Crytek Ports CRYENGINE To Linux Support Ahead of Steam Machines Launch

probain was the first to submit news that Crytek has officially announced the port of their CRYENGINE game engine to Linux and will be demoing it at the Game Developers Conference next week. Quoting: "During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE. The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games."

Comments

I think it's time we all said...

[jamlam]

Thanks Valve!

Re:I think it's time we all said...

[Immerman]

So long as the cost is paid by Microsoft in the form of decreased OS market share, I don't see the problem.

Re:Cryopreservation?

[Sockatume]

I genuinely want to know what you think you just read.

Linux sales figures

[DoofusOfDeath]

There's one issue with Linux game sales that I hope these publishers keep in mind. There are a lot of games that they're porting to Linux, where I already bought a copy of the game for Windows. If there had been a Linux version at the time, I would have bought that instead.

So I hope they don't get the wrong idea when I don't buy certain games. If in the future I know a game I want will be released on Linux within a reasonable time, I'll hold out.

Re:Linux sales figures

[houstonbofh]

The thing is that as a Linux sale you have no value. You would by the game without the port, so there is no value in porting the game for you. The people of value are the ones who will not by the game unless it has a Linux version. Hopefully, as Linux gaming becomes more viable, less people will be willing to run Windows just to play games. Publishers need to see a financial hit for not supporting Linux before they will spend serious money to do so.

Re:Linux sales figures

[CastrTroy]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could go and download all the ported games that you originally bought for Windows? It would give them a good indication of which Windows purchasers really wanted to have a Linux version in the first place, but only bought the Windows version because a Linux version didn't exist. It would probably show quite a bit of goodwill towards the customers. New game sales should be this way as well. Purchase 1 version, run it on whichever platform is supported.

Re:Linux sales figures

[DrGamez]

Currently Valve does this, and there are mechanics from within Steam to facilitate this. Games can have "Steam Play", which means if you can install Steam on that machine - you should (in theory) be able to play the game on that machine.

Any game you buy that has "Steam Play" enabled lets you download whatever version appropriate for your system. For example, Portal 2 is (or has been) releasing for Linux recently, and if you've bought the Windows version, you do not need to now go and buy the Linux version, you just click to install it while on your Linux box.

I'm really hoping developers will use this - even for their years-old games, because the point brought up a few replies back by DoofusOfDeath is true. I really hope some of the first newcomers to the Linux marketplace won't be turned off because a port of their 7 year old game didn't sell as well as their Windows counter-part did.

Re:Linux sales figures

[NickFortune]

I think there's more value than an extra sale here.

Valve is offering game developers a single target in Steam OS.

Your're not wrong - but I think there's more to it than that, even.

Valve's concern is Microsoft's app store. They feel that MS are looking to lock down the platform, Apple style, and use the Ap store to charge a surcharge on any software installed, and to control what can and cannot be released. That impacts Valve both as a game developer, and as a distributor via Steam. I seem to recall they went on record to that effect not so long ago.

So Valve are throwing resources at turning Linux into a viable gaming platform. It's an investment in the future for them. And from the look of it, Crytek have come to more or less the same conclusion.

That's how I read it, anyway.

Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off?

[realmolo]

It almost seems like it's finally going to happen. Amazing.

Now we just need to standardize on a desktop environment, and Linux will actually be a nice OS for the masses. /cue the "But choice is good!" crowd. Yeah, choice is good, but fragmentation is FAR worse than having no choices, when it comes to operating systems.

Re:Cryopreservation?

[SpankiMonki]

Could this result in cryopreservation becoming mainstream and generating massively increased lifespans for people who are wealthy enough to afford it? Would you trust a for-profit corporation to not pull the plug on you in 30 or 40 years when the new board of directors takes over?

Not to mention that this greedy corporation has an unfair market advantage: they've already developed the necessary defrosting technology to re-animate all those wealthy frozen clients,. The government really should look into the activities of this "Steam" business.

Re:A 10 year old rendering engine?

[Spad]

No, this is CRYENGINE not CryEngine.

It's basically CryEngine 4, but they decided to drop the number and capitalise the lot, apparently because of how big a departure it is from CryEngines 1 through 3.

Only a Matter of Time Now

[The Cat]

Linux will be the premier gaming platform on the PC and on its own console, and Valve will be the company that made it happen.

This will have nothing but positive effects on the quality of games, the tools required to make those games, the educational possibilities for developers through shared source, and there will be spinoff effects for Android and OS X.

Tremendously exciting time to be a Linux developer. Glad we stuck with it.

Re:Hmm

[lordofthechia]

Except the Linux community isn't expecting you to support SteamOS alone, they want you to support Linux at large

As part of the Linux community, I'll have to disagree. This also came up the last time Steam on Linux was discussed . As was concluded there, each distro can implement their own package that installs steam and any missing dependencies necessary to get it to work. Alternatively, the user can devote a small partition to Steam OS and switch out when they're done working for the day and want to game instead. In fact, the user can install SteamOS and separately install the steam client in their main distro and have them both share the same game install folder and only boot into SteamOS when a game isn't working as well as expected in their favored distro.

That said the developer can just choose to support SteamOS and leave it at that. As a *bonus* the game should work in other Linux distros.