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Freedom of choice. Optional client. Cross-play. Coming soon to all gamers!

Earlier today (or was it yesterday for you?), during the [url=http://www.gog.com/news/cd_projekt_red_gogcom_summer_conference]CD Projekt RED and GOG.com’s Summer Conference we dropped the news about our next big step forward! GOG.com has always been home to more and more of the the best games in history (for Windows and Mac), both classic and new. Differing in shapes, flavors, and sizes they had one thing in common: they were mostly single-player, and our focus was mainly on the experience of a singular gamer. If that's your thing, nothing really will change. You can always enjoy your favorite games 100% DRM-free on GOG.com, with no need to activate your game online or remain connected to play your single-player title. Just like GOG.com has always been about.. But what if you want to play with your friends?

Today we are excited to announce GOG Galaxy, a truly gamer-friendly, 100% DRM-free online gaming platform that will finally provide the GOG.com community with the easy option to play together online. GOG Galaxy will allow you to share your achievements, stay in touch with your pals and get the updates for your games automatically. We've developed this technology to improve your GOG.com experience. We think GOG Galaxy really deserves your attention and we hope many of you will give it a try! But, here's the great thing: it is totally optional, so it's all up to you! If you do not want to play online, or use our optional client to access these features, then no worries, you will always be able to play the single-player mode 100% DRM-free, and download manually the latest updated version of your favorite title from our website. Now, for one more feature we call cross-play. We always believed in an open world for gamers, with no obligation to be tied to a specific platform or client; and this is why GOG Galaxy will allow gamers to play with their buddies who use Steam, without any need to use any 3rd party client or account, nothing, nada. We’re taking care of connecting GOG.com and Steam players, so just sit back, relax and give it a try.

See the outtake from the CD Projekt RED & GOG.com Summer Conference

Talking of which, we are proud to announce the soon-to-come launch of the beta phase for The Witcher Adventure Game, a faithful adaptation of the board game of the same title. It allows up to 4 players to play together, whether they use Steam or GOG.com. Cross-play at its finest! If you wanna get the chance to try it out, please visit and sign up to get in the queue for your beta access key. You can also simply take advantage of our amazing [url=http://www.gog.com/tw3]pre-order offer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which includes 2 beta access keys for he Witcher Aventure Game, delivered to you as soon as we start handing them out to public.

We believe GOG Galaxy has the power to provide the best of both worlds. Playing the single player mode of your favorite game, 100% DRM-free, while still having the OPTION to use our soon-to-come client for an enhanced experience (auto-patching, achievements, and much more) or play online with other GOG.com (and Steam) players if you so wish.

There will be more GOG Galaxy titles coming up this year, so stay tuned for more news and get the word around!
Post edited June 06, 2014 by G-Doc
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Gandos: ...But they are releasing old games constantly. ...
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Trilarion: The really good ones, the ones we're all waiting for, they don't release them constantly. If you are more interested in the Top 100 of the wishlist, then there haven't been many from there lately?
Yeah on this I agree. Not much big classic releases.
I'm actually really happy about this I hope it comes out soon! :)
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Gandos: ...But they are releasing old games constantly. ...
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Trilarion: The really good ones, the ones we're all waiting for, they don't release them constantly. If you are more interested in the Top 100 of the wishlist, then there haven't been many from there lately?
What I fear is that most old games don't sell that well. You see it in every release thread, good old game comes out, priced at 5.99, and there are at least as many "too expensive, will wait for a sale" as there are "instabuy".
There were people complaining about Sword of the Samurai being too expensive at 5.99, for Mammon's sake.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Erich_Zann
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Gandos: ...But they are releasing old games constantly. ...
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Trilarion: The really good ones, the ones we're all waiting for, they don't release them constantly. If you are more interested in the Top 100 of the wishlist, then there haven't been many from there lately?
But that's in most cases because of the licenses. Take for example NOLF - nobody knows for sure whose IP it is now. Though I heard some rumors, they're working on releasing it...
high rated
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Fallen_Zen: ... We'd rather not want to support both client apps.
You could maybe develop the Galaxy thing as modular as possible, then you could appease to all possible preferences while keeping support low.
I was kinda disappointed to hear that I needed to be connected to the Internet to play games on the Internet ;P.

In contrast to many comments so far, I keep thinking of the best that could happen; of the potential influence this could have. As far as I'm concerned - the future looks very promising...
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Vestin
high rated
My GOG client checklist:

DRM-Free
GOG always and forever DRM-Free, and never negotiable.

Optional
Client completely optional and this includes manually being able to download, install, patch, backup and play including LAN multiplayer.

Open Standards
Never use proprietary APIs, always use Open standards.

Compatibility
Let there be client clones or even better, let other competing clients connect to GOG. Please don't be like the competition that wants monopolies. The core is not the client, the core is GOG service of choosing the best DRM-Free games, making sure they run properly, and giving the best support in the industry.

Open Source
Fully or partially open source cause again what matters is not the client but rather GOG service and being the best store to buy DRM-Free games.

Multi-OS
From the start be it multi OS.

Privacy
Total privacy and no gather or data to send back to GOG, or at least ask permission before sending.

