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I haven't seen ANY Unity devs commit to making native linux ports rather than just using Unity. Until SteamOS can make it as simple as Unity, it's going to be

by skrowl 13y ago

I haven't seen ANY Unity devs commit to making native linux ports rather than just using Unity. Until SteamOS can make it as simple as Unity, it's going to be a tough sell to anyone who is already using Unity.

wlesieutre 13y ago
I'm not sure what you're getting at with Unity devs not committing to Linux ports except using Unity. They're Unity devs, of course that's how they do their Linux versions. It's also how they do their Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and console versions. If you mean devs in general, then sure. People writing their own engines aren't necessarily supporting Linux. But games in Unreal Engine, Unity, and CryEngine are a huge chunk of the market, and all three now play nice with Linux.
lucian1900 13y ago
Unity produces native Linux games. What are you on about?
ChrisClark 13y ago
Why would I rewrite my game from scratch if I was using Unity? I just compile it to a native Linux binary, tada! Native Linux support. I think you might be misunderstanding what Unity is. Unity doesn't take some game and wrap it like Wine. Unity is a full game engine like UDK or Crysis. It compiles to Native Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, XBOX, Playstation, Wii, and many more I can't think of right now. Nothing is a wrapper or emulated/simulated/whatever-ulated. It's all compiled natively for each platform.
Crito 13y ago
I don't know what "native linux ports" is exactly, but Kerbal Space Program uses Unity and has a very nice Linux build. It even has an x86_64 build, which isn't available for Windows or Mac.
- eropple 13y ago
  I was surprised to read that Unity emitted i386 assemblies on MacOS, but so it does. Odd.
  - nknighthb 13y ago
    Not anymore, 4.2 added 64-bit support on OS X in September. The difference was probably hysterical reasons. OS X was their first platform and it was released in 2005. I'm guessing the code supporting Macs was exactly what you'd expect for a first iteration.
    - eropple 13y ago
      KSP is still i386. I checked before posting. Unity has a lot of old stuff lying around (they only very recently dropped DirectX7), so I'm not really shocked, but I was surprised it was still i386 because the upgrade should (well, okay, "should") be pretty trivial and i386 Macs have been out of support for a while.
      - Crito 13y ago
        My understanding is that the KSP devs have experienced instability and bugs with the x64 builds for Windows/OSX which they attribute to Unity. In my experience (a few months out of date now) the x64 builds for Linux are not terribly stable, but perhaps the devs think they are more stable, or think that linux users are better equipped to deal with questionable stability and released that version despite the stability issues.
JelteF 13y ago
The only thing that sucks is that they don't have a Linux webplayer. You can just compile to native Linux though.
- lucian1900 13y ago
  I have on occasion missed having one. However, it's a pretty bad plugin, so it's no great loss. I think they may also be deprecating it.
  - JelteF 13y ago
    I liked the plugin for in browser demo's of a game and I doubt they're deprecating it. A lot of Unity games are browser games.
jjoonathan 13y ago
For those about to jump on the downvote bandwagon, I think the argument here was poorly phrased but might actually makes sense: > [Despite the fact that Unity supports building native linux binaries] I haven't seen ANY Unity devs commit to making native linux ports rather than just using Unity [to build binaries for the usual platforms]. Until SteamOS can make it as simple [to build native linux binaries] as Unity [already does], it's going to be a tough sell to [, at the very least,] anyone who is already using Unity [and doesn't build linux binaries, since this sizable population has already been given the choice to "check a box and build for linux" and declined].
- DrStalker 13y ago
  Assuming that is the argument my counter argument would be that making a Linux version involves more than a checkbox; you now have extra platforms you need to test on and extra complexity in supporting your game in return for very little benefit. If there are issues on the new platform you then need dev time to address them; Unity might support multiple platforms but that doesn't guarantee your code will 100% work everywhere. If steambox provides a known Linux environment with users wanting games it becomes a much better proposition to make a Linux version, even if official support is only for Steam Linux and not Linux in general.
  - jjoonathan 13y ago
    > my counter argument would be that making a Linux version involves more than a checkbox; you now have extra platforms you need to test on and extra complexity in supporting your game in return for very little benefit. I don't think that's a counterargument, I think you're agreeing with what he said ;) > If steambox provides a known Linux environment with users wanting games it becomes a much better proposition to make a Linux version That is a counterargument. I tend to agree. I hope you're right!
drawkbox 13y ago
There hasn't been a large reason to until SteamOS. SteamOS is the best thing to happen to linux since Mac OSX/iPhone surge. Lots of people export to Mac which is unix.

