Kickstarter Games for Linux

[Zeven]

I've also been combing Kickstarter for other games, but it's getting tiring and a lot of the games are not explicit about whether they support Linux (or run on the dreaded Unity3d engine). If anyone wants to help, look around Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites, look for games that support Linux, and if they don't, send the developer a question about whether they intend to support it (Kickstarter makes this questioning easy).

Not quite the same but it goes towards the same goal in my eyes. Supporting new games is great, but we must not forget the old ones as those too will help get Linux to the mainstream.

[juancarlospaco]

What do you think its better Desura or KickStarter for a Game?
(from both sides, user, and dev)

[Inquisitor]

@Zeven: Fantastic news; thanks for the link!

@juancarlospaco: I think that Kickstarter tends to get into headlines more, and the idea of group-pledging towards a goal encourages people to join in, but Desura is appealing to me, as a user, in a more Steam-like way. If you need the all-or-nothing funding model, Kickstarter is ideal (although I think IndieGoGo also offer this). If you don't, then Desura is probably better. I'd probably go with a hybrid approach mixing the two, if I were developing a game right now, but it all depends on what you want to accomplish.

[Inquisitor]

Sorry to double-post. Shadowrun Returns don't yet support Linux, but they only launched today and are taking off like a rocket. They've already added a stretch-goal for Mac, and there are a fair few comments asking for Linux. I've messaged them (click "send message" on their project page) to say I'll back them as soon as they add a funding goal for Linux support, so others reading this thread might also care to do the same.

It looks like The Dead Linger won't ship with Linux support in any event, because I asked how realistic it would be to see prompt support for Linux (and Mac) if the funding went really well, as their FAQ only said "Windows PC for now, we're hoping to also get some Mac and Linux support out there later on!" Sadly, the reply I received was equally vague, stating only that they're "planning for Mac and Linux versions later down the road". At least they have other PC OSes in mind, but I'll take the "believe it when I see it" approach for this one.

[Sofox]

Updated the list again with Inquisitor's suggestions and one that I confirmed by message myself.

@Inquisitor: Thanks for the suggestions, they helped and mightn't have found them myself.

@Zeven: That's great, thanks for pointing it out. With my GOG.com account it was incredibly easy to put a vote in for Linux ports. Many others should too.

@juancarlospaco: Two different systems. Since I haven't used any, I can't give confirmation or authority . I will say that a critical difference is that Kickstarter is meant as a way to provide the capital to make a project possible (not always true, but a lot of the time) and also requires a graduated set rewards for various donor categories. It hasn't been around long enough for everyone to gauge it's ability but I think we're going to see big donators get burned at some stage.
Desura does Alphafunding which is more straightforward. Essentially, a developer develops a game but in order to supplement his/her income, they allow people to prepurchase the game, usually at a discounted rate, that will give the buyer continual access to early versions of the game along with being guaranteed the final version when released. Alphafunding had been around a while before Desura picked up on it (Minecraft, Overgrowth, etc.)

So which is better? I dunno, I guess it depends.

[Zeven]

@Zeven: Fantastic news; thanks for the link!

You're quite welcome. It's finally getting some attention!

@Zeven: That's great, thanks for pointing it out. With my GOG.com account it was incredibly easy to put a vote in for Linux ports. Many others should too.

Exactly. Their policies fall in line with those of the Linux community as well (at least I think so), namely 100% free of DRM, no regional pricing, and so on.

[mercenarygames]

Hello!

I'm the lead engineer for Vigrior, one of the projects listed in this thread.

Thanks for including us, we really appreciate it.

I'm looking for some feedback from the community, how'd you guys like our trailer?

[Sofox]

Hey, glad we could bring attention to your game! Thanks for giving us a reply.

In terms of your trailer, it's a nice trailer, but it takes a little long to get to the actual gameplay and mechanics. The whole concept of bouncing beams in order to attack your enemy looks really cool, but I don't understand how the game is put together. I know you've got 6 other videos on the page, but you've got to assume that some people will only view the first one, or just read the first paragraph of text.

Speaking of explaining your game in text, I highly recommend you read this article: http://www.pentadact.com/2012-03-17-...-to-an-******* . You do make a good effort to explain the game in the first two paragraphs, but I'm still not getting it pictured in my mind.

I feel I'm being harsh here, given that I've only skimmed the page and watched the first video, but a Kickstarter page needs to be like a newspaper article where a casual glance will give you a good summary, and once your interest has been piqued, you read on, gradually getting more detail.

It does look like a pretty cool game though, best of luck and hope you reach your goal.

[Inquisitor]

(I started to write this earlier, so apologies if I repeat much of what has already been said.)

Watching it through again with a more critical eye, the trailer is precisely that -- a trailer, rather than a pitch video. A very good trailer, I might add. However, Kickstarter seems to engender the most support when there's a personal connection, so I would consider putting up one that includes the dev crew as the actual pitch video, and having (and mentioning) the trailer immediately below it. Include clips and brief descriptions of the awesome mechanics and gameplay that seem to be possible. The technical videos were interesting, but an overview of their content would have been ideal to include in a pitch video -- not everyone will bother to dig into them to find out some of the really interesting parts. Also mention the modding kit stretch-goal, because that is a bit buried, and is sure to encourage interest! And perhaps your cross-platform intentions...

If you consider updating/replacing your pitch video, you might consider running it past current backers before posting it, just to make the most of the feedback.

I'll also just note that the current still from the video that shows before it's played looks really good. Keep that, if you can.

(To the rest of us: I think it's also worth noting here that the Vigrior guys state: "We're going to be introducing network play possible through LAN, and using a server module that will be open source." So, although they've decided to keep the client closed, the server will be open, which is definitely a good thing.)

[mercenarygames]

Thanks for the insight on the trailer video.

Yes, we do have a DENSE amount of text, and content. We didn't have enough time to produce a video with ourselves in it; we're a team that's operating on Skype, Dropbox and Git. We do not have a physical location.

We had to roll the project as soon as possible. We poured about 2 weeks of our prototypes and demanding them to show the kind of maneuvers we wanted to execute. Once the "practice chamber" was ready, we were able to record combat flight footage strictly from the perspective of our controls and maneuvers.

We wanted to be sure we focused on our core mechanic. Again, sorry we couldn't roll much more effort in the video, we're facing logistical challenges, as well as shortage in physical resources. (camera, production time, bug hunting time...)


Thank you also for the insight on explaining a game to a total and complete a$$****.

However, we are not targeting assholes XD We're targeting people interested in novel control mechanics and combat maneuverability in gaming. We're looking for our core audience first.