unity-design team mailing list archive

[Niklas Rosenqvist <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx>]

That actually sounds very interesting! I was going to install the
application to try it out but got the following error message in Ubuntu
Software Center: "Dependency is not satisfiable: python (< 2.7)"

2011/5/5 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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