As you know Valve is bringing Steam and Source to GNU/Linux.
Most of you probably think about Source as only a game engine – but Chris Smith is actually working on a web series called “Aura” that is made with Source SDK and other tools such as Faceposer – which is used for the lip syncing onto character models, Garry’s mod – for backgrounds and Sony Vegas for editing.
Chris Smith told me he wanted to be a director and that he is working on the series called “Aura” for 6 months now, and in my opinion the directing part of this trailer is very well made (although the graphics could be better – but Chris said he will improve 😉 ).
Usually I don’t post about series and movies, but this time I wanted to do something different as it is related to GNU/Linux in some way.
I’m not making the connection with GNU/Linux. Are they doing this under Wine?
The connection is that Valve is porting it’s Source engine to GNU/Linux, and he uses Source to make “Aura”.
Oh, I see. So there’s not a direct connection to GNU/Linux, just that some of the tools in their workflow may be available natively in the future.
If you weren’t aware, there’s also this (which I believe is making use of Source Film Maker): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMZ6_YKQa4
@ cheeseness – you’re not understanding correctly. The source engine is going to run under GNU/Linux. This means the games that use the source engine will also run under GNU/Linux. Valve has already ported Left 4 Dead 2, and as a result, they are getting nearly twice the frame rate in OpenGL they were able to attain with DirectX.
The reason for this move by Valve is because of Windows 8. Do some googling, and you’ll find the details.
@deadpringle not really double but faster than on Windozw.
Any ideas on how much that engine would cost?
@deadpringle I understand better than you know ^_^
If you want to do some “googling”, you’ll find that I’m a guest writer for Gaming On Linux, and have been reporting on Valve’s Linux progress. I’m also an admin on the biggest Linux oriented group on Steam and have been bringing people up to speed there as well.
Contrary to what many sites seem to be reporting, Windows 8 was not the instigator nor the catalyst for Valve’s Linux efforts. Beyond the fact that this is a misinterpretation of Gabe talking about one of the benefits of being multi-platform during an interview in July, Valve have simply been working on Linux stuff since before the questionable aspects of Windows 8 became apparent.
You may also want to re-read the Valve Linux blog post titled “Faster Zombies” and get your facts straight about the performance increases Valve have seen with OpenGL (note that it is OpenGL providing the boost, not GNU/Linux specifically). The actual figures are not quite 50%, and are as follows:
Linux OpenGL: 315fps
Windows DirectX: 271fps
Windows OpenGL: 303fps
Also, the status of L4D2’s port is still a little vague. I don’t believe it’s been confirmed as ‘finished’ anywhere, and if the GStreamer Conference footage is anything to go by, there are still issues to be ironed out.
Though, of course, none of this has anything to do with the post, which is about a machinima series – one that it doesn’t appear will be impacted on in any way by the availability of Source engine titles for Linux 🙂
I understand your views on the matter and I acknowledge that this specific article have a very slim connection to GNU/Linux gaming – but I was trying something different…I mean – I think you already tired of reading about yet another Kickstarter project…
And I much appreciated something a bit different.
Those two webseries (Aura and Deep) look quite interesting and I will be keeping an eye on them. 🙂
Maxim, I’m not belittling your post. I just wanted to know if there was a more direct connection that I couldn’t easily see. It’s OK that there’s not ^_^
I’m looking forward to seeing what GNU/Linux users create with some of the tools that Valve will be bringing to our platform, and whether they in turn will inspire F/OSS projects to improve.
I thought the only porting the “client/gameplay” side of Source, you know – so it will be possible to play Source games under GNU/Linux.
I’m not sure about building/developing Source games under GNU/Linux.
I can only hope…;)
Like if it will be possible to develop games on GNU/Linux with Unity…a dream come true (sadly I don’t see it happen).
The Unity people have said that they have no plans at this stage to make their authoring tools available natively.
The porting of the Source SDK is a very interesting issue. I’d be inclined to believe it will happen, but I haven’t seen any evidence either way.