Steam and Other Gaming Systems for Linux

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  • DevynCJohnson
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    Gaming is very popular among many people and with any computing platform. Linux is no exception. Thanks to a gaming framework called Steam, Linux is an even better gaming system. However, Steam is not the only gaming software for Linux. This article will introduce Steam and other gaming systems for Linux.

    Steam

    Steam (http://steamcommunity.com/) is a popular closed-source cross-platform gaming software made by the Valve Corporation (http://www.valvesoftware.com/). Supported platforms include Linux (including Android), Windows, OS X, iOS, and Sony's PlayStation 3. Originally, Steam was made for Windows only. After more development, Steam became available for other systems.

    Steam games can be obtained from the Steam Store (http://store.steampowered.com/). Steam itself is free and legal to download and install. However, not all Steam games are free. Many Steam games are available including popular games that most gamers are familiar with such as Mortal Kombat X (http://store.steampowered.com/app/307780/).

    The "Steam Machine" is an up-coming gaming console that is dedicated to Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/universe/machines). The console will use SteamOS which is a Debian-based operating system. SteamOS can already be downloaded and installed on desktop systems (http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/).

    The game engine used by Steam is called "Source". Before the Source game engine, Steam's gaming engine was GoldSrc (or Goldsource). The Source SDK is used to make games and mods for Steam. The Source SDK comes with numerous tools and utilities that developers can use. Also, many third-party tools are available. EventScripts is a scripting plugin that allows developers to make games via scripting. There is "EventScripts Classic" which is the traditional EventScripting. Also, there is "EventScripts Python" which allows developers to use the Python programming language to design a game. The EventScripts Python module is "es". Therefore, EventScripts can be imported into a Python script via "import es".

    Desura and Desurium

    Desura is similar to Steam. However, Desura is intended for individual game developers (indie games) rather than large companies/corporations. Desura is available for Linux, Windows, and OS X. Desura is made by Bad Juju Games and the client is open-source freeware licensed under the GPL license. However, the server-side is proprietary. "Desurium" refers to the open-source Desura project just as Chromium is an open-source Chrome browser.

    Some popular games can be found on the Desura platform such as "Five Nights at Freddy's" (http://www.desura.com/games/five-nights-at-freddys). Many free games are available for Desura. Users can obtain games from the official website. Some of the most popular games can be found at http://www.desura.com/games#popular .

    FUN FACT: "Depth Hunter 2: Deep Dive" (http://www.desura.com/games/depth-hunter-2-deep-dive) is the #1 popular Desura game.

    GOG

    GOG (http://www.gog.com/) is another gaming framework that supports Linux, Windows, and OS X. Unlike Steam and Desura, there is no gaming client. Rather, game developers make GOG games using the GOG libraries. Then, gamers can play the games from the game's own binary files.

    GamersGate

    GamersGate (http://www.gamersgate.com/) is similar to GOG. GamersGate supports Linux, Windows, OS X, and Steam. Many popular games age supported such as "Grand Theft Auto V" ( http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-GTAV/grand-theft-auto-v ) and "Mortal Kombat X" ( http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-MKX/mortal-kombat-x ).

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