Interoperability
Don't focus cross-play with only one competitor but rather with anyone in the industry that wants to join in these open concept. Duopoly is as bad as monopoly.

Single source
Don't duplicate resources, and the client uses the same sources as manually installing and patching.

Modular
Completely modular, with individual DLL files, so if someone doesn't want a feature its not even loaded into memory or take up resources. The client can be all little and light as possible or as fully featured.

Interchangeable
Completely interchangeable between client and manual usage, meaning I can download and install manually, and still use the client to autopatch and play multiplayer and vice-versa, use the client to download and install and still be able to manually patch and play. Any combination possible.

Automation
The client is just an automation mechanism, and everything it does can be replicated manually, so basically in the future if the client becomes incompatible with something, you just remove it and any game will run the same.

Backup
Client having an option to backup installation and patch files and those being able to run manually without the client in the future, so no need to re-download just cause you want to manually install.

Core
The core of GOG always be Good Quality DRM-Free games, and not the client, contrary to the competition that wants the client to be in the center cause the focus for them is not on games or the customer but rather wanting power and control over the gamer.

Web
Web should remain the central hub of GOG, the common place to all customers both manually downloading and installing and using the client. I would totally avoid making the client a buying option for obvious security reasons.

Step by step
Start by implementing a client with a limited set of features and then slowly build up from that, and always making it very modular. The key words are light and versatile, not big and rigid.

Don't rush
The competition took many years to develop a client, and everyone that was a gamer in 2004 remembers the nightmares many encountered, so its better to have it late and stable than soon and buggy cause first bad impressions are the ones most hard to forget. I believe a 2015 feb 24th release to coincide with TW3 is too early.
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Dutrag: ... But that's in most cases because of the licenses. Take for example NOLF - nobody knows for sure whose IP it is now. Though I heard some rumors, they're working on releasing it...
It seems some people would rather have NOLF here than a working client so they are not excited at all. Even if you don't share the sentiment I think it's understandable.
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Vestin: ... I was kinda disappointed to hear that I needed to be connected to the Internet to play games on the Internet ;P ...
You're the first one to mention it I think. :) The list of triple_I gives a good impression how different a GOG client can be.


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Erich_Zann: ... What I fear is that most old games don't sell that well. You see it in every release thread, good old game comes out, priced at 5.99, and there are at least as many "too expensive, will wait for a sale" as there are "instabuy".
There were people complaining about Sword of the Samurai being too expensive at 5.99, for Mammon's sake.
Most new games sell even worse. The release threads of the latest Indie games here got maybe a 20 posts only. This is like: "we don't want this game, not even on a sale". And the brandnew top quality game Age of Wonder III - not many said they pre-ordered and after release people stopped talking about it quite fast.

So how does GOG make profit at all?
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Trilarion
"Optional" is such a nice word. More game distributors should use it more frequently.
I do wish the first rection to any news was not to immediately find some way to interpret it to possibly mean something you can complain about.

Also, all sides might want to accept that their style of playing games might not be everyone's, and that everyone has a right to enjoy their games the way they want to. I don't much care about achievements either, but that doesn't mean my playing experience is somehow poisoned by their mere existence. And as the article -stresses- that it'll all be optional... I for one would say GOG has deserved not being called a liar straight out of the gate by now.
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Trilarion: Most new games sell even worse. The release threads of the latest Indie games here got maybe a 20 posts only. This is like: "we don't want this game, not even on a sale". And the brandnew top quality game Age of Wonder III - not many said they pre-ordered and after release people stopped talking about it quite fast.
Different strokes I guess, 15$ for yet another cartoony (no, it's not "pixel art" most of the time) shovelware "puzzle-platformer" is too expensive.
6$ for some of the best games ever made isn't.

As for Age of Wonders 3, maybe it isn't that good ? I refuse to pay 60$ for digital goods, no matter the quality, so I wouldn't know.
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Dutrag: ... But that's in most cases because of the licenses. Take for example NOLF - nobody knows for sure whose IP it is now. Though I heard some rumors, they're working on releasing it...
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Trilarion: It seems some people would rather have NOLF here than a working client so they are not excited at all. Even if you don't share the sentiment I think it's understandable.
Yeah, I know that they're just afraid of changes, but they don't have to about this as much as they do.
Still, it's less bi***ing around than on the RSI forums when they announced that the release of the dogfighting module was pushed back. :D

And what did I here once? Just about 20 % (or was ist 40 %?) of the happy customers give feedback, but about 80 % of the unhappy clients are complaining.
This looks amazing, does the optionality extend to each single feature one wants to use? I'd enjoy silent achievements if possible as the option not to force or being forced game feeds from/to friends.
I'd also enjoy if the multiplayer option is extended to classics like DotEmu did with Metal Slug 3.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Danaroth
I love this! I didn't need it when I only had a handful of games on GOG, but now when I have dozens of titles, downloading and updating them becomes quite annoying. So for me at least, this is great news.
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Erundil: ...GOG has deserved not being called a liar...
Hmm, has anyone done that here? I fully agree that customers can be very vocal about criticisms and concerns but do they really allegate GOG being a liar a lot here on GOG? Maybe I have just missed it.

Wouldn't it be nice if the client would follow all these points written down by triple_I?
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/introducing_gog_galaxy/post127