Recently had a question about a game running on the deck, and actually got me thinking since steamos settings were briefly discussed: what are the settings to change for a steam deck, or tools to add? I do not mean more fps or more performance per say only, but more battery life or just better tools for certain aspects of the deck.
Decky loader with the protondb badge plugin was the biggest qol upgrade for me. Also heroic launcher
I would say try out Junk Store for the alternative game stores so long as youāre using Decky Loader. I greatly prefer it over Heroic
Junk Store dev gives me bad vibes and is charging money for GoG access, and after a recent update is forcing everyone to purchase a second license from his Patreon to access GoG again. I say fuck that noise, thatās sketchy af
We want to clear up a few misunderstandings.
First, we are not charging money for access to your GOG games. That implies you have no other way to use them, which simply isnāt trueāthere are other tools available, and we encourage users to support those projects too, since they also require time, effort, and funding to maintain.
Junk Store was designed to be extensible. Our dev made it open to community contributions from day oneāespecially for those with Python skillsāso that development could be shared. If someone in the community built and released a GOG extension as open source, we would absolutely welcome that. The reason we charge for our GOG extension is simple: our tiny team is doing all the work, and community demand keeps growing. Our developer has already put over 1,000 hours into the open source core and another 400 into the GOG extensionāsolo. The new closed-source version has required nearly 4,500 hours, including building our own Decky alternative to operate independently. This scale of effort simply isnāt sustainable without support.
Also, no final pricing has been announcedāso any claims about being āforcedā to pay are speculative and incorrect. The existing open source plugin and GOG extension will remain available. No one is being locked out. Yes, the upcoming version offers added features, but users arenāt being forced to upgrade. Weāre committed to transparency, choice, and sustainability.
Thereās a widespread misconception in open source that developersā time is free. That idea is both unfair and damaging. Quality software takes work, and that work deserves respect.
Weāre committed to choice, transparency, and fairness. No tricks, no lock-insājust a small team trying to build something awesome, and asking to be supported for the work we do. Thatās not sketchy. Thatās just honest.
Great rebuke. Once you guys release the paid version, you may have swayed me or anyone reading to consider buying in. Hopefully you guys donāt force a recurring payment like how you have set up through your Patreon
We get that not everyone will agree with every decision, but weāre aiming for a balance between sustainability and fairness. The goal isnāt to nickel-and-dimeāitās to make sure we can keep building without burning out.
Just to clarify: the GOG extension is a one-off purchaseā$6 through Ko-fi or Patreon shop (and has been for a while). If you want it for $5, you can sub and cancel right away (which you have always been able to do), though that adds a bit of manual work for us when updates roll out. Recurring support is totally optional and only for those who choose to subscribe, like they do with plenty of other open source projects.
Weāre Kiwis, so this might sound a bit bluntābut honestly, the software should speak for itself. If it doesnāt work for someone, they shouldnāt use it. Weāre not into pushing it or spinning hype. Weāve never peddled it or tried to sell people on it. The folks who do use it? They stick around because it does what itās supposed to, and fills a real need. Thatās it.
Thanks! Will check it out
Decky loader is actually very interesting, thanks for sharing!