Switching to Linux as a Game Developer: surprisingly workable
Switching to Linux as a Game Developer: surprisingly workable
I recently found that modern Linux distros are actually up to speed for almost all game development tasks and also gaming! Some notes on my experience transitioning.
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The only reason Windows is still the default for gaming is because of history, and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Most games run great on Linux, even on older systems. If you’re mostly into smaller and indie titles, I don’t think you ever need to touch Windows at all these days.
And even macOS can play the few games that are optimized for it very well. Hell, I played Baldur’s Gate 3 in high quality on my MacBook while friends struggled with getting it so run without stuttering on their beefed-up gaming rigs.
And Nvidia drivers, which are still frequently a nightmare on Linux.
that is true! my friends seem to have good luck with nvidia on Linux most of the time, but my builds always include at least one AMD GPU because for me they’ve always been a lot more stable and performant in Linux
my wife and i bought our most recent laptops specifically for the Ryzen chip (cos AMD is superlative about Linux support)
her cos she's a gamer and that's how to get usable gaming on a cheap secondhand ex-corporate laptop, me cos i run leengux
Well, history being that '32 bit windows executable' ended up being one of the most popular and widespread platforms that had any kind of longevity because unlike Apple which makes sport of breaking legacy applications, and for all of their many faults, Microsoft caters to business who actually want a stable platform. Stable enough that Linux can target it for compatibility too!
If Microsoft decides to go the way of Apple, it's going to trash the Linux gaming ecosystem too unfortunately. I'm little worried that WINE has lead to a kind of complacency where we don't ask for native anything because the compatibility layer is so good. I thought the Surface and it's weird ARM chip was a sign that we were getting rugged, but it looks like not yet.
Microsoft is an enterprise software supply company, so it can't fuck around with the Windows API even when it really desperately wants to.