Just got this email:
QuoteHello! I really want to see your game on Steam. You can now submit your game on http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/ as developer and get some votes and get the game on Steam.
Thanks
My question is in what ways, if any Simutrans needs to change to fit this method of distribution. As I don't play modern mainstream games, the only thing I know about Steam is that it exists. I remember reading that the port to Apple's platforms required some different packaging.
good day
I Know What Steam it!
Steam it A Modern copyprotectsystem.
And a Gamesellcenter via Internet.
Then you buy a game from Steam than must you be regist the game in the Steamregistycenter.
What the Selling in usebayshops be kills.
Have you a game for Steam on Computer it the Risk that Steam steal privat data high.
And the reinstall from Steam games its be blocked.
That are the Grounds why i not more buy games with steam.
Quote from: Ters on September 01, 2012, 09:34:05 PM
My question is in what ways, if any Simutrans needs to change to fit this method of distribution. As I don't play modern mainstream games
No worries. There are tons of non-mainstream games in Steam, and some are free... from a bit I know of it.
IgorEliezer
Please read the Zitat.
Thank you
Quotegood day
I Know What Steam it!
Steam it A Modern copyprotectsystem.
And a Gamesellcenter via Internet.
Then you buy a game from Steam than must you be regist the game in the Steamregistycenter.
What the Selling in usebayshops be kills.
Have you a game for Steam on Computer it the Risk that Steam steal privat data high.
And the reinstall from Steam games its be blocked.
That are the Grounds why i not more buy games with steam.
greenling, I did see your post. Don't need to re-post it. ;)
It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure if Steam is suited to open source/freeware projects, as I expect there are costs associated with even hosting a Free to Play game on Steam. I doubt the community would want us to charge for it.
I was under the impression that steam would only take a small amount off of the purchase price.
As far as I can tell, there are no free games on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/search/?genre=Free%20to%20Play&category1=998) that don't have some kind of optional payment associated with them -- either with expansions, "starter packs", or in-game micropayments. This suggests to me that Steam charges even for distributing free games, and thus that if Simutrans were to be listed on Steam it would have to be sold.
On a sidenote, I just noticed that OTTD is actually on desura.com, which seems to be actually hosting free games. Since they are there, I am assuming, they are offering a win-win situation, promoting (in a way) a free game, while in return recieving additional customers. As much as I am against the idea of putting simutrans on steam, desure.com doesn't seem too bad.
This was submitted by user.
Giving the avarage pak size one would need either to distribute the bare simutrans which installs the graphics afterwards, or stick with current distribution. I doubt it would be fun to download 300 MB for a short test ...
I strongly suspect that a majority of gamers would not see 300MB as a prohibitive download size to check out a free game.
Quote from: carlbaker on September 09, 2012, 08:05:44 PM
I strongly suspect that a majority of gamers would not see 300MB as a prohibitive download size to check out a free game.
I concur. I've downloaded a fair share of 1GB+ games for a few dollars off Steam, a free 300MB game would not be a deterrent for myself, and I suspect this is the case for most of Steam's users.
Yup, I think these are platforms where size does not matter that much.
Quote from: prissi on September 09, 2012, 06:55:07 PM
Giving the avarage pak size one would need either to distribute the bare simutrans which installs the graphics afterwards, or stick with current distribution. I doubt it would be fun to download 300 MB for a short test ...
Im thinking about getting myself Arma 2: Combined Operations from gog.com; after all its only a 13.8 GB download
Quote from: dom700 on September 10, 2012, 05:27:20 PM
Im thinking about getting myself Arma 2: Combined Operations from gog.com; after all its only a 13.8 GB download
And to think that I once used to consider whether it was worth it to download a 500 kB file. Or the frustration when I for once chanced to download a few megabytes, only to get cut of at 90+ % an hour or so later when someone drove their car through a nearby power pole. (It wasn't just the wasted time, but the cost.)
