14 DAY TRIAL // The GOG distribution platform started to release Linux games less than a year ago, but it's made great progress in the meantime. Now, the developers are working on a new installation for Linux games that should be much easier to use.
Releasing games on Linux might seem like an easy thing to do, especially for a big company like CD Project Red (the owners of GOG), but there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration. Linux is an OS that requires apps and games to respect all sorts of dependencies, and depending on the OS, they might not be installable. Fortunately, most of the distributions out there are up to date and don't pose any major problems, but GOG developers need to make sure that games work for everyone.
After you get past the technical problems, you might want to consider improving on the installer and this is where GOG is right now. A new type of installer is being put forward, which brings a much better installation experience, and it's somewhat similar to what can be found on the other platforms as well.
The new installer for Linux systems looks good
The fact that everyone gets the same kind of installation procedure and that everything is packaged in a nice way ensures a consistent experience for everyone, the same way Valve does it with Steam.
"We want to share with you a few new updates to the way that installing our games on Linux will work. Based on what we've learned and on your feedback, we have revamped our installers to offer a much-improved experience, and make it more consistent with the way we do things on Windows and OS X. Our Linux games will come with all-new installers that include more features, combine the best of our previous solutions, and plain ol' look better," said one of the developers on the official forums.
Users should be able to install the games on any Linux OS, support for installing DLCs has been implemented, and incremental patches can also be used. All in all, Linux is looking more like a friendly way of playing games, and that can only be a good thing.