https://steamdb.info/app/1422450/charts/

Valve keeping up with the trend of “worst kept secrets”. You need an invite to join the alpha but since everyone who owns it can refer their friends, it spread very quickly.

I’ve been playing it the past few days and it’s honestly very fun. Still a bit rough around the edges (especially in terms of balance) since it’s in early access, but it has serious potential to be dota 2 levels of popular.

For the unaware, Deadlock is a 3rd person shooter MOBA. It feels like a mix of Dota and Overwatch/Team Fortress. Nobody is allowed to share footage or screenshots, but obviously with so many playing there’s a ton of leaks out there.

  • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Somebody needs to tell the games team that they make their own operating system. This is Windows-only. WTF.

    • Virkkunen@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      Runs perfectly fine on Linux though, with DX11 or Vulkan. On Windows, Vulkan has some performance issues that make it quite unenjoyable, but in Linux for me it plays a lot better with Vulkan than Windows DX11.

      • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Runs perfectly fine on Linux though

        The quality of Proton is not the point, the point is that they’re not dogfooding their own platform. They’ll likely follow the same course as CS2: Lengthy prerelease test exclusively on Windows, then a few days before actual release someone will port the game to Linux/SteamOS and release day is the first day of the Linux port’s alpha test.

        How can anybody at Valve expect game publishers to take Steam Deck and SteamOS seriously if the developer of the actual platform is not dogfooding it with their own games?

        • Vilian@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          They are beta testing, remove the OS issue and they van focus on games issues

          • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            They are beta testing, remove the OS issue and they van focus on games issues

            SteamOS needs to be day 1 development target for all things at Valve. With your attitude we end up with CS2 broken on Steam Deck until now.

            • Vilian@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              A yes, because Steam Deck is the most optimal platform to play competitive FPS

              • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                A yes, because Steam Deck is the most optimal platform to play competitive FPS

                That’s not even the argument. The argument is that Valve’s own game teams should be able to support their own hardware.

            • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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              1 month ago

              No. Development occurs on windows machines, so this is where they deploy. It’s essential for a studio to work on core mechanics, gameplay loop and feel. It’s obviously going to be steam deck day one.

    • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 month ago

      I’m with you in principle, but I think it’s unlikely that Valve are building the game themselves, given that they haven’t done much of that in ages.

      It’s reasonable to think their first priorities were finding a development studio [Edit: or even in-house developers] capable producing a good game, and helping them to do so. If the developers are most familiar with Windows tools and APIs, then the path to a successful game would be letting them use those, at least to begin with.

      Let’s just hope that they’re being guided along to way toward design decisions that make a native port relatively easy if the game turns out to be good.

      Edit:

      The project is reportedly led by “IceFrog”, which looked like a studio name when I first read it, but it’s apparently a person. So maybe this is in-house development after all. Great! It would be nice to see Valve making significant games again.

      Nevertheless, gathering a team with the talent and vision to make a good game is harder than finding people who can learn a certain API or platform, so if they have the former, it would make sense to let them target the platform they already know and get the game out the door. Doing it in-house just makes it even easier for Valve’s linux folks to guide them in design choices that would simplify multiplatform support later. (Cross-platform development isn’t all that hard if you plan for it from the start instead of painting yourself into a corner.) If the game is well received, it would then make sense to invest more time into training the devs on linux and doing a linux-native port.

      Or to put it another way: Yes, Valve has an OS that keeps them independent from Windows, but that’s just one tool in their kit. Proton is another tool. That gives Valve flexibility in how they bring a game to market, and how they prioritize/schedule various phases of the project. This still-unannounced game might be Windows-only for now, but I would not assume that will be forever.

      • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        If that studio’s developers are most familiar with Windows tools and APIs, then the path to a successful game would be letting them use those, at least to begin with.

        So you’re saying, if Sony or Nintendo made a new console and contracted an outside developer, that developer should develop for Windows instead of the new consoles because they are unfamiliar with the new tools and APIs? Why even develop using Source Engine (2)? Why not also give in to a total Unreal Engine monopoly because that’s what every game developer knows? CS2 on Steam Deck is bad right now.

        • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 month ago

          No, that is not what I said at all. Either you’ve misunderstood, or you’re arguing in bad faith. Given that you’re now pushing an unrealistic all-or-nothing point of view and putting words in my mouth, I think it’s some of both.

          • 0xD@infosec.pub
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            1 month ago

            Don’t waste your time. These people are blinded by idealism and don’t care about reality, just being angry.

    • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one
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      1 month ago

      It’s almost as if they are a for-profit company that doesn’t want to waste development time on an OS that have significantly fewer players to sell to and will choose to optimize for Linux as an afterthought.

      I use Arch, btw and play only on Linux, so I’m not being biased, just speaking truths.

      • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Yeah but Valve, who is making this game, made SteamOS and the Steam Deck in house. It’s their own product. It would be a monumentally stupid move to release a first party game that doesn’t run on their own first party hardware.

        • 0xD@infosec.pub
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          1 month ago

          It’s still niche. You’re living in your dream world, not reality. It’s the entire point of proton - not to have to create two versions of the game. As long as it’s compatible it’ll run nicely on their hardware.

    • SSJMarx@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      They must have just made that change, I got it the other day from someone who I had just added to my list.

  • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    For the unaware, Deadlock is a 3rd person shooter MOBA. It feels like a mix of Dota and Overwatch/Team Fortress

    So like SMITE?

    • simple@lemm.eeOP
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      1 month ago

      Not really, SMITE is a moba that happens to be 3rd person, Deadlock actually plays like a 3rd person shooter that needs proper aiming and headshots and a much faster pace.

  • aramus@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Somebody wants to invite me? I can play with you during EU evenings, if you want.