Linux versions

[zerothis]

I was excited to see the Blackwell bundle listed on many Linux sites. I figured this was due to that fact that AGS recently went Open Source and someone had finally made an updated port. I also figured, since all this was the case, that it was finally time to start purchasing adventures from Wadjeteye (I've played demos on Windows, back when I used it). I came to the site after having made the decision to purchase all the Blackwell games and every other Wadjeteye for native Linux. However, I found the store, and then the entire site, incredibly vague as to which platforms the games were for (Mac?, Linux?, Windows?). Before I buy every Wadjeteye game, I need to confirm that its actually available for my system (Linux).

EDIT: I don't do WINE. If Wadjeteye responds "WINE" I'll take my money elsewhere.

[DaveGilbert]

I don't know which sites you are referring to, but our games definitely do not run natively on Linux. At least, not yet. We are working on porting, but it's slow. We're basically going one game at a time, one platform at a time. So you will see our stuff on Linux one day, just not today.

[Roisack]

I believe that Linux is an important platform to support indeed. We have seen many times that there is actual business in that world, even for closed source games. However, I believe that a game developer should not spend any time for porting his one-platform game to a new platform when he could as well be using his time for making new games. At some point maybe we can have a cross-platform AGS that allows easy portage of Blackwell. Maybe at some point we'll be seeing the Blackwell games as open source so that the community can make the free port.

I'm using mostly Linux myself, but so far the gaming has been a Windows thing. It just doesn't work well enough yet. Of course there are exceptions for games that are made for cross-platform right away like Ur-Quan Masters and Wesnoth.

[ClapBedon]

All the Wadjet Eye games I own work under linux, without wine. You can get the AGS source code over here and compile it yourself:

https://github.com/adventuregamestudio/ags

It won't work however if you bought your games from Steam, as the open sourced AGS will fail to load the steam libraries (e.g. stuff for clound sync, achievements, etc.). But you're in luck if you got them from GOG or directly from Wadjet Eye.

The linux AGS is terribly slow on my computer however. It might work better for you though. The linux port is still under development, so things might improve with time. Good luck!

And now that Steam for linux is just around the corner, it'd be great Wadjet Eye could figure out a way to repackage their games and make them also available for linux! Pretty please :)

[lotek]

I'm also a Linux player and Gemini Rue / Resonance are working fine with native AGS.

Steam for Linux has already been released with quite a few games available. I have no idea what's the procedure to make a game available on Linux, but I suppose when someone adds Steam support on the AGS source code, most of the work is done.

Dave, is there any talk on this between you and Valve? Do you have any idea how this works? I'd love to get achievements on Linux.

[warci]

Thanks for the explanation ClapBedon! I've got primordia running really well natively now... SWEET (it's the only game i have the dvd for, the others i only have on steam)
Come on wadjet eye, your games are way too awesome not to be played on linux!! And i don't have windows anymore, so steam on wine is a crappy solution

[DaveGilbert]

We are in the midst of porting Gemini Rue to Linux right now! We really want this to be the year of porting, but we are only two people. We can only port one game at a time, one platform at a time - in addition to making our next game!

Steam has already expressed interest in our Linux ports, once they are finished. So rest assured they are coming! Just not yet.

[flesk]

We are in the midst of porting Gemini Rue to Linux right now! We really want this to be the year of porting, but we are only two people. We can only port one game at a time, one platform at a time - in addition to making our next game!

Steam has already expressed interest in our Linux ports, once they are finished. So rest assured they are coming! Just not yet.

Awesome news! I will play all your games again when the Linux versions are ready. It's also a good strategic move to get in there while there's still relatively few Linux games on Steam, since it's a lot easier to get noticed among a hundred games than the several thousands on Windows. Not saying the consistent good quality of your games isn't enough to make them sell like hot cakes though.

[Vaz]

Many thanks to ClapBedon for the github link! I followed the Debian/Ubuntu instructions there to compile it for my Ubuntu 12.04 64 Bit system, bought and installed the GoG version of Resonance plus the update via the Wine frontend PlayOnLinux and tried running the game with ags from there. It worked perfectly! (with Wine itself I got no image and stuttering sound)

@Wadjet, please release official Linux versions of your games as soon as possible. Given the working Github version of AGS, it shouldn't be be that of a hurdle (from my viewpoint as a complete layman ).

Anyway, because of the working AGS, I also bought the Blackwell Bundle and Primordia from GOG today (already owning Gemini Rue). But I would still pay a reasonable price for any official Linux versions!

Cheers,
The Vaz

[DaveGilbert]

We're working on it! Being a two person team, we can only port one game at a time, one platform at a time. Plus we just had a baby, so things might take a little longer.

[rpmcruz]

For future reference, it seems all Blackwell games are not available in Steam for Linux.

The exception is Blackwell Epiphany and some of the other Wadjet Eye games. But GOG distributes them for Linux (they use AGS for Linux): https://www.gog.com/games##sort=bestselling&devpub=wadjet_eye_games&page=1.