SteamWorks (Quality of game?)

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Socoder -> Question of the Day -> SteamWorks (Quality of game?)
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 13:19
Afr0	I've been discussing SteamWorks on IRC and looking into it. Apparently you have to contact Valve before your game is allowed to appear on Steam. Quality and gameplay wise, what do you think would be a reasonable checklist to go through before sending a demo to Valve? Should it have/be: A certain number of enemies? A certain number of levels? Original? To what extent? How do you determine pricing? The SteamWorks page specifically mentions that you should include a 'target price'. Anything else? -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 14:17
Nolan	Achievements.
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 15:05
Jayenkai	No game should ever be sold on "# of Enemy" I can't even believe you added that as an option. Dead Rising = Hundreds at once, vs Portal = One. That doesn't matter, neither does # of Levels. What matters is that the game isn't a mountain of crap. If it's a mountain of crap it won't get it. If it's at least half a decent game, it just might. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 15:53
Afr0	So... uhm... what makes a half decent game?
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 16:01
Jayenkai	Playability, end of..
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 16:21
Afr0	FFS! I've told DiablosDevil this before. You can't say 'end of'! You have to have a subject there! I think you can actually say 'end of subject', but there needs to be a subject there or the sentence makes no grammatical sense whatsoever! E.G; You can say 'end of story', but you can't say 'end of'! -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Thu, 04 Mar 2010, 17:24
steve_ancell	Blow to grammar. "End Of" sounds better !
Fri, 05 Mar 2010, 02:36
JL235	@steve: Agreed, end of. Anywho, getting back on topic. There are some quantative values you could place on a game, such as the amount of gameplay time in the game. Although that itself is very subjective. But like Jay said you can't base quality on pure values alone; number of levels or number of enemies. Goldeneye has very few unique enemies, most are the same but with a different skin. It's short and easy, but it's also amazing. I think it's about the quality of the art & sound (including how well they fit together and fit to the game). The type of game and how well it's marketable (an ultra avant-garde text adventure about rape might not make it). It also needs to be well polished. Partly with graphics like fades, glows, flares, proper transitions. But also with features; highscores, online play, full menus everywhere, multiple modes of play, custom map building, multiple difficulties, etc. And like Goldeneye, playability too. If it's fun, if people want to play, then they will.
Fri, 05 Mar 2010, 08:32
Phoenix	It has to be a good game. Like JL said, a good game has nice looking visuals and audio, is challenging and is polished. That's pretty general advice, but what makes a good game really can't be quantified by variables such as the number of levels or the number of enemies. It's not that simple.
Wed, 19 Jan 2011, 07:23
dantheman363	Ya, I have heard that it is not simple to get a game onto Steam from other people. -=-=- Extraterrestrial Grail
Wed, 19 Jan 2011, 07:52
Spare	You have to lookup the FAQ of steamworks, I've done that before. It pretty much says your game has to be fun, as far as I remember.