After strongly hinting at it a year ago, they've now come out and confirmed that GOG for Linux just ain't happening any time soon. Gotta say, I appreciate everything they've done and everything...
After strongly hinting at it a year ago, they've now come out and confirmed that GOG for Linux just ain't happening any time soon.
Gotta say, I appreciate everything they've done and everything they do for Linux and PC gaming, but it does hurt a little bit to be explicitly left behind as a second-class citizen. This is disappointing, I think we all expected better from them.
I'm not really in the market for new games anyway so I'm not going to say anything silly like "Wow I'm buying all my stuff from Steam now screw you GOG" but Steam's Linux support definitely is looking a lot more attractive after all the money and time they've poured into making Proton.
I think the reaction to the Witcher 2 maybe really burned them? They've mentioned the negative feedback they got from it before. Glad to see Steam stepping up though, they were one of the first to...
I think the reaction to the Witcher 2 maybe really burned them? They've mentioned the negative feedback they got from it before. Glad to see Steam stepping up though, they were one of the first to really support Linux as a first-class citizen and they've really kept up with it.
Like you said: nothing changed--and that's the most disappointing part! I was hoping Valve's release of SteamPlay would force/influence GOG to put more stock into supporting Linux. Seeing this...
Like you said: nothing changed--and that's the most disappointing part! I was hoping Valve's release of SteamPlay would force/influence GOG to put more stock into supporting Linux.
Seeing this news now is more disheartening than a year ago, as it means their priority hasn't shifted even after their competitor made a huge move for the Linux market.
It'd sure be a handy thing to have. Automatic updates, cloud save support, not having to fumble around with individual installers like I'm still on Windows. Those are all nice to have but they're...
It'd sure be a handy thing to have. Automatic updates, cloud save support, not having to fumble around with individual installers like I'm still on Windows.
Those are all nice to have but they're QoL stuff basically. We can and do do all that stuff manually. Recently though there's started being in-game features dependent on Galaxy though like multiplayer stuff, achievements, that kinda deal.
And maybe you can live without those except that I guess (I have no examples and no source to back this specifically up, but I know there are many games that are available for Linux unless they're on GOG) it's even preventing games from even being released for Linux on GOG, just because it no longer can "keep up" with the other 2 platforms and doesn't have support for the required features through Galaxy.
People have been asking for it for ages and yet they never seemed to care. It's a shame, really, their client offers some useful options (mainly cloud saves) and is a good alternative to Steam's....
People have been asking for it for ages and yet they never seemed to care.
It's a shame, really, their client offers some useful options (mainly cloud saves) and is a good alternative to Steam's. Admittedly, I don't think that would help them make a ton of money to release one, but it's still the way to go if they really want to make a difference.
In the meantime, Linux users looking for a game client still have Lutris.
What was it supposed to do? Be some sort of Wine/DosBox Environment, or just a "shop-window" for people who don't like to use the GoG website when download stuff?
What was it supposed to do? Be some sort of Wine/DosBox Environment, or just a "shop-window" for people who don't like to use the GoG website when download stuff?
It's just there to smooth the experience basically. Automatic installs, automatic updates, cloud saves, just a good large handful of big QoL improvements. Recently they've even been adding some...
It's just there to smooth the experience basically. Automatic installs, automatic updates, cloud saves, just a good large handful of big QoL improvements. Recently they've even been adding some Steamworks-esque multiplayer and achievements type things, but since Galaxy doesn't support Linux, apparently that's even acting as a blocker for some games to come to Linux.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to compete with what Steam offers right now. I've been buying Windows-only games from GOG for a while now, and I prefer GOG because it provides easy-to-use installers that...
Yeah, it's pretty hard to compete with what Steam offers right now. I've been buying Windows-only games from GOG for a while now, and I prefer GOG because it provides easy-to-use installers that work well with Wine, but now Steam chips away at that too by having its own Wine.
Lutris can't automatically download, install, and update GOG games can it? I don't recall seeing it last time I was playing around with it, but that was a good long while ago. And it definitely...
Lutris can't automatically download, install, and update GOG games can it? I don't recall seeing it last time I was playing around with it, but that was a good long while ago.
