FD have their in house engine COBRA ported to iOS, as they have released few games on this platform. What I have heard they will use it as starting point for OS X port, increasing caps along the way.
FD have their in house engine COBRA ported to iOS, as they have released few games on this platform. What I have heard they will use it as starting point for OS X port, increasing caps along the way.
stretch goal linux
If it increases chances of getting ED to run on my best computer, which has Linux, I'll throw in a bit more. I don't want to be crippled down to Windows-in-a-VM just to access my favourite game.
I'd go further though. How many remember how much better the framerate, visual detail and network latency were for Doom by comparison to the games of that time for Windows 3.1 on a 66MHz 486 with 4MB of RAM? I'd suggest an extra stretch goal specified by talking with canonical or debian about the cost and expected effectiveness of condensing a special Elite Linux operating system flavour which does one thing well, which is to run Elite and its various components. Coz that's what I'll boot into, if it is available. More or less, it is elimination of all os features not used nor planned to be used by the game, freeing up system resources to send meaner thargoids and slicker space graphics at us. I wonder how much it would cost to make Elite-Linux for ARM7? Even if it is black and white, so long as the frame rate and controls responsiveness are at par, I'd prefer that out of all possible linux recompiles.
If it increases chances of getting ED to run on my best computer, which has Linux, I'll throw in a bit more. I don't want to be crippled down to Windows-in-a-VM just to access my favourite game.
I'd go further though. How many remember how much better the framerate, visual detail and network latency were for Doom by comparison to the games of that time for Windows 3.1 on a 66MHz 486 with 4MB of RAM? I'd suggest an extra stretch goal specified by talking with canonical or debian about the cost and expected effectiveness of condensing a special Elite Linux operating system flavour which does one thing well, which is to run Elite and its various components. Coz that's what I'll boot into, if it is available. More or less, it is elimination of all os features not used nor planned to be used by the game, freeing up system resources to send meaner thargoids and slicker space graphics at us. I wonder how much it would cost to make Elite-Linux for ARM7? Even if it is black and white, so long as the frame rate and controls responsiveness are at par, I'd prefer that out of all possible linux recompiles.
Well, I'm not in any position to criticise their strategy but it does suggest that it would leave a lot of baggage lying around. I'm sure FD know what they're doing, though.
B
OK, I didn't know about COBRA for iOS.
However, rather than trying to develop an OS X game using an iOS game engine, I suspect Frontier will produce a version of COBRA for OS X, expanding on the iOS codebase. And if iOS COBRA was developed in Xcode, it'll be a (relatively
) painless process.*edit*
Also, getting OS X users to fund the development of COBRA for OS X by offering the OS X stretch goal is a pretty shrewd strategy. Once the game engine's in place, then all future games can be made dual platform with minimal further expense.
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Actually, according to the FD website, subsection "our technology" they have used the Cobra Engine for all their games and their engine is "cross platform". So just because the engine "does" allow to port games to iOS IMHO does not mean, that they internally take an iOS version of Elite Dangerous as a starting point to develop a OS X Version.
It's like: If you've got a unity engine game that you want to port from Windows to Linux you do not have to start by porting it to Android because Android is based on Linux and ... just because it's there.
That being said however: I'm, as almost everyone else here, not an employee at FD. So I'm also only guessing. Just writing what seems to make sense to me.
The words 'cross-platform' are promising. It suggests they're working on a linux version right now.
I need a lie down now, the shock of going from the dark coloured forums to the white frontier page is giving me a headache...
B
The words 'cross-platform' are promising. It suggests they're working on a linux version right now.
Well, it is still "(...)allowing code and resources developed on PC to be compiled and run on XBox360, PS3, iOS, Nintendo WiiU etc. (with new platforms in development)(...)" so far, but "etc." and "more to come" sounds ok. I most certainly would use a Linux version, if it were to come out.
