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Focus Update: Trapping Fishing


Hello, everyone - time for another update! A new build is on its way, look for it soon. (Changelog)

New Approach - Focus Updates


FRONTIERS is a big game - I've cut a lot of features since the Kickstarter, but it's still really big. And until we can grow the team some more most features can only be worked on one-at-a-time, so I get a lot of messages asking 'Hey, are you working on this or that or the other thing?' Those questions gave me an idea. I can't work in parallel so why not embrace linearity? Starting today I'll announce which feature I intend to focus on. I'll still work on major bugs & performance along the way of course, but overall that feature will get most of my attention until it's finished. And you can help me finish it faster by focusing on it along with me. The next time you launch FRONTIERS you'll see a little popup window that tells you which feature I'm working on. You'll also be given a cheat code - eg, if I'm working on the bow & arrow, the code will give you a bow & some arrows. Some of you will play normally, some of you will use the code, but either way I'll get a whole lot more reports on that one feature than I might otherwise - and you'll know at a glance what I'm working on at the moment. We'll see how it goes!

Oculus Support / Controller Update


I'm nearly ready to throw the switch on Oculus support - finishing up proper controller support is the next-to-last step. In the latest build I've finally added direction-based controller interface navigation - but be warned! It's far from perfect. In fact it might not be perfect for a while, because this has turned out to be trickier than I expected. (Big surprise.) It's a simple question: 'what button should I navigate to if I hit up/down/left/right?' The answer is obvious if you eyeball it, but that obvious answer is frickin difficult to recreate with code. It's kind of a fascinating problem. Anything grid-based is easy, of course. Here's a test of the inventory screen with colored button weights visible (green is best and red is worst):
But once you start getting into weirder layouts, things don't always behave as you expect.
My earlier methods might select a button across the screen because its axis-alignment was perfect. Later methods might select a button that was totally mis-aligned because it was so close. My current method is better, but I've yet to find one that's juuuuust right. I'm thinking some interfaces will use special cases (like a pre-determined 'tab order'), and I'll continue to improve the generic sort method to use a smarter combo of distance and orientation. If anyone cares to poke at the code, this is where navigation is done. (WidgetSearch.CompareTo is the sort function.)

Fast Travel - Almost Done


Video if you haven't seen it. It's been improved slightly since this was recorded.

Critters - Finally!


Critters are implemented. Bugs, butterflies, frogs and other simple/tiny creatures now appear randomly all around you. (If you weren't a Kickstarter backer you probably weren't expecting this, but butterflies and bugs have been a promised feature since forever.) Butterflies aren't seeking out goodies yet, but they will soon.
I love these little guys. The lightbugs are my favorite, they sound like wind chimes.

Performance - Another Black Eye


Performance remains an issue, but it's a battle I'm winning 1/10th of a millisecond at a time. I'm also pleased to say that the folks at the Eden Star project have generously offered to help by poking around in the project & looking for ways to optimize things. (Eden Star is Unreal-based but their team is familiar with Unity as well.) Their expertise is most welcome and I hope it will help to improve everybody's framerates. I'm sending them the project soon - cross your fingers! But there's one performance issue I can't fix: UNITY. Even now I'm hestiant to throw their name around. It always sounds like an excuse. 'It's not me, it's the engine!' As if that matters - even if there IS a problem with the engine I'm still on the hook because I'm the one that picked it. And generally speaking I don't like to dogpile on anyone. I know how hard development is. Unity's to-do list would probably make me pass blood. Their overall competence can't be denied. Unity - within its niche - is a solid engine. Have I qualified this enough yet? I hope so, because lately this has gotten kind of personal. There's one bug in particular that's really killing performance. You might remember a long, sometimes close-to-hostile (on my part) conversation with a Unity dev in the comments of a previous update. Well, at the end of that conversation I felt hopeful. I'd convinced them to re-activate this previously-closed bug report, and they had convinced me to submit an additional bug report with assurances that I'd see some kind of response within two weeks (despite the original report being on the books for 6 months). I felt really good at the end of that conversation. And for what it's worth, I still believe that the dev I was speaking to was 100% sincere in their desire to help. Well, it's been a month... and nothing. No response. Not even on the original bug report. There have been more complaints by developers, though! Let's take a peek (none of these people are me, for the record): [quote] JAN 30, 2015 13:21 Noticed this went from 'Fixed' back to 'Active'. Any update on whether we will see a fix before 5.0. Bug is still appearing in 4.6.2. Also, is anyone else noticing their RenderTexture Switches going up when this bug occurs? FEB 01, 2015 19:51 It is totally killing our game performance. Should be fixed ASAP otherwise engine is being broken for any Open World production. FEB 02, 2015 14:09 Currently using 5.0.0.b18 and still experiencing this issue. This is a total performance killer on our open world game. FEB 13, 2015 05:43 Seems like this is still an issue... Really? 4ms for this on my terrain, this is completely unacceptable. [/quote] *SIGH* Like a battered housewife I dared to hope that maybe this time Unity had changed and maybe this time Unity was really truly sorry - and now I'm sitting here with another black eye cursing myself for being so naive. Why do you do this to me Unity? WHY DO YOU HURT ME? Anyway. I'm not saying I'm entitled to a fix. I've said this before - Unity doesn't owe me a fix. Maybe they have different priorities and they never intend to fix their terrain system. Fine. I may not like it but that's my problem and I'll deal. But they do owe me an answer. And the only way I've ever gotten this beast to roll over is by being a thorn in its side, so that's just what I'll be until I get one. [end rant]

