Posted March 15, 2015
I'm a huge fan of GOG because the team behind is honest and pushes the DRM free system which is awesome. But whenever I try GOG Downloader I start asking myself WHY OH WHY is it so, how should I put it, rubbish?
Only real benefit of it is resuming and downloading of multi-part installers. And that's it.
Why can't GOG Downloader evolve into a more Steam like shape while retaining same great points GOG has now?
What I'd like to see in "new" GOG Downloader:
- make games installable/uninstallable within the GOG client the same way Steam does. By being able to see list installed/non-installed games and pick and download them directly from within GOG client without the need to navigate GOG webpage first.
- when you install games, they should be installed directly within the GOG Downloader folder, making it a centralized folder structure to hold all GOG games.
- Portable client/games structure, when games get installed from within GOG Downloader, they should remain listed in the client even if system was refreshed or re-installed. Steam does that and it's freaking brilliant. Whenever I refresh Windows 8.1 or reinstall it, ALL games remain installed and functional. I just have to re-install the Steam client itself, but the games remain functional. EA Origin on the other hand requires game re-installation after every such system refresh/re-install and when you have hundreds of gigabytes of games installed, it's a really painful task. Keeping it portable structured would solve this as well.
- Keeping stand alone installers. While client would allow to install games directly from within it, there should still be stand alone EXE installers to keep the DRM free and open structure. Basically, when you install the game from within GOG Downloader, they should be silently unpacked and installed within GOG Downloader folder. If you download a standalone EXE installer, you should still have fully free control on where you want to install it. Such system would be really awesome, making GOG Downloader convenient, but also fully open and not limiting to the users who prefer the "old" way of getting games with a single EXE installer.
- Galaxy integration. I don't know much about GOG Galaxy apart from the fact it's a multiplayer platform, but it would make sense integrating it into the GOG Downloader client. Either calling it GOG Galaxy as a whole or some other way. This way community, multiplayer and convenience of managing all your games would be merged into a single unified client.
What do you guys think? Any additional ideas? I know I'd use GOG Downloader way more if it worked like this because I really like Steam because of all this, but I don't like Steam's DRM part and limitations that are brought with it. "New" GOG Downloader woudln't have such problems which would make it even cooler.
Only real benefit of it is resuming and downloading of multi-part installers. And that's it.
Why can't GOG Downloader evolve into a more Steam like shape while retaining same great points GOG has now?
What I'd like to see in "new" GOG Downloader:
- make games installable/uninstallable within the GOG client the same way Steam does. By being able to see list installed/non-installed games and pick and download them directly from within GOG client without the need to navigate GOG webpage first.
- when you install games, they should be installed directly within the GOG Downloader folder, making it a centralized folder structure to hold all GOG games.
- Portable client/games structure, when games get installed from within GOG Downloader, they should remain listed in the client even if system was refreshed or re-installed. Steam does that and it's freaking brilliant. Whenever I refresh Windows 8.1 or reinstall it, ALL games remain installed and functional. I just have to re-install the Steam client itself, but the games remain functional. EA Origin on the other hand requires game re-installation after every such system refresh/re-install and when you have hundreds of gigabytes of games installed, it's a really painful task. Keeping it portable structured would solve this as well.
- Keeping stand alone installers. While client would allow to install games directly from within it, there should still be stand alone EXE installers to keep the DRM free and open structure. Basically, when you install the game from within GOG Downloader, they should be silently unpacked and installed within GOG Downloader folder. If you download a standalone EXE installer, you should still have fully free control on where you want to install it. Such system would be really awesome, making GOG Downloader convenient, but also fully open and not limiting to the users who prefer the "old" way of getting games with a single EXE installer.
- Galaxy integration. I don't know much about GOG Galaxy apart from the fact it's a multiplayer platform, but it would make sense integrating it into the GOG Downloader client. Either calling it GOG Galaxy as a whole or some other way. This way community, multiplayer and convenience of managing all your games would be merged into a single unified client.
What do you guys think? Any additional ideas? I know I'd use GOG Downloader way more if it worked like this because I really like Steam because of all this, but I don't like Steam's DRM part and limitations that are brought with it. "New" GOG Downloader woudln't have such problems which would make it even cooler.