A new team set up on Launchpad – the online hub for Ubuntu’s development activities – appears to show just how seriously Canonical are taking gaming on their platform.
Although little has yet been announced about the team – called ‘Ubuntu Game Developers‘ – or their purpose, the existing members list reads like a who’s-who of technical elite.
Canonical’s Daniel van Vugt – whose Launchpad profile shows him to be an adept and prolific Compiz/Unity developer – is listed as ‘owner’ of the team. Also listed as member are the ‘Compiz Maintainers’ and three engineers from games company Unity 3D, namely: Na’Tosha Bard, Levi Bard, and Lasse Makholm.
What We Know
We know that 13.04 will be putting the spotlight on Unity’s performance, and Steam’s imminent arrival is adding more watts to said spotlight.
As such it’s not a stretch to conclude that this team has been set-up with the aims of finding and addressing issues affecting gaming performance on Ubuntu (as opposed to being a team set up to develop games for Ubuntu!).
The Ubuntu Developer Summit being held this week in Copenhagen, Denmark, has several tracks directly related to gaming performance in Unity, with many blueprints and ideas and solutions being proposed.
Several members of the Unity 3D Engine team are also present and participating.
Chances are more about this team and their aims will be revealed as the week progresses.