I think most customers of big online distributors have proper broadband. At least those who browse around for games beyond the one they signed up to get.
@dom700 +1 for another arma user. marvelous job bohemia did on arma 2
I started out on a 1200 baud modem, though I connected to a couple of BBSs that ran at 300 baud. S L O W. hehe
And I remember waiting FOREVER for a 100KB download... hehehe
in school in the early 90s i did a bit of short wave packet radio, with a few Baud (Byte per second), letters appearing one by one on the screen. Practically the only game one could play that way was chess.
VHF packet radio was much faster, at least as fast as Isaac's connection, and completely free! Downside, only line of sight, you had to organise your hops from repeaters yourself :-(
Quote from: sdog on September 10, 2012, 11:14:12 PM
in school in the early 90s i did a bit of short wave packet radio, with a few Baud (Byte per second), letters appearing one by one on the screen. Practically the only game one could play that way was chess.
VHF packet radio was much faster, at least as fast as Isaac's connection, and completely free! Downside, only line of sight, you had to organise your hops from repeaters yourself :-(
+1 here as well, hello clone
btw...1k2 is fast enough for a network game of monopoly ;)
But whoever maintains the steam (or desura or whatever) need to maintain is always and consistent. Nothing is worse than outdated versions. (Maybe simutrans should also query, if it is still current, even though I hate those update messages ... )
And while download is fast, I am stuck with slow upload with ADSL. But then, I release not that often.
Prissi
i Have be check your adresse in Berlin.
You can boost your uploadspeed then you be buy a Umts/hsdap Stick.
3.50Euro for 1GB data.
I Have self a Umts/hsdap Stick. ;)
Well technically it is a 16 Mbit ADSL. But the old phone lines in this house allow every odd day only something like a 1 Mbit ADSL ... but anyhow, I am not keen on supporting another distribution channel where we have limited access (like debian) and which need an update every time a pak is updated.
If someone reliable is willing to do so: well then please go ahead.
I just downloaded myself a desura installer, installed it, read the terms of agreement and deinstalled it. Sorry, even though I came up with that idea, I won't be able to maintain simutrans on desura
As there was an article in the recent c't I looked into the steam site. It seems, even if we would like to publish on steam, it is rather very difficult. It is commercial through and thourgh with an intransparent approval porcess and so on.
Desura would be much easier (and also allows for patches when upgrading), but I doubt about gaining much publicity there.
I would suspect Steam were planning on somehow expropriating the rights to the game. But that's me, I don't trust such companies. And I don't know so much about the license of the game.
I think it would better fit the spirit of the game if it were distributed via a "free" (non-profit) site, but I guess this is reality, we don't live in a kibbutz. I do advise caution in signing any contracts with them.
Steam is a for-profit company. I believe they aren't going to distribute Simutrans for free, unless we fit the game in their requirements.
Why not try indie/open-source friendly sites, such as tigsource.com, gamejolt.com or indiedb.com? I don't know how they work, I found them in a list of indie game publishers.
Someone could contact the Free Gamer (http://freegamer.blogspot.com.br/ (http://freegamer.blogspot.com.br/)) since they've made some reviews about Simutrans. Perhaps they could help us and suggest sites that could publish Simutrans. We don't need to sell out our souls to become celebrity. 8)
I can't see how being on a sales platform could benefit simutrans. It would involve work not only to get there but to keep the steam version up-to-date and do "customer service" for yet another completely different program file structure.
Cloud storage could be gotten in other ways too, and isn't really necessary so far, without mobile platforms. Verification of online players is something i don't think we would even like to have. The advertisment isn't that great either, it would just drown in thousands of other games. (It'd be better to get to the next c't "free games" or "educational programs" DVD, are they still doing that?)*
This might change in future if there was specific hardware simutrans could gain acces through steam only. In such a case adopting simutrans to the different method of input might be the bigger obstacle.
ps.:
could simutrans be given a somewhat educational spin? A down to the basics pak-set (subset of a different pak), simplified options, heavy use of scenarios. To drive points like: Network effect, supply chains, road to rail (really see the capacity difference), economy of transport?
desura is also cross plattform and open source friendly. The question is rather, if it is worth the effort.
