unity-design team mailing list archive

[Mathieu Comandon <strycore@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello there, joining the conversation.

It seems that this thread is closely related to the project I started
working on a year and a half ago, Lutris ( http://lutris.net ).
For the moment I've only implemented what I call 'runners' for a bunch of
emulators and whatever program that can run games. My first goal is to
provide a perfect gaming experience, providing fixes for common problems
such as fullscreen or sound issues.
I've also started on game installaters which are basically a YAML files
describing the way the game should be installed. ( there's an early draft of
the specs here : http://lutris.net/wiki/index.php/Writing_Lutris_installers)

Then comes all the stuff you are talking about and that I haven't started
implementing yet (but it's planned) :
 - A contact list, with the possibility to join a friend in a network game
 - Synchronization of game saves in the cloud
 - Game stats (Number of hours played, etc...)

Most of this stuff would be done on the server, I've done work on the
website but it's still at a very early stage and not useful at all. The
sourcecode for the server has not been released yet but it will, eventually
(it's a Django project).

Bear in mind that I haven't found anyone to help hacking on the project so
the development is very slow but I have made everything possible to ease
contribution : there's a Wiki ( http://lutris.net/wiki ), a blog (
http://www.lutris.net/blog/ ), an IRC channel ( #lutris on Freenode ),  a
launchpad project with a bzr branch and a bugtracker (
https://launchpad.net/lutris ).

Please keep Lutris in mind when thinking about providing a good gaming
experience in Ubuntu ;)

