Steam ?

Monkey Archive Forums/Monkey Discussion/Steam ?

Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#1]
I'v never released anything on steam, I know max had a steam lib or module at some point but it was not something I ever used, or had anything to use with it at that time.

After reading the recent Steam Green Light news, I was thinking about Steam as a serious target , and was wondering if anyone else has pumped out a monkey game onto steam, what are the requirements, does building for GLFW do the trick or are there other considerations and code changes required.

thanks for any info.


Soap(Posted 2012) [#2]
I do not know if anyone has released a Monkey made game on Steam yet.

You would need to take into consideration the Steam audience and make a decision based on which available targets would work best.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

The most viable target we have is Monkey Max, but that needs work too. Without DirectX support you are making certain a still huge chunk of users won't be able to play your games, although this percentage diminishes every time they do their survey. GLFW may be enough for a Steam release if your game is core, but if it is not core then you had better make sure it can run on older computers.

Steam Greenlight is not a free pass onto Steam. It is only a popularity check. If your game is not popular Steam knows to ignore you, but even if it is popular if your game does not meet Steam's standards in terms of quality then they will not publish your game - unless the popularity is unbelievable, and in that case you don't need for your games to be on Steam.


arawkins(Posted 2012) [#3]
There are some XBLIG / XNA games that have made the trip to Steam (Cthulu saves the world jumps to mind). Maybe that would be a suitable target to start with?


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#4]
there has to be some one who's done steam with monkey.


Neuro(Posted 2012) [#5]
I don't think there currently is. From what I've been hearing, its not easy to get your game into Steam unless they feel it meets their quality controlled criteria (whatever that maybe). Even with BlitzMax, there's only a like a couple of games that i know of that made it Steam. Unless i'm missing something, i havent seen anything develop in monkey that even targets the PC platform. Everyone seems to be targeting the mobile, or browser based platform, and I know Raz has one on XBL. However, the project I am working on is directly targeting the PC platform :).


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#6]
Yeah I'm the same Terminal 2 will be release on Flash/Html5 and Windows, so if I can figure out the details, I will try and get on Steam.


Why0Why(Posted 2012) [#7]
Taiphoz,

Are you planning to export to MonkeyMax? Also, why wouldn't you hit the Mac platform right off the bat as well?


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#8]
If I can avoid exporting to max first I will, unless there is a need or big bonus in doing it, in which case I would consider it.

As for Mac, Apple are ***** and force developers to own an apple computer before they can compile mac code, or ios code, and I do not own a mac, its one of the first things I will buy if I earn anything from terminals flash release, or steam if that ever happens.

Until then, its Windows, Flash, Html5 and possibly linux.


Tibit(Posted 2012) [#9]
Talked to Steam yesterday - they where here on our BusinessPark on a Indy meeting.

Some news:

Greenlight is the only way into Steam, for big and small players. Users can't see how well a game is ranking, and games are ranked using random algorithms so all games get a chance over and over.

Steam workers will have no say in the games that are voted up, except for making sure the build you send to them, is remotly similar to the build users playtested on Greenlight. The top games will be the ones to be chosen when new game slots open up over time.

That was the impression I got from them.

For a game that has some depth, it sure sounds like an Indy dream with a ranking system similar to Kongregate - and from there we know graphics is not what makes the day - gameplay is, the Steam audience might be different tough.


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#10]
Thanks for the information , it's in line with what I got from the greenlight process.

I'm less interested in how a game will pass through the green light voting, thats something each individual game will have to go through and will pass or fail based on their own merits.

What I am more curious about is any code specific changes I might have to make to a GLFW build from monkey, to make it compatible and work with steam, if any at all.

I recall the max steam module having code for letting steam know about achievements and stuff, so I assume there is going to need to be specific code added to make a game steam compatible, or has their requirements changed since then.

this is the info I am trying to get at. hope some one knows.


Tibit(Posted 2012) [#11]
What I remember it was not much integration work, they wrap your exe & installer, unless you want extra features. And they are even automating that process as well :)


Neuro(Posted 2012) [#12]
What I remember it was not much integration work, they wrap your exe & installer, unless you want extra features

Is that just for Greenlight or going forward? From what i heard so far, you have to integrate it yourself in using their Steamworks SDK so that their features will work with your game before it can be put on Steam.


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#13]
Yeah that's what I'm interested in, I vaguely recall a conversation with a fellow dev a few years ago and he told me as I recall that he had to add a load of stuff to his game before steam would take it.