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General discussionGOG Galaxy Beta starts now(1170 posts)(1170 posts)
(1170 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 06, 2015
Try the DRM-free online gaming platform.

<span class="bold">GOG Galaxy</span>: our truly gamer-friendly, DRM-free online gaming platform. As we shared our vision with the world, we promised auto-patching, social functionality like chat, friends lists, and achievements. We promised our own multiplayer support and cross-play with Steam. Most importantly, we promised truly optional.



Today we deliver.
The <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy</span> client enters beta, open to anyone, with the most important functionality ready to try, test, enjoy (and break) at your leisure. We're proud to have gotten this far, and we know that we couldn't have done it without you all - that's everyone who spent months in alpha testing, that's those of you who talked to us about your needs and expectations, and it's every single one of you that has supported us since ever. So thanks, GOG Galaxy is for you!

With the <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy Beta</span>, you can install your games in one click and keep them up to date automatically, the beta currently supports this feature in all but a couple of titles available here. You can also perform backups easily by downloading a standalone installer through GOG Galaxy. The beta features a friends list, game time tracking, achievements, and chat. You can now talk to each other, connect with your group of friends, and see what everyone is playing. You can also try out our online multiplayer & matchmaking solution that, in select titles, includes cross-play: platform-independent multiplayer between gamers on GOG.com and Steam. If you download a patch that breaks something or if you just change your mind, the app will soon feature a unique rollback option to restore a previous version of your game.

Best of all, GOG Galaxy is optional. If you don't want to use any additional software, your experience with us won't change at all. If you only want to take advantage of select conveniences, you can toggle them on and off. It's all totally up to you.

You can sign up for the <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy Beta</span> and find out more on <span class="bold">gog.com/galaxy</span>, where we tell you about the features and answer many of the questions you may have. We'll be watching the forums carefully, so feel free to leave a comment if there is anything else that you'd like to know!
Posted May 06, 2015
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Alatriste.443: Wil there be Linux Galaxy client sometime? Like existent Steam client for Linux.
Yes. There is just no release date yet. You can see that in the FAQ point 9 at the galaxy page.
Posted May 06, 2015
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MMLN: Well as far as I know Rise of the Triad 2013 1.5 update is mostly update for Galaxy and Crossplay with Steam and it is still available as a standalone download from library. All free games and AvP Classice were updated in Galaxy and as standalone installers too.

So I am just little bit curious :-P
As far as I know, only 4 games are currently supporting Galaxy-powered multiplayer:

Aliens vs. Predator Classic 2000
Double Dragon Trilogy
Rise of the Triad (2013)
The Witcher Adventure Game

Any update is only made to make the games easier to import on the Galaxy client.
Posted May 06, 2015
aw man. I was excited when i saw the email this morning. came from work and clicked to get the access and yet no email and it had been 2 hours.

another 22 hours till i will be able to use the program :(
Posted May 06, 2015
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ashwald: And some people are afraid that it won't actually stay optional for long regardless of what is being promised right now. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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Trilarion: Fully agreed, this possibility exists and with the existence of the client they have one more requirements for introducing DRM or making a client mandatory ready.

I could imagine a possible news release:

"Good news,

our client is so widespread now and offers so many advantages and simply we cannot maintain so many different ways of offering our services. Therefore we will concentrate on the future which is our beloved client. We adapt the download possibilities accordingly. We never said we will maintain them forever anyway. ..."

Something like this is possible (only with more marketing speak), although currently still unlikely, but not completely excludable.

After all they are a company who wants to make profit, not a charity organization for the prosperity of the DRM free.

And if no AAA games come here in the future because of DRM, if the shareholders of CDP are demanding changes, if different people are at the top of GOG and CDP, ... well, a mere possibility can become realistic fast.
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smyron766: So to me DRM free means I can install it to as many computers as I want, just like having a disk, but my son would have to buy it again to use the client? So maybe I'm wrong, but the client kinda seems like it's got some restrictions. Glad it's optional.
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Trilarion: No it doesn't have restrictions. You could use it as a downloader and ignore all the rest. It won't check with GOG at installation or start of the game (as this would be DRM).

It may have restrictions for multiplayer gaming like only one player at a time. This might then be DRM.

Your son can play your GOG games too easily. (Not strictly because the license is more like a personal playing license, but I see it more like a household license. I play mostly at home but I also bought some adventures for my girlfriend and now she is playing them while I never played them.)
The thing is... even if they did for whatever reason get rid of the standalone installers and make Galaxy mandatory. There is no reason the games still can't be DRM free. There is no inherit DRM added to Galaxy games. It's all going to depend on how they offer a backup feature which they stated already they will sometime during beta. If they can provide a backup that allows us to re-install via a self extracting exe or whatever then no harm done because we could then re-install all of our games easily outside of Galaxy. Seeing as every games can be launched directly by bypassing Galaxy, this would work fine.

