• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Skullgirls Encore on Linux

earlfriend

earlfriend

Fraud
Moderator
VIP
Future Club
Joined
Sep 3, 2013
Messages
993
Reaction score
2,527
Points
93
Age
41
Location
Los Angeles
Parasoul Squigly
There's been a lot of discussion going around about the Linux version because of some recent news regarding its development so we felt it was necessary to clarify a few things.

MikeZ gave an update on a recent Skullgirls stream this past Friday, Sept 12, 2014. You can view the archive here, but the main points are these:
  • The most recent volunteer helping us with the Linux build, who was later hired to work on the PS4 version, is no longer working on either of them.
  • Someone new has the source code and is working on part of the port. We've also been contacted by several other interested parties. All of them will be getting code access very soon, and we'll be setting them up to coordinate with each other on development.
  • We're willing to NDA a small army of people. However, they all MUST be NDA'd because a large portion of the codebase is proprietary.
As of this writing, three new people besides the one mentioned above are already taking a look at things. We'll be bringing them up to speed so development the Linux port of Skullgirls can pick up where it left off. If you think you have the experience needed to help port Skullgirls to Linux we'll be happy to consider you. Send us an email along with your CV/experience at info[at]labzerogames(dot)com and we'll see about getting you set up.


Now, some clarifications, since there's been some wild speculation and misconceptions regarding our general approach to the port and the way it was "included" in our crowdfunding campaign.
  • During our crowdfunding campaign, someone approached us volunteering to port the game to Linux. We did not actively solicit a volunteer simply so we could say we were doing a port and attract more backers.
  • The Linux port has been a volunteer effort since the very beginning.
  • The Linux port was never included in our budget for the Indiegogo campaign. The Indiegogo campaign was strictly for funding new content. Nowhere in the breakdown of our budget for the Indiegogo campaign is "Linux port" included. Nor is "PC port" included for that matter.
Some have misinterpreted our inclusion of a free download of the Linux port for campaign backers at the $30 tier and above upon its completion as a promise that we, Lab Zero, would handle its development. However, it was included as a backer reward only - one that we hope we'll still be able to deliver with the help and support of volunteers willing to work on it.

The above misconception regarding the Linux port has led some people to believe that we are soliciting volunteers to do work on a port that we promised we would do ourselves, which is also untrue. We strongly believe in due pay for work done, and wish we could pay someone appropriate wages to port the game to Linux, but we simply don't have the budget for that.


Some quick Q&A!

Because updates from us regarding the port are dependent on the volunteers working on it to update us on their progress, and since it's a volunteer effort, progress is understandably slow.

The Linux port started as a volunteer effort because someone approached us volunteering to do the port. The extra money raised beyond our initial $150,000 goal went to more content for the game and not to ports. That means none of the extra money raised went to the PC port either.

The PC port was funded through a deal between Marvelous AQL and Autumn Games. None of the Indiegogo funds went toward the PC port, even though Lab Zero provided many hours of support to the team handling it.

If people keep stepping up to do it, then it will happen eventually.


====
Same post on labzerogames.com
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shooon, tinm, Luweewu and 12 others
I can't wait to play the Linux build, personally. I wish the volunteers all the best in their work. Thank you all for contributing, including our friend who no longer is.

You're all awesome.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tinm, Cawtime, cybik and 1 other person
Has anything changed regarding PS4 port's release time frame?
 
Excuse me for being console-gamer cis-scum, but can't Linux boot up games in like, a Windows Compatibility mode? Like how you can install Windows on a Mac? If you have a Linux, can't you just do that?

Real question. Actually confused. Don't take it wrong.
 
Goodbye18000 said:
Excuse me for being console-gamer cis-scum, but can't Linux boot up games in like, a Windows Compatibility mode?
You can run windows stuff using Wine but it doesn't run as well and some stuff can be kind of buggy.
Goodbye18000 said:
Like how you can install Windows on a Mac? If you have a Linux, can't you just do that?
That sounds more like dual booting. You can have both Windows and Linux installed on one computer but if you wanted to run Windows applications you'd have to boot into Windows, unless you were running them through wine.
 