I was just inspired by the article that all coming game consoles will run on x86 and thus a linux simutrans distro might easily find its way via steam also to those players. (This obviously requires some overworking of the interface, especially for track laying.)
Someone who knows how to get desura, shouldn't have difficulties to find simutrans, when looking for such a game. When not looking for such a game: of the few people accidentally trying it only very few would stick. Simutrans is not one of the games you just try and get immediately gratified and 'sucked' into. Someone has to learn how it works, and needs to want to do so. Else it's just: "Looks old, can't do a thing, tried almost 5 minutes, i'm so bored, 'hey it's rubbish'."
Better to try to get to the people who are into such things, and get them interested before actually trying the game!
doesn't have to be like this - a simple category system in a hosting website can already narrow down the exposure to people who are into simulators / business / engineering games, where it is much more likely to be of interest.
QuoteWarning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 45 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.
But I wish to reply because I want to say something which is important for me, about Steam integration.
Hello all!
If you have the time I would like the game to be integrated with steam as an "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library". Examples of games that have the "steam base" are: Minetest, SuperTuxKart and Teeworlds. These games are not found on Steam but I can add them as nonsteam games and the steam menu gets integrated in the games when I run them from Steam. I usually like taking screenshots so I can use Steam's screenshot ability in the game, and all other Steam features work.
Currently the Steam menu doesn't integrate in simutrans because there's probably no code for it.
This will of course require time and interest which is not free. If anybody was ready to implement it in simutrans, then know that I'm interested. :D
I am sorry, I do not understand what you are saying. Could you describe it in a way non-steam user can understand it?
@Prissi: right off the bat.
Steam client allows you to create a shortcut in the game library even if the said game is not Steam game. It doesn't mean that the game is on the Steam, it just creates a shortcut in the users library, for convenience.
Yes I can.
These are games that have "Steam support": Minetest, SuperTuxKart and Teeworlds. When I launch any of these games through Steam I get a popup inside the game window that says "Access the Steam Community while playing".
Some games do not have "Steam support": Battle for Wesnoth and Flare RPG. They do not get such a popup inside the game window. Thus when playing I can't configure Steams keys, I can't talk to my friends on Steam and I can't take screenshots inside the game window of those games.
Better now? :D
Not much, I'll try to explain, I did some search and found some info: (I don't use Steam)
Steam have some features, like:
- Taking screenshots
- Chat/voice
- Steam cloud (this one is great for saving configs and saves among devices)
- Achievements and leaderboards
- Player searching for multiplayer
- in-game access to Steam Community
- Anti-cheat
and hotkeys for such features.
Those features are available trough Steamworks, a C++ written API, and only chosen features can be enabled.
To me the most appealing features are:
Voice chat, Steam cloud and Player searching for multiplayer.
But this API is not available to anyone, it's only available for Steam games. We must ask to join Steam, the community will vote and if we meet the criteria we will be able to have access to Steam API and be available on Steam, totally not worth for so little features.
I couldn't find any info about the games you mentioned that had Steam support to have such support.
Hmm, then I will have to ask Teeworlds devs if they have done anything that makes their game support steam. Maybe all SDL games support Steam? I've not looked it up. I'll post an update if I find that I was wrong or right.
By the way Teeworlds is not a steam game. It's an open source project whose devs don't like making it available for Steam as they feel it would separate the communities, so why Teeworlds supports some basic features of Steam while other games do not, I have to research.
Simutrans have a SDL version for Windows. You may try it.
Quote from: An_dz on May 16, 2013, 04:33:23 PM
Simutrans have a SDL version for Windows. You may try it.
Well not me, I've not touched Windows for years. Sorry for all trouble. I got my questions answered.