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The Indie Games Steam petition

cliffskicliffski Registered User regular
edited October 2008 in Games and Technology
A bunch of indie devs have got together a petition to get their games listed on steam. Steam seems to be very popular amongst PC gamers, many of which also seem to be quite open to indie games once they hear about them. It's a LOT harder to get on steam than people assume, so this is a semi-serious attempt to get the guys at valve to take a look at our stuff. You can help by signing the petition here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/determinance/index.html
or read about it in more detail here:
http://www.mode7games.com/blog/?page_id=722
Disclaimer: I'm one of the devs on the petition (Positech).
Thanks to anyone who signs!

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Posts

  • dumbmanexdumbmanex Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    This, I support. Best of luck to yous guys!

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  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited October 2008
    It's a noble cause but seriously, do online petitions ever work?

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  • SceptreSceptre Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    No, but usually Valve is pretty cool about the whims of the internet.

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  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Guys, I wrote Hello World and STEAM won't publish it. What the hell, man? :x

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  • What Is Schwa?What Is Schwa? Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    I love Steam. I love Indy Games.

    Anything and everything should be available on Steam. I don't want to use another application on my PC for gaming, and am actually passing up titles that aren't available on steam.

    Although, I dunno if I want that dude to show up at Valve's door dressed as a tomato.

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  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Sceptre wrote: »
    No, but usually Valve is pretty cool about the whims of the internet.

    If it's worth it.


    It's not like Steam doesn't have a nice library of indie games, and just being able to throw anything up on steam isn't exactly going to be helping the platform.

    Gish, Eets, Audiosurf... they seemed to be able to make it on to steam, and I think "LOT'S OF CLICKS FROM PEOPLE WHO WANT GAEM ON STEAM" isn't going to work so much.

    I mean the reasoning behind it seems to be "Well why not", well because Valve said so and it's their store.

    Khavall on
  • StillGrayStillGray Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    You've got my vote.

    There are definitely more indie games out there deserving to be put on Steam. I don't see why Eternity's Child can make it on but not so many countless others.

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  • Desert_Eagle25Desert_Eagle25 Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    I think what's more important than simply "getting games on steam" is for Valve to release the criterion list for which games are rated. That way, Indie devs can work on meeting the requirements, rather than work blindly and hope that their blood, sweat, and tears meets some mysterious checklist from Valve.

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  • RandomEngyRandomEngy Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    I think allowing more indie games is good. I think one reason they are resisting it right now is that they currently announce (via news, pop-up) basically all new games on the service, and they want to make sure they're promoting solid, good games. Another might be if they have manual steps to add games and they don't have the resources to add them all. However I think if they allowed all games on the service and were a bit more selective of what they promoted, and worked on some infrastructure to make adding games more automated, I think that would be an excellent idea.

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  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Also aren't Greenhouse and Impulse like, halfway specifically set up for indie game releases?

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  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Valve not wanting anything but the best of the best indie games makes sense to me. Lets face it, they're very niche, and when people buy a game they don't like on steam, they don't bitch at the developers they bitch at valve and give them bad press. I would probably do the exact same thing in their position.

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  • PatboyXPatboyX Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Desert_Eagle25 wrote: »
    I think what's more important than simply "getting games on steam" is for Valve to release the criterion list for which games are rated. That way, Indie devs can work on meeting the requirements, rather than work blindly and hope that their blood, sweat, and tears meets some mysterious checklist from Valve.

    Do you think there is a specific list, though?
    I think there would be a number of things like Microsoft has for XBLA or Apple for their design guides but it seems to me that many of the choices are based on a more subjective voting fun/cool factor.

    And this is the part of the petition I have a problem with:
    "allow people to buy games of all shapes, sizes and levels of quality without imposing arbitrary selection criteria."

    If Steam had been doing this from the start would you want your games listed on it? I can't see it being as successful as it has if everything and anything could be posted to it. It would be like demanding Wiley publish my books because I think everyone should have access to my writing. They deserve the reputation they got and the platform made it's bones on Valve's quality products and their ability to be good editors.

    Frankly, I think the short-term "win" for these devs would be a long-term loss not just for them but for the Steam community.

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  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    We are writing this petition in order to encourage Valve to ... allow people to buy games of all ... levels of quality ...

    Just a guess here, but I'm betting Valve isn't in a hurry to peddle shitty games. Look at how long it took for Source mods to get hosted.

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  • HozHoz Cool Cat Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Steam already has some crap games. It doesn't need even crappier games.

    Hoz on
This discussion has been closed.
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