James | CWS 🇨🇦
@coastwide.systems
Game development studio building games for Linux (and other OS's too) using the bevy engine and Rust language.
#linux #rustlang #bevy #bevyengine
#gamedev #indiedev #solodev
https://coastwidesystems.com/
https://discord.gg/Rg8MBJAvu4
#linux #rustlang #bevy #bevyengine
#gamedev #indiedev #solodev
https://coastwidesystems.com/
https://discord.gg/Rg8MBJAvu4
I keep coming back to Fedora spins (and Bazzite for the kids) 😆
Still giving CachyOS a shot, but it's been disappointingly sluggish with compile times solidly 10% longer and all apps noticeably slower to start (several seconds for, eg, a browser)
Still giving CachyOS a shot, but it's been disappointingly sluggish with compile times solidly 10% longer and all apps noticeably slower to start (several seconds for, eg, a browser)
December 26, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I keep coming back to Fedora spins (and Bazzite for the kids) 😆
Still giving CachyOS a shot, but it's been disappointingly sluggish with compile times solidly 10% longer and all apps noticeably slower to start (several seconds for, eg, a browser)
Still giving CachyOS a shot, but it's been disappointingly sluggish with compile times solidly 10% longer and all apps noticeably slower to start (several seconds for, eg, a browser)
store.steampowered.com/app/3375550/...
Try not to mind the amateur capsule art (looking for an artist still) but Heat Retreat could use a wishlist for Christmas 😆
Try not to mind the amateur capsule art (looking for an artist still) but Heat Retreat could use a wishlist for Christmas 😆
Heat Retreat on Steam
Your home town is forced to evacuate: assemble your party, choose a vehicle and grab supplies before hitting the road in search of refuge. Manage your resources and barter, scavenge, hunt or steal alo...
store.steampowered.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:22 PM
store.steampowered.com/app/3375550/...
Try not to mind the amateur capsule art (looking for an artist still) but Heat Retreat could use a wishlist for Christmas 😆
Try not to mind the amateur capsule art (looking for an artist still) but Heat Retreat could use a wishlist for Christmas 😆
👆 this. Enough said.
December 20, 2025 at 7:18 PM
👆 this. Enough said.
Bazzite has a proper desktop mode too. But go ahead and give Cachy a try too, it's not *bad* but there are lots of gotchas & stuff you learn after making mistakes. Ie, correct CLI installer is confusing, seems like `paru` is the one to use but it's not clear. Using AUR "correctly" isn't clear either
December 20, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Bazzite has a proper desktop mode too. But go ahead and give Cachy a try too, it's not *bad* but there are lots of gotchas & stuff you learn after making mistakes. Ie, correct CLI installer is confusing, seems like `paru` is the one to use but it's not clear. Using AUR "correctly" isn't clear either
Bazzite is great for that too, on their website you plug in your hardware info & they give you an iso with everything you need. Been installing it on my kids' laptops & it's been great. It's an atomic distro tho, so you'll be using flatpaks a lot
December 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Bazzite is great for that too, on their website you plug in your hardware info & they give you an iso with everything you need. Been installing it on my kids' laptops & it's been great. It's an atomic distro tho, so you'll be using flatpaks a lot
Performance is its big claim to fame, and I do like all the work they've done there. But it's a big YMMV. I actually have *worse* compile times in Cachy vs vanilla Fedora. But I'm running "old" Zen 2 chips, so for AMD stuff you need newer hardware to really get the full benefits
December 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Performance is its big claim to fame, and I do like all the work they've done there. But it's a big YMMV. I actually have *worse* compile times in Cachy vs vanilla Fedora. But I'm running "old" Zen 2 chips, so for AMD stuff you need newer hardware to really get the full benefits
I just started on CachyOS this week and... it's not "simple", you need to have a good understanding of Linux to have a good time with this OS. I do like aspects of it, but I have a hard time recommending it generally. It's good if you like constantly fiddling with stuff & tweaking things
December 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I just started on CachyOS this week and... it's not "simple", you need to have a good understanding of Linux to have a good time with this OS. I do like aspects of it, but I have a hard time recommending it generally. It's good if you like constantly fiddling with stuff & tweaking things
