Any reason for ignoring Linux tools?

  1. Cocos Code IDE : eclipse based but no binary for linux (can be provided as plugin zip)
  2. CocoStudio : developed on mono(coco studio for mac) but no binary for linux
  3. fbv-conv : cross platform (i compiled for linux but at runtime segfault error)

Above tools are just required to compile for linux builds only.

Any particular reason for ignoring linux tools ?

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I don’t know the reason except that perhaps its the market share of Linux games? I may be off base, but it seems that Mobile is #1, I’d venture that Windows desktop games are #2 and everything else something after #2.

This is not about the Desktop Games, but development tools. My question is even though we have cross platform code(Code IDE on java, CocoStudio for mac on Mono , and fbv-conv in c/c++); why they are not building the binaries for linux.

I also wonder why open-source game engine tools avoid supporting of open-source platform - Linux.

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Yeah, I really think it has to do with developer market share. I’m not current on the state of games for Linux, however.

May the developers are more familiar with Windows and the asian keymaps and fonts are best supported on Windows. Can be a pain to get that running smooth on *NIX and GNU/Linux.
IIRC the bulk part of the developers are not as firm in English as they are in their native language. Hence the tons of asian language tutorials and docs.

I wished they had implemented the tools in Qt. Platform independent as it can get.
They said, they might open source the tools in the future, so they could be re implemented in Qt.

Or should they get implemented from scratch right now?

  1. Cocos Code IDE: Eclipse is written in java, so it may be not so difficult to get it running on another platform
  2. CocoStudio: Mono is also available on other platforms, so it may be not so difficult to get it running on another platform
  3. fbv-conv: Start up the debuggers :wink:

Na, I don’t think it has to do with developer market share.
iOS and OS X is based on FreeBSD 4.4
Android is based on Debian.

So those platforms represent a huge market share :wink:

It’s just even more surpising, that most developers are developing on Windows.

Windows makes sense though. Easily pirated and once pirated you can run whatever. Windows has popular apps and is also the foundation for console development in a lot of ways. I bet a lot of developers start out dreaming they can write a console game

Windows makes sense for easily pirating? How is “pirating and run whatever” any different to *NIX/GNU Linux?

Yeah, Windows has some popular apps. E.g. Adobe Photoshop. But there is always an alternative. In the PS case it’s GIMP. For 3D stuff it’s blender.

Well, the foundation for console development is still *NIX/GNU Linux. At least it was. They moved to Windows cause of the “developer share”. But the OS is also FreeBSD.
A console game is not different to a PC game. Especially XBONE/PS4 are just PCs.

Its different because of the market share of the OS and the popular tools it has. I think users that want to not pay for software and aren’t overly technical choose to pirate Windows and then also pirate the other software they want (Creative Suite, Office, whatever else). I don’t think people suddenly say “Hey, I don’t want to pay for an OS and software, let me tolerate the learning curve and learn Linux and the free alternatives to the software I really want”. It’s just easier to pirate for them. Technical and/or/ more geeky folks might choose Linux, etc.

For me, I choose OS X and choose to buy the hardware I must have to run it. I can’t just go buy an old laptop and I accept that. I pay more but I really do have a lot less trouble with OS issues, software issues, etc. I also have access to some of the mainstream software I have come to rely on.

The foundation of console development is not Linux. All major consoles must have Windows. You cannot develop for WiiU or Xbox or PS4 without it. Now deployment is something different. Deploying to the console is strangely different.

A console game is totally different from a PC game. Well, a large chunk of it is. Is is really possible to write a game for Xbox or PS4 that only runs on that single platform and won’t run on PC or any other platform. The reverse is true too. I hear console developers complaining all the time that they just have to focus on making something work on, say Xbox and worry about going back and making it work on PC later. I also think that console developers expect this though. Where as mobile developers don’t. A developer of mobile apps expects for the most part things to be cross-platform without a lot of work to get there.

I know we are digressing in the original topic, but lets keep going. Seems to be useful.

Lets take Steam for example. Linux for sure (I think debian, I don’t recall). Steam is doing things really different. They are making tools so that you can use whatever OS you want to develop and target that Steam store. You can make a Steam game that only runs on OS X or only Windows or all. Game players can run whatever OS they want and still play these games if the developer has made a version for it. More and more Steam developers seem to be doing this.

Yes, that’s right. I thought “run whatever” was regarding copy protections.

I’m using FreeBSD and Slackware and just using Windows if I am forced to. At least it works very well in a VM.

You don’t need Windows for developing on PS3/PS4 but you have the option to do so, cause it does not run Windows but *NIX.
The choice is yours. Using VS and the VC compiler or gcc/clang. Hence it has to generate elf files anyway.
Using Windows tools or not. It’s just cross compiling.

IF you want, you can, but most developers don’t and that is the reason they support Windows tools.
Deploying depends on the tools, but this comes with the burden, trying to assault a 'NIX development environment/development target, just to make it palatable for Windows users/developers.

This depends on the engine you are using. Using out of the box crossplatform engine like UE, cryengine, Unity; not a big deal. "Write once, deploy anywhere” principle.

It just boils down to the feature set you want to use. Writing platform specific code? Using special CPU/GPU features? Yes, then a console game is not a PC game.

They even run Mono on consoles.

Yeah, but mostly related to different features. Unified GDDR5 on PS4, eDRAM on XBONE, but cross platform code runs everywhere. Hence the name, right? :smile:

Well, every developers expects to code one game instead of multiple versions. But consoles are a battlefield regarding “marketing” and user base. Companies pay big money for getting a better “experience” on their products. So it maybe is in the favor of the developer to risk going non cross platform for squeezing out a better game on platform X and cash in some money.

Amazon is trying to do this as well for their Kindle products…

Yeah :smile: way OT, but the thread is in “Off Topic” anyway.

Yeah, their distribution is based on debian. Well, different than Microsoft and SONY, but google, Amazon and plenty of others are doing the same. They provide tools, regardless of OS or deployment.

But this is up to the developer, like on Steam. If the game only runs on Windows, does not mean that a OS X version is more than a recompile, It depends on the tools and platform specific features.
E.g. Scoreloop. It was/is multi platform and they are dropping it at the end of the year in favor of BB.

Console games are mostly bound to licensing. Nothing prevents Epic Games from releasing their console games on PC except the licensing deal and I guess it would just be a recompile for the PC platform, as their engine is multi platform.

More and more developers are doing this, cause it just makes sense, right? Why should someone block out gamers, just for the sake of not having that OS(assuming they could do a version for that OS easily).

@iQD I am using Ubuntu since 2007 without Windows(no dual boot, before that dual boot Windows with Redhat) without any problems.

I use telugu in my system without any problem (and i start using it before windows started officially supported)

and seems to be the question understood in different way, The three tools are developed in cross platform code; no need to rewrite just need to compile
Cocos Code IDE, CocoStudio for Mac( not confuse with CocoStudio for Windows) sources are not available (may be some one know the links). fbv-conv: forked from https://github.com/libgdx/fbx-conv but it is giving runtime exception on linux, May be need compiler instructions. (Yes; I successfully compiled on my Ubuntu)

Things were a little different back in 1997 when I switched, but I have to admit, that I never had to use one of those special languages/keymaps. I just remember, that many users were complaining about missing support of them(like those Kanjis), which were very well supported on Windows.

Yes, you are right regarding the recompilation. They don’t release the source code any time soon.

CocoStudio for Mac is written in Mono?
If so, this is the thing. They are/were writing the same tool twice, kind of.

What about the precompiled binaries of fbv-conv? Do you also get a SEGFAULT?
May I look into it if I have time.

Not checked till now. I will check n update