by skrowl 13y ago

wlesieutre 13y ago

I'm not sure what you're getting at with Unity devs not committing to Linux ports except using Unity. They're Unity devs, of course that's how they do their Linux versions. It's also how they do their Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and console versions. If you mean devs in general, then sure. People writing their own engines aren't necessarily supporting Linux. But games in Unreal Engine, Unity, and CryEngine are a huge chunk of the market, and all three now play nice with Linux.

lucian1900 13y ago

Unity produces native Linux games. What are you on about?

ChrisClark 13y ago

Why would I rewrite my game from scratch if I was using Unity? I just compile it to a native Linux binary, tada! Native Linux support. I think you might be misunderstanding what Unity is. Unity doesn't take some game and wrap it like Wine. Unity is a full game engine like UDK or Crysis. It compiles to Native Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, XBOX, Playstation, Wii, and many more I can't think of right now. Nothing is a wrapper or emulated/simulated/whatever-ulated. It's all compiled natively for each platform.

Crito 13y ago

I don't know what "native linux ports" is exactly, but Kerbal Space Program uses Unity and has a very nice Linux build. It even has an x86_64 build, which isn't available for Windows or Mac.

eropple 13y ago
I was surprised to read that Unity emitted i386 assemblies on MacOS, but so it does. Odd.
- nknighthb 13y ago
  Not anymore, 4.2 added 64-bit support on OS X in September. The difference was probably hysterical reasons. OS X was their first platform and it was released in 2005. I'm guessing the code supporting Macs was exactly what you'd expect for a first iteration.
  - eropple 13y ago
    KSP is still i386. I checked before posting. Unity has a lot of old stuff lying around (they only very recently dropped DirectX7), so I'm not really shocked, but I was surprised it was still i386 because the upgrade should (well, okay, "should") be pretty trivial and i386 Macs have been out of support for a while.
    - Crito 13y ago
      My understanding is that the KSP devs have experienced instability and bugs with the x64 builds for Windows/OSX which they attribute to Unity. In my experience (a few months out of date now) the x64 builds for Linux are not terribly stable, but perhaps the devs think they are more stable, or think that linux users are better equipped to deal with questionable stability and released that version despite the stability issues.

JelteF 13y ago

The only thing that sucks is that they don't have a Linux webplayer. You can just compile to native Linux though.

lucian1900 13y ago
I have on occasion missed having one. However, it's a pretty bad plugin, so it's no great loss. I think they may also be deprecating it.
- JelteF 13y ago
  I liked the plugin for in browser demo's of a game and I doubt they're deprecating it. A lot of Unity games are browser games.

jjoonathan 13y ago

For those about to jump on the downvote bandwagon, I think the argument here was poorly phrased but might actually makes sense: > [Despite the fact that Unity supports building native linux binaries] I haven't seen ANY Unity devs commit to making native linux ports rather than just using Unity [to build binaries for the usual platforms]. Until SteamOS can make it as simple [to build native linux binaries] as Unity [already does], it's going to be a tough sell to [, at the very least,] anyone who is already using Unity [and doesn't build linux binaries, since this sizable population has already been given the choice to "check a box and build for linux" and declined].

DrStalker 13y ago
Assuming that is the argument my counter argument would be that making a Linux version involves more than a checkbox; you now have extra platforms you need to test on and extra complexity in supporting your game in return for very little benefit. If there are issues on the new platform you then need dev time to address them; Unity might support multiple platforms but that doesn't guarantee your code will 100% work everywhere. If steambox provides a known Linux environment with users wanting games it becomes a much better proposition to make a Linux version, even if official support is only for Steam Linux and not Linux in general.
- jjoonathan 13y ago
  > my counter argument would be that making a Linux version involves more than a checkbox; you now have extra platforms you need to test on and extra complexity in supporting your game in return for very little benefit. I don't think that's a counterargument, I think you're agreeing with what he said ;) > If steambox provides a known Linux environment with users wanting games it becomes a much better proposition to make a Linux version That is a counterargument. I tend to agree. I hope you're right!

drawkbox 13y ago

There hasn't been a large reason to until SteamOS. SteamOS is the best thing to happen to linux since Mac OSX/iPhone surge. Lots of people export to Mac which is unix.