(I've got Linux and Windows on my system, but being able to do serious work and then drop into Elite Dangerous without having to reboot .... uhm ... just MAYBE it would be better for ME if there was no Linux version. *lol*)
I need a lie down now, the shock of going from the dark coloured forums to the white frontier page is giving me a headache...
You don't even have to leave the forum for that. The User CP still is white.
(on a sidenote: Since when did the default color scheme for the forum change? I think it was white when I signed up and then there was a phase when I visited rarely.)The words 'cross-platform' are promising. It suggests they're working on a linux version right now.
I need a lie down now, the shock of going from the dark coloured forums to the white frontier page is giving me a headache...
B
User CP > Edit Options > Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Elite forum skin.
Ah, that's better...
The words 'cross-platform' are promising. It suggests they're working on a linux version right now.
I need a lie down now, the shock of going from the dark coloured forums to the white frontier page is giving me a headache...
B
They are still looking around for cross-platform developers/porters, so if anyone has experience and knowledge http://www.frontier.co.uk/jobs/vacancies/cambridge_vacancies/?artid=394&pageNum=0&blk=232
Also keep in mind we don't know if Linux port ever will appear. There are just good background for that, but still it should make sense financially for FD.
Thanks for that
Can I just stop you there, please?
You're wrong and here's why.
Frontier's kickstarter stretch goal committed the company to the production of a Mac version three months after the Windows release. I have no objection to a Linux version being produced at some time in the future but the Mac takes precedent here.
I only decided to pledge after the addition of this stretch goal. I suspect I'm not alone.
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Exactly.
As FD have said - any new versions (PS4, SteamOS/Linux) only after KS promises are delivered. That includes OS X version as stretch goal
Based on the market share of Linux on the desktop, somewhere around ~1%, from which for sure are not all gamers and from the sub set of the gamers not even all play ED I vote "no" on this.
If there is some money left over please invest it in the game, in the game world, add more ships, whatever instead of "wasting" it on Linux for a felt amount of 10 people who play on that OS. Guess OSX is a larger possible market. So from an economic point of view I would go, if at all, for OSX first.
And from my personal experience with it, if ED is released for Linux today it is likely to not work in a few month any more because some **** genius changed again something that breaks half of the systems backward compatibility.
If there is some money left over please invest it in the game, in the game world, add more ships, whatever instead of "wasting" it on Linux for a felt amount of 10 people who play on that OS. Guess OSX is a larger possible market. So from an economic point of view I would go, if at all, for OSX first.
And from my personal experience with it, if ED is released for Linux today it is likely to not work in a few month any more because some **** genius changed again something that breaks half of the systems backward compatibility.
[Citation needed]
Certainly. Here you are.
Windows: roughly 90%
Mac OSX: roughly 8%
Linux: roughly 1.5%
Check it for yourself.
It's true, that Linux marketing share for Gaming industry is around 3 - 5% (not 1.5% as you suggest). However I will claim about breaking stuff claim. APIs used by games (SDL, Mesa, Xorg) are quite ironclad, and games works for years on this platform.
Biggest hope is SteamOS - if and when it takes off, then FD have good reason to evaluate Linux port.
The steam survey seems more relevant when taking about gamers in my eyes (let's be fair, those 27% running xp won't be doing a lot of gaming):
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
Windows: 95.25%
OSX: 3.36 %
Linux: 1.26 %
Which is a way smaller difference (combined with the fact that if I'm using the Windows version of steam in Wine I'm counted as a windows user while I'm not, so the real number might be slightly higher still). Combined with the fact that if they have an OSX version a Linux version is already a lot easier to make, I don't think a Linux version is necessarily commercially unviable, and only FD can say if it is. If it isn't, so be it, and I'll have to use Windows to play, but I don't like my OS being written off simply on basis of handwavy numbers and horror stories about broken backwards compatibility and the such. At least give it some consideration, it's all I ask.
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Linux users on Steam have bought about 15% of the games during first four months of Linux support. Also lot of indie developers said that while Linux base is small, it is very supportive, and they don't have big problems with providing support. They are interested to support Linux further down the road.
That too.