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rofl, those metacritic reviews are awful! I emailed them to tell them they should consider revisiting VO in the near future, or at the very least after the near-ish 2.0 release. I've also emailed Steam for any additional information they can provide, and informed them of the metacritic situation. All in a personal capacity of course. :D
There's no need to email metacritic on our behalf. 2.0 will be rolled as a "Sequel", so basically to be considered a "new" game by the press (and, therefore, by them).
Interesting Article on metacritic.
I hope ars will give VO some coverage with 2.0... the only mention I found was in a forum post.
I hope ars will give VO some coverage with 2.0... the only mention I found was in a forum post.
EVE is no longer natively supported on Linux, but it used to be up until about a year ago (and was when Steam started carrying it). It still runs at roughly native performance in wine, anyway.
Yeah, so it probably wouldn't be getting as much attention in Steam for Linux as it's getting now.
I thought EvE used a wrapper library, instead of actually being truly native, to run on Linux before they dropped support for that OS?
I thought EvE used a wrapper library, instead of actually being truly native, to run on Linux before they dropped support for that OS?
You can debate the meaning of the term "native" until a sentient search engine rises up and destroys all human life, but that discussion is overly semantic. EVE came packaged as a .bin or a .deb file, which could be installed on a Linux system using the traditional methods of installing programs. It installed a binary in the user's path and registered itself to be included in the desktop menus. For our purposes, it was a "native" application.
You can debate the meaning of the term "native" until a sentient search engine rises up and destroys all human life, but that discussion is overly semantic. EVE came packaged as a .bin or a .deb file, which could be installed on a Linux system using the traditional methods of installing programs. It installed a binary in the user's path and registered itself to be included in the desktop menus. For our purposes, it was a "native" application.
Nope ladron, EVE was never native to Linux, it *always* used Wine. The binary being ran was a Windows binary.
native software - Software specifically written, compiled, or assembled to run on a particular system. Native code uses all the individual features of the target system with no regard for generality or portability.
:P
Anyway, if Steam-for-linux ever exists without VO, it will be a sad sad platform. What else would they sell? Half assed Loki ports from yesteryear?
native software - Software specifically written, compiled, or assembled to run on a particular system. Native code uses all the individual features of the target system with no regard for generality or portability.
:P
Anyway, if Steam-for-linux ever exists without VO, it will be a sad sad platform. What else would they sell? Half assed Loki ports from yesteryear?
Yesterdecade now
I don't think they'll have too much trouble making native clients of their Source-engine games for Linux now that they've done it for OS X.
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, Incarnate.
Honestly, I don't think it is fair. You have a working space combat MMO with real newtonian physics flight modes, with clients on all 3 major OSes. Steam will publish shovelware-type kiddie or casual games, they'll carry niche products like a train simulator (though, its DLC costs over $800 to buy it all. This may be part of the issue), they'll sell indie games that are hit or miss, so there is no reason they should object to sell Vendetta which, as an off-and-on player for awhile, its biggest fault is the catch22 of not having more players!
Is there anything we can do? Anyone we can contact? Also I read that you were in talks with Direc2Drive, you may want to consider Impulse as well. They're said to be friendly to niche games.
I also had another idea - as a Linux-native MMO with even a netbook setting, what do you think about talking to someone like Ubuntu or Mint (Even Arch!) to "push" Vendetta 2.0 in their upcoming installs? I can't remember if Vendetta is part of their gaming "category" and available in their repos by default, but maybe it should be? Like a special deal for new users of some sort, links on the website, Vendetta installed as part of a "gaming bundle" or "MMO Bundle" (Partnering with RegnumOnline may be cool, to show players "hey, check it out. Linux has a polished space fighter MMO AND a WAR/DAOC-style fantasy MMO! There might be other games that are worth working with somehow, like a Tale in the Desert. ") if a player chooses it etc.
Ubuntu and Mint are big destinations for new Linux users and their backers are trying to push adoption of new tech, such as UbuntuMusicStore and UbuntuOne. I hear that "Proving Linux gaming is more than Tux Racer to regular joe" is one important goal in the future, so maybe Vendetta 2.0 could get in on the ground floor of this and pick up a ton of new subscribers!