On A More Positive Note


Okay, deep breath. Generally things are going great. Slow as always, but great. If the focus updates work the way I hope it won't be long before the third act is ready to start testing. That's going to be fun. Until then, - L


[ 2015-02-27 00:31:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

FRONTIERS
AAD Productions Developer
AAD Productions Publisher
2020-01-01 Release
Game News Posts: 36
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🎮 Full Controller Support
Mostly Negative (109 reviews)
The Game includes VR Support
Public Linux Depots:
  • Linux Base Content [720.31 M]
  • Linux Mods Depot [540.47 M]
Game is not tagged as available on Linux on Steam.
Linux is not in the OS list.
FRONTIERS blends the feel of first-person RPG classics like Daggerfall with the relaxing tempo and simplicity of a point-and-click adventure. Discover ancient mysteries, live off the land and fight deadly creatures, all in a beautiful, massive open world.

Is FRONTIERS for you?


I can still remember the first time I played Daggerfall. Yes, it was uglier than a monkey's armpit and controlled worse than a bumper car on a frozen lake. But it also created the feeling of a world that lived on even after I'd stopped playing, and that feeling still sticks with me all these years later. A world where you could spend hours searching every pixelated nook and cranny. A world of potential. A world of exploration...

...and then a Dragonling would chomp my face because I hadn't spent ten hours grinding in the easy regions. Arg! So frustrating!

Other games have touched on that elusive feeling, especially Elder Scrolls and early Fallout games, but as fun as they are and as much as I love hardcore RPG mechanics, I've always dreamt of a game that emphasized exploration above all else.

If you feel the same way then yes - FRONTIERS is for you!

Key Features:

  • Massive open world - go anywhere, any time
  • Unique relaxing pace and tone
  • An exploration-focused main quest that spans an entire continent
  • Simple gameplay - no stats or skill trees to memorize (It barely qualifies as an RPG, really)
  • Live off the land - hunt, trap, fish and cook dozens of varieties of plantlife (including hallucinogens!) and a dozen varieties of animal
  • Minecraft-style item crafting system
  • Dozens of skills to discover and learn, including magic, survival and stealth skills
  • Hundreds of shops, taverns, homes, caves, castles and other structures to explore
  • A haunting soundtrack for every region
  • Full mod support
  • NEW: Oculus Rift support

NOTE: I recommend reading reviews & forum posts before purchasing, especially concerning Linux support.

MINIMAL SETUP
  • OS: Ubuntu 10.10+
  • Processor: 1.66 GHzMemory: 3 GB RAM
  • Memory: 3 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DX9 (shader model 2.0) capabilities
  • Storage: 2 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: These are estimated requirements - I'll be locking down final requirements during the closed beta. Please don't make any important spending decisions based on this information!
GAMEBILLET

[ 6108 ]

15.29$ (15%)
4.44$ (78%)
16.79$ (16%)
1.63$ (18%)
33.99$ (15%)
1.17$ (92%)
3.19$ (81%)
7.50$ (70%)
50.96$ (15%)
8.39$ (16%)
17.39$ (13%)
16.97$ (15%)
22.24$ (11%)
16.96$ (15%)
7.64$ (15%)
12.59$ (16%)
9.95$ (17%)
10.79$ (10%)
8.19$ (18%)
37.29$ (25%)
24.89$ (17%)
35.59$ (11%)
25.19$ (16%)
8.39$ (16%)
24.95$ (17%)
42.46$ (15%)
8.89$ (78%)
4.09$ (18%)
31.95$ (20%)
2.22$ (78%)
GAMERSGATE

[ 1170 ]

2.25$ (91%)
3.75$ (75%)
0.85$ (91%)
3.38$ (77%)
11.9$ (70%)
5.1$ (57%)
6.39$ (20%)
4.75$ (41%)
7.79$ (40%)
1.7$ (57%)
3.19$ (79%)
3.48$ (83%)
5.1$ (74%)
10.19$ (32%)
7.0$ (53%)
2.99$ (25%)
9.41$ (69%)
0.85$ (91%)
0.6$ (91%)
3.19$ (79%)
5.0$ (50%)
5.1$ (66%)
8.49$ (58%)
0.45$ (85%)
2.04$ (74%)
0.53$ (95%)
2.0$ (60%)
1.28$ (87%)
21.99$ (45%)
3.4$ (83%)

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