Author Topic: What if we added Tremulous to Desura? (Read 8711 times)

Haraldx · « **on:** March 25, 2011, 04:51:04 pm »

Desura is a program like Steam - it allows you to get latest updates, news and other stuff to games/mods you have. Basically, if we can get Tremulous appear on Desura main page or get a highlight somewhere in it, we would get more players. A little problem is the news thingy, someone will need to occasionally update the Desura page. However, if the devs don't want to do it themselves, I can sign up for that (voluntary, no rewards needed).

Desura homepage: http://www.desura.com/

So... what do you guys think?

Qrntz · « **Reply #1 on:** March 25, 2011, 05:59:20 pm »

The thing that saddens me is exclusively Windows support ATM. Though they say they're planning support for UNIX-likes, but nah.
Otherwise, looks not bad. Though I spent only half a minute on the website so don't rely on my opinion.

David · « **Reply #2 on:** March 25, 2011, 06:06:18 pm »

It'll be great if it takes off, but somehow I don't see valve ever letting that happen.

Qrntz · « **Reply #3 on:** March 25, 2011, 07:14:28 pm »

Quote from: David on March 25, 2011, 06:06:18 pm

I don't see valve ever letting that happen.

Why not?

David · « **Reply #4 on:** March 25, 2011, 07:45:47 pm »

Well, that group has 134 members. Sadly Linux is pretty much irrelevant in gaming.

Should any main stream games release on Desura valve will just alter their TOS to have an exclusivity clause, and Desura will be done for.

Nux · « **Reply #5 on:** March 25, 2011, 08:13:38 pm »

Quote from: David on March 25, 2011, 07:45:47 pm

Should any main stream games release on Desura valve will just alter their TOS to have an exclusivity clause, and Desura will be done for.

Seems like a clause that would cause Valve more trouble than good. Surely they're competitive enough already without making themselves look bad by agressively killing off similar projects to steam and limiting what clients and contributors are allowed to do with thier software.

DraZiLoX · « **Reply #6 on:** March 25, 2011, 08:24:49 pm »

First Half-Life can be ran with wine, through Steam.

David · « **Reply #7 on:** March 25, 2011, 09:05:09 pm »

Quote from: Nux on March 25, 2011, 08:13:38 pm

Seems like a clause that would cause Valve more trouble than good. Surely they're competitive enough already without making themselves look bad by agressively killing off similar projects to steam and limiting what clients and contributors are allowed to do with thier software.

Steam has no competitors, so saying "You can't use any other PC-based 3rd party 'steam like' software" isn't going to annoy any of the big-name games on their, which I'm betting are 99% of the money.

And it still has the chicken-and-egg problem of not getting any games until it has users, and not getting any users until it has games.

I would love for it to succeed, but I just think realistically it's odds aren't good.

Haraldx · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2011, 09:06:26 pm »

I don't get it why are you talking about Valve here... Desure isn't made by Valve...

Tremulant · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2011, 09:40:11 pm »

Valve are the dominant force when it comes to this kind of business model, people(naive gamers) feel that they're a truly benevolent entity but they're building a drm'd self-serving closed system, Desura may have already missed the boat, i frequently see comments on games news posts from steam addicts who want to wait until the title comes to steam so they can easily add it to their collection, opting for steam rather than buying drm-free from the author, ah, the ipod generation...

Nux · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2011, 09:54:37 pm »

I personally don't see steam as benevolant, but it does a good job of giving while it takes where other DRM just takes.

They also, as you point out, have a 'do-good' image to maintain. It shouldn't be suprising that there are people who do good things to look good.

RAKninja-Decepticon · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2011, 11:45:04 pm »

believe it or not, steam did not pioneer digital distribution, nor does it hold any kind of monopoly. many developers have their own, and there are quite a few independents.

personally, i discovered trem back in 2006 or so, through ubuntu's repositories. being in major distro's repositories like that is just about as good, though it doesent do much to attract the winders crowd.

i say go for it, cant hurt unless they want some sort of licensing or rights agreement. if that's the case, fuck em.

