• ampersandrew
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    429 months ago

    Please give us Galaxy on Linux, GOG, so I can shop with you over Steam.

    • @woelkchen@lemmy.world
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      449 months ago

      Please give us Galaxy on Linux, GOG, so I can shop with you over Steam.

      Buying games on Steams results in development of the Linux technology stack. No other game company funds open source upstream development like Valve. As nice as DRM-free games are, GOG is not a force for Linux advancement.

      • @stardust@lemmy.ca
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        69 months ago

        Steam Deck was reason I moved from GOG to Steam again. Installation process and getting the game running is so much more streamlined than using heroic launcher. And sync saves is spotty and I don’t think there is achievement support last I tried.

        Wish they had a proper Linux launcher, but they don’t see it worth it.

    • @aksdb@lemmy.world
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      449 months ago

      As long as GOG doesn’t invest in Wine/Proton, Valve has still the upper hand in Linux support and therefore deserve my money more.

      • ampersandrew
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        129 months ago

        They don’t even need to invest in its development. They just need to integrate it as a launch option.

        • @aksdb@lemmy.world
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          69 months ago

          That would be nice, sure. I am just saying, it still wouldn’t give them a significantly better standing over Valve, in my eyes. Valve is currently kinda the Linux Gaming Savior. Hard to beat that unless they also start actively (!) doing something.

          • Kayn
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            9 months ago

            GOG is tiny compared to Valve. They simply don’t have the resources to invest in Linux R&D. Expecting them to do so is futile.

            • @aksdb@lemmy.world
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              09 months ago

              What does that change about what I said? I don’t expect them to. I simply stated why I prefer Steam over GOG.

      • ampersandrew
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        79 months ago

        Yeah, but I want things like auto updates and cloud saves as officially supported features rather than something they can revoke from Heroic at any time.

        • @haych@lemmy.one
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          39 months ago

          Since I got my Steam Deck, I think that was 2 years ago or so now? But I also ended up using it on my Windows PC to replace Amazon, Gog, and Epic.

          It’s not perfect, but it does the job and means I don’t need multiple clients.

    • @steeznson@lemmy.world
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      79 months ago

      Yeah I’ve had issues playing GOG games on linux using arch/gentoo because the libs that the game wants to dynamically link are often not where it expects. It’s possible to resolve it but the Steam approach where they distribute a static bundle of libs into ~/.local/share is much less of a headache.

      Presumably Galaxy could solve this problem and make Linux more viable. The dynamic linking of the libraries has been more of an issue than the missing Proton integration for me. Often it is easier to install GOG games with wine and take the performance hit!

      • Refurbished Refurbisher
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        9 months ago

        Why do they dynamically link libs instead of static linking, or better yet, distributing an AppImage?

        • @steeznson@lemmy.world
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          19 months ago

          Could be licensing or decreased server costs with smaller executable downloads? Not sure without being a fly on the wall at GOG.

          Static vs dynamic linking is a huge, flame war-triggering debate in software. Like the original vim vs emacs.

    • @vinnymac@sh.itjust.works
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      79 months ago

      Surprised we haven’t seen launchers adding native support for Linux. You’d think they would want to take advantage of the millions of steam decks on the market.

      Perhaps they are busy contemplating their own hardware investments, which will surely flood the market with cheap and poorly constructed knockoffs.

      • Kayn
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        19 months ago

        There’s little to no business incentive for other launchers to add support for an OS used only by approx. 1.7% of PC gamers.

        • ampersandrew
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          19 months ago

          Less incentive, but 1.7% of a huge number of customers may still be profitable.

          • Kayn
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            9 months ago

            You’d be doubling your building, testing and supporting efforts for a ~1.8% increase in sales at best.

            Granted, these numbers are just rough estimates based on Steam’s hardware survey, but that’s the ballpark we’re finding ourselves in.

            • ampersandrew
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              19 months ago

              Nah, it doesn’t just linearly double like that. If it takes 10 people to build, test, and support the launcher for Windows, it doesn’t take 20 people to support Linux, since most of it is going to be the same across platforms. A 1.8% increase in sales also isn’t the best prediction. On Steam, the vast majority of their players and revenue are accounted for by just a couple of the most popular games, and a lot of that is dictated by what games are allowed or successful in China. If your game isn’t selling in China, your addressable market is actually much closer to being 4.5% Linux. That’s not to pick on China, but China is a massive market on its own, and it’s the difference between the case where you’re selling microtransactions in Counter-Strike 2 or if you’re selling a metroidvania.

    • mox
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      59 months ago

      Just in case you don’t know: You can buy GOG games and download the installers in a browser.

      • ampersandrew
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        69 months ago

        Yes, that’s the selling point, but I also value automatic updates and cloud saves most of the time.

        • @cmhe@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Do you really want auto-updates for your games, or actually just want updates-on-demand? Or just a notification with a button to update the game?

          Personally I dislike Steams auto updates, because I want decide when a game should be updated. I might have mods installed, only mobile internet or a myriad other reasons not to be forced to download and apply an update right at that moment and instead just play the old version.

          For saves, I normally just use syncthing. I have regularly issues with GOG and Steam cloud saves, and syncthing works well enough,

          • ampersandrew
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            49 months ago

            I want auto updates for my games so close to “always” that you can only tell it’s not 100% if you squint a bit. I use Syncthing in other contexts, like syncing emulator saves to and from desktop and Steam Deck, and it’s not quite as easy as Steam cloud saves.

              • ampersandrew
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                59 months ago

                Setup is annoying, and feedback on whether or not it’s working is a bit rough. I’ve lost data by misconfiguring it before. You have to run a background daemon on a device where battery life matters, so I tend to shut it off when I’m done. Syncing saves with SyncThing requires knowing where those save files are, whereas being built into the launcher client means they already know where those saves are, and that step is already done.

        • Kayn
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          9 months ago

          You can use the Heroic Games Launcher, which runs GOG games through Proton, offers automatic updates and integrates with GOG cloud saves.

          Buying games on GOG through their launcher also gives them a cut of the money!

          • ampersandrew
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            29 months ago

            Do you have a source on Heroic getting a cut? I can’t find it in their FAQ.

              • ampersandrew
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                29 months ago

                Neat. I was aware of Heroic before, but I haven’t heard of this. This does change the equation for me, because now there’s a data point that GOG can use to see where my money’s going and how they can get more of it. What can you tell me about their refund policy? Are the results on ProtonDB just as reliable for GOG versions as they are for Steam versions of games? Does Heroic pre-compile Vulkan shaders the way that Proton on Steam enforces it? Whatever answers you don’t have, I can do some of my own homework, but I’m intrigued now.

                • Kayn
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                  19 months ago

                  What can you tell me about their refund policy?

                  You can refund any purchase within 30 days. There are no restrictions on playtime, since GOG can’t feasibly control that.

                  You can get your refund either as store credit or to the payment method you used, however store credit is usually processed much faster.

                  Are the results on ProtonDB just as reliable for GOG versions as they are for Steam versions of games?

                  I can only vaguely answer this by saying the games that I tried (mainly indie games like Dead Cells and One Step from Eden) worked flawlessly.

                  Heroic Games Launcher has a Mastodon presence, so you can ask them there! https://mastodon.social/@heroiclauncher

                  • ampersandrew
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                    29 months ago

                    Thanks a bunch. If I get the answers I’m looking for, maybe GOG will be my go-to.