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GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

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Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#371

Post by pjmlp »

the8472 wrote: post #213
pjmlp wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing to save as long as it relies on game studios using Windows workstations, coding in Visual Studio and targeting DirectX. The goal has to be to make native Linux attractive, so that they actually bother to create native executables, using Vulkan and co. Until then it is no different from playing arcade games with MAME on Linux.

UE can be crosscompiled on a windows host to linux and then it's a few checkboxes to enable the vulkan RHI.

Android NDK shares many APIs with regular GNU/Linux, in many cases it could be a simple recompile, yet no studio bothers to do so, because the incentives aren't there.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#372

Post by OCASMv2 »

mort96 wrote: post #101
delaminator wrote: post #36

I always make sure to not use the GoG downloader just download the game. I don't need a client with your branding all over it, that has socials and my library and all engagement bait like that. I figure it's one step away from putting the DRM back on so you have to use the launcher to get a game from GOG. Just let me buy games and then shut up.

I like Steam as a user. It syncs game saves between computers. It takes care of game updates. It has a decent launcher UI that I use on my living room computer so that I can launch games using an xbox controller. It makes Windows games work without any fuss. And when I play with friends, it lets me join friends' games without having to deal with in-game lobby systems. It lets me show FPS counters and system info in a…

It's evil when it's not optional.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#373

Post by pjmlp »

nialv7 wrote: post #313
pjmlp wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The incentives are not there, as it is, they work as usual, and Valve is the one that has to make it work.

there will be incentives once windows becomes shit enough.

Nah, regular people buy what is on shopping mall computer stores, they don't go online ordering from Tuxedo.

They are more likely to move to PlayStation and Switch than SteamDeck, the amount of sales already show that.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#374

Post by pjmlp »

hedora wrote: post #242
pjmlp wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing to save as long as it relies on game studios using Windows workstations, coding in Visual Studio and targeting DirectX. The goal has to be to make native Linux attractive, so that they actually bother to create native executables, using Vulkan and co. Until then it is no different from playing arcade games with MAME on Linux.

I don't see what the problem is with game studios buying Windows licenses. Sure, the platform is enshittified spyware, but that only impacts the game devs on their work machines (which are probably locked down to protect secret IP anyway). Microsoft has basically lost control over their own platform at this point. The game studios have been refusing to migrate to new APIs until after they're working well in Wine. If…

It is a phyrric victory, because in the end it is no different than using MAME and claiming victory.

They still aren't Linux games.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#375

Post by tete »

Please make it open source. Please create an API. Please, if you feel like you have to have your own client, build it, but don't ignore the reality of Linux gamers using a whole set of tools and one doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.

Especially for the older games you will get a lot more reach. You'd even reach beyond Linux (BSDs, etc.).

Please don't forget that a big chunk of your audience are nerds and that a lot of games run on engine re-implementations by nerds.

It's great that you make a client, but if you really want to offer something that would make people get games on GOG then do something that Steam does not offer, while probably being easier for you.

If that is too much to ask, please, at least do it in an unofficial capacity.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#376

Post by mschuster91 »

userulluipeste wrote: post #352
allworms wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit of a nitpick - that's not what the "eye of the storm" is. In fact, if you perceive RAM prices as leveling off, that would be the "eye of the storm", meaning a brief, deceptive calm surrounded by... storm. Truly I have seen not even a hint of reason to believe prices would come back down in the near term. Fab allocation is booked years out, and building out new manufacturing capabilities is difficult and slow. E…

If the current RAM heavy buyers, the AI powerhouses investors, don't get the into a profitable state of business, then sustaining this rhythm "for a long time" becomes impossible. It won't matter much that "fab allocation is booked years out" if the client that expects the goods goes out of business, doesn't it? I, for one, don't find convincing hints that this free AI crazy partying will go on for long, so then what…

> If the current RAM heavy buyers, the AI powerhouses investors, don't get the into a profitable state of business, then sustaining this rhythm "for a long time" becomes impossible.

Exactly that is the problem with the "pork cycle" we are seeing [1] - there aren't that many manufacturers and ODMs around nowadays for RAM, storage, CPUs and GPUs. The ecosystem was so much more vibrant even 10 years ago. When the AI bubble collapses, it will take the entire world's economy down the drain, and I think that quite a few of the brands we have now will be extinct after this iteration.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_cycle

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#377

Post by LtWorf »

jayd16 wrote: post #282
LtWorf wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of older games that won't run on windows 11 as well. In fact most of my games no longer work on windows 11. Your point?

Yeah? Most? So like what?

So targeting windows isn't stable either? Which is why GOG even exists.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#378

Post by graynk »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #82
delaminator wrote: post #36

I always make sure to not use the GoG downloader just download the game. I don't need a client with your branding all over it, that has socials and my library and all engagement bait like that. I figure it's one step away from putting the DRM back on so you have to use the launcher to get a game from GOG. Just let me buy games and then shut up.

Like it or not, a lot of people love a virtualization of their library. So the option is nice. I like GOG's launcher because 1) it's open source and 2) it can show other gamijg libraries thanks to fan maintained plugins. Those aspects give me a sense that the goal here (outside of to lower the friction into GOG's store) is indeed to serve the user And if that changes, it's easy to take my ball and go home. GOG trying…

Galaxy is not open source, only plugins are: https://github.com/gogcom

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#379

Post by graynk »

delaminator wrote: post #92
johnnyanmac wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, a lot of people love a virtualization of their library. So the option is nice. I like GOG's launcher because 1) it's open source and 2) it can show other gamijg libraries thanks to fan maintained plugins. Those aspects give me a sense that the goal here (outside of to lower the friction into GOG's store) is indeed to serve the user And if that changes, it's easy to take my ball and go home. GOG trying…

Going to a website's hardly massive friction is it ? I've got tens of games through GoG and it's always my first port of call if I want a game. Because it keeps out of the way. If it's got value to people, fair enough, it's got value to people. That's just my opinion. All I want you to do is sell me games. But we all know about enshittification and MBAs trying to round the wagons.

> tens of games

I have 500+ games on GOG and 1000+ in Steam. I still do regular backups of GOG installers to a local hard drive with lgogdownloader, but at any given point in time I am likely to have somewhere around 30 games installed (some of which I play maybe once a month, some are just sitting there so that I don't forget to get around to them). A lot of those games have been released fairly recently and are still getting patches, and I want to have those patches, because it's fairly normal for games to release in a broken state. Given all that, having launchers is kind of a necessity (and playtime, achievements, cloud saves, wine prefix management and social features are a nice bonus to all that).

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#380

Post by scheeseman486 »

pjmlp wrote: post #368
seabrookmx wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming no game studio would test their windows executable on proton, just because they develop on Windows. If there's non-trivial market share to capture by being "Deck verified" I don't see why that would be the case. Game devs develop on Windows for PlayStation, Switch, mobile etc. At least with proton they don't even need to cross compile.

I am willing to bet that most don't give a damm about Proton.

Microsoft test on and make considerations for Proton for a bunch of their releases. Sony do too. Cyberpunk has specific graphics presets, Baldurs Gate 3 has a native executable, indie games often do too.

There's outliers, it'd be fair to say EA don't give a damn. But a lot do and you can't handwave away Microsoft and Sony as small fish either.

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