Lucky! Found & tried to fire up my original iPhone to show the kids but it's locked down without a functioning SIM card installed (the old CDMA & GSM networks were taken down in my region so this old thing can't connect anymore, period). iPod still worked though, sorta 😂
December 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Lucky! Found & tried to fire up my original iPhone to show the kids but it's locked down without a functioning SIM card installed (the old CDMA & GSM networks were taken down in my region so this old thing can't connect anymore, period). iPod still worked though, sorta 😂
Windows sucks for everything. Bazzite is amazing for gaming, Mint is a good general purpose distro. Linux gives you choices, Microsoft gives you chains
December 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Windows sucks for everything. Bazzite is amazing for gaming, Mint is a good general purpose distro. Linux gives you choices, Microsoft gives you chains
I think it's more accurate to say Windows is a bad idea kept alive by capitalism. It's never been good, it's been the default forced on users through shady deals and aggressive marketing
December 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
I think it's more accurate to say Windows is a bad idea kept alive by capitalism. It's never been good, it's been the default forced on users through shady deals and aggressive marketing
Relying on Proton, especially new indie games, is a very bad idea. As a developer you have no real control over if/how well it runs and risks losing out on the entire SteamDeck/SteamMachine market. Why cripple yourself when it's already so hard to get visibility
December 19, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Relying on Proton, especially new indie games, is a very bad idea. As a developer you have no real control over if/how well it runs and risks losing out on the entire SteamDeck/SteamMachine market. Why cripple yourself when it's already so hard to get visibility
Converting an already released game certainly requires a judgment call. But when starting a new project it's silly not to support Linux, particularly given how easy it is now. With SteamDeck proving viable and SteamMachines soon, having Linux native gives new indie releases a much needed extra edge
December 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Converting an already released game certainly requires a judgment call. But when starting a new project it's silly not to support Linux, particularly given how easy it is now. With SteamDeck proving viable and SteamMachines soon, having Linux native gives new indie releases a much needed extra edge
Fortnite & AAA in general isn't the best example - Valve has a financial interest in making sure these games work on SteamOS. But small indie games? unless it's a breakout hit Valve isn't giving random indies special attention so relying on Proton is high risk in an already high risk market
December 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Fortnite & AAA in general isn't the best example - Valve has a financial interest in making sure these games work on SteamOS. But small indie games? unless it's a breakout hit Valve isn't giving random indies special attention so relying on Proton is high risk in an already high risk market
👆 this, yeah converting code that's built purely for Windows is hard - because M$ does that intentionally, platform lock in and all that. hard, but by no means impossible
thing is, blanket statements like "linux is too expensive" need more nuance. new/early stage, Linux absolutely makes sense
thing is, blanket statements like "linux is too expensive" need more nuance. new/early stage, Linux absolutely makes sense
December 19, 2025 at 4:52 PM
👆 this, yeah converting code that's built purely for Windows is hard - because M$ does that intentionally, platform lock in and all that. hard, but by no means impossible
thing is, blanket statements like "linux is too expensive" need more nuance. new/early stage, Linux absolutely makes sense
thing is, blanket statements like "linux is too expensive" need more nuance. new/early stage, Linux absolutely makes sense
I mean, the attitude I'm seeing here is basically giving the finger to an entire potential customer base because... free libraries and engines are "too expensive"? I can tell you I'm definitely not putting Win11 on my machine just to play one game
December 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I mean, the attitude I'm seeing here is basically giving the finger to an entire potential customer base because... free libraries and engines are "too expensive"? I can tell you I'm definitely not putting Win11 on my machine just to play one game
If you've already taken the easy route & built your entire game using DirectX & a Windows only engine then yeah you're basically screwed. Use Vulkan and an open engine like Godot to begin with and it's trivial supporting all major OS's
