SteamOS/Linux and Mac support?

[TheSelousScout]

See title

[nomand]

Hi!
So in regards to Linux and OSX, there is technically no reason we can't do those, so we definitely aren't excluding them. The more people who can play our game the better! At the moment however, we are focusing on one platform at a time, because there are only 4 of us and resources are limited.
As far as OSX is concerned, we don't have the hardware to test on the platform to have OSX support at launch. Potentially we will need to create a testing branch during Early Access to get a group of testers help us out. I imagine OSX would be pretty straight forward, there is a limited amount of hardware configurations.
I feel like we can do it, but one platform at a time to make sure we don't spread ourselves thin. Otherwise we'll end up bug fixing platform specific stuff which would take time away from feature development. We will definitely look into it.

As far as SteamOS/Linux, it can be tricky. At the moment, we are console exclusive to Xbox One (we are releasing on XBO at later date, currently no ETA). The tricky part about that is that we would be allowed on desktop PCs running Linux, but not on "consoles" running Linux. We will have to clarify it with Microsoft.
Cheers!

[TheSelousScout]

Ok, if you guys eventually do decide to make a linux port and need help beta testing, I'll do it for free, thanks for the reply.

[glub♥Linux]

Originally posted by nomand:

As far as SteamOS/Linux, it can be tricky. At the moment, we are console exclusive to Xbox One (we are releasing on XBO at later date, currently no ETA). The tricky part about that is that we would be allowed on desktop PCs running Linux, but not on "consoles" running Linux. We will have to clarify it with Microsoft.
Cheers!

That's a very odd statement.
SteamOS is not for consoles. It's for personal computers. You can call any computer a console at this point anyway. My "Steam Machine" is definitely not a "console", thank you very much.

It's understandable that you need to focus on one operating system at a time.
Not really interested in buying the game unless there is Linux support.

If the game is made with the Unity engine, then most of the work is already done for you anyway. You can dual boot a Linux partition or even use a VM for early testing if that's a time saver for you.

[bunny worm]

Originally posted by nomand:

Hi!
So in regards to Linux and OSX, there is technically no reason we can't do those, so we definitely aren't excluding them. The more people who can play our game the better! At the moment however, we are focusing on one platform at a time, because there are only 4 of us and resources are limited.
As far as OSX is concerned, we don't have the hardware to test on the platform to have OSX support at launch. Potentially we will need to create a testing branch during Early Access to get a group of testers help us out. I imagine OSX would be pretty straight forward, there is a limited amount of hardware configurations.
I feel like we can do it, but one platform at a time to make sure we don't spread ourselves thin. Otherwise we'll end up bug fixing platform specific stuff which would take time away from feature development. We will definitely look into it.

As far as SteamOS/Linux, it can be tricky. At the moment, we are console exclusive to Xbox One (we are releasing on XBO at later date, currently no ETA). The tricky part about that is that we would be allowed on desktop PCs running Linux, but not on "consoles" running Linux. We will have to clarify it with Microsoft.
Cheers!

i want to give you my mac right now

[nomand]

Originally posted by glub ♥Linux:

Originally posted by nomand:

My "Steam Machine" is definitely not a "console", thank you very much.

I know what you mean man, it's just a PC, but by Microsoft's definition, if it's a dedicated game box that runs a non-desktop OS, "emulating functionality of a console" so to speak, we *might* have some difficulty. Again, I can't confirm it, we have to get clearance and clarification for that to make sure we're not breaching any contracts.

Originally posted by glub ♥Linux:

Originally posted by nomand:

If the game is made with the Unity engine, then most of the work is already done for you anyway.

If only it were that easy :P

Thanks for the feedback though glub! We're definitely aiming to have Swordy available for Linux in the future, no reason why we wouldn't want that! Just need to make sure we're allowed and that we can deliver a quality build when we have it!
Cheers!

[Squiddy]

It would be really odd if Microsoft blocked you like that. SteamOS IS Linux, and can be installed on any PC. You can't do a "Linux" only release on Steam without SteamOS, they are the same thing.

[Micha]

great news, will definitely buy once released for SteamOS/Linux! <3

[nomand]

Originally posted by FLUN LiamD:

It would be really odd if Microsoft blocked you like that. SteamOS IS Linux, and can be installed on any PC. You can't do a "Linux" only release on Steam without SteamOS, they are the same thing.

Because we are Xbox exclusive on console (no ETA on Xbox One version yet) we can't release on other "consoles".
Without giving away specifics of our arrangement with Xbox, what Microsoft considers a "console" is defined in the contract, that's why I said we need to talk to them and get clearance for SteamOS to make sure we don't break our agreement. We'll update everyone when we have some news about that!

[[LINUX]Wolfyrion]

The Linux operating system is everywhere.

It’s in your phones, in your cars, in your refrigerators, your Roku devices. It runs most of the Internet, the supercomputers making scientific breakthroughs, and the world\'s stock exchanges.

Linux is not a console but yes I can make it work as a console if I want to.
Linux is not a home cinema but yes I can make it work as my home cinema.

Thats the good thing about Linux, I can do whatever I Want to :)

Linux has a number of different versions to suit nearly any type of user.
From new users to hard-core users, you’ll find a “flavor” of Linux to match your needs.
These versions are called distributions (or, in the short form, “distros.”) Nearly every distribution of Linux can be downloaded for free, burned onto disk (or USB thumb drive), and installed (on as many machines as you like).

SteamOS is just another distro, Ubuntu is another distro, Arch is another distro, OpenSuse is another distro........ and you know what?

if you make your game work with Ubuntu which is officially supported it will work in any other Linux distro because we all are using the same kernel so basically is the same thing :)

Technically according to Microsoft Ubuntu is not a console.... but SteamOS is a console... so just make it work in Ubuntu.
Building your game using the Steam Runtime Librarires it will work for every Linux Distro without any problems.

Good luck :)

[PoLo ElBruJO]

+5 Mac

[kor]

Good news everyone. Microsoft has given us the go ahead.

Sorry for any annoyance or confusion our statements might have caused, it was really just us being overly cautious - not wanting to get in trouble haha.

We'll be getting things up and running for Linux and OSX during Early Access.

We'll be doing a shout out for testers on those platforms - if you are interested in helping send us an email - [e-mail]

Thanks!

[libgradev]

Nice :)

[yochaigal]

Definitely buying when it comes to linux! Thanks!

[Eschaton]

Buying when it comes to linux and is out of EA! Looks like a great game and it's on my wishlist. Let's see who gets me first, Gangbeasts or Swordy...

[psymin]

I'll totally buy this when it is out for linux, even in EA :)