And it definitely doesn't do any of the more involved tasks that Galaxy handles like multiplayer or achievements. Lutris is lovely for an overview of what games you've got installed, I loved that I was able to have both my emulated games showing up alongside steam and GOG and Humble and whatever else, but I'm not sure what kind of replacement for Galaxy it's supposed to be.
That's fair. I haven't used it specifically for GOG, but I know it has "GOG support"; I guess that means installing games purchased through GOG, but nothing related to the platform itself.
That's fair. I haven't used it specifically for GOG, but I know it has "GOG support"; I guess that means installing games purchased through GOG, but nothing related to the platform itself.
Game Launchers like steam and GOG are unnecessary. Just run the executables yourself like any other program. The normal interactions with the filesystem are better than using launcher programs anyway.
Game Launchers like steam and GOG are unnecessary. Just run the executables yourself like any other program. The normal interactions with the filesystem are better than using launcher programs anyway.
I know a lot of people place value in using the terminal, and that I can understand, but I'm not sure I understand your point of view. This isn't a case of terminal vs not-terminal, this is one of...
I know a lot of people place value in using the terminal, and that I can understand, but I'm not sure I understand your point of view. This isn't a case of terminal vs not-terminal, this is one of manual tedious tasks vs automation. Isn't the great thing about the terminal its potential for automation in the first place?
Manually installing and keeping upt-to-date an entire library of games rapidly becomes a pain that isn't worth having. Clients don't just launch games, they manage them.
Your package manager already does everything you're talking about. Even without one, software doesn't spoil like food. Just check for updates online if it's got any problems and recompile.
Your package manager already does everything you're talking about. Even without one, software doesn't spoil like food. Just check for updates online if it's got any problems and recompile.
Ideally, you'd install games through your distro's package manager, but in reality, we download and install them from a distributor unrelated to our distro. Sure, GOG could create and maintain...
Ideally, you'd install games through your distro's package manager, but in reality, we download and install them from a distributor unrelated to our distro. Sure, GOG could create and maintain individual packages for multiple distros for each game they sell, but that would be hell. They could offload that work onto volunteers, but then there are issues with trust and liability, especially since nontrivial amounts of money are involved.
The generally accepted solution is to provide a cross-distro application that manages all of this for the users; it's not unlike a GOG-specific "package" manager. It's not perfect, but it's not awful, either.
I think that's essentially what LGOGDownloader is, except unofficial. And it is a wonderful tool, but (and I feel like I might be moving a goalpost here so feel free to ignore it, but this is also...
I think that's essentially what LGOGDownloader is, except unofficial.
And it is a wonderful tool, but (and I feel like I might be moving a goalpost here so feel free to ignore it, but this is also a part of the official Galaxy client) doesn't handle features like achievements and multiplayer support, which might end up acting as a blocker for some games to come to Linux in the first place.
I think that tying games to some kind of social profile is a bad expectation to have. A lot of people use this, but when these systems are built, they usually aren't voluntary (Like steam) and you...
I think that tying games to some kind of social profile is a bad expectation to have. A lot of people use this, but when these systems are built, they usually aren't voluntary (Like steam) and you have to resist them to maintain privacy.
I get what you're saying and I agree but I don't really see how it applies, GOG is hardly social media. Steam, sure. GOG has game reviews and their forums/wishlist as their only means of...
I get what you're saying and I agree but I don't really see how it applies, GOG is hardly social media. Steam, sure. GOG has game reviews and their forums/wishlist as their only means of communication and those are both feedback oriented, not just chatting. Are you worried GOG is heading in that direction?
It's not complicated and it doesn't take a long time to compile software. The reason you would do it is mostly because the source code works on any distro if you compile it, while package formats...
It's not complicated and it doesn't take a long time to compile software. The reason you would do it is mostly because the source code works on any distro if you compile it, while package formats only work on specific distros. So it's easier to compile.
