nobodysferpect

You find me in agreement here. From what I know, the only downside (from a Steam user's perspective) would be the loss of the Steamwork functionalities, as without Steamwork there is no copy protection but also no achievements, no cloud-saving and no social features. In my opinion is an acceptable loss, but I also don't plan to get my copy on Steam so.. I trust Obsidian will have a better understanding of the Steam market than I do and be able to make an informed call there, supporting DRM-free releases at the same time. PS: as I mentioned, I knew you weren't suggesting a Steam-only access, I simply wanted to address the reasons why a DRM-free Desura release and a copy-protection-free Steam release aren't the same, as I thought it relevant to the topic. I'm sorry if I came off as pedantic, it's just a matter I see as very important. Anyway, I'm done hijacking the thread..! :D

It is actually completely different than on Desura. While a game released on Steam, if the developers choose so, can be launched without Steam open and possibly have no copy protection whatsoever, a Steam release will still be tied to the Steam software for installation, which means I can't download and manage the game myself but will always have to go through the Steam software. This also means I can't download a Windows version when on Linux (or a Linux version when on Windows), which means I'm not free to have access to the software however I want regardless of operating system and software. Desura, while offering a software which (I believe) behaves similar to Steam's, also offer the possibility of downloading the installer directly from the website; I can then download the version I want without needing to install any additional software (no proprietary client needed) and without having to access the service through a certain OS instead of my OS of choice. While the ability to access any version of the software regardless of the OS may seem trivial, it still matters in practice to some (I keep all my digital purchases - all DRM-free - available offline for both Linux and Windows, since I use Linux as my desktop OS but I have to have WIndows on my laptop) and the inability of doing so is clearly a restriction of one's freedom in relation to how a user can access and use the software he/she paid for. For some (and I agree), this still counts as a form of DRM since it's the client (in this case, Steam's) that decides what I can access, where and when. That said, I agree that the Steam copy can be shipped without copy protection; I personally see no reason not to release on Steam either with or without copy protection, but for a true DRM-free release there must be another service through which to access and download the game. The ability to choose the service from which to access one's copy of the game can be nothing but a good thing, as it gives the user the freedom to decide what he/she wants and what he/she wants to avoid (for example: Steam's auto-update and social functions vs ability to access the software in a full DRM-free way, see above). I mention this here because, despite you not suggesting to use Steam as the only distributor (and I sincerely hope you won't see this post as an attack - it was not intended to be so, it was just meant to focus the attention on the differences between Steam's "copy-protection-free" vs "DRM-free" as I see it), I strongly feel a full DRM-free copy should be available and more importantly that the user should be able to choose to which service he prefers to submit to to access it. For reference, there is a topic (which I did not follow) about Steam and DRM here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61354-drm-free-option-why-not-just-make-all-steam-copies-drm-free/

Yes, I certainly see your point. I think the two major options would be .deb plus repo (upside: updating, downside: not compatible with 100% of the distributions) and Nixstaller (upside: larger compatibility, downside: no automatic updating). Plus of course a simple tarball. Nothing stops us from hoping for multiple choices tho - it's not uncommon (from what I've seen with games in the Humble Store) to come as tarball, .deb, .rpm and Nixstaller all the same time. That way everybody can manage the game however they like. In the end I'll be ok with whatever they decide, as long as the software won't be tied to a specific distribution (for example Steam distributes a .deb - which is fine - but it also makes use of scripts to resolve dependencies that are based on Ubuntu's package manager - which isn't fine, as it won't work on other distributions without tinkering with the files, repackaging alone won't suffice).

Unfortunately supporting Linux through a repo would mean either have to support all Linux distributions or focus on some and leave some out. For example if you support it through a .deb package structure and using a repo, Debian users would be best served but others would have to manually download, adapt and repackage the .deb for their distribution (I use Slackware, so I'd have to repackage the .deb in a compatible format). I think the best solution would be Nixstaller (I linked it in my previous post) as it can support different distributions using a single file: during the installation process (done using a GUI, which means user friendly) the user is asked if the package should be installed using the distro's package manager; if so, Nixstaller will create and install the correct package - I know it supports Debian-like and Slackware packages, I'm fairly certain it also supports .rpm and others. That way if you try to install it again the installer will pick up you have an older version and update it instead. The downside is you'd have to manually download the .sh file again with every update and run it by hand, but I do believe this is the most friendly option taking into consideration multiple distributions.

Hi, newly registered slacker backer here~ I'll vote for Humble Bundle as well, I think it's a great distributor and have only had very good experiences with them so far. The Humble Store also allows for multiple widgets to sell different bundles (base game, game plus OST, etc). As for the format of the download, I would either go with a tarball (no installation required, each user can set it however he/she wants) or Nixstaller (http://nixstaller.sourceforge.net/news.php, it manages a number of different package managers with a single .sh file, which means a great many distributions will be able to install the software flawlessly and manage it through the distribution's package manager as well, which is always very nice). Cheers!