Comment by jabroni_salad

Comment by jabroni_salad 2 days ago

So to me the things I want from a game launcher are pretty simple:

- Download and all the gamefiles that I am entitled to, and keep them updated.

- Show me a pretty interface to launch games from, including recent news and patch notes about that game's updates.

- Keep track of my save files, synchronize them to other devices, and make sure they never get lost.

- (linux) have some kind of per-game startup command manager because even a platinum rated proton game might need a --force-grab-cursor or something.

bsimpson 2 days ago

If native software was routinely available, launchers might not feel necessary.

But I sure as hell don't want to invest howevermany weekend days figuring out how to make games from other platforms as easy to play as Steam games on SteamOS.

I imagine this is that - give me "download" and "play" buttons that let me run GOG games on Linux, even if the binaries were authored for Windows.

Cloud saves and achievements and all that are nice (and expected from something like GOG), but even just a normal launcher feels essential on Linux.

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RunSet 2 days ago

> If native software was routinely available, launchers might not feel necessary.
> But I sure as hell don't want to invest howevermany weekend days figuring out how to make games from other platforms as easy to play as Steam games on SteamOS.
For games that are licensed under terms that allow it, Debian's Game Data Packager has already automated that work. And- as your comment suggests- a native port is much better than running on a wine shim, which will always be second-rate.
https://wiki.debian.org/Games/GameDataPackager
List of games supported by Game Data Packager:
https://game-data-packager.debian.net/available.html

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- bsimpson 2 days ago
  
  That link is hard to follow.
  Does that effectively replace the .exe parts of a Proton game with an equivalent Linux engine, while letting Steam et. al. manage the artwork/levels/etc?
  
  Reply View | 1 reply
  
  RunSet a day ago
  
  No, it packages open source game data (which can't be distributed because it is copyrighted) so that it can be installed and will work with the games that already have debian packages.
  So in the case of quake (for example) it makes a .deb file, which when installed will create the directory structure in the correct place and put the .pak files, config files, etc. where debian's quake engine package(s)[0] will look for them. This .deb file for the quake game data won't do anything on its own. You need to also install a quake engine, which debian includes.
  You can create the game data packages from the installation CD, from a working install directory, or from a Good Old Games installer.
  [0] https://packages.debian.org/stable/games/quake
  
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