After ourannouncement yesterday regardingLGP publishing Majesty, I contacted both Mathieu Pinard (Tribsoft) and LGP for comments on the relationship between the two of them. These are the responses that I got:
Mathieu Pinard:
Majesty for Linux was first being canceled due to lack of publisher. Titan Computer got out of Linux publishing. It was clear that Tribsoft couldn’t handle publishing. I’ve got LGP in contact with Cyberlore to save the Linux port, and I was supposed to finish the port. I did look it different way to put back Tribsoft in shape in the last year, but in the end I really could not continue for personal reasons. I had to take a break.Somebody else will complete the port, and I already committed to provide some help.
LGP:
LGP obtained the rights to Majesty when Titan computer withdrew fromtheir agreement with Cyberlore. At the same time we entered into anagreement with Tribsoft who were to continue development.Tribsoft continued development until recently when, due to unforseencircumstances, they withdraw from the contract. The withdrawal was onvery good terms and LGP and Tribsoft enjoy a continued goodrelationship. Since that point, LGP has decided to complete the portourselves, taking the opportunity to begin to build up a porting anddevelopment team. The team is still under construction, and socurrently the development is paused, but we expect to be back up andrunning in the near future.
The end of the agreement between Tribsoft and LGP was completelyamicable, and as people have voiced concern, I can confirm that theywill of course be compensated for the full amount of work that hasbeen completed on Majesty. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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I’m glad to hear what’s going on, especially because Majesty looks pretty cool. :)
I was surprised to read that LGP doesn’t already have a development team… I guess I undervalued the word “Publishing” in LGP. When they were first mentioned here, they were compared to Loki (by themselves, I think), and that lended to the confusion that they were porters and not just publishers. But then again, it looks like they are about to become both.
But now two questions remain: How far along is the port currently, and can LGP successfully build their team to finish the port in a timely manner (timeliness being, IMHO, a major factor in many of Loki’s troubles)?
Banner ads aren’t a problem. Chasing down rogue windows that change size and location are. There is a “free web cam” ad that is not only a pop-up ad, but an extremely obnoxious one at that. Please ditch it ASAP.
w00t!
It is fairly surprising to see Linux Game Publishing moving on to do actual development work in-house. It doesn’t seem like the smartest idea considering all of the companies porting entertainment software to Linux are either in financial distress or decided to withdraw from the market, but maybe there is a way to avoid the mistakes made by Loki, Tribsoft and Hyperion and come up with a viable niche business.
It will be interesting to see how the Majesty port will compare in terms of quality to Loki titles (which, with the exception of a few, are rather high quality), the Hyperion ports (which, imho, are solid ports) or the only released Tribsoft game (which, while playable, has numerous significant bugs; this will likely not change – a shame considering the game is probably one of the best (if not the best) strategy games that will ever have a Linux port).
Another aspect will be the availability of support; Loki used to have favorable support (providing patches even for older titles, offering decent customer support and usenet groups), Hyperion does a resonable job (providing a fairly active support mailing list) whereas Tribsoft had none to the best of my knowledge (aside from a now extinct help-each-other forum and the occasional promise of a patch).
At some point in the distant past I used to agree with those who believe that it is the job of the those who want Linux games to uphold companies that provide them; I’ve since come to realize that it really isn’t and can’t be. It would be good (for a change) to have a company capable of releasing solid, supported Linux ports of decent games at a rate that allows it to remain profitable.
What’s happening with Europa Univeralis? That is one game I was really looking forward to. Maybe LGP could take this one on too :)
This is a little off topic…. Or maybe not. Yesterday I saw Linux games in the local “Best Buy” for the first time ever (Q3 & Railroad Tycoon).
Whilst walking around, I couldn’t figure out why the game section seemed so small though, then it occured to me that the Mac section was gone. In the eyes of Best Buy has Linux gaming demand surpassed the Mac? Hmmm….
Maybe if Loki and LGP did the following few things, people would be more likely to buy Linux games:
1. Port games that are smash hits, such as Civ III. Postal? C’mon, Loki, get with the times. Deus Ex would have been much better.
2. Don’t price 2 year old games at $50.
3. Release the games within two months of the Windows versions.
-Erwos
subject say’s it all.
Way to go LGP
//lean
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