ASYLUM is an upcoming supernatural horror adventure and the spiritual successor to cult classic Scratches set in a massive, decaying mental institute.
Funded on Kickstarter back in 2013 where they managed to get $119K in funding, and it's still one of the most successful campaigns to come from Argentina. As they continue hacking away at the code to bring it to release, they've given another big update on how it's doing - in short: very well.
One problem they've had during development is how Unreal Engine works with Linux builds, notably it's lack of video support with Linux. Senscape hacked around this initially, using some crazy black-magic to produce a series of JPGs that moved just like a traditional video - it wasn't perfect but it worked enough for the demos. Linux wasn't the only platform causing problems though, as they mentioned that even on Windows and macOS their videos looked different. So what did they do? Instead of just complaining or dropping platforms, they took the time to actually go and fully fix it.
They took the outdated VLC Player plugin for Unreal, spent some time learning how it works and reading up on the MP4 format for why there's platform differences mentioning they've "seen things you people wouldn't believe" (nice Blade Runner reference there).
As a result of their work they can have proper video support without major differences across Linux, macOS and Windows in Unreal Engine - something they said other developers have paid big sums for. For Linux gamers, the news here is that the "Linux port is now 100% on par with Windows/Mac in terms of features and performance" and that "Linux fans will be very pleased when they play it".
If that's not enough for you, they also mentioned on the Steam discussion for the announcement that "We are definitely uploading our changes and improvements soon, and possibility becoming maintainers of the plugin after that." — so other developers will be able to freely benefit from this too. Awesome.
You can follow ASYLUM on GOG and Steam if you're interested.
If you missed it, here's our preview of the older demo on Linux - it was great!
Watch video on YouTube.com