Leadwerks Software has entered the final week of their crowdfunding campaign to bring their game development tools to Linux. With the project over 140% funded, the company has added several stretch goals beyond their original $20,000 target. The first goal for OUYA support has already been reached. Additional goals include integration with the free 3D modeling package Blender and support for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. A concurrent Greenlight campaign was also successful, making Leadwerks the first 3D game engine approved for Steam.
The company's Kickstarter page lists three goals for the campaign. First, they point out that most Linux games are ported over from Windows, rather than being developed natively on Linux. The company wants to change this by putting the game development process on Linux.
Second, the company hopes to expand the Linux library of games. They say that putting game development tools in the hands of Linux users will allow more Linux games to be built, and can even lead to Linux-exclusive titles.
Leadwerks has a strong history in high-end PC graphics, and the company says they want to bring this technology to Linux. This will let Linux users play AAA gamesthat run natively on Linux, instead of going through emulators like WINE. The company points out that the superior performance of OpenGL on Linux makes it the perfect platform for AAA games.
“Our campaign has demonstrated the viability of Linux as a platform for games and commercial software,” said Josh Klint, founder of Leadwerks Software. “I’m excited to be working together with Valve and Canonical to build a strong open platform for PC gaming. The response from the Linux community has been overwhelmingly positive, and I can’t thank them enough for making this possible.”
You can view the Leadwerks for Linux Kickstarter campaign here.
Leadwerks Software was founded in 2006 to provide game development tools powerful enough for professionals, yet easy enough for beginners. The third iteration of their technology, Leadwerks 3, opens Leadwerks up to multi-platform development including Linux, Mac, and mobile devices.