Goodbye18000 said:
Excuse me for being console-gamer cis-scum, but can't Linux boot up games in like, a Windows Compatibility mode? Like how you can install Windows on a Mac? If you have a Linux, can't you just do that?

Real question. Actually confused. Don't take it wrong.
Let me put it this way. Would you rather
  1. Play Halo Combat Evolved in Xbox Emulation Mode on a 360, risking lags and crashes offline and online because it's being emulated?
  2. Play Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition on the 360 because it's a native version that will not be plagued by emulation bugs and virtualization slowdowns (x86 to PowerPC)
  3. Play Halo CE through the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One because it's a native version that will use an Xbox One to the fullest of its resources?
It's kind of like that. You have "API Emulation" (point 1) which represents WINE. It works, technically, but there ARE slowdowns and netplay can be really weird. 2 represents a highly optimised Virtual Machine [that you have to pay for], which for ONE game is overkill as hell. And then you have the pure, "native" version that is programmed for the system and will use everything to its fullest because the code is good, compiled for Linux and will behave accordingly.

Essentially, using virtualization, emulation or compatibility layers will work, but it's like saying you can run barefoot on glass. You CAN, but the outcome will suck and you will cry.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Flotilla, gllt and earlfriend
It's not just a matter of performance and quality. For example, I run Windows on my Mac in order to play SG. The game runs perfectly fine since I'm actually running Windows rather than emulating or using a virtual machine.

One basic issue is the fact that you still have to have a working copy of Windows. Another issue is that, at least in the case of dual booting, you still have to partition your hard drive. It's not that big of a deal if you make good use of both parts of your system, but dual booting Windows just to play SG is not really worth it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deltron0 and gllt
So wait, are we getting a port made from the ground up? If so, great. I thought we were just getting a wineskin or something and as the thread brought up wine can be kinda a crapshoot.

Best of luck to the porting team, I am really looking forward to actually having the beta access I paid for. (not a shot at L0, I am just mad jelly at the people playing Eliza right now)
 
  • Like
Reactions: gllt
Deltron0 said:
So wait, are we getting a port made from the ground up? If so, great. I thought we were just getting a wineskin or something and as the thread brought up wine can be kinda a crapshoot.

Best of luck to the porting team, I am really looking forward to actually having the beta access I paid for. (not a shot at L0, I am just mad jelly at the people playing Eliza right now)
well, from what I can gather from the past, there IS an SDL2 native branch, but there's critical graphics bugs that are in the way of actually having a game. Essentially, looking at past screenshots and statuses, it's not a bottle, it'd be native code.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deltron0 and gllt
Damn, I've been looking forward to this. But I'm glad they're letting us know what's going on.
 
Zidiane said:
Has anything changed regarding PS4 port's release time frame?
If LZ is doing a PS4 port of Skullgirls Encore, then they should also do a Xbox One port as well(though they would have to talk Microsoft about that).
 
k0mbatdan said:
If LZ is doing a PS4 port of Skullgirls Encore, then they should also do a Xbox One port as well(though they would have to talk Microsoft about that).
Can we please keep this thread to Linux? Start a "Xbone pls" if you really want it.
 
I mean... I was asking about the PS4 port because
render said:
The most recent volunteer helping us with the Linux build, who was later hired to work on the PS4 version, is no longer working on either of them.
kinda makes it sound like there's currently no one working on the PS4 port. Does this mean there's a change to the PS4 port? Is it delayed? Is there a vacancy in the position of "making it happen" that'll cost us many two weeks?
 
Zidiane said:
I mean... I was asking about the PS4 port because

kinda makes it sound like there's currently no one working on the PS4 port. Does this mean there's a change to the PS4 port? Is it delayed? Is there a vacancy in the position of "making it happen" that'll cost us many two weeks?
You was asking about the status of something in OP, that's fine.

@k0mbatdan was more like "xbone pls", which is not exactly something in OP.
 
Zidiane said:
makes it sound like there's currently no one working on the PS4 port.

We already have someone new working on the PS4 port, and it's too early to tell if it will affect its release timeframe.
 
cybik said:
Can we please keep this thread to Linux? Start a "Xbone pls" if you really want it.
Sorry.
 
