The Humble Bundle for Android (and Mac / Windows / Linux)
humblebundle.com
humblebundle.com
This is the first time I have ever felt left out by not using Android. I think I'm going to more seriously consider needing Android versions of projects. The feeling sucks.
EDIT - I'm guessing from the downvotes that the Hacker News community finds it acceptable to refer to iOS and WP7 as appliances? I'm sorry but that's BS. Every definition of computer appliance I can find excludes devices that can have programs added after the fact, something that is definitely possible with both operating systems.
EDIT 2 - If people feel so strongly about this I really would appreciate a reply instead of just a downvote. I thought this place was about discussion over simply dismissing?
A better response would have been to say that you think referring to those platforms as applications is wrong, and probably some explanation as to why.
I disagree, I think there was a valid point made in a comment that overall had an arrogant tone and some inaccuracies and that should be addressed like I chose to rather than just ignored.
Dispelling inaccuracies adds to the discussion, or at the very least attempts to prevent someone else from detracting from the discussion. To act like I just came out of left field with this or something is just ridiculous.
> The response you replied to was perfectly valid: there's no iOS or WP7 bundles because they are contrary to the philosophy of the bundles; this is a valid point that no one had mentioned.
Which is why I didn't take issue with or mention that part. I took issue with referring to iOS and WP7 devices as appliances when they aren't.
> Complaining that the response was snide, OTOH doesn't say anything that's relevant to the topic at hand.
It was both snide and inaccurate because of that, I assumed that was implied or obvious. I didn't think I needed to lay it out so blatantly.
> A better response would have been to say that you think referring to those platforms as applications is wrong, and probably some explanation as to why.
Like I said, I assumed that was implied. I did cover why in my edit. It's simply incorrect, no definition of computer appliance backs it up and it smacks of arrogance.
His main point is correct, and I took no issue with that. Hence, it still doesn't really clear up for me why I'm being downvoted so heavily.
Being a software developer, I have never understood the decision on why to essentially limit the number of customers you can have. I think the only thing worse than not supporting the majority of platforms is not making them have feature parity.
-price,time,skills
They do not do it intentionally. It just is not worth it, or possible.
I'm going to pull a justification out of my ass: if you support things halfway and do things halfway the brand suffers. Before they'd make a linux client they'd do X-Box then PS3 then Wii for sheer ROI reasons. They aren't doing those either though even with larger consumer bases.
To be more precise, my questions is: You have an OpenGL based game running smoothly on OSX, you decide not to port it to Linux. Why?
1. ROI
2. "Have to" offer support for Linux to maintain brand image - very hard
3. hurts game image "game for geeks"
Obviously, it is hugely dependent on the piece of software you have.
Essentially, a sort of background process monitor/snooper that tries to detect cheating behaviour and block or report it. I have no idea if that could be ported to Linux, and whether in doing so they'd:
1) Get grief for requiring it to run as root
2) Fail to detect all sorts of 'easy' cheats, ruining the online services and leaderboards for everyone
3) Interact horribly with the general fludity/flexibility of a Linux system.
4) All or none of the above.
AFAIK it doesn't require root/administrator on Windows and Mac either.
good example of this is with HoN (Heroes of Newerth) where I believe the guy that looked after the Linux port left, leaving S2 having to outsource all their updates every week. The community is fairly good at hacking their way round day to day issues, but it's far hassle free and I'm sure is costing S2 more money than it's making them.
That was 4 years ago. Braid finally got a port in 2010 for a previous Humble Bundle. Braid is just a small Indie game. Imagine trying to port some of the big budget productions we have now.
There was Loki back in the late 90s early 2000s that did Linux ports, but they didn't last long.
When your Linux customer complains to you that your game doesn't work on their version of the ATI proprietary driver, what do you tell them? "Sorry, wait till ATI gets off their ass and fixes their driver, otherwise, you can try entering this arcane set of CLI commands to see if it helps, cross your fingers you don't bork your existing driver in the process, and if not here's a refund?"
It's probably just not worth the support headache. After fighting with Linux driver and dependency hell more than once I don't blame them.
Edit: even some of the past bundles have had Linux problems. I think only half of the games in the last bundle would even install on my stock Ubuntu laptop. More than one of the games--the two Shadowgrounds, I think--in an earlier bundle needed some arcane hacks to get sound working. It ain't easy supporting Linux.
So its really just a matter of groupthink about "Linux isn't viable" thats the block, here.
EDGE is $2.99, World of Goo is $2.99 for iPhone or $4.99(I believe) for universal, Osmos is $2.99, and Anomaly is $1.99 for iPhone and $4.99(I believe) for universal. I don't have prices for the universal apps because I've already bought them for my iPhone.
But I agree, the Market is way overdue for coupons, discounts and other promo options.
You will get future updates as well (although not on the marketplace.) We are currently beta testing our Android app which will make it easy, which should be publicly launched in the next few days.
