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General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 06, 2014
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
Posted June 06, 2014
Actually it's quite possible to do something that is both DRM-Free, OldGames-Friendly and so on.

Disclaimer: this is how i would do it, not how gog will do it.

First let's setup the service and for comfort use the same account of the DD platform (to allow download); let's automatically register Good-Old-Multiplayer-Keys associated with GOG account on the new service; this registration besides getting the keys actually transform them in a unique identifier of Service (GOG Galaxy, Steamworks, UPlay, ...), Game (Race the sun, Guilty Gear, Neverwinter Nights,...) Account; now the service uses this keys to match across platforms communicating thru a lightweight specifically designed protocol, or a less efficent but far easier to control webservice.

And thats the crossplay part.

Now for the DRM-Free part:
* For old games which i have no source, i'd trap it's connection thru a proxy dinamiaclly loaded by the client which than can inject the contacts, play data and so on in the game using the proxy to actually make the game believe is connected to the "original" service.
* For newer games, or game which i have access to source i'd go thru a dynamic plugin system that first try to load a "2galaxy" plugin and if fails, load a standard "network" plugin. This way you can connect to the client without passing thru local network sockets.
Posted June 06, 2014
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damien: Why is no one asking if that means we will be able to play GOG classics online? am I missing something here? Does galaxy, for example, also mean that I can now play Duke Nukem 3D or Unreal on multiplayer with the GOG community?
No one is asking because answer is obvious: publishers should update theirs games to make them galaxy-enabled.
By the way, you can play any classic game online with your friends as long as it has LAN multiplayer. Just get or [url=https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi]Hamachi software to establish virtual lan network between you and your friends.
Posted June 06, 2014
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ChrisSD: But will you support an API that the community could use to make their own downloaded, if they wanted to?
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Fallen_Zen: Honestly I cannot say at this point, too early to tell.
So when you are also talking about cross-play - is that also to early to tell? How exactly is this going to be implemented? are you going to be accessing the Steamworks API, for example, or are you setting up your own?

If the later, it would require the developers to either abandon Steamworks, or create two version - one Steamworks and one Galaxy. How are they going to communicate? (You can swap Steamworks with any other mp service) Not to mention that if you do create an open API and it is interconnected with Steamworks API, is Valve going to look kindly on that?

It is good to have grand visions, but how is the implementation actually going to work?
Posted June 06, 2014
I have 5 computers that i use for local LAN to WAN networked play amongst my friends and have always enjoyed playing my DRM Free multiplayer games that i have the licence to use the software of on the hardware I own.

My question is this:-
Is this just another steam/origin wrapper used to restrict (and as such manage my digital rights to use my legal software) by unique serial or simply a matchmaking & Ver. checking (updating) service?

If it is just another wrapper than this I feel is a move in the wrong direction for GOG.com and has the ability to severely harm it's reputation and the culture of it's gaming community.

Such a thing may be optional, but with my memory not failing me so was steam with the title Dungeon Defenders.
This led to version incompatibility and the fraudulent sale of a fully functioning game that clearly wasn't.
I chased this up at length and the issues never resolved because '90%' of their customers we're steam based (without taking into account if that was the only way to get a fully functioning product of course that would be the case).

What I'm trying to say and it seems to be getting quite long in the tooth is that a wrapper that moves the gog.com platform closer to steam will alienate it's consumer base and open the door for splitting that base up into first and second class digital citizens.
This is not heresay, this has precedence.
Posted June 06, 2014
Hopefully this means we can get games like Torchlight 2 here, which are integrated with steamworks.

I can also think of a bunch of strategy games that I wouldn't mind having here that have a lot of online (and offline) functionality. But for games that don't have offline portions because they're fully online MMO's, I highly doubt we'll be seeing any of those here, and I'm fine with that as it sort of defeats the DRM-free purpose.

The only other thing that hasn't been touched on that I hope for is mod tools, since so many folks love mods and GOG doesn't have a problem with those. It would be great to have that added.

Maybe, if Bethesda finally becomes a GOG partner and Elder Scrolls get's added, I can check out a lot of the mods people made for Skyrim. That would be fun :)

I've even seen a Doctor Who mod... >.>
Post edited June 06, 2014 by JinseiNGC224
Posted June 06, 2014
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Pheace: Given that A) A game's matchmaking (according to a blue) needs to be designed for Galaxy. and B) GOG Galaxy must mean the game has to have a DRM-free variant and C) DRM-free means there's no actual ownership check.

Does that mean if a game has Galaxy matchmaking that pirates will be able to freely download the game and get to participate in the social/multiplayer features as well? And as a result, cheating could potentially be a massive issue in those games, ruining the online portion of that game without any possible repercussions.
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timppu: You seem to be assuming that there is no online account check even for the multiplayer part. I think there is already now such account check for many of the GOG games with functional multiplayer component, e.g. Race the Sun (I don't recall if it has multiplayer, or if it is mainly just some kind of social leaderboard thing).

It is obvious to me that the client and account login is needed if you want to play online, similarly like on e.g. Steam:

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.
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timppu: You could nitpick that then the game is not 100% DRM-free, if there is a validity check for online gaming. But they are referring to the single-player mode being 100% DRM-free.

There is a catch though, as some newer games don't make a clear distinction between single- and multiplayer. Diablo 3 for starters, or the newest Simcity game. So if PC gaming keeps progressing more and more to "social games" where there isn't even any offline part, then that's bad news for those who'd like to play their games offline. That would affect also Steam offline mode.