Honestly, I don't think it is fair. You have a working space combat MMO with real newtonian physics flight modes, with clients on all 3 major OSes. Steam will publish shovelware-type kiddie or casual games, they'll carry niche products like a train simulator (though, its DLC costs over $800 to buy it all. This may be part of the issue), they'll sell indie games that are hit or miss, so there is no reason they should object to sell Vendetta which, as an off-and-on player for awhile, its biggest fault is the catch22 of not having more players!
Is there anything we can do? Anyone we can contact? Also I read that you were in talks with Direc2Drive, you may want to consider Impulse as well. They're said to be friendly to niche games.
I also had another idea - as a Linux-native MMO with even a netbook setting, what do you think about talking to someone like Ubuntu or Mint (Even Arch!) to "push" Vendetta 2.0 in their upcoming installs? I can't remember if Vendetta is part of their gaming "category" and available in their repos by default, but maybe it should be? Like a special deal for new users of some sort, links on the website, Vendetta installed as part of a "gaming bundle" or "MMO Bundle" (Partnering with RegnumOnline may be cool, to show players "hey, check it out. Linux has a polished space fighter MMO AND a WAR/DAOC-style fantasy MMO! There might be other games that are worth working with somehow, like a Tale in the Desert. ") if a player chooses it etc.
Ubuntu and Mint are big destinations for new Linux users and their backers are trying to push adoption of new tech, such as UbuntuMusicStore and UbuntuOne. I hear that "Proving Linux gaming is more than Tux Racer to regular joe" is one important goal in the future, so maybe Vendetta 2.0 could get in on the ground floor of this and pick up a ton of new subscribers!
I've never gotten much traction with the Ubuntu people thus far, but I also don't know exactly who to get in touch with. The "community" people told me to roll our own repository, and that it was highly unlikely that we'd get into any official repository. If there's someone more "corporate" at Canonical who does bundling and things, I'd be happy to talk to them. But given the Debian-ness of Ubuntu I'd be a little surprised to see a closed-source, pay-application showing up on any default install.
The Ubuntu software center long term goal is to sell commercial software
They do appear to include the ability to list/download/install non free apps but I have not been able to find a place where you can ask to have this happen
They do appear to include the ability to list/download/install non free apps but I have not been able to find a place where you can ask to have this happen
Yeah, Ubuntu won't include anything in their default repo that is "non-free". Simply because they have no control over updates or fixes themselfs, but at the same time - if you do make your own repo for VO - it may show up in the gaming catagory as a featured item on a lot of places that share this kind of thing (linuxgames and happypenguin are cool and all, but...)
Blah, i'm talking bubbles, VO on Ubuntu by deafult aint ever gunna happen. VO on Steam, hmm, maybe it is a problem with them building the steam launcher into the VO updater? They prefer to control the flo of updates.
Blah, i'm talking bubbles, VO on Ubuntu by deafult aint ever gunna happen. VO on Steam, hmm, maybe it is a problem with them building the steam launcher into the VO updater? They prefer to control the flo of updates.
No, the whole update thing was (seemingly) not a problem. I talked to them about that at GDC. They do the same stuff with EVE. We just needed to push them updated new installs, which is kind of a given to reduce pressure on our update servers.
Regardless, technical caveats have workarounds. They're not usually reasons to say "We decline and we won't say why".
Anyway, yes, our own ubuntu repository would probably be a good idea. It's on my to-do list.
Regardless, technical caveats have workarounds. They're not usually reasons to say "We decline and we won't say why".
Anyway, yes, our own ubuntu repository would probably be a good idea. It's on my to-do list.
yea that's balls. don't worry boss, ill give out my 14 day keys to interested newbs at the end of their 8 hours and hopefully others follow suit and we can make our own promo out of friend keys!
I'll see if I can dig around to find someone with some clout for you. Rolling your own repo is not a bad idea just to automate the install process. Perhaps also making debs/rpms for the one-click install scene? I'll have to check if Vendetta is in any of the Arch repos, but I'm pretty sure you could easily get into Community or the Arch User Repository. I've always installed by downloading the shell script from here and its simple, but there are always those that are afraid or new to the command line.
