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Which would you see as more probable? 1) The ease of quality emulation leads to developers ceasing native linux support, resulting in lower quality linux gamin

Which would you see as more probable? 1) The ease of quality emulation leads to developers ceasing native linux support, resulting in lower quality linux gaming overall. 2) The ease of quality emulation leads more gamers to be willing to migrate to linux as their primary OS, thus helping linux come closer to being a first class deployment target, resulting in higher quality linux gaming overall. Of course this isn't a dichotomy, but rather I think it's often unwise to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when you're looking at hypotheticals.

zaarn 8y ago
I think point 2 should be swapped for "ease of quality emulation means developers are willing to support linux through the emulation layer and can do so at reduced cost compared to porting"
- jplayer01 8y ago
  He's right though. Linux gaming is a chicken and egg problem. Without enough users, the financial argument for making a Linux port is very weak. Without enough games, gamers will stay on Windows. At least if there's a reliable shim, the Linux gaming community might grow and become more relevant, fostering competition amongst game developers and hopefully incentivizing them to eventually doing native ports.
  - zaarn 8y ago
    The most ironic fate would be if Wine would eventually morph into a Linux gaming framework that everyone uses. Though I would consider this unlikely.
    - cbhl 8y ago
      For new code, don't Unity and the like already fulfill this role?
sandworm101 8y ago
I'd rather see Microsoft and/or Valve shoot themselves in the foot, which they have come close to a couple times. As they took more control over what software is allowed to run on windows machines (or within steam's launcher) there was talk of content moderation, of limiting the most violent/adult games. Had that happened, linux could have been the place for 'adult' games. It might still happen. MS could take action against ROM emulators, bittorrent, client-side encryption, or any other form of software that would send the masses running to linux. Prison Architect ran into this. It shows gang violence, drug use and executions, all of which are red flags for those who rate media. Funny story: Prison Architect actually received a notice that it was in violation of the Geneva convention. Papers Please, an indi great, might also have been shunned had Valve/MS adopted MPAA-like content moderation.
Cogito 8y ago
I think what we see more and more of is a focus on development frameworks that can target multiple platforms. This already happening with frameworks like Unity. As the plethora of capable devices increases, especially in the non-traditional gaming platforms like mobile and VR, the ability to support any device is going to be demanded by developers and will continue to improve. The line between compiling for native and compiling for an emulation layer will shrink until there isn't really a difference. That's the only way for game developers to be able to keep up with new devices being released every other week. The other benefit is keeping old catalogues around and playable into the far future, as long as we can keep beating DRM or always online mechanisms!

zaarn 8y ago

I think point 2 should be swapped for "ease of quality emulation means developers are willing to support linux through the emulation layer and can do so at reduced cost compared to porting"

jplayer01 8y ago
He's right though. Linux gaming is a chicken and egg problem. Without enough users, the financial argument for making a Linux port is very weak. Without enough games, gamers will stay on Windows. At least if there's a reliable shim, the Linux gaming community might grow and become more relevant, fostering competition amongst game developers and hopefully incentivizing them to eventually doing native ports.
- zaarn 8y ago
  The most ironic fate would be if Wine would eventually morph into a Linux gaming framework that everyone uses. Though I would consider this unlikely.
  - cbhl 8y ago
    For new code, don't Unity and the like already fulfill this role?

sandworm101 8y ago

I'd rather see Microsoft and/or Valve shoot themselves in the foot, which they have come close to a couple times. As they took more control over what software is allowed to run on windows machines (or within steam's launcher) there was talk of content moderation, of limiting the most violent/adult games. Had that happened, linux could have been the place for 'adult' games. It might still happen. MS could take action against ROM emulators, bittorrent, client-side encryption, or any other form of software that would send the masses running to linux. Prison Architect ran into this. It shows gang violence, drug use and executions, all of which are red flags for those who rate media. Funny story: Prison Architect actually received a notice that it was in violation of the Geneva convention. Papers Please, an indi great, might also have been shunned had Valve/MS adopted MPAA-like content moderation.

Cogito 8y ago

I think what we see more and more of is a focus on development frameworks that can target multiple platforms. This already happening with frameworks like Unity. As the plethora of capable devices increases, especially in the non-traditional gaming platforms like mobile and VR, the ability to support any device is going to be demanded by developers and will continue to improve. The line between compiling for native and compiling for an emulation layer will shrink until there isn't really a difference. That's the only way for game developers to be able to keep up with new devices being released every other week. The other benefit is keeping old catalogues around and playable into the far future, as long as we can keep beating DRM or always online mechanisms!