Linux support Thread - Hairy Tales

Hi,

I've received several questions about Linux support. We could release Hairy Tales on Linux, but doing so has a high cost for us, so I'm wondering what sort of interest is there on Linux as a platform for the game. If you're interested in Linux support, please fill in the poll below, pass it around to any other players who you think would be interested in commenting and do feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts you have.

Here's the game's trailer, in case you haven't seen it:

Hairy Tales - Release trailer! - Desura

Cheers!

Edited by: Arges

Voted yes! Though (not to be a downer or anything), you've essentially added it up and found that you'd need on the order of 800-1000 "yes" votes to be able to afford all the license upgrades (which do nothing at all for you other than bringing Linux support), correct?

Ok, community... call a few hundred of your friends!

Hi s_d, thanks for stopping by!

Indeed, we'd need about 900 sales from Linux to at least cover the engine upgrade costs to support Linux, so it's pretty important for us to see exactly how much interest there is from Linux users outside of Steam. I'm very curious on what the community has to say!

I voted "I'd definitely buy it if was on Linux in Desura or Ubuntu Software Center", but in reality both Desura and Steam are fine for me, while USC is not.
Even though I use *ubuntu, I don't like it being required to buy games. (and I prefer being able to install closed-source programs and/or games as a normal user. )
(That said, to sell as much as possible, it's probably still in your interest to publish there anyway if you can.)

Other options:
-sell directly from your website
-Indievania
-Gameolith

Edited by: KIAaze

Hi KlAaze,

Thanks for the extra details. You're right about the Ubuntu store - it seems to be easy to deploy to, so there's no good reason not to, but it wouldn't be the only place I'd aim to get it into. Mostly I wanted to judge if there was interest outside of Steam, and those were the two major ones I could think of.

Is Indievania still alive? The last I'd read about it was this: Indiestatik.com

I would buy either Steam, Desura, Gameolith or Indievania but not USC i don't like being locked to a platform.

Voted !
I never heard of this game, but this is exactly the kind of games my wife likes... and given the trailer, it looks:
- graphism is great
- arts are awesome !
- music is just fitting so well
- concept is cool

Sell it on steam, I'll buy it !

guepe wrote: Voted !
I never heard of this game, but this is exactly the kind of games my wife likes... and given the trailer, it looks:
- graphism is great
- arts are awesome !
- music is just fitting so well
- concept is cool

Sell it on steam, I'll buy it !

Thanks for the kind words! How about buying outside of Steam? I'm afraid getting a non-core game through Greenlight is less than trivial - even Incredipede had a difficult time pulling it off. You can help by voting our our Greenlight page, but of course I can't make any guarantees about it being on Steam (if only!)

Looks nice! Go for the linux port!

I find the poll a bit strange. "I'd definitely buy it if was on Linux in Desura or Ubuntu Software Center"
Desura is ok and runs on any linux but Ubuntu Software Center whats up with that?
They shouldn't be in the same alternative, i might buy it on Desura but never Ubuntu Software Center since i don't use Ubuntu.

Arges wrote: Is Indievania still alive? The last I'd read about it was this: Indiestatik.com

Interesting question... while there are folks stuck in moderation posting their games, there is also this, on the Indievania official twitter, suggesting that new games are being posted to it continuously. Also, the lack of developer backlash suggests that they're getting paid for their games. Seems to me that this is what happens on the opposite end of the spectrum from Steam/USC/Desura (where there is a distributor cut). A near-zero distributor cut means no funds to hire community managers and release managers. Without those roles, we don't have promotions to drive sales and create exposure, and we don't have timely approvals for new builds and new games.

guepe wrote: Sell it on steam, I'll buy it !

They need thirty thousand Greenlight votes to be able to sell on Steam. We still need to build-up the Desura community for all the games in the world that can gather a fan-base of thousands, but not necessarily many tens of thousands.

