10.12.2006, 17:00h: 210

Runesoft’s prior Linux port sales were lackluster not because of weak demand as indicated…

The game engine uses OGRE (That was how I’d known about it and tried to contact them over it…) and a batch of other cross-platform pieces and they just needed a little clean up work to make it portable. I’d believe the comment that Runesoft HAS a Linux version ready to rock and roll sitting in their offices. Deck13 had indicated that they’d handed it off to a Linux team for evaluation back in the beginning of this year but weren’t sure that their publisher would publish it for them.

Publishing a run of 1000 units would probably require them to pre-sell 200 or so to see the production costs covered so they don’t see a loss on the whole thing.

In all honesty, I’d be a little leery myself- I’d love to see a demo version (Deck13 HAS one for Windows- it shouldn’t be hard for Runesoft to hand out a Linux Demo to spur interest. The game looks to be fun and would be worth what they’re asking for it- but only if the performance were there.

The ports are sluggish and important features (like multiplayer) are intentionally left out of some of their games. What sort of promise can Runesoft give me that would give me the confidence to buy any of their products again? Why should we pre-order if they insist on denying us of quality efforts?

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to have Ankh on Linux. I’m just not certain that Runesoft is the right company for the job. Until they prove otherwise, I think that they are going a bit too far in asking for 200 pre-orders.

I’m not usually one to make such negative comments, maybe I just don’t understand the situation properly. Is the cost of developing a Linux port really that great? I mean, assuming they release both on the same media, or offer Linux binaries for download, there’s no extra costs in terms of distribution.

For them to even be considering a Linux port, they must be fairly confident they can do it. This suggests that it’s written in a very portable way, or that it’s already ported. Both of which suggests that the 200 pre-orders isn’t going to be covering extra cost that will occur as choosing to release the Linux version.

Is there even a demo we can play? Or are we expected to purchase a game simply on the strength of screenshots?