Tremulant · « **Reply #12 on:** March 26, 2011, 12:56:59 am »

Quote from: Nux on March 25, 2011, 09:54:37 pm

I personally don't see steam as benevolant, but it does a good job of giving while it takes where other DRM just takes.

Well, i hardly had you down as just another naive gamer.

Quote from: RAKninja-Decepticon on March 25, 2011, 11:45:04 pm

believe it or not, steam did not pioneer digital distribution, nor does it hold any kind of monopoly. many developers have their own, and there are quite a few independents.

Did anyone suggest that they did? Digital distribution is, for example, any demo or shareware app that's unlockable through entry of a code, or even just paying for a download link, that's nothing new, what is new is tying these digitally distributed products to a proprietary downloader and drm system. As for all these competing systems, where are they and what's the point in having numerous steam-a-likes? Steam's only attractive because it gives access to so many titles, often at massive discounts, and a load of exclusive content, something missing from a lot of the clones, i imagine.

Quote from: RAKninja-Decepticon on March 25, 2011, 11:45:04 pm

personally, i discovered trem back in 2006 or so, through ubuntu's repositories. being in major distro's repositories like that is just about as good, though it doesent do much to attract the winders crowd.

I discovered trem through the linux game tome, the same place i find a lot of other games, waiting for them to turn up in repos is ridiculous(did trem really get into a repo in 2006?), unless you're using playdeb or similar. Linux package repositories are only just beginning to provide facilities for software purchases and even then are hardly likely to compete with steam.

RAKninja-Decepticon · « **Reply #13 on:** March 26, 2011, 02:23:43 am »

Quote from: Tremulant on March 26, 2011, 12:56:59 am

Quote from: RAKninja-Decepticon on March 25, 2011, 11:45:04 pm
believe it or not, steam did not pioneer digital distribution, nor does it hold any kind of monopoly. many developers have their own, and there are quite a few independents.
Did anyone suggest that they did? Digital distribution is, for example, any demo or shareware app that's unlockable through entry of a code, or even just paying for a download link, that's nothing new, what is new is tying these digitally distributed products to a proprietary downloader and drm system. As for all these competing systems, where are they and what's the point in having numerous steam-a-likes? Steam's only attractive because it gives access to so many titles, often at massive discounts, and a load of exclusive content, something missing from a lot of the clones, i imagine.
Quote from: RAKninja-Decepticon on March 25, 2011, 11:45:04 pm
personally, i discovered trem back in 2006 or so, through ubuntu's repositories. being in major distro's repositories like that is just about as good, though it doesent do much to attract the winders crowd.
I discovered trem through the linux game tome, the same place i find a lot of other games, waiting for them to turn up in repos is ridiculous(did trem really get into a repo in 2006?), unless you're using playdeb or similar. Linux package repositories are only just beginning to provide facilities for software purchases and even then are hardly likely to compete with steam.

i think you missed the point of the first statement you quoted. competition is good. it's what drives the free market. thus helping to get you those bargains. you'll note that i mentioned that "many developers have their own". i can think of two off the top of my head. stardock and ea downloader. i havent payed much attention to the independents, i dont really need to browse for games. dont have the HDD space for one. too many hundreds of GB taken up with godfrey ho movies.

for the second part, might have been early 2007. i discovered trem through ubuntu's handy-dandy "add/remove programs" deal. i dont suggest that anyone wait for games in there, but getting into the repos that we are not a part of already would do some good to get some more word out.

i dont care at all about competing with steam, i'm more concerned with getting more players.

Tremulant · « **Reply #14 on:** March 26, 2011, 05:00:58 am »

Nope, i get the idea of competition being good for the consumer(

), i'm just questioning the perceived value of numerous smaller proprietary downloader apps, steam has an extremely strong market position from its early popularity, unless the other downloaders can provide a way for gamers to transfer their entire collection out of steam and into their system(which they obviously can't), they're going to have serious trouble luring people away. I hate the idea of these systems anyway, i'd love to be able to just download a game demo from a website, without having to install some random third party client, it's completely unnecessary, and as for the idea of every game i purchase being dependent on the steam service, that fills me with dread.

