When Google decided to do Stadia, maybe they thought that because most of the leading game engines supported Linux - and thus Vulcan api for graphics - that devs would rush on board.
Thing is, like OGL, Vulcan hasn't exactly lit our collective butts on fire because it's new (to those not keeping up to date), and it's a major hassle to implement in a graphics pipeline. Forget about porting from DX to Vulcan; it makes grown men wheep.
That, in part, is precisely what explains the dearth of titles on Stadia because it's a major hassle to port pre-existing titles to Vulcan in order to support Stadia.
Not only does porting present a major hassle for titles in dev, but it requires specialist (most of us graphics gurus are borderline insane - so there's that) discipline that most devs don't have.
The other aspect of Stadia is that it runs on Linux (hence Vulcan) which - for games - is already a hassle of epic proportions which is why DX is still reins supreme.
And then we have the grinning gorilla in the room: Windows licensing - which isn't factored into cloud costs if Linux is used.
So, that Amazon went with Windows as it's basis for Luna is a major issue that simply can't be overstated because it's the fastest path of resistance. And it's precisely why - if they [Amazon] don't blow it somehow - Luna is probably going to win the PC game streaming battle.
The other factor here is the games. This has always been the bane of these services whereby the anemic catalog of 'also ran' games you already own and/or played on other platforms aren't a big enough draw for finicky gamers to want to pay a monthly fee for.
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I am back to writing aggregated blogs again because I have found a new worthy cause that's filled with intrigue, corruption, abuse, racism, and plundering of a Web3 DAO that went from a $1b cap to $300M in less than 1yr amid a cratered token.
Once again, I have the receipts.
As with the Star Citizen (that's still not a finished game btw - 11 yrs + $600M later) blog series that hit all the headlines and which sparked a media frenzy, including from Forbes and others, my series on @apecoin DAO will take the same periodic format.
@apecoin This time around, instead of starting from the beginning and rolling down to the last blog where I was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the project was FUBAR, I am going to start from present, roll through the history, identify all the players involved, and connect all dots.
Days ago, the Special Council decided to - against procedures and in a blatant conflict of interest, decided to create an interdependent set of AIPS involving the creation of ApeChain via Polygon.
1/
The Special Council is never allowed to do this. Ever. Instead, not only did they author a bidzdev AIP to fund the Polygon AIP, but they're literally pretending that they aren't connected - despite irrefutable evidence.
Here is the first AIP, the Polygon one authored by @sandeepnailwal
Always amuses me that, almost 30 yrs since my first game, Battlecruiser 3000AD (aka BC3K), was released by Take Two, that it's still the go-to comparison for any team making an all-encompassing massive scope space game. Graphics aside, they ALL hit the same wall that I did.
When you build a massive space game, your #2 problem (with #1 being the tech to power it) is going to be how to populate it; and not just because you can, but because of what the game requires. And content repetition is the primary problem.
Every single massive scope space game that has attempted anything of the sort, has run into the same problem with content creation. No Man's Sky, Elite Dangerous, X series etc. all ran into the same thing because procgen can only go so far.
Well don't look now, but SQ42 no longer has a release date. Wait till you see Chris's response in an AMA on the game's 8th (it's actually 9, but whose counting?) anniversary.
So there's a new Star Citizen controversy brewing and which various parties are diving into. I haven't done much digging, so I will just provide some of my own thoughts.
First of all, I want to make this clear - again...
Star Citizen devolved into an absolute scam years ago. The basis for the scam is that the creators and primaries were busy focused on unjust enrichment by taking money out of the project, rather than putting money into it. This has gone on for years now.
To the extent that not only have they done shady financial things like building a corp with backer money, then selling back that corp to themselves, but also taking out large sums from the venture, even as they run out of money year after year.
For context, you'd have to do some catching up on my tweets since this fiasco started. To be clear, as a veteran game dev for 30+ yrs, as I see it, this battle was a long-time in the making, and needed to be waged.
Though some of my peers & colleagues in the biz are hesitant to publicly opine given the parties involved, my view is that with all the confusion as to the merits of the matter and what it means to gamers and game devs, this discussion is worth having cuz feelz aren't relevant.
To get started, this is what I said on 08/13 when news of the lawsuit went public, and which goes back to what I just stated in the first tweet of this thread.