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[ubik]

I really think linux releases might be good for small developers because of the much larger splash you can make.  Even a small title released for Linux has a tendency to make some news just because of how unusual it is, and I also think that a large part of the userbase tend to be anti-piracy zealots of a certain sort-- they don't mind if other people pirate but they will NOT do it themselves.

There are plenty of ways of porting, so you might as well do it for yourself and see how it goes, you have little to lose.

[Klaim]

Long, seemingly angry post.

I hope you simply misread my post or you were just having a bad day, because I don't believe I even insinuated the core "insult" you spoke of. 

I don't remember exactly but certainly. Also I dont think I meant to look angy. Anyway, I apologies.

[hanako]

Even a small title released for Linux has a tendency to make some news just because of how unusual it is, and I also think that a large part of the userbase tend to be anti-piracy zealots of a certain sort-- they don't mind if other people pirate but they will NOT do it themselves.

not only are they not prioritising games, but many of them don't believe in *paying* for games.

Offering a linux release really doesn't get me floods of happy linux customers. Sure, it gets posted on a few linux games sites... but that produces about one sale.

There are plenty of ways of porting, so you might as well do it for yourself and see how it goes, you have little to lose.

You have quite a lot to lose if you waste time, effort, and money on a port that won't sell. I have the advantage that I'm using a cross-platform tool and my partner is a linux geek (Who doesn't buy games) so my entire cost is cut down to the amount of time necessary to upload linux builds.

[Dacke]

From people who have actual experience with Linux sales:
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Linux-users-contribute-twice-as-much-as-Windows-users
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/The-state-of-Mac-and-Linux-gaming
http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/12/why-you-should-support-mac-os-x-and-linux/

[Xienen]

I was simply saying that the people in key positions at large companies are probably not Linux advocates with a few notable exceptions like id due to Carmack.

Are you implying that there is no market value in releasing on Linux and that the only reason to do it is to help Linux not your company (being advocate of the system instead of maximizing profit)? Shouldn't personal preference be irrelevant (for a big company at least) when making such decisions?

Based off the points that have been brought up here, I'm not convinced how much "maximizing profit" can be accomplished by targeting Linux.  I would venture to guess that a larger percentage of games released for Linux are profitable, but I'm not convinced that also releasing a game on Linux will increase profits by any significant percentage versus the cost to support it.  Obviously I could be entirely wrong, but I think some good points have been made in this thread.  That being said, I will be supporting Linux in my future projects.

I don't remember exactly but certainly. Also I dont think I meant to look angy. Anyway, I apologies.

Oh, I certainly accept your apology and I apologize if I misunderstood your tone.

[Radix]

From people who have actual experience with Linux sales:
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Linux-users-contribute-twice-as-much-as-Windows-users
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/The-state-of-Mac-and-Linux-gaming
http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/12/why-you-should-support-mac-os-x-and-linux/

A couple of people recently sent me several links trying to convince me to do a linux release of something (which I have no problem with in principle, but it was a Unity project), and everything seemed to be predicated on Humble Bundle donations.

Which are not representative of sales anything and are therefore not relevant to other business models. At least without more data. And a single data point wouldn't be useful even if everyone could use the Humble Bundle model.

Does the fact that the only positive datum people can reference is non sequitur Humble Bundle stuff imply something else? It's not encouraging.

[Chris Koźmik]

From people who have actual experience with Linux sales:
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Linux-users-contribute-twice-as-much-as-Windows-users
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/The-state-of-Mac-and-Linux-gaming
http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/12/why-you-should-support-mac-os-x-and-linux/

I was thinking about these, it all sounds logical but... Oddball got 2% from Linux, and that's already excluding Steam. What did he do wrong? Why his game has not triggered the "there is a new game on Linux and there are so few games available so you surely want to buy me" thing?

I suspect it might be, as Radix said, that their success is from HumbleBundle (which is rumoured to be the only thing related to games that always sell well on Linux) not from Linux websites giving free advertising.

Therefore, if we exclude Humble Bundle, is there any reasonable *financial* reason to port to Linux?


BTW, here are my stats on platforms coverage (year 2012), it is from a website perfectly neutral to platform type (a browser game). Windows 81%, Mac 5%, Linux 2.5% (the rest is various mobiles, consoles with access to web, and other strange devices).

[bateleur]

The other factor with Linux - which I'd love to be able to release for in the future - is that often libraries and software tools used for Win and OSX aren't available there.

For example, my current project is being developed in Unity. If Unity announce the capacity to target Linux then I'll target it. It's that simple.

[Oddball]

Oddball got 2% from Linux, and that's already excluding Steam. What did he do wrong? Why his game has not triggered the "there is a new game on Linux and there are so few games available so you surely want to buy me" thing?

My game got a lot of coverage on Linux sites, and generated a lot of website traffic from them. The referral traffic from Linux sites is comparatively high. Unfortunately the sales didn't come with them.

If anybody does know what I did wrong, other than not being in the Humble Indie Bundle, then I'd love to increase my Linux sales.

[hanako]

Sorry, to the best of my knowledge the bundle is really the only time that porting to linux is going to get you reasonable money.

However, with the ever fluctuating linux-on-steam discussion that may change.

[Dacke]

One of the articles I posted was about Lugaru, not the Humble Bundle:
http://blog.wolfire.com/2008/12/why-you-should-support-mac-os-x-and-linux/

Also, I didn't post the Humble Bundle stuff to try to prove anything conclusively. But there are two valuable datapoints there, worth quoting. They show that it is possible to succeed on the Linux market, which is more than we knew a few years ago.