Cheers, Mathieu

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist <
niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> If it could be installed as a plugin to empathy and if the applications
> using the API could detect if the plugin is installed and if not have
> fallback method then I guess it could be integrated nicely. But I think that
> most important is to get the games application itself to work with save game
> synchronization and other meta data such as Ubuntu Software Center rating.
> Then afterwards I would gladly see it implemented with an API for games to
> use empathy and other software. But the games application shouldn't
> necessarily depend on the developers for integrating these functions. It
> should be able to work as a standalone application with information on where
> the games available in the software center saves it's data and with a
> growing list for other games, which also could be configured by the user, by
> manually pointing to the directory where they reside.
>
> How about that?
>
> 2011/5/3 Shane Fagan <shanepatrickfagan@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>> Well the idea was an interesting idea and pretty attainable in terms
>> of what we have to work with.
>>
>> So the social features are all done with Empathy/Telepathy so the
>> developers would be able to plug in to this API that is already there
>> for this (in 99% sure its a dbus call or something to do it). More
>> advanced features like allowing users to join games or install games
>> from the software center by clicking a link in empathy would require a
>> little bit of code in empathy itself to work but not too much.
>>
>> The idea itself shouldn't add too much to the default Ubuntu install
>> the only thing that might add a lot is adding mumble to empathy which
>> would be awesome even for non gamers. I don't really agree with the
>> term hardcore gamers since the developers of both styles of games
>> should be able to use the APIs on offer in the same ways and get equal
>> great user experiences from it.
>>
>> Saving games to u1 is easy to do you can either sync the folder or you
>> can use desktop couch and sync the table so thats easy and if you send
>> any developer to #ubuntuone on freenode we can help it out. Between
>> devices is interesting because we do have a file sync for android and
>> it is being improved at the moment so ill have to say maybe on the
>> devices comment. On windows if the developer uses the same config or
>> save files you could even work there too (on the new windows client in
>> development, soonish release but not near ready yet).
>>
>> Videos in the software center is something ive wanted for a while. It
>> would take some effort to set up though so I wont try to speculate on
>> it. Id love to have trailers and gameplay videos though since thats
>> what people base their buying decisions on when buying games. The
>> interesting thing would be how to do this. Streaming is always a
>> sticky issue.
>>
>> --fagan
>>
>> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 4:43 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist
>> <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > Sorry If I accidentally sends this twice. I had some problem when
>> sending it
>> > the first time so here goes:
>> > Thanks for the contribution Shane! What I understand from your blueprint
>> is
>> > that you guys were designing a "games application" with social community
>> > features like Steam or Desura. This would make it a fairly big project
>> and I
>> > think that it might be too big for something that could ship as standard
>> in
>> > Ubuntu. What I want from this idea is that it should be an easy to use
>> and
>> > lightweight application which all users could make use of not only the
>> > hardcore gamers, even the ones just playing mines and mahjong. As Desura
>> is
>> > coming to Linux I think that need will be met. But there were a bunch of
>> > really great ideas in your blueprint and I think that there was one that
>> was
>> > exceptional:
>> > Save game synchronization! It would be great to be able to integrate the
>> > application with Ubuntu One so that the saves can be synchronized (and
>> > backed up) between devices! This is a feature I think that many would
>> > appreciate. Maybe even high scores and such can be synced.
>> > Also the possibility of adding videos to games in Software Center is an
>> > interesting idea. But it presents itself with a bunch of problems: Would
>> > only trailers be allowed or also explanatory videos? Should there be a
>> > quality standard? Should only games be allowed to have videos or regular
>> > applications as well? I think it is a good idea but one that requires a
>> lot
>> > of thought and design, maybe it should wait for a later iteration of
>> > Ubuntu...
>> > Please continue the discussion :)
>> > I think I will try make a mockup of such an application. Don't know when
>> I
>> > will have time though...
>> > 2011/5/3 Shane Fagan <shanepatrickfagan@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> >>
>> >> On this entire thread I had a blueprint at the last UDS talking about
>> >> how to improve the gaming experience on Ubuntu and it got some
>> >> interesting responses although we didn't really do anything in the end
>> >> with it but we came up with a list of things that we could do in the
>> >> future and I think that was good. I cant remember the link to the
>> >> outcome but the original ideas (a big brain dump really) was
>> >> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GamesIntegration take with it what you will.
>> >>
>> >> --fagan
>> >>
>> >> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 3:06 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist
>> >> <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >> > I think it would be used rather extensively since most people don't
>> want
>> >> > to
>> >> > put all their games in the launcher since it clutters it completely
>> and
>> >> > I
>> >> > atleast don't want to have to search for them everytime I want to
>> find a
>> >> > game. I guess it's the feeling of well organised content that appeals
>> >> > most.
>> >> > This would also simplify the whole process by having one launcher for
>> >> > all
>> >> > your games and even provide meta data.
>> >> >
>> >> > Regular Steam users tend to (from my experience) put all their games
>> in
>> >> > their steam launcher to make them easily accessible. On my windows
>> >> > partition
>> >> > I only have one icon for all my games and that is Steam. It makes the
>> >> > whole
>> >> > thing fast and easy. Most importantly, as I stated before, it would
>> >> > encourage gaming on Ubuntu.
>> >> > I believe that instead of just dismissing the gaming situation on
>> linux
>> >> > as
>> >> > "Developers will never focus on us since they don't have market here"
>> >> > and
>> >> > settle for having it as an office workstation we should make it as
>> gamer
>> >> > friendly we can! Because if we get the gamers to Ubuntu, we also get
>> the
>> >> > hardware vendors to create good drivers.
>> >> > 2011/5/3 James Gifford <james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Ah right. I agree that it could be more visible - but I'm not sure
>> how
>> >> >> many users would use something like that. You have to balance
>> features
>> >> >> with "How many users are actually going to use this thing?"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Cheers,
>> >> >> James Gifford
>> >> >> http://jamesrgifford.com
>> >> >>
>> >> >> On 05/02/2011 06:01 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist wrote:
>> >> >> > I know, that's why I said: "we have the 'applications'-lens which
>> is
>> >> >> > good but it can't give a description of any of the games or meta
>> >> >> > information as: 'last played' or '10 hours of total game time'".
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Also sorry about mentioning Desura, I just realised it hasn't been
>> >> >> > released yet. All the talk about Project Bossanova these days got
>> me
>> >> >> > fooled :)
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > On 02/05/11 23:51, James Gifford wrote:
>> >> >> >> There is already a way to do this - it's hidden, but it's there
>> [1]
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Cheers,
>> >> >> >> James Gifford
>> >> >> >> http://jamesrgifford.com
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> [1] http://lts.cr/arr
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> On 05/02/2011 05:05 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist wrote:
>> >> >> >>> Wouldn't it be sweet to be able to gather up all games into a
>> >> >> >>> "games"-application, similar to the one used for system settings
>> or
>> >> >> >>> the
>> >> >> >>> games folder in windows vista/7? Since the traditional gnome
>> menu
>> >> >> >>> is
>> >> >> >>> gone we need a new way to gather up games, we have the
>> >> >> >>> "applications"-lens which is good but it can't give a
>> description
>> >> >> >>> of
>> >> >> >>> any
>> >> >> >>> of the games or meta information as: "last played" or "10 hours
>> of
>> >> >> >>> total
>> >> >> >>> game time". Think of it as a mini-Desura or mini-Steam client.
>> >> >> >>> Without
>> >> >> >>> all the extra bling and functions. Just a simple way to organise
>> >> >> >>> games
>> >> >> >>> which can be set as a launcher, which also supports a quick list
>> >> >> >>> for
>> >> >> >>> recently played games.
>> >> >> >>>
>> >> >> >>> How about it? Couldn't that be a great addition to the Unity
>> shell?
>> >> >> >>> This
>> >> >> >>> would also encourage gaming on Linux platforms and hopefully
>> also
>> >> >> >>> developers to start providing Linux-clients.
>> >> >> >>>
>> >> >> >>> (Ubuntu should also try to include more games into it's
>> >> >> >>> repositories
>> >> >> >>> to
>> >> >> >>> encourage gaming on ubuntu, games like Minecraft which is hugely
>> >> >> >>> popular
>> >> >> >>> should definitely be there as well as Desura)
>> >> >> >>>
>> >> >> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >> >> >
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>> >> >
>> >> >
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>> >> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>>
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