Desura
Encyclopedia
Desura is a proprietary digital distribution
platform developed by DesuraNET for Microsoft Windows
and Linux
platforms, although a client for Mac OS X
has also been hinted at. It is used to distribute games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent developers rather than larger software houses. Desura also offers community features, automated game updates, and developer resources.
The interface itself offers various selections based on what feature a user may want to access, with installed games being offered through the "Play" tab, games available for download or purchase being offered through the "Games" tab, user interaction and social networking features from the "Community" tab, information and features for game developers through the "Development" tab, and technical support and client settings through the "Support" tab.
Unlike many of its competitors, Desura does not offer any digital rights management
services, and Desura employees have commented against its use in the past, recommending that content producers ship without DRM or at least use a CD Key system instead. However, Desura itself is DRM agnostic, and publishers and developers may sell games that require such technologies to be used. Desura will make sure users purchasing these titles are aware of the DRM it ships with and how it works.
Content hosted on Desura primarily falls into the category of Indie games, which are games by smaller developers who do not have the same amount of name or clout to negotiate deals with Steam and Valve's policies. Desura believes its tighter links to a dedicated community will foster better relationships between player and developer.
Desura is also highly tied to the Mod DB
community, as both are run by the same company. Thus, unlike Steam, Desura highlights content distribution for mods as one of its features, although this is not yet available for the Linux client.
and GTK+
as the toolkit, and was introduced in a limited beta program in the Fall. The client was publicly available for download and execution, but users could not log into the online service unless they were a selected beta tester. On November 16, 2011 the Desura Linux client was publicly released.
Although Desura is not the only game distribution platform available for Linux, with their being several traditional online sellers such as Tux Games
, Gameolith, Fun4Tux, and Wupra, as well as many Linux distribution
s distributing games through their package managment
systems, with the Ubuntu Software Centre even selling commerical game titles, the release of Desura has been heralded by several commentators as an important step to greater acknowledgement of Linux as a gaming platform.
On November 9, 2011 it was announced that the Linux client of Desura would be made partially free software
in order to facilitate its further development. The client itself would be released under the GNU General Public Licence, while the server-side portion of the distribution platform would remain proprietary. The media assets and trademarks would also remain property of Desura.
Digital distribution
Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...
platform developed by DesuraNET for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
platforms, although a client for Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
has also been hinted at. It is used to distribute games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent developers rather than larger software houses. Desura also offers community features, automated game updates, and developer resources.
Features
The Desura client is heavily tied to its website through the use of the Chromium Embedded Framework; most of its services are provided through its online interface, with the exception of the game launcher, installer, and update features. This provides Desura with a consistent interface that does not vary dramatically from system to system.The interface itself offers various selections based on what feature a user may want to access, with installed games being offered through the "Play" tab, games available for download or purchase being offered through the "Games" tab, user interaction and social networking features from the "Community" tab, information and features for game developers through the "Development" tab, and technical support and client settings through the "Support" tab.
Unlike many of its competitors, Desura does not offer any digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
services, and Desura employees have commented against its use in the past, recommending that content producers ship without DRM or at least use a CD Key system instead. However, Desura itself is DRM agnostic, and publishers and developers may sell games that require such technologies to be used. Desura will make sure users purchasing these titles are aware of the DRM it ships with and how it works.
Comparison with Steam
Desura is primarily important as a plausible source of future growth in a market dominated by Valve's Steam platform. However, Scott Reismanis, the founder of DesuraNET does not consider it a competitor, but rather an attempt to address a different segment of the market.Content hosted on Desura primarily falls into the category of Indie games, which are games by smaller developers who do not have the same amount of name or clout to negotiate deals with Steam and Valve's policies. Desura believes its tighter links to a dedicated community will foster better relationships between player and developer.
Desura is also highly tied to the Mod DB
Mod DB
Player's Choice*Best Indie Game: Tremulous*Best Released Mod: Point of Existence 2*Best Unreleased Mod: Black Mesa*By genre-2005:*-2004:*-2003:*-2002:*- External links :* *...
community, as both are run by the same company. Thus, unlike Steam, Desura highlights content distribution for mods as one of its features, although this is not yet available for the Linux client.
History
Near its launch, it publicized itself by offering free keys for games to augment the purchases of the same games made through the 2nd Humble Indie Bundle.Linux Support
Development on a Linux client was announced during the Summer of 2011, using wxWidgetsWxWidgets
wxWidgets is a widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces for cross-platform applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with minimal or no code changes...
and GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
as the toolkit, and was introduced in a limited beta program in the Fall. The client was publicly available for download and execution, but users could not log into the online service unless they were a selected beta tester. On November 16, 2011 the Desura Linux client was publicly released.
Although Desura is not the only game distribution platform available for Linux, with their being several traditional online sellers such as Tux Games
Tux Games
Tux Games is one of the first still active online Linux game retailers, founded on January 1, 2000 by Michael Simms, who would later also found Linux Game Publishing...
, Gameolith, Fun4Tux, and Wupra, as well as many Linux distribution
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
s distributing games through their package managment
Package management system
In software, a package management system, also called package manager, is a collection of software tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner...
systems, with the Ubuntu Software Centre even selling commerical game titles, the release of Desura has been heralded by several commentators as an important step to greater acknowledgement of Linux as a gaming platform.
On November 9, 2011 it was announced that the Linux client of Desura would be made partially free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
in order to facilitate its further development. The client itself would be released under the GNU General Public Licence, while the server-side portion of the distribution platform would remain proprietary. The media assets and trademarks would also remain property of Desura.