8:19 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: appetrosyanJust because YOU haven't put DRM in your game, by publishing on Steam you're restricting my ability to share it. For example, I can lend a GOG game to a friend. He can play the game at the same time as I am playing something else. I can't do that on Steam.
You can do exactly that with Steam, too. It's called Family Share. Been doing that many years with my GF for some games. She can play something from my lib while I play something else. Only requirement is that both have Steam, but since that is free, it's a non-issue.

Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: TheBardDRM-Free on Steam does exist! When a game is DRM-Free on Steam, you don't need to login to play. You can even use steamcmd to install games without the client. Indeed it's a bit more complex that downloading a file from a website but actually it's more convenient because stemcmd deal with lots of stuff. When the download is complete, you can backup the game directly the way you want, move it where you want and play without Steam. I've tested it myself several times! Steam is not a DRM but Steam offer a DRM solution for the devs who want it. It's up to the devs to make their game DRM-Free or not on Steam.
I don't think saying users can learn steamcmd is a reasonable argument personally, for those who prefer fully DRM-free.
Something is not easy to use, so it isn't DRM-free? That's your argument?
I'm all for Steam adding a simple "Download as installer/archive" button or something along those lines to DRM-free games in their store, but not having that button doesn't make them games with DRM.

It really does depend on the dev if their Steam-version has DRM or not. Some games won't even start without Steam running (and being logged in, afaik). But others do (they might tell you achievements are not working, though), and I don't see how those can not be considered DRM-free.

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: eldakingThis is just a PR disaster.
This is exactly it. Some devs should just stay off handling what they perceive as complaints.
Meh, I'd rather have an honest dev that I don't agree with, than some community manager just trying to butter me up.

Key reseller G2A is back in the spotlight again, as a petition is up to ask them to stop selling indie games
9 Jul 2019 at 7:33 am UTC

One of the (many) problems with sites like G2A is that, yes, they do allow developers to contact them and ask keys to be removed.
However:
A) That forces the developers to become active, when it really should be done by the store runners (who won't do it, as it would lose them money).
But if you are an indie dev team with a handful of people, just how much time do you want to devote to unending email communication with some fraudster store? All of that takes time away from making or marketing your game. That's really stuff developers shouldn't have to deal with.

B) If something is illegal or not can be arbitrarily determined by the store. No matter how shady the devs point out a single person owning hundreds or dozens of keys of a game that was never on sale for such a low price to be... until you have 100% proof, you've effectively got nothing and are just wasting your time.

Key reseller G2A is back in the spotlight again, as a petition is up to ask them to stop selling indie games
8 Jul 2019 at 11:11 am UTC Likes: 3

That's actually one of the reasons I'd never add a game I developed (not that I have done that, yet, but still :P ) to some bundle.
Seems to be the only way to make sure you're not getting ripped off eventually as a developer. Well, short of only selling on a single platform, that is.

Business sim city-builder "Summer Islands" recently added Linux support
8 Jul 2019 at 11:08 am UTC

Nice, I also spent a lot of time as a kid/teen playing Holiday Island.
Can't wait for this to mature more, it's been on my wishlist since it existed more or less.

Prepare your Command-Wine Interface for an upgrade to version 4.12 (update - and 4.12.1)
7 Jul 2019 at 6:52 am UTC

Quoting: GuestWine's cmd.exe command-line, which I am making a text adventure game engine in
That is one of the weirdest things I've read for a long time.
Kudos.

I once tried to write a text adventure in lolcode [External Link].
Lost interest, but it was fun while it lasted.

The impressive first-person metroidvania puzzler "Supraland" now has Linux support
3 Jul 2019 at 12:54 pm UTC

Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: TheSHEEEPAlso, so weird that they'd call it Metroidvania, it's not even 2D. But everyone's just using any descriptor anyway they want to nowadays...
Depends what you think the "official" description of Metroidvania actually is. It has a large connected world, where you need to get things to access other areas instead of set levels, which is the most common part of what most seem to think makes a Metroidvania.
The correct description is whatever the origin is. And that is Metroid + Castlevania (the + is important here, as even the devs cite only the former as an influence). Both series are for the major part 2D games, in a large world that is split into the typical "connected rooms", and have been since decades, which is how the Metroidvania descriptor has always been used - to describe 2D games that come with the typical features.
Just scroll through all Steam games tagged with it and it really becomes quite obvious. You won't find many 3D games there, even if they would fit your description.

This is the first time I have even heard Metroidvania applied to a puzzle/exploration FPS. Supraland isn't quite like anything else, so there isn't really a super fitting genre description that I'm aware of. I guess you could add Metroidvania to a bunch of other descriptors, if you really wanted. After all, if you squint really hard, the world in Supraland can be seen as a bunch of "rooms", as well. It's not the worst usage of a genre term I've ever seen, that's for sure.

The impressive first-person metroidvania puzzler "Supraland" now has Linux support
3 Jul 2019 at 10:24 am UTC

Already played through it via Proton (worked perfectly), but hey, great news anyway.

Also, so weird that they'd call it Metroidvania, it's not even 2D. But everyone's just using any descriptor anyway they want to nowadays...