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Greetings,

will the game have co-op multiplayer? That's the mode my friends and I had the most fun with in the original Descent games.

And will there be a Linux version?

A Linux version with co-op would be an insta-buy for me on release. My fellow Descent veterans use Windows, so co-op would suffice for them.

Cheers
V4V
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V4V: Greetings,

will the game have co-op multiplayer? That's the mode my friends and I had the most fun with in the original Descent games.

And will there be a Linux version?

A Linux version with co-op would be an insta-buy for me on release. My fellow Descent veterans use Windows, so co-op would suffice for them.

Cheers
V4V
There already is co-op multiplayer in the form of Survival and Co-op vs AI modes. The forthcoming singleplayer campaign will also be available for co-operative play.

There is a Linux version of the game, but it is not yet available for sale here on GOG due to Linux lacking GOG Galaxy support. Galaxy is the method we use to authenticate players for multiplayer, so Linux users would only be able to play offline.
Thanks for the quick answer.
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Pixley: There already is co-op multiplayer in the form of Survival and Co-op vs AI modes. The forthcoming singleplayer campaign will also be available for co-operative play.
That's great!
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Pixley: There is a Linux version of the game, but it is not yet available for sale here on GOG due to Linux lacking GOG Galaxy support. Galaxy is the method we use to authenticate players for multiplayer, so Linux users would only be able to play offline.
Then why not sell the Linux version on GOG with a remark "currently only single player"?

Why mandatory authentication at all and not just making LAN and direct IP connections possible?

What about the "No barriers! One community!" you proclaimed in this thread?

No offense, but the authentication is a barrier and your "one community" excludes anyone who can't or won't use it. I hope you reconsider this and offer open netplay across all platforms without any gatekeeper software.
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V4V: Thanks for the quick answer.
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Pixley: There already is co-op multiplayer in the form of Survival and Co-op vs AI modes. The forthcoming singleplayer campaign will also be available for co-operative play.
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V4V: That's great!
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Pixley: There is a Linux version of the game, but it is not yet available for sale here on GOG due to Linux lacking GOG Galaxy support. Galaxy is the method we use to authenticate players for multiplayer, so Linux users would only be able to play offline.
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V4V: Then why not sell the Linux version on GOG with a remark "currently only single player"?

Why mandatory authentication at all and not just making LAN and direct IP connections possible?

What about the "No barriers! One community!" you proclaimed in this thread?

No offense, but the authentication is a barrier and your "one community" excludes anyone who can't or won't use it. I hope you reconsider this and offer open netplay across all platforms without any gatekeeper software.
I'm a little concerned about this, too, as a Windows user.

I'm as modern a PC gamer as any other, but I still prefer having the option for LAN gaming that isn't tied to a third-party service. If the service, for some reason, died out, at least we'd still have LAN capability, and I personally still have LAN parties every so often, as well.

GOG Galaxy, Steam, and etc. services may be around for years, but nothing lasts forever, like the Gamespy service that everyone used back in the day and of which people now have to find workarounds for just to get multiplayer for Gamespy-supported games working again.
GameSpy is a good example how a dying service crippled many games at once.

I for my part don't like being forced to use middle-man software that wouldn't be necessary if the game in question had direct connection support. Besides no DRM, I (still) buy at GOG because Galaxy isn't mandatory like Steam is.

Maybe the authentication for D:U is an early-access thing. I sincerely hope so, being a Descent veteran from the old days.

Let's wait and see what Pixley says.
Okay, so there are multiple components to this:

* We aren't putting out player-run servers, direct connect, or LAN play until the full release or soon after. This is for multiple reasons, but the most important are these: 1) we want everyone playing/testing on the current builds where we can see all the logging, and 2) taking the time to get the DU gameserver configurable by anyone not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the game code (read: us) would draw time and resources away from developing the game itself.

* We would very much like to not have Galaxy as a pre-req. Something we're looking into is allowing you guys to link your GOG accounts to accounts on our website, thus allowing you to sign into the launcher with your username and password from our site and removing the need for external software, such as Galaxy.