Getting 2% Linux sales is in proportion to the current Linux market. I guess it can seem a bit disappointing, but at least the Linux version preformed just as well as the other versions. But what we hope for is of course to get a 5x-10x over-representation of Linux users.

I guess that general Linux sites fail to draw the right audience (gamers). While most gaming sites are Windows-centric. That may be a reason for the low buy-rate for Linux click-alongs.

Now for some concrete advice:
Oddball, I went to your site and tried your demo. I couldn't start the game without opening a terminal. That is a huge barrier for many users out there. I would suggest that you add a simple script file called "rungame.sh", that users can click to run the game. Additionally, you may want to consider building a .deb-file, to make it super-easy for Debian/Ubuntu/*buntu/Mint users to install the game. Additionally, additionally, you may want to set your game up for sale in the Ubuntu Software Center.

[Oddball]

I understand that the Linux sales represent their market share, but it takes more effort/time to support Linux than the other two OSs. I have to keep a huge number of Linux distros installed to test issues. I actually make liberal use VMs for testing as keeping so many OS partitions would be insanity. Your comment about running through a terminal is a case in point. I have three versions of Ubuntu installed and on all three the game can be run no problem with a double-click, no terminal necessary. Now who knows why on your particular flavour of Ubuntu you have to run it from the terminal, and frankly I'm losing the will to care.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to support Linux in the future, but will it be worth the effort and my time? The jury's still out on that.

Edit: I'm worried that I may be coming off as anti Linux here, but that isn't the case. I'd like to make it clear that I have nothing against Linux, my issue is purely about the practicality of releasing and supporting Linux ports.

[Dacke]

Double clicking the binary works now
So never mind that previous comment. Sorry for giving you the Linux scares

edit: I bought your game. Please keep your spirits up!  

edit 2: I now understand what my original problem was. The binary didn't have the "executable flag" set. Presumably because zip doesn't preserve that flag. So to make it slightly easier for Linux people to play your game, you could provide it as a download: HackSlashLoot.tar.gz (which preserves the flag) or HashSlashLoot.deb (which installs the game on Debian/Ubuntu/etc.). But it's not necessary to either of these, I just want to give you some options

edit 3: Or just add a install-instructions.txt in the linux folder, explaining how to set the executable bit. I imagine that would lower the bar quite a bit for inexperienced users.

[Oddball]

Thanks, Dacke. One thing I will say about Linux users is they are some of the most helpful people.

I'll add an extra bit of data, without commentary as I'm not sure what it reveals exactly. During testing, before the game was on sale, the testers were split Windows ~77%, Mac ~13%, and Linux ~10%. It was this data that convinced me to push on with a Linux release. Like I say, I'm not sure what that reveals, but I thought I'd share the data anyway.

[Dacke]

I guess Linux users can be treated as consumers and a free work force rolled into one

Regarding the Ubuntu Software Center, it appears to be dead easy to submit commercial games. You just send them an executable file and Canonical makes a debian package for you. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to submit your game:

http://developer.ubuntu.com/publish/

[LionInteractive]

It's not just one reason.  I think its:

1). Support: Every distro has its own set of quirks, driver support is all over the map, and users can have their own crazy builds.  Couple this with the same issues Windows has because it runs on millions of different combinations of hardware... and you're just asking for support headaches. 

2). Cost: Every platform you support requires extra development and QA time. Because of #1 above, this is potentially worse on Linux.

3). Small Market Share: Most games don't support Mac and it has a much larger installed base of users than all Linux distros combined.

4). Perception: Deserved or not, there is a perception that Linux users don't want to pay for software. 

[hanako]

I believe I've gotten more linux sales on my own than through the Ubuntu store, sadly.

[Dacke]

I suspect that the game won't sell itself on the Ubuntu Software Center (USC) unless it has good ratings or gets features.

I bought a game that I found today on the USC. It caught my eye because it had very good USC user reviews. I opted to buy it from from the developer's website rather from the USC, but I was drawn in by the Software Center.

I actually came across one of your games as well, but ignored it because it lacked user reviews. Unfortunately you don't seem to have any reviews on there, except for one of your games which someone gave a 3/5. If you encourage your Ubuntu/*buntu/Mint-using fans to review your games on the USC, I think more people will have a closer look and possibly buy them.

edit: I also fear that your pricing is a bit high, if you want to get people to randomly buy it in an app store. If a game is relatively cheap, I might spontaneously buy it to check it out. But if it costs $25 I won't buy it until I've researched it properly and at that point I will probably buy it from you directly (even if I found it on the USC to begin with)

edit 2: You may also want to consider uploading the demo version of your game, especially if the game is expensive. In March, a demo was the second most downloaded free app from the USC: http://developer.ubuntu.com/2012/04/top-10-ubuntu-app-downloads-for-march-2012/

[Klaim]

What about games that need to self-update it's binaries frequently?

[Dacke]

As a rule of thumb, I don't think you can self-update binaries. Instead you submit a new version of the game and the update gets pushed to all users:
http://developer.ubuntu.com/publish/updating-your-app/

The upside is that you don't have to maintain your own update system, the system will take care of everything. The drawback is that it has to go through the review process every time you update the game (to prevent problems and protect users from malware).