Is the situation the same for a mac port, or should I be considering the linux and mac versions completely different things?
 
InXplotch said:
Is the situation the same for a mac port, or should I be considering the linux and mac versions completely different things?
If the port continues to use SDL2, there would be shared code.
 
cybik said:
If the port continues to use SDL2, there would be shared code.
Yes! YES!
I won't have to subject people to the lag of skullgirls on crossover someday!
 
Super Milk Chan said:
Yes! YES!
I won't have to subject people to the lag of skullgirls on crossover someday!
Please note that though I have indeed volunteered, for now I have had no contact with L0 or MikeZ with regards to this. I only know that, when the previous coder was working on the codebase, he was leveraging SDL2 and got results to some extent. And since SDL2 is a way to code one thing to reuse across platforms, it can only help any possible OSX port. I am not saying there WILL be an OSX port, unofficially nor officially; that will be for @render to announce. I'm only saying that, programming-wise, there are things in place that would HELP such a decision.

http://libsdl.org/
 
Last edited:
so nice to read this good news, i hope the final result could be shared on mac.
 
So. How's this going? When I sent that email that catalyzed this whole thing, the thing I begged for most is transparency. And now that the huge outroar has quieted, you guys have clammed up once again, and I'm getting pretty sick of it. Why can't anyone keep us up to date with what's going on?
 
TiZ said:
Why can't anyone keep us up to date with what's going on?

Because this is a volunteer based effort. Communication is a little more difficult in these sorts of situation since Lab Z doesn't really have any leverage or control over those who are working on the port. If you want to know what's going on you'll just have to keep asking.
 
Skullmageddon said:
Because this is a volunteer based effort. Communication is a little more difficult in these sorts of situation since Lab Z doesn't really have any leverage or control over those who are working on the port. If you want to know what's going on you'll just have to keep asking.
Could be easy if we actually knew how to get in contact with the parties engaged in the effort.
 
cybik said:
Could be easy if we actually knew how to get in contact with the parties engaged in the effort.

Could you elaborate on this a bit more? I'm not 100% clear on who "we" and "the parties engaged" actually entails. You mentioned that you've volunteered, so are you saying this from the perspective of someone trying to work on the port or as someone seeking information on the progress of the port?
 
I've volunteered but I seem not to have been selected for the effort. My guess is that they've "onboarded" enough people already and that some parties are already doing stuff, but since we don't know who the parties are, we can't ask 'em directly.
 
Hmmm well that's sort of a sticky area there. We're talking about a group of individual NDA'd volunteers. Lab Z might not feel comfortable with being too open about sharing names and progress since they don't really have any control over anything, meaning that they can't guarantee anything.

We can ask though. @render, would you be able to give us any sort of update as to how the port is coming along? If not, would it be ok for us to inquire upon who might be working on the port so we may directly as them how things are going?
 
Yeah. Steam forums are getting crabby again.
 
Agreement on the salty steam forums. However, I think it would be better to keep updates somewhat limited so the volunteers don't feel pressure. Don't want to turn a labor of love into another job.
 
Damn @cybik, you ever clean that thing.

On a more serious note, I dropped the update link in the Steam forums discussion. Good luck with the port's progress, guys!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kai, gllt and earlfriend
Muro said:
Damn @cybik, you ever clean that thing.

On a more serious note, I dropped the update link in the Steam forums discussion. Good luck with the port's progress, guys!

It had *literally* been sitting in a cupboard for years prior to being recalled to active duty. I brought it back to California with me and cleaned it though :P
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kongk4, Kai, gllt and 2 others
Awesome! I can't wait to play on Arch Linux one day.
 
Good to see some news. Once this gets released for Linux I can stop using Windows for QUITE some time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cybik and gllt
render said:
Huge thanks to @cybik for helping me put that update together by the way. You da mannnnnnn
Actually, there's one error that slipped my eyes: it's Ubuntu 14.04, not 14.04 Linux (the second mention). @Midiman noticed it and told me. I'm sorry!
 
  • Like
Reactions: gllt
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back