* There are not-yet-implemented meta-game features that we feel require some sort of authentication. These are things like achievements, tech trees, cosmetic unlocks, and other things that all ask the same question: "who are you?" Without an account system, we'd have to rely on your game clients to tell us what things you do and don't have, and that leaves a door wide open for all manner of exploitation.

* Other than the initial entry point of Galaxy saying "I am this person", our entire system for multiplayer is owned and operated wholly by us. This has two advantages: 1) If Descendent Studios were to go under, we could open-source our backend and make it available to everyone, so that someone else could pick up the mantle, and 2) we haven't exactly made it difficult to read the communications that occur between your game client and the backend, making reverse-engineering not very difficult.

As for the question "why not sell the Linux version on GOG with a remark 'currently only single player'?", that's because our single-player offerings at present aren't all that much. It's not that we aren't happy with, say, Survival, but it isn't exactly deep. We didn't feel that it was fair to Linux users to sell them such little content. Once we have account-linking in place, Galaxy is made available on Linux, or the single-player campaign is complete, then we'll make the Linux build available here.

For the time being, the game is available on descentunderground.com on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
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Pixley: Okay, so there are multiple components to this:

* We aren't putting out player-run servers, direct connect, or LAN play until the full release or soon after. This is for multiple reasons, but the most important are these: 1) we want everyone playing/testing on the current builds where we can see all the logging, and 2) taking the time to get the DU gameserver configurable by anyone not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the game code (read: us) would draw time and resources away from developing the game itself.

* We would very much like to not have Galaxy as a pre-req. Something we're looking into is allowing you guys to link your GOG accounts to accounts on our website, thus allowing you to sign into the launcher with your username and password from our site and removing the need for external software, such as Galaxy.

* There are not-yet-implemented meta-game features that we feel require some sort of authentication. These are things like achievements, tech trees, cosmetic unlocks, and other things that all ask the same question: "who are you?" Without an account system, we'd have to rely on your game clients to tell us what things you do and don't have, and that leaves a door wide open for all manner of exploitation.

* Other than the initial entry point of Galaxy saying "I am this person", our entire system for multiplayer is owned and operated wholly by us. This has two advantages: 1) If Descendent Studios were to go under, we could open-source our backend and make it available to everyone, so that someone else could pick up the mantle, and 2) we haven't exactly made it difficult to read the communications that occur between your game client and the backend, making reverse-engineering not very difficult.

As for the question "why not sell the Linux version on GOG with a remark 'currently only single player'?", that's because our single-player offerings at present aren't all that much. It's not that we aren't happy with, say, Survival, but it isn't exactly deep. We didn't feel that it was fair to Linux users to sell them such little content. Once we have account-linking in place, Galaxy is made available on Linux, or the single-player campaign is complete, then we'll make the Linux build available here.

For the time being, the game is available on descentunderground.com on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Thanks for the response, my concerns are less, erm, concerning as a result.

I do like the hopefully-more-than-a-possibility of the backend stuff being made openly available in the event of official servers and stuff falling off the face of the Earth.

Everything else makes logistical sense to me. Though I do wish less things required making additional accounts to get access to nowadays, I understand why it's so, especially if your multiplayer crowd is split between different platforms, which I presume is part of the reason to have multiplayer stuff on your end.
Post edited January 06, 2017 by GalacticKnight
Wow, what an extremely comprehensive explanation. Many thanks for that from me, too.

I can fully understand and accept that you want to test your builds and reserve your resources during the development phase.

Most meta-game features (especially achievements) don't interest me, but I know that many players today want and expect them. As long as there will be an option for players like me to intentionally forfeit those features for the freedom of direct connections, I'm happy to wait up until that happens.

I like that you run your own multiplayer system independently from third-party services. That said, a standalone server anyone could set up would be ideal.
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Pixley: For the time being, the game is available on descentunderground.com on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
That's great, although I will wait until I can be sure that D:U will support LAN and/or direct connections as planned. In the meantime, I subscribed to the RSS feed of your blog to hear about your progress.

Thanks again for connecting with your (potential) player base.