Whoo boy, do I have news for you. At my last job, we had professional software that took several hours to compile. Do you really think a professional video game would compile in minutes, let alone...
it doesn't take a long time to compile software
Whoo boy, do I have news for you. At my last job, we had professional software that took several hours to compile. Do you really think a professional video game would compile in minutes, let alone on your average gaming setup? Don't forget all the environment settings and build dependencies, and that doesn't even get into open sourcing the software they spent years and millions of dollars to develop.
No, users needing to recompile a professional video game on every update just isn't practical today.
I remember when the Second Life Viewer became open source and being astounded at how difficult and time consuming it was to compile. And that was more than a decade ago! I can't even begin to...
I remember when the Second Life Viewer became open source and being astounded at how difficult and time consuming it was to compile. And that was more than a decade ago! I can't even begin to imagine how difficult newer games would be.
It would be difficult to compile an AAA game. But compilation is how it should be done whenever possible. If your software really has nothing malicious to hide, like many AAA games do, then anyone...
It would be difficult to compile an AAA game. But compilation is how it should be done whenever possible. If your software really has nothing malicious to hide, like many AAA games do, then anyone should be able to read the source code and try to compile it, at the very least.
It's how Linux is traditionally interacted with. The average gamer doesn't have much reason to need to use the command line, as most things they want to do can be done with a GUI. That's an...
The command line is how you interact with Linux.
It's how Linux is traditionally interacted with. The average gamer doesn't have much reason to need to use the command line, as most things they want to do can be done with a GUI.
You have to at least be able to assume that your users know how to use their own computer.
That's an assumption that'll be broken more than met.
Most things on Linux can't be done with a GUI, and the Linux GUI options are a lot worse than the GUI in windows. The average gamer uses Windows, and not Linux. So when you distribute software for...
Most things on Linux can't be done with a GUI, and the Linux GUI options are a lot worse than the GUI in windows. The average gamer uses Windows, and not Linux. So when you distribute software for Linux, you're already making software for people who are not your average user.
Linux has most of it's features as command-line only, while windows has GUI's for almost all of it's functions. People being new to Linux is just like being new to any other operating system; you...
Linux has most of it's features as command-line only, while windows has GUI's for almost all of it's functions. People being new to Linux is just like being new to any other operating system; you have to learn how to use it.
Are you serious? No. Pretty much every Linux distro has GUI front ends for essentially everything. The average user does not have to touch the CLI if they choose not to. That might have been true...
Are you serious? No. Pretty much every Linux distro has GUI front ends for essentially everything. The average user does not have to touch the CLI if they choose not to.
That might have been true in the early/mid nineties when Linux was still a hobby operating system with only GNU tools, but we are living in a different era.
That's changing pretty quickly, though. My girlfriend installed Solus after getting nothing but endless headaches on Windows 8, and she's basically the definition of your average user. As far as I...
That's changing pretty quickly, though. My girlfriend installed Solus after getting nothing but endless headaches on Windows 8, and she's basically the definition of your average user. As far as I know she doesn't really know anything about the terminal except the one command I taught her to control the LEDs I have connected to my own PC. She just watches YouTube, checks her Tumblr, plays a few F2P Steam games like Viridi (and now Clicker Heroes thanks to Proton).
It all just worked out of the box, except for the 2 GUI-based steps to enable Proton so she could get back Clicker Heroes. Linux is fully capable of being casual.
people who are new to Linux will always exist; but its a bad idea to assume that this is some kind of unchanging state. Everyone has been new to windows and not known how to use it's interface;...
people who are new to Linux will always exist; but its a bad idea to assume that this is some kind of unchanging state. Everyone has been new to windows and not known how to use it's interface; Linux isn't different. There isn't anything that makes the interface to Linux "not casual" or a big deal to know how to use compared to any other operating system. If you believe in some kind of social idea that it's too difficult, that just makes it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
After strongly hinting at it a year ago, they've now come out and confirmed that GOG for Linux just ain't happening any time soon.
Gotta say, I appreciate everything they've done and everything they do for Linux and PC gaming, but it does hurt a little bit to be explicitly left behind as a second-class citizen. This is disappointing, I think we all expected better from them.
I'm not really in the market for new games anyway so I'm not going to say anything silly like "Wow I'm buying all my stuff from Steam now screw you GOG" but Steam's Linux support definitely is looking a lot more attractive after all the money and time they've poured into making Proton.