There's a BIG shift between the Ubuntu and Debian business mindsets. After all, Installing Ubuntu 10.04 comes with a bundled music store integrated into the media player, and Ubuntu One syncing has a payware premium mode. Of course, restricted-extras like the Binary graphics card drivers from Nvidia/ATI are available. Ubuntu is not a gNewSense or anything and they're happy to provide user experience even if not every single thing is open source, although its best if most can be. Having AAA software Linux native is important in and of itself.
Just out of curiosity though, would you consider opening Vendetta's source? Maybe you've heard of the Humble Indie Bundle (read about Wolfire games, and their blog. Its cool stuff)? Because there was such an overwhelming positive response,Lugaru, Gish, Aquaria and even Penumbra opened their sources, some including their artistic assets under creative commons, others not. Recently the for-pay MMO "Ryzom" opened its source and (I think) assets as well, and it got a front page Slashdot mention! Doing the same for Vendetta (2.0?) may give Guild some serious press and bring new players to the game. Given the "you pay to play on our servers" MMO nature of the game, I'd imagine that there wouldn't be much loss of finance from opening the source and if you were especially worried, you could keep the art assets proprietary (Though, it would be cool if you could release those as well, say 6 months after the code if all goes well) It would also likely give you some devs willing to write code to better the game, which you could then decide to merge into the main branch or not. Other niche MMOs seem to benefit from going open source,
There's a BIG shift between the Ubuntu and Debian business mindsets. After all, Installing Ubuntu 10.04 comes with a bundled music store integrated into the media player, and Ubuntu One syncing has a payware premium mode. Of course, restricted-extras like the Binary graphics card drivers from Nvidia/ATI are available. Ubuntu is not a gNewSense or anything and they're happy to provide user experience even if not every single thing is open source, although its best if most can be. Having AAA software Linux native is important in and of itself.
Just out of curiosity though, would you consider opening Vendetta's source? Maybe you've heard of the Humble Indie Bundle (read about Wolfire games, and their blog. Its cool stuff)? Because there was such an overwhelming positive response,Lugaru, Gish, Aquaria and even Penumbra opened their sources, some including their artistic assets under creative commons, others not. Recently the for-pay MMO "Ryzom" opened its source and (I think) assets as well, and it got a front page Slashdot mention! Doing the same for Vendetta (2.0?) may give Guild some serious press and bring new players to the game. Given the "you pay to play on our servers" MMO nature of the game, I'd imagine that there wouldn't be much loss of finance from opening the source and if you were especially worried, you could keep the art assets proprietary (Though, it would be cool if you could release those as well, say 6 months after the code if all goes well) It would also likely give you some devs willing to write code to better the game, which you could then decide to merge into the main branch or not. Other niche MMOs seem to benefit from going open source,
they arent going to OSS, they cant sell a free engine to people
I got some info from a buddy of mine who works on ubuntu, I e-mailed it to you, there is an e-mail contact with it
Open-sourcing might be good for a little brief press, but I'm not sure that it would be good for the game. There's a good chance it would open up some exploits, and we'd be spending a lot of time on security stuff instead of improving gameplay. Plus, we've managed to get front-page slashdot mentions without that :).
But like Spence said, we are trying to offer the engine as a product. We were pretty close to having a funded licensee awhile back, and I'd rather not rule out any forms of income, even being as open-source oriented as I am.
Nevrax (Ryzom) has been continually flirting with implosion for many years. If we get to the point where we're "done", I'd be inclined to open-source everything too.
[EDIT] Thanks Spence, very cool.
But like Spence said, we are trying to offer the engine as a product. We were pretty close to having a funded licensee awhile back, and I'd rather not rule out any forms of income, even being as open-source oriented as I am.
Nevrax (Ryzom) has been continually flirting with implosion for many years. If we get to the point where we're "done", I'd be inclined to open-source everything too.
[EDIT] Thanks Spence, very cool.