Overgrowth linux alpha status

Anything related to Wolfire Games and/or its products
Post Reply
Gnurfos
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:01 pm

Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Gnurfos » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:05 pm

Hello,

I'd like to preorder but it seems the linux alpha is not available yet.
The most recent news I could find was devs were waiting for library "awesomium" to be ported, but that was beginning on 2011 and this was supposed to happen "soon".

What are the recent news ? Can we reasonably expect to enjoy the linux version soon ? if awesomium is not available yet, is it easy to do a stripped version that does not need it ?

Thanks

User avatar
Endoperez
Posts: 5668
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:41 am
Location: cold and dark and lovely Finland

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Endoperez » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:17 pm

Awesomium is available now. Now they (that is, the Wolfire team) a're waiting for an outsider, Ryan Gordon, to have time to port Overgrowth. He specializes in Linux ports. I have no idea when he has time, or how long the porting will take.

User avatar
Count Roland
Posts: 2937
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:15 pm
Location: Galapagos Islands, rodeoin some turtles.
Contact:

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Count Roland » Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:36 pm

I think he's been busy porting HIB3 to linux, maybe there will be a linux alpha soon?

User avatar
johndh
Posts: 160
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:20 pm

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by johndh » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:17 pm

I guess we'll see. Frankly, the quality of the Linux ports for the HIB was... less than stellar. :| Maybe he'll be more focused if he only has one thing to work on, rather than a whole bundle.

Gnurfos
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:01 pm

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Gnurfos » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:56 pm

I am a bit disappointed to learn this, if it is the true story. I though that all these developers were multi-platform aware/friendly/committed (and I was happy about it), and now it appears that it's only one external guy doing all the ports.

I'm curious from a technical point of view too: what are the typical parts of code that are not portable, in games ? (I've only worked on "server" applications so portability was never really an objective for me). Is Overgrowth using a third party engine, or a home made one ?

User avatar
Endoperez
Posts: 5668
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:41 am
Location: cold and dark and lovely Finland

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Endoperez » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:02 am

Here's Ryan Gordon's guest post in the blog.

The post isn't directly about differences between Linux and non-Linux builds, but it does give some hints - graphics libraries, sound libraries etc.

Gnurfos
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:01 pm

Re: Overgrowth linux alpha status

Post by Gnurfos » Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:09 pm

I've read this, but didn't realize it was a guest post.

I have found some interesting info on the wiki, and now can better understand the reasons why the linux port is not top priority (but I still don't know the technical details about non-portability).

It's a shame that there is only this one star guy doing the ports for many games. I'd love to help myself, but I'm far from an expert (probably would not do any better than Overgrowth regular developer). Does someone know if there are some open source games that kind of need a linux port ? This could provide some training material.

Post Reply