If anyone was going to dev for linux I thought it would be GOG, quite surprised to see it's Steam making moves in that direction.
I think the reaction to the Witcher 2 maybe really burned them? They've mentioned the negative feedback they got from it before. Glad to see Steam stepping up though, they were one of the first to really support Linux as a first-class citizen and they've really kept up with it.
/r/linux and /r/linuxgaming are mostly toxic subs, especially linuxgaming
Like you said: nothing changed--and that's the most disappointing part! I was hoping Valve's release of SteamPlay would force/influence GOG to put more stock into supporting Linux.
Seeing this news now is more disheartening than a year ago, as it means their priority hasn't shifted even after their competitor made a huge move for the Linux market.
Do people actually use the GOG client? I figured it was DOA after I heard nothing of it since release. Not even in GOG's own site.
It'd sure be a handy thing to have. Automatic updates, cloud save support, not having to fumble around with individual installers like I'm still on Windows.
Those are all nice to have but they're QoL stuff basically. We can and do do all that stuff manually. Recently though there's started being in-game features dependent on Galaxy though like multiplayer stuff, achievements, that kinda deal.
And maybe you can live without those except that I guess (I have no examples and no source to back this specifically up, but I know there are many games that are available for Linux unless they're on GOG) it's even preventing games from even being released for Linux on GOG, just because it no longer can "keep up" with the other 2 platforms and doesn't have support for the required features through Galaxy.
Yes, I use it for all my GOG games. It's just far more convenient in every way. It's a bit glitchier than Steam but probably the best client after it.
People have been asking for it for ages and yet they never seemed to care.
It's a shame, really, their client offers some useful options (mainly cloud saves) and is a good alternative to Steam's. Admittedly, I don't think that would help them make a ton of money to release one, but it's still the way to go if they really want to make a difference.
In the meantime, Linux users looking for a game client still have Lutris.
Check out https://github.com/tkashkin/GameHub/ instead. Covers GOG, Steam and Humble Bundle.
Hey that looks pretty cool. Even has an AppImage, I love AppImage. Not that I need it, being on Debian, but hey, AppImage.
and I still have no reason to stop using Steam.
Definitely. In light of the recent and massive amounts of time and money Steam's been pouring into Linux, GOG definitely isn't even trying to compete.
What was it supposed to do? Be some sort of Wine/DosBox Environment, or just a "shop-window" for people who don't like to use the GoG website when download stuff?
It's just there to smooth the experience basically. Automatic installs, automatic updates, cloud saves, just a good large handful of big QoL improvements. Recently they've even been adding some Steamworks-esque multiplayer and achievements type things, but since Galaxy doesn't support Linux, apparently that's even acting as a blocker for some games to come to Linux.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to compete with what Steam offers right now. I've been buying Windows-only games from GOG for a while now, and I prefer GOG because it provides easy-to-use installers that work well with Wine, but now Steam chips away at that too by having its own Wine.
Hmm, have you folks tried out lutris yet?
Lutris can't automatically download, install, and update GOG games can it? I don't recall seeing it last time I was playing around with it, but that was a good long while ago.
And it definitely doesn't do any of the more involved tasks that Galaxy handles like multiplayer or achievements. Lutris is lovely for an overview of what games you've got installed, I loved that I was able to have both my emulated games showing up alongside steam and GOG and Humble and whatever else, but I'm not sure what kind of replacement for Galaxy it's supposed to be.
That's fair. I haven't used it specifically for GOG, but I know it has "GOG support"; I guess that means installing games purchased through GOG, but nothing related to the platform itself.
Game Launchers like steam and GOG are unnecessary. Just run the executables yourself like any other program. The normal interactions with the filesystem are better than using launcher programs anyway.
I know a lot of people place value in using the terminal, and that I can understand, but I'm not sure I understand your point of view. This isn't a case of terminal vs not-terminal, this is one of manual tedious tasks vs automation. Isn't the great thing about the terminal its potential for automation in the first place?
Manually installing and keeping upt-to-date an entire library of games rapidly becomes a pain that isn't worth having. Clients don't just launch games, they manage them.
