Slashdot Mirror
CRYENGINE Finally Lands On Linux
An anonymous reader writes: CRYENGINE, the video game engine from Crytek, will run natively on Linux starting from version 3.8.1. Other improvements include the ability to run on the Oculus Rift, support for OpenGL, 8-weight GPU vertex skinning, and improved POM self-shadowing. Here are the full release notes. They've also added Game Zero, a full blown example game that demonstrates how various features of the engine can work.
Sorry dated joke.
The Windows Store has Valve running for the exit before Microsoft turns Windows into a walled garden with a 30% tax, Apple style. Steam leaning on Linux to provide high-performance gaming experiences is going to transform the reputation of the OS for the mainstream.
Star Citizen has modified the core Cryengine to add and tweak the features they need, I imagine rebasing on a new Cryengine version would be a ton of work. Possible, but I wouldn't expect it for release time.
Actually, this is the release with VR support, which has already been confirmed as being the last version of Cryengine they're going to merge in. As for the work involved, Cloud Imperium Games didn't hire away half of Crytech's engineers and open an office in Frankfurt for nothing.
Bitter, are we?
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
No-one is going to make a multi-million-dollar game for exclusively for Linux, but releasing on Linux as an additional platform can be worth it if the extra effort to support Linux is small enough.
It's not about Linux being this big juice target for developers, it's about making Linux ports a low enough hanging fruit for developers to target. Video game companies, like all businesses, are looking for a return on their investment. If the middleware you are using doesn't support Linux adding support is a huge cost with little pay off. But if all of the middleware you are using already works on Linux, there is a good chance the little bit of extra work you need to make your game Linux compatible can be a profitable endeavour. That is what this is about.
Linux has such a small share of the market it is silly to target that platform specifically, I mean Linux is only ~1.5% of the steam deployments. But if you can grab that 1.5% of extra sales for only a few weeks more work, why not?
releasing on Linux as an additional platform can be worth it if the extra effort to support Linux is small enough.
Why? So you can spend a fortune porting it, only to be hit with:
If the engine already supports Linux, porting the game won't cost a fortune.
a) the fact that most Linux users are cheapskates and rarely pay for software
The sales stats from the Humble Bundles suggest that Linux users do in fact pay for games.
b) the complaints that it only works on X and Y distros, as opposed to the thousands of others
Games typically ship with their own versions of all the libraries they need, so they don't depend on the way a distro packages libraries. In any case, this is something that would be handled in the engine, so it's not a burden for the game developer.
c) the stupid-ass Stallman hippies who complain that it isn't open-source
Any game developer that can't deal with people complaining won't stay sane long... ;)
Besides, real Stallman followers don't use the term "open source"
But if you can grab that 1.5% of extra sales for only a few weeks more work, why not?
Because of opportunity cost. Spending "only a few weeks" to port a game to X11/Linux for 1.5% of extra sales means you can't spend "only a few weeks" on something else that could provide equivalent earnings to 4.5% of extra sales.
I know that you must like living in your data free bubble, but seriously, the data for this was easy and you are an idiot.
Humble Bundle all time stats
Looks like windows users are the cheap skates...
a) the fact that most Linux users are cheapskates and rarely pay for software
The sales stats from the Humble Bundles suggest that Linux users do in fact pay for games.
Not only do they pay, on average they pay more than Windows or OSX users: Humble Bundle All Time Stats