Additionally, the apps themselves will notify you if there is an update, akin to how Sparkle works on Mac OS X (Adium, et al. use this).
Finally, you can download updates from our website similar to how it works for PC.
Just a question: have you tried this with apps? You could bundle apps according to theme.. so you could have a Photography Bundle, Office Bundle, Fitness Bundle... etc
I'm sorry to be a downer here, but this really bothers me. The Android Market is built such that 1) each version of each app has reviews, 2) each version has permissions, 3) updates for all of my apps come from the same place, 4) the apps come from a single trusted source, signed, and 5) I could continue forever listing the advantages of the Market.
> Additionally, the apps themselves will notify you if there is an update
No, no, no! One of the main advantages of modern app distribution is that we don't have 100 apps each telling us to update. We have one OS that manages this and updates according to our preferences. I understand that you consider your app distribution needs special, but each time a large, active and popular company/developer does this, it hurts the platform as a whole.
Edit: I purchased Osmos on the Market, at full price, yesterday. I love the game and I'm very happy with it! I'm already addicted. For feedback from here, I'd like to add that I'm very happy to have bought it on the Market and that I wouldn't consider getting it from somewhere else, even if it's cheaper, if that means circumventing the market. What if you release an update that causes a problem? How will I know if I cannot easily access the Market reviews to make sure that the new version is at fault? Alternatively, what if I drop offline someday and attempt to play Osmos, only to find that there's an update? Having the Market version I don't have to worry about that since the app will (according to my preferences) already have updated itself. Anyway, keep up the good work and I thank you very much for Osmos!
Side-loaded apps still have permissions.
I agree on all your other points, though I don't know how a project like this could be made to work with the android market model.
Also, if you absolutely must have centralized distribution for each and every app, there are other platforms that are more than happy to provide that.
They are special. :)
(On a tangent:) The market-URLs for android apps all over the web are annoying enough already (esp. for free apps - just put up the darn .apk file somewhere, at least as an alternative!)
Last time I looked all of those titles are available on the App Store right now, and they have all been on sale for a dollar at one point or another. They were still published on iOS before any other mobile platform. Most of them I already own and don't even have on my phone anymore. They have been available in the App Store for well over a year, some for over two years.
Maybe it's just me but I'm not exactly getting much of a left out feeling from this bundle. On top of all that, as we are seeing it's hardly a perfect system. They have to design an updater because the Android Market can't be used to update non-Market APKs. IMO it's more trouble than it's worth.
It would also be nice if there were links to the market so I could read reviews of the games.
First off, they test the hell out of everything. They've tried dozens of variations with different offers, forms, and copy. This is what won. "Beat the average" is a compelling call to action. Think about it, would you rather "pay $10 to get X" or "beat the competition with $10"? The latter has bite to it.
It's also about brand. The only way theses offers stand a chance with consumers and developers in the long run is by staying Humble. It's in the name after all. These guys take it VERY seriously. And it's been paying off - their bundles have been doing better and better because people know the name. They trust the name. And they want to give money to support it, along with charity & game delopers.
Does the road end there? Certainly not. But I have huge respect for these guys. I totally trust that they know what they're doing here.
Permissions: All apps except Anomaly only asked for Network Communication. Anomaly needs Network Communication, Modify/Delete USB storage, and Prevent Phone from Sleeping.
Support was pleasant but didn't have any solutions. The rep I chatted with indicated that the upload dates for any updated installers would be visible on the website, unfortunately that info isn't displayed on the Android/mobile version of the site.
But any chance I get to support developers that release Linux games, I'll take it.
Great job Humble folks!
Being a sole developer I find it quite difficult to develop for multiple platforms at the same time unless there's a framework that allows me to do so. Are the people behind the games in the bundle using a sort of "multiplatform-framework" ?
Which is to say; make a game with compelling and interesting rules that doesn't rely on performance
That said, writing games is one of the hardest types of software engineering task, in my experience. On top of that, all but the best games tend to have a very short lifespan compared to other kinds of software.
You've really got to love making games to stick around in the field long enough to get good.
As of at least a year or two ago Qt as been LGPLv2 and thus you can write proprietary software with the free Qt license as well. The only thing you can't do (without releasing your code) is make changes to Qt itself.
"Apportable is a venture-backed team of six engineers, looking for a few more. We're solving some ridiculously hard problems porting iOS to Android. Our software is already being used by some of the world's largest and best game developers"
I'm interested in `Anomaly: Warzone Earth` can anyone give an opinion on the game?
> Linux:
> Processor: 2.4 GHz
> Memory: 1 GB
clicked the very first icon there, and the movie ONLY had cinematics. not a single slipt second of gameplay.
Indie games came a long way, but they are now just the same as big studios. milking any branding they can. humble bundle unfortunately being one of them :(
If you're concerned about the game itself, it's been out for a while on a number of platforms and is well-reviewed, so finding gameplay videos should not be difficult.
well, i base that on my knowledge that cinematic scenes are the blame of gamers. so a bad way to promote something.