Project Ascension: Open Sourced Game Launcher

As a pc gamer I have games from Steam, Origin, GOG, and some mmos.
A group of gamers/programmers are working on an Open Sourced Game Launcher:
http://www.reddit.com/r/project_ascension
The goal is that you would only have to use this one launcher to launch your games from Steam, Origin, GOG. It gives you a universal interface for your gaming content.

What would it look like concept designs [Final Layout may change]:







They do need help making it. If you are interested in helping them go to the reddit forum. I personally like the idea of using one Launcher for my games and would love to help make this happen. I lack programming skills to help with it but I'll see if I can help in other ways.

What do you guys think about this Launcher/project? What do @Logan @wendell @DeusQain @Pistol think about this open source project?

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Will it update hours played from Steam?

How does it integrate with platforms like Steam and Origin which do not have public APIs (as far as I know)?

Would this be compatible with Linux too?

All good questions. The project is fairly new and they are still working on how to get to work. It's still in the concept phase. For steam and origin, one idea is that the launcher would launch steam or origin minimize or in the tray while launching the game:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Project_Ascension/comments/349e4z/forseeable_issues_and_solutions_part_1_launching/

Launching (and downloading) Games

Looking at each client and distribution platform and how launching it's games can be handled and if downloads can be handled independently. I'm not going to be talking about Galaxy as I'm not sure I'm allowed to and its super pre alpha anyway. I don't know enough about Desura to talk about that either.

•Steam: Still has to be running in the background to launch and download/update games. However it doesn't need to be the active window to do so and will happily run in the background and the full GUI won't start if Steam isn't running. Best to be started with windows and minimized to the system tray to improve load times. Downloads have to be handled by the client.

•Origin: As with Steam it has to be running in the background to download and launch games. But unlike Steam, when launching games will become the active window if the service isn't already started and minimized. Best to be started with windows and minimized to the system tray to improve load times and prevent the GUI becoming fully active. Downloads have to be handled by the client.

•Uplay: Same as Origin except the full front end will start regardless of if it is already running when you start a game. Best to be started when needed and killed when the game is quit. User intervention is often needed to start a game as it never seems to be able to decide whether it should use local or cloud saves, or it can find the right server. Downloads have to be handled by the client.

•GOG: Almost all GOG games will not need any form of launcher, even ones bundled with DOSBox or similar emulators. These can be started by directly linking to their executables. However any games that use the currently beta GOG Galaxy multiplayer backend will launch a small window which checks for updates, some will need user intervention to start. GOG downloader can be used to download games from GOG.com and provided the user signed into their GOG account, downloading games could conceivably be handed by Ascension.

•3rd Party Downloaders: These include things like battle.net's launcher and WarThunder's BitTorrent based client. These need to be started every time you want to run a game and won't work without internet access (they're online games silly). These cannot be bypassed for security reasons. Downloads have to be handled by the client.

•Other Indie/DRM free games: Like GOG games these can be launched and run without internet access (provided they're not multiplayer) at will. Some will have a front end to check for updates from a central server, but most will allow themselves to be launched offline. If they are properly added to Ascension and the user is signed into the relevant service, downloading games could conceivably be handled by Ascension.

The other questions I would be guessing

will this work on linux? if it will linux users would be so happy!. that look soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome.

This honestly looks allot better than steam. Lets hope that it functions better :)

This would be so awesome, i hope they dont abandon it!

I hope we'll see some skilled people contributing to this instead of just designers making UI mock ups.

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They announced their team:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Project_Ascension/wiki/team

These are early days for the project but it will be interesting to see what happens. I want this to happen.

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They hosted a livestream: keynote and q & a:


It was pretty informative, I highly recommended watching it.