linux and gaming

[joeoshawa]

I am not a programmer or a game developer. I would even use the term "computer geek" very loosely cause any problems i have i google and usually find the solution here. That being said I am not sure the proper location for this discussion and i am not an expert on the subject but i ran across an article by a game developer who ported to Linux and commented as to why more developers don't.

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-games-dont-get-ported-to-linuxa.html

before all sorts of flaming responses get written i would like to say that Linux
(A) does need more games
(B) developers obviously have a reason for not porting
(C) If you ever want that to happen we need to help them turn reasons against into reasons for.

I know i am not a programmer and don't know a whole lot about Linux but i read programmer's talking about problems with too many distro's and too many different window systems etc. a lot. would it be possible to create a front-end that would act like a router for games, like the game puts out audio and the front end sends it to alsa it puts out video and the front end sends it to the nvidia driver. something where how it talks to gnome or kde or any other window manager and any other distro is different but how it talks to the game is always the same.
If the answer to what i have said is no how could this problem be solved how could a developer create software that could be installed no problems on various platforms without them creating 100's of different versions of the game. One package one installer no mess. Linux is so incredibly stable there must be a way for it to be easer to write a game for Linux then for windows. And how can i help.?
I WANT GREAT GAMES for the best operating system ever.
thanks :popcorn::o

[gdonwallace]

There are currently two options for playing windows based games on a Linux machine. It requires a pretty hefty machine to do because both options share resources between Linux and the windows "desktop"

One is open-source called Play-on-Linux and the other is a program that must be purchased called Crossover Games. Both emulate a windows environment so that the program thinks that it is running in windows, but is actually running on a linux box.

Check them out.

[petrus250]

well, wine and various tweaks and frontends are your only options, I seriously doubt that any serious game developer would write a game for linux, there just isn't enough demand.
I have managed to get some games to run but if you want to game, dual-boot with windows as much as it pains me to say it.

[joeoshawa]

As far as there not being a market for Linux games this is a myth. Most people i know not only know what Linux is they say "i would use Linux but my games don't work on Linux. If i want to play games my only choice is windows." As well one programmer who wrote an article on it was precisely correct Linux is a much better platform for games because you can install only what you need and use all remaining resources for the game. What i am saying is i am finding that programmers are saying the problem is that it is very difficult to write a program that "just works" for Linux and package it so you just execute it cause all Linux distros use different window managers different installers etc. and they need to be able to write it so that you just pop the CD in and it runs without having to pay programmers to write and compile it 5 or ten times over. They want to be able to write one Linux game that works on all desktops all distros and no problems. The answer to a problem is not saying sorry its impossible or sorry i don't feel like it the answer for these developers is to make it so they can make a decent profit writing a game for Linux and show them we have the people who are willing to buy there product. Linux gamers and gamers who want to use an operating system that they can get the most out of their hardware need to speak up and say "Hey i am a Linux gamer and i want Linux games." there are three in my household right now and two more in my ex's house and that is just my family alone.

I AM A LINUX GAMER AND I WANT LINUX GAMES

ps. if software developers won't make games for linux then i guess frozen sands is just wasting time? and the article linked above discusses the real and spoken by developers reasons for not porting although since i don't know the source personally i cannot say he is honest or not he seems to know what he is talking about.

[asmoore82]

Here's the only relevant part of that article:

I'm essentially a rank beginner in the Linux world
It's so refreshing that he admits it freely but there's the problem right there.

I say this with all due respect but a much better title
for the article would be Linux NEWB Goes to Port.

[joeoshawa]

so are you saying professional Linux games are impossible and will never happen or are you saying that developers are lying and just don't want to tap into a largely untapped gaming market? Any brand new really amazing game that has a native Linux port would sell to a much larger percentage of Linux users then windows. I am not saying that they would make more money just saying there is a lot of Linux users and as a whole more of the Linux users would purchase that type of game as a percentage of the whole then windows and the market is there. In my experience good and bad managed companies want to make as much money as possible what i am saying is why is it not worth it to produce such a game and how do we make it so it is worth it. Also if it is worth it and it is just a myth how do we show the developers it is worth it. What is there opinion what are they saying the road blocks are and how do we help remove them. As far as i see saying its impossible or the people in charge don't get it why not come up with solutions instead of finding reasons not to. I for one thought the Linux community was good at that.

[joeoshawa]

btw i personally wouldn't go around insulting people who want to try porting there products to linux or further its development the guy is experimenting with linux is that not what the community wants?????

[smo0th]

clap-clap for joeoshawa, linux games aren't coming if there's no demand, so we linux people need to push the gaming companies by requesting them to make games on linux, there are some companies already doing this, but my guess is that we are like 5 years away from a good linux gaming market, I would also love to have good linux games, there are some of them out there and wine runs some good ones too.

[i.r.id10t]

All of id softwares stuff works in Linux, any distro, no problem, and in fact teh Quake3 beta was available first for Linux. I also bought just about all of the games that Loki ported about 10 years ago, Unreal Tournament works in Linux, Postal2, etc. Lots of game options.

The big houses are lazy about it because while they could write cross platform code fairly easily or at least without much extra effort, they choose to write to the MS platform.

[asmoore82]

I'm not insulting the guy and I do applaud him in getting his game available on Linux,
but the article mis-characterizes the whole situation and tries to use his specific anecdote
as evidence of a roadblock to getting top games on Linux.

This argument is laughable. If big name studios were really trying to port to Linux,
I'm sure that they would hire some experienced Linux developers.

The real issue is that those big name studios all have their hands tied by convicted monopolists.
http://slated.org/microsoft_stops_protools_for_linux