Icculus Interview!
May 14th, 2007 by CrusaderOur very own curmudgeon, Matt Matthews, had the opportunity to interview Linux gaming luminary Ryan “icculus” Gordon about various topics last week:
I’m sort of the opinion that the Loki/LGP model isn’t the right way to go, though. I think we need more ports on the same disc as the Windows version, or freely downloadable for use with the Windows retail disc…it’s a serious problem not being able to get the product to consumers trivially…I think it would be hard to make a profit within those bounds with a third-party porting house.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
though i don`t share his opinion that sound is not that important than video
sound is important, and especially for professionalists we need some more work about low latency sound access done, although depending on your hardware you can get quite good already (even on my notebook – its not best, but i can get it to 3ms latency without sound dropping off when using it for example with e-guitar effect mixing, 100us or less would be a dream)
May 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
that wine is getting better and better
most games since 0.9.36 i cant run with it, are because of some sort of copy protection – and they are working hard on that, too
it still does need some windows native dll`s from time to time though, but i don´t mind that – at least i had paid for the oem, so nobody can say i havent paid for them
May 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I agree that porting houses will always have a hard time if they are only porting older games. The hardcore Linux fans may buy them but most people who are new to Linux don’t want to buy the same games they already played several years ago.
Apple a bigger threat? I think the less people using only MS software the better it is for both Linux and Apple. The more companies that develop with OpenGL and other crossplatfrom APIs the better chance there is of getting inhouse Linux ports.
May 15th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
I really like how GarageGames distributes their software online. I’ve boughten several titles from them, I just wish some of the other companies publishing through them would make Linux versions. When it comes down to it, I don’t really want a box with discs that I have to store somewhere and when I’m traveling, wish that I had access to. It would be sweet if more Linux games were distributed using a download when you want, model. This would also give game companies more direct knowledge how many users really are using Linux.
Awesome interview by the way. Helped me get a good perspective on current gaming with Linux.
It does seem like the game scene has been somewhat dry lately for Linux. I enjoyed playing Serious Sam 2 though! :)
How I wish someone would make another game like Decent3 or Magic Carpet. I just haven’t found anything like those. I’m kind of bored of first person shooters, and never really have liked strategy games. With all the nice graphic effects games are coming with these days, its often sad to realize that they often lack in as much playability as some of the older ones. I often ask myself, what indeed would I be playing, if I had windows.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Actually, Microsoft’s XNA seems like a big threat. It is really difficult to find information on what to do to distribute a binary game that works on all Linux-based systems. Anything I do find tends to be inconsistent. For example, some docs mention using LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the shared libraries that your binary distributes with. Others point out that it is a security issue to use it.
Just finding the preferred way to distribute a game is difficult enough. Now imagine you want to learn how to make games in the first place. Microsoft’s documentation sucks right now, but it will only get better, and they have the advantage of being a definitive source for information and tools on the Windows platform.
But as Ryan said, gaming on Linux will look like whatever we make it look like. If we need more documentation and tools, we should produce them ourselves. No one else is going to do it for us.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Testing
May 16th, 2007 at 4:51 am
…
May 16th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Why has it become a lottery whether my posts appear or not? The captcha is correct because if it isn’t I have to type in another one.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:56 am
I must’ve posted 10 times yesterday and none of them appeared.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I noticed my posts wouldn’t show, whether I logged in or not, a few weeks ago. I figured I was being filtered and just gave up.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Please read at Linux Developer Network:
http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Developers
May 18th, 2007 at 6:44 am
How about GarageGames?
May 18th, 2007 at 7:26 am
Linux binaries on Games for Windows disks? Unlikely.
Extracting the data from Games for Windows disks legally (for Linux installers)? Who knows but I’m sure M$ would like to prevent that too.
I do think game packaging is unnecessary. At some point the customer is going to want their game on a CD but I think it should be left for the customer to do that. The customer should benefit also from cheaper games.
Who pays for freely downloadable Linux installers? LGP couldn’t do that unless they forced you to buy the Windows PC CD-ROM from them which would be a budget game.
Therefore I think LGP could :-
* Sell a complete download.
* Offer a free Linux installer but you’d have to buy the Windows boxed game from them.
* Sell a Linux installer enabling the customer to buy the Windows game from somewhere else.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:10 am
“It almost doesn’t matter if we see Half-Life 3 on Linux, so long as we get the Source Engine ported.”
Is he saying that seeing Source ported is an actual possibility? This is news to me. Though I’d be ecstatic.