Slashdot Mirror
Linux Port of Disciples 2 Announced
bobz writes "Happypenguin is reporting that Linux Game Publishing has announced the next game they'll port to Linux will be Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy a turn-based strategy game that was well-reviewed but not terribly successful commercially. /me breathes a sigh of relief that it's not another first-person shooter."
a turn-based strategy game that was well-reviewed but not terribly successful commercially. /me breathes a sigh of relief that it's not another first-person shooter
Why in the hell would you port a game that won't bring in money? Honestly, porting games that bring in a TON of cash commercially do poorly in the Linux market, so who thinks that porting an unsuccessful game would bring in a profit?
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
The fact that theres too damn many of them.
Some of us want to play games that don't involve a first person perspective and blowing things to bits. Games that involve wider strategies, or more detailed plot structures or charachter development or improvement. Some of us just don't have the 1337 5ki11z to be good at FPS, ans prefer strategy or role playing games.
Thats whats wrong with First Person Shooters.
Port 69, the Linux Port of Discipline.... mmmm.
Good to hear they're up to 2.0, I hear that version 1 had some nasty bugs.
Wah!
OK, from the slashdot article:
Posted by michael, written by bobz.
From the happy penguin article:
In IRC today, evil genius Michael Simms... , this article was written by bobz.
I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine? I was wondering why a non-profitable game being ported to a market that has never been marketable (linux ported games) was a frontpage slashdot article. Now I know.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Product Title Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy
Available
LanguagesEnglish
Suggested Retail
Price£30.00
Product Description
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy returns gamers to the magical realm of the Sacred Lands where four races - the Empire, the Mountain Clans, the Legions of the Damned and the Undead Hordes - continue the battle for the destiny of their Gods. A decade after the First Great War, the final prophecy continues to unfold. Deep within the crevices of the Sacred Lands, the Chosen One has emerged, fated to bring salvation to some and destruction to others. Braced with renewed faith and newfound conviction, each race must once again take up the sword for the sake of their people and the glory of their God.
Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy comes in a DVD-style case on a single CD-Rom
Current Status:
Agreement signed, no development yet.
Minimum RequirementsCurrently unknown
Prerelease InformationRelease Date is currently not announced
... but is this the right approach?
I'm a gamer, I'll admit, and I love seeing the great new games that come to market. And even moreso, I love it when these games work in Linux. Currently, I can get nearly every game I want to play to work in Linux. For the ones that don't, I wait patiently...
However, I wish I could say the same for my friends - lots of them are thoroughly intrigued by the idea of Linux, and really want to switch to only Linux - but lack of support for newer games hold them back. I can certainly get what I want to play to work, but when my friends ask "But will Battlefield 1942 work?" I have to say "No." I think that work has to begin on either porting massively popular games, or convincing more devlopers to develop for Linux (although I am happy with progress so far!).
As a side issue - wouldn't it be in LGP's best interest to work on porting games that are more comercially successful? I know that there's more to it than just getting people to switch to Linux, but I'd like to ensure that they can stay in business too!
Illegitimi non Carborundum.
Hi,
I'm currently working a 3D version of Freecraft, which in turn is a 3D version of Warcraft.
It is comming along quite nicely, and if anyone would like to give a hand with the models or coding or anything, you would be welcome.
See a kinda old screenshot at http://130.88.226.154/snap4.png
The game is progressing very quickly - trees are in now, units expected with a week, etc.
Anyway, message me through slashdot or email or anything.
Couldn't agree more.
The fact is, I'm really quite good at first person games, but the more THINKING that's involved, the better. For instance, I prefer capture the flag to deathmatch, and prefer Return to Castle Wolfenstein to Quake 3 (much more strategy, in my opinion). Even better are the games that combine the best of FPS and add RPG elements, such as System Shock 2 or Deus Ex.
What's great about Disciples II is that it's turn-based, which makes it great for the thinkers who aren't into twitch gaming, but makes network play rather tedious. If you haven't played it before, the gameplay is almost exactly like Heroes of Might and Magic, but with a dark and dreary gothic look to it. Brings out the Necromancer in you!
The speed of time is one second per second.
I've played it through, all four campaigns, and the game itself is great. However, the computer is too easy to fool (even on Very Hard), though I felt the same in HOMM3 (haven't played HOMM4), so I guess that's not just this game.
Playing it multiplayer is a whole different beast, but I really don't like it. All too much depends on who sees who first and can beef up/spellblast to make the actual fight completely uneven.
Personally I feel it was well worth the money, but once you finish the campaigns it's not much more to do, the scenarios aren't that interesting. It's a game to play once, win, and find the next good one in the bin. But that's fine with me, I got bored with Morrowind because it was *too* big - I had to get a solve to actually get anywhere with the main quest - I was winning every battle, but didn't find the right battles to fight....
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
wouldn't it be in LGP's best interest to work on porting games that are more comercially successful?
.com boom?) of buying rights to less successful games. They're going to be much cheaper, and thus require much fewer sales to recoup the costs of. With the dearth of Linux games, users are going to buy the game if it interests them whether or not it's a big-name title. For example, I never would have heard of Disciples if I was still using Windows. But because I use Linux and I crave HOMM-like gameplay, I'll be buying the only new game in that genre, namely Disciples 2. What's the point? To make money. Not a ton of money, but to make money. If LGP can profit off of Disciples, then they can afford to do another game. Maybe a bigger-name game. Each game they can profit off of grows not only themselves but the Linux game market. With a slow, conservative approach they have a much better chance of being successfull than if they bought a $300,000 game, lost $1 mill, then went bankrupt.
Short answer: No.
Long answer: A game that is commercially successful is going to cost more to get a license for. Loki apparently payed several hundred thousand dollars for the rights to some of their games. Unsurprisingly, the immature Linux gaming market wasn't large enough for them to recoup their costs. That, along with mismanagement, is what buried Loki. LGP, not wanting to go bankrupt, is taking the much more conservative business model (remember that, from before the
The reason you think work has to begin on porting massively popular games seems to be because of a common, but incorrect line of thinking: That Linux has to become a major desktop success right now. It doesn't. Modest, sustainable growth in Linux gaming is the correct method, and the one that will work. Maybe the size of the market will reach a critical mass and be able to grow much more rapidly, but trying to force that day to come sooner by over-reaching is a recipe for failure. LGP learned this lesson from Loki, and I think they learned the right one.
The enemies of Democracy are