The offline installers for No Man's Sky are actually updated pretty fast now, compared to a year ago. It's still slower than Galaxy like the OP noticed.

Part of the delay is probably because it is really somewhat harder to create (and test) offline installers compared to Galaxy updates.

The other part is what I call the annoyance factor. It's about slowy annoying your existing offline installer users. Forcing them into a new "way" (Galaxy) which solves problems which didn't even exist before Galaxy existed. It's about omitting functionality like multiplayer, delaying updates, leaving out certain features, etc. in the offline installers. Slowly annoying users and forcing them to Galaxy.

I feel like a third class citizen on a second rate website :P. But it's close enough, I guess.

That's mostly because the devs keep them updated, but there are some who just don't care. And GOG does not really care that they don't care when that happens.

I keep a fairly accurate weekly updated record of what is "behind schedule", here: https://airtable.com/shrldLsErlUf3eHqS

Does anyone here have info on how the process of making / releasing offline installers works on gog? Is it really a manual process or is it automated?

If you knock on these gates, nobody will answer, but we can imagine what lies beyond them...

P.S.: There's also an entry for this in the APIs.

Valid points. Prior to 2019, GOG was perfect for me. I got my Linux binaries and kept it moving. I just recently got into SP games. I preferred local MP titles and those worked/work without issue so far.

Steam is probably great for many Linux gamers. For me it's a no go. I did try it for a time. I only had 2 friends and 2 kids on there. Sold my account because the rest of my gaming circle was either here, Stadia or playing older games independent of digital stores. We're and older gaming group.

I don't know if online MP will stay on my radar once people start visiting more. As it stands right now my group only meets 1 day a week for about 3 hours or less.

I think Galaxy was just a mistake all around. They should have not even bothered or like you said give the tools to the community to make fan made stuff for those that wanted it.

I was asking because a lot of people here seem to be claiming that offline installers are basically done by hand on gog, and are therefore an annoyance to the staff. But from the way i understand the GOG.com Team member Thiev's statement in this thread

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/game_updates_only_available_with_galaxy_now_is_this_going_to_be_a_regular_thing

this doesn't seem to be the case. So i'm really confused about what info i have missed that makes people think everything is a tedious, manual process.

Not by any legit digital gaming store.

You are talking about pirated versions. Good luck with all the malware and bitcoin mining stuff embedded into them. There is a reason they are offered for "free", there is no free lunch.

Also those versions tend to be incomplete because they e.g. drop all the optional languages out of the installers, and they use "compression methods" which make the installation process itself very time consuming, much more so than with GOG installers.

And, trying to find up-to-date versions is much more bothersome than with legit GOG installers.

And what is even more hilarious: those installers you mention do not receive separate update patches either, which is what the OP was talking about.

So in essence, you had nothing useful to say. No one really expected it either.

Changed from what?

Was there ever a time where GOG offered separate offline update patches for all, or even most, of their games, when they got updated? I don't have any statistics, but I do not think so. It always was like many games didn't get separate patches, while some others did. Some still do, e.g. CDPR's own The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 games.

To my understanding the creation of offline installers is nowadays largely automated, and it creates the offline installers directly from the Galaxy files. So if a game is updated in Galaxy to the master branch, I presume the system creates a whole new updated offline installer from those files. Doing separate patch installers on top of that is extra work, and possibly even manual work.

Yeah I'd suggest others consider doing similar: wait until a game is "old"-ish to purchase it, as long as the devs haven't abandoned it (ask about that). I don't buy new games, but if I did I wouldn't get them here frankly.

Those who are afraid of clients are somehow similar to those who were afraid of cars and just stuck to their horses.
And look how many people still ride horses :O
Clients are already the normal way of gaming.

It comes with the territory when you're a Linux gamer. DRM free gaming was supposed to make that better.

How wrong I was.

You're being downvoted but in this case I tend to agree. However, I think offline installers will be around longer than some here expect, the PR would likely be pretty awful no matter how GOG spins it.

From everything I've heard the majority of GOG users use Galaxy to some degree, and it works well as a downloader without even needing it for games. Just because you don't like a thing doesn't mean it was a "mistake."

Also for better or worse Linux is simply such a drop in the ocean as to be a non-factor when making decisions. It is what it is.

Don't need no Galaxy, don't really care about this so-called majority or their preferences or use of software. Offline installers through my browser of choice is all I care for.
I'm still working on backing up my entire collection. Also, at this point in time I am no longer interested in purchasing anything here. GOG can do as they please, I am fine with my decision.

I use Galaxy, but I dislike how GOG is "softly" forcing us into that ecosystem.

GOG is supposed to be about ownership and choice.

The offline installers should always be just as updated and viable as Galaxy.

If Galaxy is to succeed it should be upon its merits... not because customers had no other choice if they wanted updated and viable games (especially on a platform that struggles to get games updated to the standards available elsewhere).