quote: Original post by magnwa
I look at SDL and at the games loki''s made. I cannot imagine how people can sit there and say "Linux isn''t good for games." Linux is an OS. Windows is an OS. I can take Loki''s code and compile it against SDL on windows. (Almost from scratch.. I would imagine SOME things would need to be done.) Likewise, I can take a game I am developing in SDL and compile it on windows.

Cross platform compatibility will dictate whether games will be or won''t be made for linux. I plan on coding with SDL. My games will work on Linux. They will also work on windows.

To me, that means there is no such thing as an OS gap for my games. Discussing whether the OS will live or die on the desktop is pointless to me. It is a good OS, and it can be made to do whatever developers wish. No, it''s not the best in the world. No, I don''t think it will ever beat Windows. But it is a viable option, and coding for it CAN be done.


Magnwa

Sure Linux is an OS, Windows is an OS and there are many more OS''s out there. You are selling games to the public - if your intentions are to make profit better to have the game on Windows as the market is huge there.

Now why don''t we see everyone running around coding a game on BEOS just coz SDL runs on it ?

You miss my point, flame.

My point is, that I can code a game on Linux, compile and release it on windows, Beos, and Linux and PSX2). I could develop the game on BEOS and compile and release it on Windows, Beos, and Linux. (And PSX2). That''s the point. It''s what Cross Platform development means. It means that it doesn''t matter what OS I develop on, so long as I can target for others. It means that if I do an RPG using SDL, that I can change ONE line and make my program work on windows. Or Beos. Or Playstation 2.

So long as SDL is a viable option to code on, and people are willing to release their code under an open source license, it is hard to say we will not have games in Linux.

Now.. the TRUE issue is whether or not we''ll have commercial, big time games, or whether the linux game developers feel like stepping up and polishing their games to a better quality level.


Magnwa

quote: Original post by magnwa
Now.. the TRUE issue is whether or not we''ll have commercial, big time games, or whether the linux game developers feel like stepping up and polishing their games to a better quality level.

That''s one issue. The other is the tradeoff that has to be made between graphic quality (for example) and platform independence. Not all platforms support the same types of effects - even when all running the same hardware (Linux, Windows and BeOS PCs with cards other than Nvidias, for example, support different hardware functions as a result of the available drivers). Another is whether Open Source game developers have/will have the access to the sort of equipment and software necessary to produce games of commercial-class shine (not gameplay - shine): models, textures, music, sound effects, speech...

The most profound issue viz-a-viz commercial games on Linux is whether Linux users will buy them (and the evidence so far says "no"), and until they do - until Linux sales can stop companies like Loki from going bankrupt (did they file for Chapter 11?) - Linux will not be the recipient of commercial, officially-supported games. We may receive binaries as a philanthrophic gesture (Carmack & id), but nothing more.