Even without a backup feature, you could technically manually backup your games... it would just take a little more know how. But regardless this is the biggest difference between Galaxy and Steam. With Galaxy it's all very do able, compared to Steam were you would literally have to hack it or spoof it somehow.
Posted May 06, 2015
Where is the forum for Galaxy?
thanks for the invite, but how to easily report difficulties?

Steam->community = jails->yard/lubricant
GOG->community = liberty->agora/collective freedom
The freedom of others, far from being a limitation or denial of my
freedom, is rather the necessary condition and confirmation.
I become truly free only by the freedom of others, so
the more numerous are the free men around me the more
deeper and wider is their freedom, and then broader deeper
and wider becomes my freedom.
Post edited May 06, 2015 by ERISS
Posted May 06, 2015
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Maighstir: snip
All this is good to know, thank you.

As for the rest, I will say this: I'm not being out-and-out contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, but I can understand why it may seem that way. A lot of people have trouble accepting change, and I'm one of them. GOG says it's all about freedom and option, right? I just want to have the option to carry on as before (with the Downloader), that's all. And since I'll be able to, at least for the foreseeable future, I'm good.
Posted May 06, 2015
I'll try it when the Linux version "eventually" comes out :)

The feature I'm looking forward the most is the standalone installer/tarball downloader. If it's reliable and easy to use, it makes downloading GOGs a bit easier than using the account page, which seems a bit laggy at times.
Posted May 06, 2015
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ERISS: Where is the forum for Galaxy?
thanks for the invite, but how to easily report difficulties?
All bugs and problems can be reported here:
http://mantis.gog.com
Posted May 06, 2015
waiting for the linux client...
Posted May 06, 2015
Just a question : when can we expect a Galaxy Proper (or "gold" or whatever they call the finish product) ?

Are such things a matter of weeks, or months or a year ?
Posted May 06, 2015
high rated
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lostwolfe: sorry for the hijackery.

but you guys need to do a newspost explaining:
the timing of the beta roll out.
and that this will be "truly optional" - there's a lot of grumbling that it might turn out not to be. [and given your track record, i'm with the worriers. ;)]
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JudasIscariot: You know what? We've made it quite clear that Galaxy is going to be optional, whether it was via the introductory video, GOG staff repeating this over and over. the actual games having the temporary GOG Launcher removed AND being able to run without Galaxy when the GOG Launcher was there and so on.

If people are still grumbling about this after all of the above, then let them grumble and they can continue not using Galaxy and nothing will change for them.
Will that be the same as with your "one world, one price" principle?
Posted May 06, 2015
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Maighstir: First: To begin with, the downloader will not stop working at once, even if GOG won't actively update it and future changes to the back-end may make it so.
Indeed; and I wasn't very clear in my post that I realised it would continue to work for the short term. It's only the long-term I'm concerned about.
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Maighstir: Second: The public is free to build their own clients for the Galaxy system. Documentation will be released (eventually). So there's a good chance someone else may build something akin to the current downloader that you can use instead.
An interesting point, although I would like to see GOG supporting a download client for all operating systems on which the games themselves are supported.
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Maighstir: Third: A genuine question, if you don't mind. Why are you opposed to use Galaxy solely as a downloader of plain installers in the same way you currently use the downloader?
What gave you the impression that I was opposed to that? My concern -- derived directly from the post to which I had replied -- is that, at some point in the future, Galaxy won't work on all of the operating systems for which the games themselves are supported -- and whether, at that point, the original downloader will still function on those systems, or if those users will be stuck with trying to download using their web browsers.
Post edited May 06, 2015 by Shadowcat
Posted May 06, 2015
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Daliz: I'll try it when the Linux version "eventually" comes out :)

The feature I'm looking forward the most is the standalone installer/tarball downloader. If it's reliable and easy to use, it makes downloading GOGs a bit easier than using the account page, which seems a bit laggy at times.
Moi aussi

Been loving the windows version so far though.

It's Happening.gif

Feature that I would love to see: Achievements for good old games

Ultima IV Achievemnet Unlocked! Bought a Magic Wand
You enjoy the feeling of knowing you'll never lose another fight
Post edited May 06, 2015 by bradgy
Posted May 06, 2015
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gaddarmice: Your son would not have to buy it again unless he want to get feature of Galaxy client like achievement and so. So I don't think it's kind of restriction.
Multiplayer as mentioned above would seem the most important of the 'missing' features for his son then.
Posted May 06, 2015
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smyron766: Same as if a friend bought it on his account and brought the installer to me. I didn't buy it, it's not in my online library, so will they auto update? Will it even be an option to add a GOG game that I myself haven't purchased?
RE: The friend brings an installer over to your home and it's not a game on your account:

That's colloquially referred to as "piracy", and it refers to stealing software content that does not belong to you.
For reference, see rules 1 and 9 listed in the FAQ.
http://www.gog.com/support/website_help/downloads_and_games
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGOG Galaxy Beta starts now(1170 posts)(1170 posts)
(1170 posts)