New to gaming on Linux (again)
The words game and free — followed by #megaepicsale — were very effective at getting and holding my attention today. I don't play video games these days because: a) I know I'm prone to dopamine-fuelled, full-on time losses (sinks doesn't cut it); b) I like being married and playing with my kids; and, now, c) with no physical separation between office and potential gaming environment, well, that's going to threaten my ability to maintain a roof over our heads.
My last serious go at gaming was a good 15 or 16 years ago, I guess. I know I was still running XP, and the flavour of the day was City of Heroes, with my co-workers. That was a real eye-opener, being my first time in a massively-multiplayer setting; most of my gaming up to that point had been against a single or single-digit computer opponents. That it was also a big source of the next day's work banter was just as new to me, and as big a hook, frankly.
It didn't go down well at home. And that marriage ended. I don't think the two are related, but I am weary these days, shall we say. So I've since dabbled a bit in Portal and FIFA1x on the PlayStation, but these concerns, combined with a switch to Linux at home, pretty much put an end to my gaming for a while.
I'm sure I tried to run some things on Wine ages ago. I quite fancied having another go at Clive Barker's Undying, which I recall well enough to make me think it must've been on Linux. I didn't get very far with the endeavour full-stop. (I think there were a few different attempts with Wine over the years, actually.)
I'm sure there were other attempts as well, before Hammerwatch on Steam, which was lovely. (In fact, I wanted to play it so badly that, initially, I had to run it on my partner's Vista laptop, as I recall.) Anyway, obviously Steam is robust now, but becoming a dad meant I that missed another chunk of years.
And now, today, I'm learning about Lutris, Gamemode, Meson (which I had to grab from GitHub, because Gamemode didn't play with the older version from my package manager), and the Epic Games launcher (on my ole buddy Wine). I have yet to get Civ VI — their free offering this week — running, beyond the splash screen, but it's all very exciting. (I'm betting it's a DirectX issue.)
Everything in moderation, everything in moderation...
End of Day 13
— jlj #100DaysToOffload
I'm writing this as part of the 100 Days To Offload project; join us at: https://100daystooffload.com/