If i would have liked to optain the game for nothing, there would have been many ways of optaining it DRM free, even before the HB "sales". The old GOG Version might be off the shop, but it is not off the internet...

I am annoyed, the title was pulled from here in the first place (by the publisher, for no good reason), without warning (if I had a warning like today with "We happy few", I would have bought it at once). But it dissappeared from now to next second and it is not coming back. No reasons given.

The publisher gives it away for nothing. Today. And he is not interested in selling it for the 5 Dollar pice on GOG? THIS bugs me. A lot. It would not have hurt him, having it sold here. Does he dislike the shop? Does he dislike it's customers? Whatever, no good sign of trust from the publisher towards us.

And of cause I have my games as backups on my HDs, but I bought them all here, to make a stand against DRM and steams "other" practices, so buying it here is more important for me, than downloading it for free on HB. Sorry.

I decided to do something that I practically never do: install and play a game I have just purchased (in this case, for free).

The Humble Bundle version of Pony Island is not an installer, but simply a compressed zip file under which there is a "Windows" folder under which is the pony island executable, data files and (an unneeded?) Steam API DLL

So I guess HB just took the Steam version files and put them into a zip file. Fine I guess, as long as it doesn't add any registry entries and such during the first launch, because you won't get rid of them either without an uninstaller... I guess this just shows what a generic incóherent mess the Humble Bundle installers are compared to e.g. GOG installers, but as long as they work, I guess...

The game runs fine (without Steam, yay! i wouldn't be surprised the Steam version also runs without the Steam client). What an odd game, apparently some kind of mindfuckery where something evil is trashing your computer and in each screen you just have to find a way to "fix it" and proceed.

Somewhat interesting, but also quite linear, it seems, ie. there is absolutely no reason to replay the game later, right? There's always one solution you need to find on each screen and that's it. I admit I got a bit bored trying to figure yet another fix for a broken desktop screen etc., but maybe I will continue it at some point.

If you truly care about DRM-free gaming, then you should support it wherever you're being provided that option, including Humble, other stores, or purchases directly from game Devs. Not only does it send the message to Humble and other distributors that there is a demand for DRM-free game downloads, you're also making sure that GOG has some competition in the DRM-free market. I think I don't need to explain why a monopoly is usually a very bad thing for the customers. And with all the changes GOG has already undergone during the past few years, I'd say it would be wise not to rely too much on a single store/distributor.

See it this way, the free version from Humble ( if it's currently still available ) is a legal way to obtain a DRM-free copy of the game. If you enjoy it, and it ever ends up on GOG again, you can still buy a copy here. But if it won't return, then you're just denying yourself the opportunity to play a game you're interested in.

The GOG versions of some games also install a "steam_api.dll" in the game folder. Some DRM-Free downloads from Humble have an installer while others just have compressed game folders - it always depends on the game.

And at least the DRM-Free downloads from Humble don't install unwanted "Galaxy DLL" files which some GOG games do like Dex for example: I installed it a while ago, started it and it crashed on start. I had to manually remove all Galaxy DLL files from the game folder to make it run.

So DRM-Free downloads from Humble are not generally worse than GOG versions.

That's the problem, it isn't as coherent as on GOG. Some are just zip files, some have installers, but then different HB games come with different kinds of installers than others... It is all over the place, as are the naming conventions of those HB filenames.

I recall e.g. one HB game installer having a filename like "setup_SB_HumbleBundle.exe" or something as idiotic, where you couldn't tell at all what game it was when you have it on your hard drive.

Even with that Pony Island, when you uncompress the game, it creates a subfolder "Windows". Not PonyIsland or something that would actually make sense, but "Windows". Oooookay.... Yeah it is the Windows version so it kinda makes sense, but what if some other HB game decides to use that same subfolder name?

I guess this all goes down to Humble Bundle's total "hands-off" approach to their DRM-free games (non-Steam games). They just take whatever a developer sends to them, be it a zip file, some installer, no matter how it is named... everything goes.

While the most important thing is that the games work (no matter in what kind of file or naming convention it is offered), I strongly prefer GOG's current way of uniform installers and filenaming conventions. Sure it is not 100% uniform with GOG installers either, e.g. they changed their version numbering recently so some of the installers use now the old and some the new version numbering, but it is a far cry from the the messy HB system where everything seems to go and HB itself doesn't really seem to care.

But in the end, HB Pony Island works so in that sense it is ok.


None of my GOG game installers come with unwanted client programs either.

You also conveniently forgot that HB sells also Steam-only games... How's that about forcing an unwanted client on you? :D

Uhh... Nope. :D

DRM-free games on Humble are clearly marked, and easily found through use of the browsing filters, just as Steam games are clearly labeled as such. No sneaky business going on. Better yet, many purchases will include a DRM-free download as well as a code for Steam, for people who use both.

And that GOG has been pushing Galaxy pretty hard lately, using questionable methods, is not exactly a secret -- I'm sure you've seen a forum thread or ten on that topic, so I won't go further into that.

Look, I'm not saying that Humble is perfect, or even necessarily better than GOG -- I still currently buy most of my games here -- but I've long since stopped seeing GOG through rose-tinted glasses and will gladly make use of other DRM-free alternatives.

The GOG classic installers without embedded Galaxy installer are also clearly labeled as such.

I also buy from Humble Bundle once in a while (mainly Android games though) and I've bought DRM-free games elsewhere too like DotEmu(rip) and GamersGate, but I think it is odd to claim HB's DRM-free offerings are "just as good" as on GOG. They aren't, and I explained why. GOG's support for their DRM-free installers is on a quite a different level than the messy situation at HB.

Remember when people complain that GOG doesn't sometimes offer a separate update patch for their games, but the installers get updated all over when an update comes (e.g. with Titan Quest, which actually was updated yet again)? Well, how many times have you seen HB offering separate patches for their DRM-free installers (or zip files)? Like, never? Yet, people don't mind.

People clearly expect more from GOG's support (for their installers) than they do on HB, and I claim GOG's support for them is vastly superior to that of HB.