Nux · « **Reply #15 on:** March 26, 2011, 06:17:19 am »

I hardly had myself down as that either.

I see what you would dislike about having the all the eggs you bought in thier basket, but try to see the other perspective. If I buy a game from steam I am accepting that risk as being outweighed by the advantage. What's so naive about making a decision with my own money in trusting a reputable games seller not to deny me the use of games I bought from them? I'm happy for you to not subscribe to thier system if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

You may have noticed that nowadays, what retailers sell most is convenience and steam offers plenty of it.

Tremulant · « **Reply #16 on:** March 26, 2011, 06:48:55 am »

I completely understand the appeal of steam, i just don't wish to buy into their system myself, i've too many silly ideological hang-ups. You appear to understand the technical issues surrounding steam and have made a well-informed decision to use the thing, you're not a bog-standard consumer. At no point have i intended to accuse you of naivety, apologies if my wording was confusing/confused.

Haraldx · « **Reply #17 on:** March 26, 2011, 11:22:04 am »

I don't get it... What does this all have to do with Steam? Desura supports free indie titles unlike Valve/Steam. It allows us to attract more players if we get a highlight somewhere on it's page. We could post news there from time to time to inform the players that use Desura. Besides, if something goes wrong, we can direct them to this forum. Updates are automatically downloaded and stuff is alright! Steam is a bitch, they don't support free indie titles, just because that will lead players away from their own games. They don't even think about the possibilities they can do. So, stop argumenting about Steam, start argumenting about Desura!!!

Ingar · « **Reply #18 on:** March 27, 2011, 12:40:45 pm »

Tremulous as digital download: http://tremulous.net/files

Haraldx · « **Reply #19 on:** March 27, 2011, 02:37:02 pm »

Ingar, are you trolling?

Ingar · « **Reply #20 on:** March 27, 2011, 04:13:12 pm »

DISCLAIMER
I don't speak for the dev team here, I speak for myself

Quote from: Haraldx on March 27, 2011, 02:37:02 pm

Ingar, are you trolling?

Only slightly.

A Digital Download is, in essence, a file you download from a site. You'll probably need to run it, unzip it,
or burn it to cd. So far the trolling part.

While it would certainly be nice to find Tremulous in some high-profile locations, at this time a good
question would be, what you'd want promote. Pushing another 1.1 distribution seems a bit pointless,
and it could be an interesting oportunity to give -gpp a push in the back. Someone would have to create and maintain
a full -gpp distribution (for example, Lakitu7 recently updated the stock maps), but it ultimatly comes down
on who is going to do the acutal work.

There's far more to it than meets the eye, and for me personal, there's little gain since I'm on linux most of the time.

Nux · « **Reply #21 on:** March 27, 2011, 11:40:53 pm »

Quote from: Tremulant on March 26, 2011, 06:48:55 am

At no point have i intended to accuse you of naivety, apologies if my wording was confusing/confused.

Yeah sorry about that, I clearly misunderstood. Cheers for the gracious reply!

Seems to me, the best chance for tremulous to get massive attention, fast would be to create a meme with a loose connection to it. This meme would have to be engineered so perfectly that it makes people want to love this game and hate all others with no indication the meme was manufactured.

Or perhaps more sensibly, you just need to get popular sites to mention the game and how FREE and AWESOME it is.

Pazuzu · « **Reply #22 on:** March 27, 2011, 11:50:56 pm »

Quote from: Nux on March 27, 2011, 11:40:53 pm

create a meme with a loose connection to it.

IS VERY FIRM.

Qrntz · « **Reply #23 on:** March 28, 2011, 12:16:26 am »

Quote from: Nux on March 27, 2011, 11:40:53 pm

create a meme with a loose connection to it.

Trolldretch - trolls until you bleed!

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Author Topic: What if we added Tremulous to Desura? (Read 8711 times)