Please tell everybody this! It's a common misconception that indie developers choose to ignore Steam for whatever reason... and it's nearly always a wrong. I've only met ONE indie dev who refused to distribute a game on Steam, and that was because he built his game for XBLIG and couldn't justify the time porting it to PC just for Steam submission (he was making no money on the XBLIG release, without some work it would have required a gamepad configured exactly like an Xbox 360 controller, and he felt his time would be much better spent on a brand new game instead). That is an extremely rare scenario, I think.

åäö123 wrote: I find the poll a bit strange. "I'd definitely buy it if was on Linux in Desura or Ubuntu Software Center"
Desura is ok and runs on any linux but Ubuntu Software Center whats up with that?
They shouldn't be in the same alternative, i might buy it on Desura but never Ubuntu Software Center since i don't use Ubuntu.

Thanks, I've rephrased it slightly to make it clear that I mean "buying it outside of Steam".

voted yes this game really my type and i would like to have it on desura its really nice

Hi everyone,

Quick note to let you know that we have decided to support Linux, and will be entering a beta testing stage soon. I'll keep you posted on a planned release date.

Cheers!

Great, thanks Arges!

Wow, it's out! I'm a little confused though... I was under the impression that you (Arges) needed some assurance that nearly one-thousand Linux copies would sell, and assuming the poll results translate directly into sales, this is not enough (perhaps one-fourth of the necessary sales).

I'm not, of course, complaining about being able to play a cool new puzzler, but I am concerned if you having a bad experience with investing in Linux and then write about it (when it was uncertain if you'd find enough support) that it could damage the community. It is not that I want to suppress reality or paint an unrealistic picture, it's simply that I would much rather that my favourite platform see a nice string of resounding successes, where both devs and gamers walk away happy (this is better for everyone). It would make me sad to see promising new development on Linux if it cannot be sustained.

I hope that you either found a nice way to gain other benefits from the upgrade that, or that you will see enough of a positive response from the community to can justify your decision? Was BB10 also included in the upgrade? If that was the case, then it would have distributed the cost between the two platforms, which would be a most excellent result.

Cheers!

Hi!

s_d wrote: Wow, it's out! I'm a little confused though... I was under the impression that you (Arges) needed some assurance that nearly one-thousand Linux copies would sell, and assuming the poll results translate directly into sales, this is not enough (perhaps one-fourth of the necessary sales).

Yes, I wanted a degree of reassurance, but frankly other than making pre-orders or a Kickstarter I wasn't going to get anything 100% reliable - there's a difference between a vote and a sale - so I decided to give it a shot. Getting the game out there was the only way to really see if the community would actually stand behind its expressed interest.

s_d wrote:
I'm not, of course, complaining about being able to play a cool new puzzler, but I am concerned if you having a bad experience with investing in Linux and then write about it (when it was uncertain if you'd find enough support) that it could damage the community. It is not that I want to suppress reality or paint an unrealistic picture, it's simply that I would much rather that my favourite platform see a nice string of resounding successes, where both devs and gamers walk away happy (this is better for everyone). It would make me sad to see promising new development on Linux if it cannot be sustained.

We'll see, I guess. I'm not expecting Linux will make us rich, but I'm curious on if it'll even recoup the upgrade costs. Go out and spread the word! :-)

s_d wrote:
I hope that you either found a nice way to gain other benefits from the upgrade that, or that you will see enough of a positive response from the community to can justify your decision? Was BB10 also included in the upgrade? If that was the case, then it would have distributed the cost between the two platforms, which would be a most excellent result.

No, it was a separate arrangement. BB10 was much lower cost to dip my toe into. Long term I could theoretically get other benefits from the Unity 4 upgrade... but right now publishing to Linux was the major factor.

Cheers!

Edited by: Arges

Thank you for the detailed response! Thank you for taking the chance, and I wish you the best of luck

s_d wrote: Thank you for the detailed response! Thank you for taking the chance, and I wish you the best of luck

Thanks for the best wishes, and my pleasure - one of the advantages of us being independent is that I can be rather forthcoming about why we do things and what the results are.