11-16-2014, 09:02 AM
Yes, I have read the blog post about Steam... and I was also reading some more recent post in this forum.
This was actually intended to be a reply to a comment, but it started getting long (and I accidentally deleted it), so in the end I might as well make a new thread. It's not the typical "I WANNA STEAM" post, I think.
I think divVerent summarized the actual concern very well in this sentence:
Leaving aside whether there would really be that much pressure (most Steam gamers wouldn't even care to come to the Xonotic forums) and whether this would really be worse than progressively having less and less gamers, I don't think it's impossible to support Steamworks.
You could for example have a "xonotic-steam-launcher.exe" that launches Xonotic, waits for it to finish, reads some files in the disk conveniently generated by Xonotic and use this info to report back to the Steam Workshop API and activate any archievement indicated in the data. For Steam it would be as if the launcher was the actual game and Xonotic was a mere asset.
This launcher could have a different license (could be closed source for all I care) and it wouldn't be in violation of any Xonotic license.
Furthermore, you could even have the launcher request for stats from xonstat and send the values back to steam leaderboards (not sure why would anyone want that, though... steam leaderboards are shitty). This way you could keep Steam on sync with xonstat (and even if they get out of sync no serious gamer would really give a shit.. steam leaderboards are full of hacks).
A more useful application is that the launcher could be used to keep the user configuration saved and synced to Steam Cloud.
As a newcomer myself, I think Xonotic would benefit a lot from Steam exposure, and it would actually be pretty convenient to have the user settings saved on the internet and synced in all the computers I may use.
I've also heard some worries about the game not being finished, or undergoing some rebalancing and thus being not yet suitable for release, advertising, etc.
Well, considering how slow the Steam Greenlight process can be, I would say you should submit your application already. It's not like you are gonna be forced to make a release as soon as you get greenlit, there are other open source games (like Warsow and Frogatto) that have been greenlit already and they are still not published, only because they are still undergoing preparations (for more than a year already). However, waiting now for the game to be ready and only later submitting the request might just end up stopping you from doing it at all.. who knows if there will ever be a time when everyone is really happy with the game balance? What if the game is never "ready" and is always in constant evolution? Submit it already and then we will have some indication that there's actually a plan for the game to ever be done.
This was actually intended to be a reply to a comment, but it started getting long (and I accidentally deleted it), so in the end I might as well make a new thread. It's not the typical "I WANNA STEAM" post, I think.
I think divVerent summarized the actual concern very well in this sentence:
(10-07-2014, 03:16 AM)divVerent Wrote: [ -> ]We however COULD release on Steam WITHOUT using Steamworks. However, this will lead to permanent pressure to finally support Steamworks (e.g. to show achievements on Steam), which we - as stated - outright can't.
Leaving aside whether there would really be that much pressure (most Steam gamers wouldn't even care to come to the Xonotic forums) and whether this would really be worse than progressively having less and less gamers, I don't think it's impossible to support Steamworks.
You could for example have a "xonotic-steam-launcher.exe" that launches Xonotic, waits for it to finish, reads some files in the disk conveniently generated by Xonotic and use this info to report back to the Steam Workshop API and activate any archievement indicated in the data. For Steam it would be as if the launcher was the actual game and Xonotic was a mere asset.
This launcher could have a different license (could be closed source for all I care) and it wouldn't be in violation of any Xonotic license.
Furthermore, you could even have the launcher request for stats from xonstat and send the values back to steam leaderboards (not sure why would anyone want that, though... steam leaderboards are shitty). This way you could keep Steam on sync with xonstat (and even if they get out of sync no serious gamer would really give a shit.. steam leaderboards are full of hacks).
A more useful application is that the launcher could be used to keep the user configuration saved and synced to Steam Cloud.
As a newcomer myself, I think Xonotic would benefit a lot from Steam exposure, and it would actually be pretty convenient to have the user settings saved on the internet and synced in all the computers I may use.
I've also heard some worries about the game not being finished, or undergoing some rebalancing and thus being not yet suitable for release, advertising, etc.
Well, considering how slow the Steam Greenlight process can be, I would say you should submit your application already. It's not like you are gonna be forced to make a release as soon as you get greenlit, there are other open source games (like Warsow and Frogatto) that have been greenlit already and they are still not published, only because they are still undergoing preparations (for more than a year already). However, waiting now for the game to be ready and only later submitting the request might just end up stopping you from doing it at all.. who knows if there will ever be a time when everyone is really happy with the game balance? What if the game is never "ready" and is always in constant evolution? Submit it already and then we will have some indication that there's actually a plan for the game to ever be done.