It makes perfect sense to do this. You have no idea how much extra work it is to maintain a Linux-native version that works predictably across the entire range of Linux machine configurations. Factorio has one guy, raiguard (hallowed be his name), in charge of the Linux build, and he wrote a blog post about the unique challenges of supporting the Linux native build.
Proton is already known to be perfectly capable of running most games as good as or even better than Windows. Game developers can defer the issue of compatibility and focus on developing the game instead of having to implement client-side decorations for GNOME users.
You have no idea how much extra work it is to maintain a Linux-native version that works predictably across the entire range of Linux machine configurations.
Because in this day and age targeting a billion different configurations is stupid. Steam Linux Runtime exists to remedy exactly that.
Proton is already known to be perfectly capable of running most games as good as or even better than Windows.
And then an update comes along and breaks compatibility. News stories about this are frequent.
instead of having to implement client-side decorations for GNOME users.
Games usually run full screen.
SteamOS doesn’t use Gnome.
Native Linux games targeting only Steam Deck’s setup are still a better experience than Windows games under Proton aren’t integrated with Gnome either because Valve doesn’t care about Gnome.
And then an update comes along and breaks compatibility. News stories about this are frequent.
A proton update? Just use the last version.
If you mean game update, this dev is targeting proton. As in their “linux support” will take the form of making sure they don’t break anything on their end.
I meant mostly game updates because developers get lulled into the belief that “Proton just works, don’t need to test anything”. Wine and Proton developers are not a huge team either. There is no guarantee that Proton will always work. That’s even spelled out in the license. There were rare occurrences of a Proton update breaking a game. Granted, they are very rare but I had to switch to an older Proton release for a game once.
As in their “linux support” will take the form of making sure they don’t break anything on their end.
Their previous Linux support consisted of “maintaining the native build across many distros” instead of targeting only Steam Linux Runtime. Of course targeting a big number of Linux distributions is more work. Valve didn’t release SLR for the lulz. It’s a stable environment, based on Debian Stable.
Your dogwater arguments boil down to “it should support this specific configuration and fuck everyone else”. How is that different from a game being restricted to Windows? And how exactly does that solve the issue of still dedicating significant effort to support an even smaller set of devices?
(edit) Actually, don’t answer that. Your comment is proof of your remarkable ignorance on the topic and anything else you have to say is a waste of everyone’s time.
Your dogwater arguments boil down to “it should support this specific configuration and fuck everyone else”.
No, because Steam ships Steam Linux Runtime in all configurations. Everybody with some insight in that topic knows that.
How is that different from a game being restricted to Windows?
Windows is an entirely different operating system, duh. Game updates break Proton all the time, take longer to load, on installation they execute super slow installation scripts, etc. If your so knowledgeable as you claim with your condescending tone, you’d know that.
And how exactly does that solve the issue of still dedicating significant effort to support an even smaller set of devices?
Steam Deck is the market leader in PC handhelds and 3rd parties like Lenovo adopt SteamOS.
Actually, don’t answer that.
I opt to ignore that order you’re in no position to give.
Your comment is proof of your remarkable ignorance on the topic
You confirm that you have absolutely no clue about Steam Linux Runtime and how that is a more stable than an ever changing cat and mouse game of Windows updates, Proton updates, and game updates.
and anything else you have to say is a waste of everyone’s time.
Nobody forced you to reply to me. Next time, I suggest you read up on Steam Linux Runtime and Windows games braking Proton with updates.
Do you remember the days before proton? Like the time I couldn’t play Terraria for months because they didn’t have anyone in their dev team who could update the Linux version to keep it working. The workaround was to get the windows version working through wine.
Using wine to play windows games is something we have done for years before proton made it easier. It’s a very Linux thing to do. Even some old ports were just using wine wrappers.
The days before Proton are the days before Steam Linux Runtime because Proton runs on top of Steam Linux Runtime. It doesn’t run on top of the host Linux libraries.
The problem with Linux ports isn’t Linux, it’s sloppy ports. The 1.0 Scout runtime wasn’t properly containerized back in the day, so games could call host libraries. That changed with 2.0 Soldier (using Bubblewrap, the same tech used by Flatpak) but Valve made it hard to target 2.0 because game developers had to request its use from Valve. That changed with 3.0 Sniper last year.