Starting your project planning for Linux is easy & cheap (free)
Starting your project planning for Linux is easy & cheap (free)
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
If you've already taken the easy route & built your entire game using DirectX & a Windows only engine then yeah you're basically screwed. Use Vulkan and an open engine like Godot to begin with and it's trivial supporting all major OS's
Starting your project planning for Linux is easy & cheap (free)
Starting your project planning for Linux is easy & cheap (free)
It's not a pick one or the other situation - it's the same code but now you're serving both Linux AND Windows. And Mac if you can sort out Xcode
Plus by using open source software for your libs & engine you avoid all the risk that comes with relying on a single proprietary supplier. For free
Plus by using open source software for your libs & engine you avoid all the risk that comes with relying on a single proprietary supplier. For free
December 18, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It's not a pick one or the other situation - it's the same code but now you're serving both Linux AND Windows. And Mac if you can sort out Xcode
Plus by using open source software for your libs & engine you avoid all the risk that comes with relying on a single proprietary supplier. For free
Plus by using open source software for your libs & engine you avoid all the risk that comes with relying on a single proprietary supplier. For free
Use standardized, open source tools in the first place - they're all free. And safer; I mean how many times does Unity need to screw developers over with license changes before people clue in to closed/proprietary single points of failure are a bad thing. Godot or bevy, I can git clone & not worry
December 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Use standardized, open source tools in the first place - they're all free. And safer; I mean how many times does Unity need to screw developers over with license changes before people clue in to closed/proprietary single points of failure are a bad thing. Godot or bevy, I can git clone & not worry
Mac is a nightmare when cross compiling (Xcode is the worst), it's only easy if you buy Mac hardware in the first place and run your CI on bare metal. Getting Heat Retreat to support MacOS was painful, doubt I'd have done it if I knew beforehand how hard it'd be
December 18, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Mac is a nightmare when cross compiling (Xcode is the worst), it's only easy if you buy Mac hardware in the first place and run your CI on bare metal. Getting Heat Retreat to support MacOS was painful, doubt I'd have done it if I knew beforehand how hard it'd be
I firmly disagree, porting to Linux is only hard if you're heavily entrenched in Microsoft BS & an unwillingness to learn to use different/better tools.
And if you build in Linux in the first place then cross compile to Windows it's basically effortless
And if you build in Linux in the first place then cross compile to Windows it's basically effortless
December 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I firmly disagree, porting to Linux is only hard if you're heavily entrenched in Microsoft BS & an unwillingness to learn to use different/better tools.
And if you build in Linux in the first place then cross compile to Windows it's basically effortless
And if you build in Linux in the first place then cross compile to Windows it's basically effortless
Important point though: my hardware is all "old" stuff (Zen 2) so I can't take advantage of Cachy's AutoFDO enhancement. And since I'm using liveUSB's all tests are running the outdated, vanilla kernel included in the images. Definitely NOT rigorous tests, but gives me some quick and easy profiling
December 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Important point though: my hardware is all "old" stuff (Zen 2) so I can't take advantage of Cachy's AutoFDO enhancement. And since I'm using liveUSB's all tests are running the outdated, vanilla kernel included in the images. Definitely NOT rigorous tests, but gives me some quick and easy profiling
Well, here's a boring picture of the updated colour selector. Not quite "final" yet, but switched it over to use the game palette instead of the engine's definitions, and increased the number of colours from ~12 before to 32 (palette has 64, but that was too crowded & hard to read)
December 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Well, here's a boring picture of the updated colour selector. Not quite "final" yet, but switched it over to use the game palette instead of the engine's definitions, and increased the number of colours from ~12 before to 32 (palette has 64, but that was too crowded & hard to read)