I get the itch every now and again but the fact that I can’t just install it and play is enough to keep me away.

I’m used to debian, it was the first on the list of distros I downloaded to try and it worked right away, so I kept it. Overall, Pop Os is unintrusive and works, so it’s perfect for me.

Do the programs you develop run on wine? It could be an option while developing, but either way you’ll have to QA it on windows at some point.