Only the Escape Simulator developers know why they didn’t switch over from “maintaining many distributions” to requesting SteamRT 2.0 Soldier years ago.
Please don’t do this
It makes perfect sense to do this. You have no idea how much extra work it is to maintain a Linux-native version that works predictably across the entire range of Linux machine configurations. Factorio has one guy, raiguard (hallowed be his name), in charge of the Linux build, and he wrote a blog post about the unique challenges of supporting the Linux native build.
Proton is already known to be perfectly capable of running most games as good as or even better than Windows. Game developers can defer the issue of compatibility and focus on developing the game instead of having to implement client-side decorations for GNOME users.
I’m a software developer that releases for Linux. I know it’s a pain. I’m just in the camp of thinking we should fix it instead of giving up.
Because in this day and age targeting a billion different configurations is stupid. Steam Linux Runtime exists to remedy exactly that.
And then an update comes along and breaks compatibility. News stories about this are frequent.
Games usually run full screen.
SteamOS doesn’t use Gnome.
Native Linux games targeting only Steam Deck’s setup are still a better experience than Windows games under Proton aren’t integrated with Gnome either because Valve doesn’t care about Gnome.
A proton update? Just use the last version.
If you mean game update, this dev is targeting proton. As in their “linux support” will take the form of making sure they don’t break anything on their end.
I meant mostly game updates because developers get lulled into the belief that “Proton just works, don’t need to test anything”. Wine and Proton developers are not a huge team either. There is no guarantee that Proton will always work. That’s even spelled out in the license. There were rare occurrences of a Proton update breaking a game. Granted, they are very rare but I had to switch to an older Proton release for a game once.
Their previous Linux support consisted of “maintaining the native build across many distros” instead of targeting only Steam Linux Runtime. Of course targeting a big number of Linux distributions is more work. Valve didn’t release SLR for the lulz. It’s a stable environment, based on Debian Stable.
Your dogwater arguments boil down to “it should support this specific configuration and fuck everyone else”. How is that different from a game being restricted to Windows? And how exactly does that solve the issue of still dedicating significant effort to support an even smaller set of devices?
(edit) Actually, don’t answer that. Your comment is proof of your remarkable ignorance on the topic and anything else you have to say is a waste of everyone’s time.
No, because Steam ships Steam Linux Runtime in all configurations. Everybody with some insight in that topic knows that.
Windows is an entirely different operating system, duh. Game updates break Proton all the time, take longer to load, on installation they execute super slow installation scripts, etc. If your so knowledgeable as you claim with your condescending tone, you’d know that.
Steam Deck is the market leader in PC handhelds and 3rd parties like Lenovo adopt SteamOS.
I opt to ignore that order you’re in no position to give.
You confirm that you have absolutely no clue about Steam Linux Runtime and how that is a more stable than an ever changing cat and mouse game of Windows updates, Proton updates, and game updates.
Nobody forced you to reply to me. Next time, I suggest you read up on Steam Linux Runtime and Windows games braking Proton with updates.
Do you remember the days before proton? Like the time I couldn’t play Terraria for months because they didn’t have anyone in their dev team who could update the Linux version to keep it working. The workaround was to get the windows version working through wine.
Using wine to play windows games is something we have done for years before proton made it easier. It’s a very Linux thing to do. Even some old ports were just using wine wrappers.
The days before Proton are the days before Steam Linux Runtime because Proton runs on top of Steam Linux Runtime. It doesn’t run on top of the host Linux libraries.
The problem with Linux ports isn’t Linux, it’s sloppy ports. The 1.0 Scout runtime wasn’t properly containerized back in the day, so games could call host libraries. That changed with 2.0 Soldier (using Bubblewrap, the same tech used by Flatpak) but Valve made it hard to target 2.0 because game developers had to request its use from Valve. That changed with 3.0 Sniper last year.
Only the Escape Simulator developers know why they didn’t switch over from “maintaining many distributions” to requesting SteamRT 2.0 Soldier years ago.
Do you like the half-maintained and rarely updated Linux builds more? I sure don’t.
Why?