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Erundil: Hmm. I do use steam happily but also buy a lot from GOG. Even sometimes (gasp) without waiting for a discount. As I said, can we perhaps try to just accepts that different people want different things from gaming without needing to brand arbitrary groups as 'the problem'? :)
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timppu: Well, that depends if you think it is a problem in the first place that GOG sees fit to come up with an optional Steam-like client. I don't.
Yes if you want to buy a full featured product that is meant to be DRM Free and then accept that you should only access half of that product because you do not agree to the use of a steam 'DRM wrapper' without being adequately compensated for a product with essentially less functionality perhaps even without the main component around which the game is based (starcraft2/D3/etc.) then YES, you have the choice :D enjoy it.

GOG is going down a road i cannot follow and i am someone who will take my business elsewhere if i even smell the hint of DRM being forced down our collective throats.

Offering someone a meal then saying to them, but you can't eat it unless you allow us to barcode you and put you through some camp with a bunch of jews, but it's your choice is NOT actually a choice wether or not you still have a plate you really don't care about.

If you get what i mean.
Posted June 06, 2014
This is exactly what i was hoping for. GOG has played the catch-up role long enough, now they're much bigger they can't afford to be left behind. Better client integration (for modern release) and multiplayer whilst still maintaining the core principles are the way to move forward.
Posted June 06, 2014
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MaceyNeil: (...)
GOG is going down a road i cannot follow and i am someone who will take my business elsewhere if i even smell the hint of DRM being forced down our collective throats.
(...)
We can't stay in middle ages forever. We want more games on GOG and it often means: new games with multiplayer. How else do you expect it to work?

As far as I understand, GOG has offered a will to implement a solution that is going to benefit all of us:
1 . those who want to stay in single-player realm safely and DRM-free
2 . those who wish to play multi-player and not be bothered by a spy-ware which steam is
3 . those who wish to play with steam folks (cross-play)
They are trying to make all of us happy and they are _asking_ us to participate in the project. I am sure they won't do anything the community wouldn't like.
What more the hell you want?

The solution is not delivered yet and people are bitching about it already. Please be more constructive.
Posted June 06, 2014
First: great addition! even if many people won't use your new client, it is a good option to offer.

two things:

1. Does connecting with Steam (a competitor) mean you have to make a deal with them? If so, then please try hard not to get eaten by Steam/Valve!

2. Achievements: Please please please please please say that you can get achievements OFFLINE also, with sharing them later when going online. This would be "freedom of choice".

a third thing:

3. Am i going to be able to play old games via galaxy, too? Say for example Age of Wonders Shadow Magic with other gog users?
Posted June 06, 2014
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inc09nito: We can't stay in middle ages forever.
Not going to comment again on the ups and downs of the coming thing, but people using reductio ad media tempestas ought to be shot on the spot, and the bullet billed to their loved ones.
Post edited June 06, 2014 by Erich_Zann
Posted June 06, 2014
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triple_l: 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.
Superb list! +1.

There are only a few things I would add to the above list (mostly questions or additional functionality concerns):

1) FULL FLEDGED Humble Bundle support. I will not buy any bundles that do not give me any DRM-free option, or even a GOG option. I wnat to be able to choose, whenever I buy something on the Humble Store, say, and be able to choose WHERE my key was used (whether on Steam or GOG). Retro City Rampage did this wonderfully, but that was due to a developer deal and NOT with Humble themselves IIRC. That RPG Maker Weekly Bundle was horribly tempting, but I won't buy a bundle that doesn't give me any options for DRM-free usage anymore. I want to be able to have the choice to get a GOG key for ANY Humble Store purchases and ALL Humble Bundle purchases where that option could be available. Hopefully with this newfound "Freedom of Choice" initiative, I can have that choice no matter where I buy my games.

2) If you are truly taking on Steam on their own turf (and it certainly appears like you are), then where are we going to get truly DRM-free movies, books, TV shows, and software? This seems like a wonderful opportunity to hit Steam where it hurts there as well, since Steam does have options for software, movies/TV, and books as well now.

3) I would really love to see some kind of online functionality for the older titles that had them as well. Maybe that's a GameRanger plugin or something, I dunno.

4) Let's say, for instance, that there's some measure of functionality that lets us use a Steamworks plugin, or even one for Battle.net or Origin or any of them. Will we be able to download and play those games from those libraries completely DRM-free if the option is there? Like, for instance, many of the DOSBox games on Steam don't use any additional DRM on top of the games themselves.

5) Will this be part of a big push to get the biggies who rely on Steamworks (for DRM or whatever stupid reason) to come over to the GOG side of the fence? Like oh, I don't know, most of Team17's recent efforts, or Farsight Studios (makers of The Pinball Arcade) or Lab Zero (the geniuses behind Skullgirls)? Or do we have to very gently Prod them to come over?
Post edited June 06, 2014 by BJWanlund
Posted June 06, 2014
I'm very excited for this. I think it solves a need for many and will also be an attractive piece for newcomers. :D
Posted June 06, 2014
Waw,GOG.com I LOVE YOU!
Posted June 06, 2014
lol i would say allow gog to release a optional client first , lets see how it does and then we can start throwing things at them .

i can honestly say , gog will not be able to please everyone with galaxy :D I will be just happy with a official gog client for my gog games
Posted June 06, 2014
I really like the idea of this GOG Galaxy S5.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)