Loki Goes Postal

xwred1 writes: "Loki has announced a new port today, up to now known as "Secret Project Q": They are going Postal! Press release is here, and the game product page/overview is here. Seems to be a healthy sign of life from Loki, they are obviously still getting good things done despite the chapter 11."

Comments

Linux and Video

[Wind_Walker]

Now that we're getting more OpenGL games than ever coming out for Linux, I think it might be a good time to address the problem of video card hardware support.

Many of us don't have 3D accelerators that work under Linux. While I'd like to have my hardware working under Linux, I realize that it's probably not going to happen any time this millenium.

So instead, I have a suggestion. Mesa currently has only one mode for software rendering--high quality. Is there any way that a low-quality software rendering mode could be introduced into Mesa? How difficult would it be to add this to the libraries, maybe have it switched on/off by an environment variable? How much of a slow-down would it introduce into the libraries, by having forked logic like this?

Because honestly, if I were to buy a copy of Quake III right now (this example would work the same with Postal once it comes out), I'd have to buy the Windows version because I haven't the "right" hardware 3D-accelerator. A sped-up, but much less visually correct, version of Mesa might make it easier for someone like me to bite the bullet and buy the Linux version, so that when I upgrade/if I upgrade to a 3D accelerated card, I'll have it under the OS I prefer.

(I realize this is pretty selfish, but it's also one of the reasons why you're not going to see many Windows users switching over to Linux any time soon. If I can't install Linux on someone else's 600Mhz Athalon, and be able to show them a kick-ass 3D game with a frame rate higher than 1.5/s...)

this is neither healthy nor a sign of life

[ebbv]

as much as i love loki and all they've done, this is not a good sign. i'd love to see loki become as successful as any of the really big game houses. porting old, mediocre (at best) games is not how it's going to happen. even i have a limit to the number of games i'll buy that i have no intention of playing just to support the company.

loki should be porting diablo 2, planescape torment, total annihilation, warcraft 3, etc. big, mainstream games that lots of people want to play. the question is, why aren't they? that's almost certainly due to the original authors not being interested in a linux version.

as much as i hate to admit it, i think linux's chances as a game platform have gone down the drain. the linux hype has gotten considerably less prevelant, and i'm willing to bet there are fewer people running it as their main home OS than in recent memory and that number is only going down.

there have not been any major improvements in this area which would draw people to it recently.. ease of installation hit the point where anyone able to install windows could do it a while ago. however, once the system is up and running, it's not so easy to get new things (like Mesa) set up. this has not improved.

and as i said, it's been a while since a big game was ported to linux.

all in all i don't see any light at the end of this tunnell. it pains me to say so because i've been using linux as my main desktop OS for years and years and always was really optimistic about it.
...dave

Re:this is neither healthy nor a sign of life

[BradleyUffner]

..."big, mainstream games that lots of people want to play. the question is, why aren't they? that's almost certainly due to the original authors not being interested in a linux version. "

Thats' easy, it's a licensing issue. If they decide to port a new game who gets the money for it? The orriginal authors, or Loki? If Loki gets the money for it then the orriginal author ends up not making as much money for the windows version because of sales lost to the linux version. If the orriginal author gets the money then Loki loses out. If the money is split then the orriginal author still end up not making as much money.

Re:this is neither healthy nor a sign of life

[vecna_99]

i couldn't disagree more. i don't want diablo ii ported to linux because i've already played it on my mac, and discovered that it more or less sucks. same with TA. haven't played planescape torment, so i can't comment on that.

it's pure folly for the linux game market to try to compete head-to-head with the PC game market; there's no reason why your average gamer would buy the same big mainstream game for linux when he can buy it for windows.

here are the priorities that loki should adopt:

1) port games that are mod-friendly and have a thriving mod community! we already have Q3 and UT. how about Bungie's Myth or Myth II? what about Half-Life?
loki should have a decent shot at getting companies to license ports of these games, mostly because they're all older games and are no longer a major revenue source for the owners.

2) port GOOD games that fail in the PC market due to insufficient promotion. it must be very frustrating for the owner of a game see the game sell poorly because everybody's buying this year's Tribes 2 instead. these games will be good opportunities for Loki to take advantage of.
(Postal, incidentally, falls into this category. for such a simple game, it's loads of fun. i played the demo for more hours than i've played two or three other games combined.)

as long as the linux gaming experience is just a clone of the PC gaming experience, it'll never flourish. while it's important to have good linux ports of popular network-only games, so linux gamers can attend LAN parties, the world of linux gaming should be a new lease on life for high-quality games that weren't pushed hard enough by their publishers.

-vecna_99

Signs of life...

[Hagabard]

Seems to be a healthy sign of life from Loki, they are obviously still getting good things done despite the chapter 11.

A port of a three year old game does not look healthy to me. Perhaps we can soon expect a port of Commander Keen?

Re:Signs of life...

[Jethro]

You know, I might actually buy a CD with Linux ports of all the ol' Apogee games. Maybe if they had the graphics updated a bit. I think that'sa wonderful idea.

Re:corect, however

[Genom]

It's basically a catch-22 -- game developers want to make games using the latest and greatest hardware support - hardware manufacturers release windows-only drivers, and refuse to release either a linux driver, or the specs by which a third party could release a linux driver.

So the hardware doen't perform to it's full potential under linux. Game developers see that there's no support for the hardware - and don't develop the software.

Places like Loki are doing what they can with the games they can. I'll agree, though, that they could have better choices of games. IMHO the concentration should be on successful, long-lasting games - games that a year after release still have a large following. Games like Diablo II, the Baldur's Gate games, Starcraft, Everquest, etc... Those are the kinds of games that will sell well. Those are the kinds of games a lot of people are still playing - and quite a few of those people dual-boot to linux. I'd gladly pay for a linux version of Diablo II or Baldur's Gate II -- right now they're the only reasons I boot back to Windows.

There *is* a market out there - they're just hitting it with the wrong games.

Not looking good...

[Anonymous Coward]

Postal is so ancient. A company in the business of porting games from windows faces a bleak future nowadays. The only good shot at Linux gaming would be to get the platform in good enough shape so that the gaming companies themselves would develop for the platform, porting companies could turn into competition for the original maker if it was too new a title. Linux can now be a competent office system, can playback a great deal of multimedia well, even Sorenson if you pay money to codeweavers, and KDE will probably be able to embed ActiveX Quicktime for Windows. But gaming has not gotten to a good appealing level. Even the multimedia support demonstrates problems. A lot of avi support and the sorenson support is dependant on Windows components, as companies will not port... Unless drastic things happen, the future of gaming lies in projects like Wine, unfortunately.

Wanted: Linux Half Life + Counterstrike mod

[horza]

Counterstrike is the major reason I will always have a Windows installation. Though if old classics are order of the day then Command&Conquor:Red Alert (and series) would win a lot of converts.

Phillip.