[SUGGESTION] Distribution through Steam

Hey, Steam for Mac just came out (w00t! And it comes with a free copy of Portal until May 24, so go get it!) and I had the idea that once Xonotic is stable and functional, we could distribute it through Steam. We'd get a ton of publicity, especially for a free game.

I haven't thought this entirely through, so there might be some sticking points that I'm unaware of, and we're probably nowhere near a release-worthy version quite yet, but I'm ecstatic about this idea. (Then again, I'm ecstatic about every idea I have for a few hours. It generally dies down by the next day.)

If the devs are inetersted in pursuing this, Valve's Business Solutions page should be the best place to start.

I hate steam when I used it on windows, but that's just me. And I doubt this will happen for reasons I don't know but my guess would be something to do with the license xonotic uses.

Hmmm. IDK much about Steam publishing, so who knows how they handle GPL...

This may be one of those "sticking points."

I have, like, and regularly use Steam, but I don't think getting Xonotic on Steam is a terribly good idea. Getting your game on Steam (even a free one) is kind of like selling out, you either force your existing players to get Steam to play, or you have a Americas Army type situation, were you have 2 forms of distribution, and let me tell you, that did NOT work well and made me quit the game (Americas army).

And update wise, It would be kind of irritating to have Steam updating Xonotic a lot. Unless the Xonotic team had a regular update cycle for Steam, which in turn would add another layer of complicating to the Xonotic project.

I don't mean to say its a bad idea, its just a less desirable one.

Your first point is valid, but your second one (about the update cycle), well...

I'll let the Valve Business Solutions page sum it up:

Distribute your game on your terms, updating it as quickly and frequently as you see fit.

(from the Steamworks description blurb)

NO IT BURNS AGGGGHHHHHH.... *sizzle Ok seriously I don't think that would work because Xonotic is all GPL, and have you seen a single free game on steam?

Your first point is valid, but your second one (about the update cycle), well...

I'll let the Valve Business Solutions page sum it up:

Distribute your game on your terms, updating it as quickly and frequently as you see fit.

(from the Steamworks description blurb)

Oh, I guess your right. Well that is a plus if the community decides to use Steam.

If it's doable, I don't see why it couldn't be distributed via Steam in addition to the regular download. Steam is about to go multiplatform and be available on Linux and Mac. I can't see it happening though, I don't know if a GPL game can be distributed through Steam and I don't know how much it would cost to get Valve to put it up on there. If it ends up on there though, that's most likely the client I would run.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it, DOSBox was used to power id's full line of DOS games that are available on Steam, still I don't know if distributing a completely free game on Steam would be doable and if there would be a fee that's needed to be paid to do so. IF distributing a 100% free game on Steam is doable then Xonotic NEEDS to be given a Steam client just for the bragging rights of being the first free/GPL compliant game to be distributed on that platform.

The nay sayers need to understand that another source of advertisement is NOT a bad thing, and quit whining about it. Sorry to be rude, but Xonotic should take whatever means possible to reach the public.
I use steam every day to play games and communicate with many of my friends, I can find nothing wrong with it, on both windows and linux.

It's not as if you would be required to use the steam version.

It certainly would be nice, but i havent seen any free game on Steam yet and since Servers also cost something, I kind of doubt S
team would agree with hosting Xonotic for Free on their Servers.
I guess the only way would be to create a Xonotic Version that costs a couple of bucks ... which isnt really what this project aims for.
But it would be worth a try imho.

IF Xonotic could be distributed on Steam, would the Steam version be able to connect to network games hosted on non-Steam servers? I don't know anything about Steam's server architecture, so I thought I should check.

IF Xonotic could be distributed on Steam, would the Steam version be able to connect to network games hosted on non-Steam servers? I don't know anything about Steam's server architecture, so I thought I should check.

Yes. Both steam and non-steam players would be able to play with each other.

This would likely cost money. Making xonotic itself cost money is a bad idea. Is inclusion in steam a flat rate? A one time payment? Maybe a community fundraiser?
I think I heard of a linux steam-like client somewhere. Perhaps we could use that?

Perhaps once Xonotic is released, we encourage the players to donate money to the project? Nothing mandatory, but something to help pay for Steam if we use it. (I am assuming that Steam distribution costs money; I don't really know.)

We should ask for donations regardless of steam.

This would likely cost money. Making xonotic itself cost money is a bad idea. Is inclusion in steam a flat rate? A one time payment? Maybe a community fundraiser?
I think I heard of a linux steam-like client somewhere. Perhaps we could use that?

It's been leaked actually. The jokers at Valve accidently had the file hosted on their server before the Mac beta client was publicly released.

IMHO we shouldn't request donations before the first release, or this might look like a scam

If the game can be put on steam as a free download for free and would be allowed to stay GPL, then nothing speaks against it.

We should ask for donations regardless of steam.

Agreed. However, I think we should have some cause that they go towards, like server hosting (Steam or otherwise). If we don't, people might think that the devs are milking the community for money or something. (Yes, I know it's absurd that people might think that and sad that they even have to worry about it, but unfortunately, there is a reason why my sig says "Humans..."; they* digust me at times.)

* Who says I'm human myself? (Also, who says I'm not? ) Even so, I'd be ashamed to consider myself a member of any species that partakes in that kind of corrupt behavior.

Donations could be split, with portions going to the devs (of course) and to server admins depending on how many people usually play on their servers.

I think the best way out of this would be to ask the Steam ppl about hosting a GPL game there. It's advertising for them also if they have an another free game (gather ppl around that free game and in time they start buying those not free too). Currently I know of 2 full games free (as in beer) on Steam - Trackmania Nations Forever and Peggle Extreme (but they are either way more of a large demo than a complete game), but I guess someone is paying for them being there...

Anyway I think it's best to ask and then draw conclusions.

Steam is a non-free, closed-source proprietary sales thingie. I'm very sure that it costs something to get a game onto steam. And if you only use Steam as a download platform, is has no advantage over offering the download on some website (on the contrary imo). Steam helps companies sell/distribute games and implement DRM. I don't see how Steam should help a free game.

Really integrating the game into Steam (so it is launched via that annoying Steam app that takes ages to load) would also mean that no linux distro would agree to have an official package of your game since it depends on non-free software. That would be very bad imo.

Steam does not require the use of DRM, nor does distributing through Steam stop you from allowing your game to be distributed through any other avenue.

Info on Steam distribution and getting on to Steam:

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/p...rvices.php

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/g...tarted.php

A fair few free games already exist on Steam, most as mods to HL series games.

@dfsp_spirit: the point isn't to make Steam the exclusive place where to get Xonotic, but to give it as an option. Think of it as a download mirror + a great big marketing billboard (Steam is coming to Linux, so if Xonotic would be a free game that would launch with Steam for Linux just think of the milions of new players!).

Those not wanting to get the game via Steam could get it the normal way - from the site or their distro repo.

Steam heavily promotes the use of DRM. Even if Xonotic was distributed via Steam without DRM, it would still help promote the platform, which is a bad thing for everyone that values freedom. More importantly, there are many GPL issues to consider, as Steam isn't set up to distribute source code.

Only if the Steam version is an ADDITIONAL version and it's not only on Steam.