Yeah, AppImage solves a lot of distro portability issues, and it’s gaining popularity.
However, there are forward/backward compatibility issues with core Linux libraries like glibc. It’s possible to use alternative C libraries etc, but generally it’s easier and more future-proof to run a Windows build in WINE, lol.
For now I’m distributing a ZIP file with both Linux and Windows binaries to cover all the bases, an AppImage more for convenience, and thinking about an Itch installer build.
No speed issues with WINE; it’s not an emulator, just a (partial) replacement for OS functions. The problems are always about compatibility. It runs demanding games like Witcher 3 just fine, as well as Windows builds of most Unity/Unreal/Godot games.
I find it convenient to develop in Linux and test mostly in WINE - however, it’s more forgiving than real Windows so it is necessary to test on Windows occasionally.
SDL? If it works in Windows it should work in WINE. It’s more of a problem making portable Linux binaries because SDL has tons of dependencies, especially audio. Disabling SDL’s audio and using Miniaudio instead would probably solve 90% of those… although Linux core libs (glibc etc) cause so many backward/forward compat problems that WINE is (almost) preferable.
