When will Linux ever get any love?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080320-pc-game-developer-has-radical-message-ignore-the-pirates.html
from Sins Forums
I recently read a review about Sins in Ars tech and I really loved the philosophy that the developers worked with.  It's exactly why I stopped playing games on the PC, and after I realized windows had nothing else to offer I switched to Ubuntu and haven't looked back.  My question is for the developers, if any read these forums; you've obviously recognized the frustration that many PC gamers have had to deal with in the windows environment, do you plan on, or have you even considered, branching out to other platforms?  I'm not trying to start a flame war about which OS or console is better, my question is simply a logical observation.  Why utilize said form of digital entertainment if it manufactures more stress than it reliefs.  Truth is I'd buy Sins simply because I love RTS games and there are so few decent titles out, and because I think ditching copy protection is a fantastic idea, but I wouldn't be able to play it :(
6,153 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Not sure but I think Sins is DirectX so probably not. Doesn't work in WINE?
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Saying a game is "DirectX" doesn't really mean much, It's only application layer interface, World of Warcraft is "DirectX" but it also runs beautifully in native OpenGL. As for wine, it's either a hit or miss these days. Games either run great or they work as well as a perforated condom. According to the wine APPdB;
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=6653
Single player seems to be playable, but multiplayer is dead in the water. Multiplayer is the only reason I'd play it.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

I know the beta's ran in Wine but I haven't seen the final version running yet.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Some more official Linux love would be great.

StarDock often mentioned the importance of the "word of mouth" factor in selling GC2 and also Sins of a Solar Empire. Especially us Linux fans are very vocal and also willing to buy games that support out platform.
Developing the game in an open way (e.g. OpenGL support) isn't too hard and if that is done right from the start, then a linux port can be done by a single person (e.g. ID games is doing gread that way).
I am sure Linux users would spread the word a lot faster and better if our system was supported ;)
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Saying a game is "DirectX" doesn't really mean much, It's only application layer interface, World of Warcraft is "DirectX" but it also runs beautifully in native OpenGL. As for wine, it's either a hit or miss these days.
End of quote

Actually it means a lot. DirectX and OpenGL are two completely different API's. It's not as if you run an application and it decides it's going to be one or the other, it has to be written for one, the other or both. Your example of World of Warcraft has renderers for both Direct3D and OpenGL. WoW can run as either on the PC, but since DirectX isn't native to other platforms (OSX for instance) the OpenGL renderer is used for such. The only recourse for a DirectX only application outside of Windows is *emulation* such as that included in WINE or Cedega. By default this incurs a performance penalty, regardless of how slight it might be in certain instances. To the best of my knowledge Sins was not written with an OpenGL renderer so unfortunately there's nothing native about it outside of Direct3D.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
I would also really appreciate Linux support or at least support in Wine would be good. I doubt Ironclad has the resources to rewrite the game for Linux but support in Wine sounds do-able.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Developing future games with the platform it will run on in mind would be enough. Sins is heavily based on D3D and this won't change for sure.
But I hope game devs will some day wake up and start breaking free from the restrictions of DX and start programming portable and open games - ID software has shown how to do it!