Your package manager already does everything you're talking about. Even without one, software doesn't spoil like food. Just check for updates online if it's got any problems and recompile.
Ideally, you'd install games through your distro's package manager, but in reality, we download and install them from a distributor unrelated to our distro. Sure, GOG could create and maintain individual packages for multiple distros for each game they sell, but that would be hell. They could offload that work onto volunteers, but then there are issues with trust and liability, especially since nontrivial amounts of money are involved.
The generally accepted solution is to provide a cross-distro application that manages all of this for the users; it's not unlike a GOG-specific "package" manager. It's not perfect, but it's not awful, either.
GOG could write it's own package manager, and that would be fine. Very different from writing a whole client on Linux.
I think that's essentially what LGOGDownloader is, except unofficial.
And it is a wonderful tool, but (and I feel like I might be moving a goalpost here so feel free to ignore it, but this is also a part of the official Galaxy client) doesn't handle features like achievements and multiplayer support, which might end up acting as a blocker for some games to come to Linux in the first place.
I think that tying games to some kind of social profile is a bad expectation to have. A lot of people use this, but when these systems are built, they usually aren't voluntary (Like steam) and you have to resist them to maintain privacy.
I get what you're saying and I agree but I don't really see how it applies, GOG is hardly social media. Steam, sure. GOG has game reviews and their forums/wishlist as their only means of communication and those are both feedback oriented, not just chatting. Are you worried GOG is heading in that direction?
It's not complicated and it doesn't take a long time to compile software. The reason you would do it is mostly because the source code works on any distro if you compile it, while package formats only work on specific distros. So it's easier to compile.
Whoo boy, do I have news for you. At my last job, we had professional software that took several hours to compile. Do you really think a professional video game would compile in minutes, let alone on your average gaming setup? Don't forget all the environment settings and build dependencies, and that doesn't even get into open sourcing the software they spent years and millions of dollars to develop.
No, users needing to recompile a professional video game on every update just isn't practical today.
I remember when the Second Life Viewer became open source and being astounded at how difficult and time consuming it was to compile. And that was more than a decade ago! I can't even begin to imagine how difficult newer games would be.
It would be difficult to compile an AAA game. But compilation is how it should be done whenever possible. If your software really has nothing malicious to hide, like many AAA games do, then anyone should be able to read the source code and try to compile it, at the very least.
The command line is how you interact with Linux. You have to at least be able to assume that your users know how to use their own computer.
It's how Linux is traditionally interacted with. The average gamer doesn't have much reason to need to use the command line, as most things they want to do can be done with a GUI.
That's an assumption that'll be broken more than met.
Most things on Linux can't be done with a GUI, and the Linux GUI options are a lot worse than the GUI in windows. The average gamer uses Windows, and not Linux. So when you distribute software for Linux, you're already making software for people who are not your average user.
Linux has most of it's features as command-line only, while windows has GUI's for almost all of it's functions. People being new to Linux is just like being new to any other operating system; you have to learn how to use it.
Are you serious? No. Pretty much every Linux distro has GUI front ends for essentially everything. The average user does not have to touch the CLI if they choose not to.
That might have been true in the early/mid nineties when Linux was still a hobby operating system with only GNU tools, but we are living in a different era.
That's changing pretty quickly, though. My girlfriend installed Solus after getting nothing but endless headaches on Windows 8, and she's basically the definition of your average user. As far as I know she doesn't really know anything about the terminal except the one command I taught her to control the LEDs I have connected to my own PC. She just watches YouTube, checks her Tumblr, plays a few F2P Steam games like Viridi (and now Clicker Heroes thanks to Proton).
It all just worked out of the box, except for the 2 GUI-based steps to enable Proton so she could get back Clicker Heroes. Linux is fully capable of being casual.
people who are new to Linux will always exist; but its a bad idea to assume that this is some kind of unchanging state. Everyone has been new to windows and not known how to use it's interface; Linux isn't different. There isn't anything that makes the interface to Linux "not casual" or a big deal to know how to use compared to any other operating system. If you believe in some kind of social idea that it's too difficult, that just makes it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.