Game News The Age of Decadence Greenlit by Steam

[Humanity has risen!]

Humanity has risen!
How the fuck have they gotten MORE CONTROL by handing off the job of selecting which games to put on their service to the crowd? Do you honestly think they had less control before Greenlight?

If you don't like Steam then that's okay, but there's nothing sinister about Greenlight specifically.

By making this public it forces everyone who wants to vote for it to partake in the platform, you need a Steam account to do it. Ultimately it reinforces Steam as a platform and it generates lots of free publicity for it.

There is also the fact that they clearly want to control the amount of games with cruder graphics on the platform. Remember Wadjet games, they were trying to deny their games entry unless they were bundled with others.

And no, Eador and AOD do not count, they have pretty big production values.

They also try to force indie to sell at lower price points to be admitted. Jeff Vogel had to lower the price of Avadon to $9.99, whereas he would have preferred $19.99. Same thing for Illwinter design, they had to severely discount Conquest of Elysium 3. If it ended up being a good thing for his sales, it is not the point. The point is that Steam forces discounts on the small guys because it can. It ultimately forces a race to the bottom model on everyone.

Gamersgate let Charles sell Underworld for $25 right from the start.

I still haven't heard one good reason why it's OK to limit the games available on the platform, so long as the games are playable and working. Gamersgate allows them and it doesn't dilute the service. Steam on the the other hand is making life hard for the small talented indie with no track record to speak for himself. Quality could speak for itself, as people buy it on the platform, generate positive word of mouth and help the game proliferate on a popular platform, a bit like on Apple's App Store.

I wonder if Steam will force Iron Tower to sell AoD for $9.99 or be denied entry?

Thankfully Amazon has a lot more power than Steam could ever dream to have, it's no wonder they beat the crap out of them at the last holiday sale. At some point Steam will not be allowed to behave like that anymore, the market forces will put an end to this.

 

[Infinitron]

You didn't answer my question. How is Greenlight worse than what Valve was doing before in terms of allowing more niche indie games on to the platform?

Oh, but you can't, because it isn't. Unless you actually think Valve's own employees are more discerning than Steam's users (aka "market forces")

 

[SwiftCrack]

1. Making Steam members vote for which games (decline aside) they want on Steam is bad?
2. It's just a form of both QC and Q&A; unfinished games get pulled (that zombie shit was removed and I suspect Towns will be pulled as well because the dev dissapeared and the game is basically an Alpha)
3. Steam doesnt release sales data and advices (forces) devs to abide by their pricings standards to maximize profit, not minimize it.
4. With GreenLight they're making the platform less limited; the top 10 uservoted get a bi-monthly shot at being accepted not the top 10 that Gabe wants.
5. Amazon sold a lot of steam games yeah

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Is it better? It's certainly not for the good of the community. It is still many applicants, but just as few indies allowed entry. It's just that it's a trick to generate tons of goodwill in the process, while locking everyone more into a closed platform.

 

[RK47]

A: It's give n take and HHR simply doesn't like Steam gaining popularity off greenlit games.

 

[Infinitron]

Fair enough, but I seriously doubt Age of Decadence would ever have made it on Steam without Greenlight.

 

[Alex_Steel]

Three pages, and not a single moment of negativity? Must be a new record for the Codex.

I wonder how they green-lighted this horrible teleporting buggy piece of shit. Ib4 VD blames everything on Valve for pressuring him to release on Wednesday.














I tried.

Congrats folks! It's great to see Codexers spreading the incline.

 

[Captain Shrek]

Fair enough, but I seriously doubt Age of Decadence would ever have made it on Steam without Greenlight.

@HHR.

This is quite correct. AoD is a very niche game however good it is. With Vince not interested in publicizing it as much as he should Greenlit was one of the only viable means through which it could be brought to attention.

 

[Fezzik]

Heeeell yeah. Congratulations VD, Oscar, Nick, and Co, and good luck come release day!

 

[Konjad]

By making this public it forces everyone who wants to vote for it to partake in the platform, you need a Steam account to do it. Ultimately it reinforces Steam as a platform and it generates lots of free publicity for it.

Why the fuck would non-steam user care what's on steam and what's not?

SwiftCrack made arguments already, but you, of course as a good hypocrite, ignored them anyway, repeating that steam is bad because it's bad and because it doesn't allow every single shitty indie diarrhea to be released on steam. I prefer games to be selected and I prefer that selection to be made by community than by some dude who is just one (or few) person and doesn't follow all indie games, so he cannot judge correctly what can be good or not in all cases.

 

[RK47]

Three pages, and not a single moment of negativity? Must be a new record for the Codex.

Bullshit, I never asked for this.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I already talked about this, often the community hasn't got a clue about what is a quality game, and is too easily swayed by gimmicks or pretty graphics, which doesn't help more niche, hardcore games to get a bigger audience.

Also, forcing discounts isn't a good thing, it's an arrogant big retailer's practice, no different from what the likes of Wal-Mart would do.

On Gamersgate, the worst indie shovelware simply gathers dust in obscure subsections, but they are still allowed entry onto a platform. It doesn't affect the whole ecosystem.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I already talked about this, often the community hasn't got a clue about what is a quality game, and is too easily swayed by gimmicks or pretty graphics, which doesn't help more niche, hardcore games to get a bigger audience.

Also, forcing discounts isn't a good thing, it's an arrogant big retailer's practice, no different from what the likes of Wal-Mart would do.

On Gamersgate, the worst indie shovelware simply gathers dust in obscure subsections, but they are still allowed entry onto a platform. It doesn't affect the whole ecosystem.

I'd rather have my digital shelf without dustcatching unfinished games thank you very much, it only leads to idiots ruining it for the rest of us by buying these games and complaining left and right on every section of the steam forum.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

What is a useless dustcatching gem for you is a gem for someone else. For example, on Gamersgate and Impulse there is Shira Oka, which is a western take on Japanese dating simulators. On Gamersgate there are also hardcore indie RPGs like Devil's Whisky and others.

 

[Metro]

AoD has big production values? Took them eight years to make.

 

[Hirato]

They also try to force indie to sell at lower price points to be admitted. Jeff Vogel had to lower the price of Avadon to $9.99, whereas he would have preferred $19.99. Same thing for Illwinter design, they had to severely discount Conquest of Elysium 3. If it ended up being a good thing for his sales, it is not the point. The point is that Steam forces discounts on the small guys because it can. It ultimately forces a race to the bottom model on everyone.

I call bullshit.

Recettear (indie) retailed at $25 on steam
Torchlight 2 (low-medium budget) retailed at $20
There are VNs like Magical dairy, and a bunch of other indie stuff (like mark of the ninja) that retail at $15
And let's have a look at Paradox, they're a relatively indie studio by any measure.

• War of the Roses - $30; deluxe edition $35
• Crusader Kings 2 - $40 + DLC
• Europa Universalis 3 - $15
• Mount and Blade: Warband - $20
• Sword of the Stars 2 - $15

In light of these "facts," I have to conclude that this is a choice Vogel made for himself. Valve didn't force the lower price point, he chose it, though he may have had some "encouragement" from his fans, or used the prices of similar games on steam as a reference point.

And greenlight is hardly a bad thing, the first rule of business is to sell what your customers want; greenlight is just a means of doing that.
The games still need to be reviewed by Valve to be allowed on their portal - no use allowing offal that won't even run - but by gauging community interest, they know which titles to prioritise.
It's a win-win for Valve (they get more money) and for their customers (they get the games THEY want, sooner).


I don't like DRM either, and I have a few reservations about their steam platform too.
But I at least have the decency to not be intellectually dishonest about it.

 

[CappenVarra]

Great news!

also, in before mbpolanoXY

 

[Humanity has risen!]

AoD has big production values? Took them eight years to make.

Compared to many other indies which concentrate solely on gameplay, yes. It has somewhat detailed environments, and a lot of character animation in battles.

 

[RK47]

What is a useless dustcatching gem for you is a gem for someone else. For example, on Gamersgate and Impulse there is Shira Oka, which is a western take on Japanese dating simulators. On Gamersgate there are also hardcore indie RPGs like Devil's Whisky and others.

Excuse me while I go make a Gamersgate account

 

[Metro]

AoD has big production values? Took them eight years to make.

Compared to many other indies which concentrate solely on gameplay, yes. It has somewhat detailed environments, and a lot of character animation in battles.

Then maybe Charles should spend eight years making his next game.

 

[SwiftCrack]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/107300/

This game is só high in production values that it didn't even need greenlight.

 

[nihil]

The Age of Decadence and La-Mulana. Steam just got cool.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/107300/

This game is só high in production values that it didn't even need greenlight.

I told from the start that pseudo-retro hipster games with gimmicky gameplay and meta humor were an exception.

Now, do you think that anything from Matrix Games is ever going to be on Steam if they wanted to publish it there?

Paradox is different because they publish relatively mainstream games too and already have a relationship with Steam. But the truth is that Steam is hurting the hardcore, serious games that Codexers cherish. To them, pseudo NES games with meta humor and dumb gameplay gimmicks that Rock Paper Shotgun praises deserve the center stage, but actually intelligent games made for adults reminiscent of what used to proliferate on DOS and don't instantly generate a dopamine rush deserve to remain in obscurity unless the makers are willing to do their little song and dance and do all of Steam's whims and fancies.

 

[Achilles]

Well deserved, congratulations! And Unepic and Eador too, cool beans Now let's work towards getting Swords & Sorcery and Driftmoon greenlit people!

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Will it have Day 1 DLC : No teleporting and destroyable barrels with loot ?

Good news, good news indeed.

 

[Metro]

But the truth is that Steam is hurting the hardcore, serious games that Codexers cherish. To them, pseudo NES games with meta humor and dumb gameplay gimmicks that Rock Paper Shotgun praises deserve the center stage, but actually intelligent games made for adults reminiscent of what used to proliferate on DOS and don't instantly generate a dopamine rush deserve to remain in obscurity unless the makers are willing to do their little song and dance and do all of Steam's whims and fancies.

Truth is you're wrong. Hilarious to see someone shoehorn reality to fit their Steam rage agenda. But, then again, you have a lot of practice twisting facts and arguing nonsensical positions given your religious zealotry. As mentioned AoD would probably never have made Steam were it not for Greenlight and now it's being exposed to a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't see it.

Saying that Greenlight/Steam is bad for Codexian indie games because the majority of the games on Steam are crappy is like saying Kickstarter is bad for Codexian indie games because the majority of games on there are crappy.