The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Rahdulan]

But Swen three of them are high budget action RPGs, and one of them (yours) is suspected as one.

So I wondered what actual "niche" CRPG is highest on the list?

• Subverse at #9, maybe. But no.
• Dwarf Fortress at #12, mechanically maybe. But not an RPG as it is currently.
• Gloomhaven at #38. Close one, but this doesn't sound like a "full-pledged" RPG.
• Stoneshard at #48. Rougelike with cool 2D graphics, we're getting closer...
• Encased at #64. Ah, here we are, we found the chosen one. This is the most anticipated niche CRPG on Steam. Not surprisingly it's a post-apocalyptic RPG from our Russian comrade

Also Iratus at #80, Stygian at #128, Disco Elysium at #165, and Colony Ship at #248.

It's not really like RPG scene is immune to hype and high production values. Same with everything else - number of people willing to go beyond surface level offerings drops significantly.

 

[Sentinel]

I wonder if this is running on Unity? Source 2 is still in early stages of development (more accurately, it's another dead Valve project, and it gets updated only when Dota 2 needs it to be updated) and as far as I know it has no support for mobile. Valve has historically made these smaller spin off projects and VR titles in Unity.

It's running on Source 2. Just like all other currently in development Valve titles.

 

[unfairlight]

Can I get a citation on that? I don't think Source 2 runs on mobile yet.

 

[Sentinel]

Can I get a citation on that? I don't think Source 2 runs on mobile yet.

2:42 onwards

 

[unfairlight]

Maybe it runs on Source 2 on PC and Unity on mobile or something.

 

[Sentinel]

 

[DalekFlay]

But what differentiates a cRPG from an RPG?

There used to be one. Not so much anymore.

 

[LESS T_T]

OctoDivine. And still Total.

#10 - Cooking Simulator
#9 - OCTOPATH TRAVELER
#8 - Grand Theft Auto V
#7 - Stellaris: Ancient Relics Story Pack
#6 - Hell Let Loose
#5 - Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition
#4 - BATTALION 1944
#3 - MORDHAU
#2 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#1 - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS

Hey, punk.

#10 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Year 4 Pass
#9 - Grand Theft Auto V
#8 - DARK SOULS III - The Fire Fades Edition
#7 - OCTOPATH TRAVELER
#6 - Hell Let Loose
#5 - MORDHAU
#4 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#3 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
#2 - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS
#1 - Cyberpunk 2077

 

[Sentinel]

Underlords now goes into Open Beta phase.




It's actually a really chill game to mess around with while you listen to something else.

 

[DalekFlay]

It's actually a really chill game to mess around with while you listen to something else.

Hello millennial.

 

[LESS T_T]

Funny, apparently mobile versions actually come with Steam client.



Is this an indication of things to come (mobile cross-platform account, Steam store for Android?), or one-off thing for this game? Everyone (Microsoft, Epic...) wants to sneak in their account system to all devices after all.

(And this makes me wonder again, how Valve is preparing for their own subscription and cloud services.)

 

[Belegarsson]

Underlords now goes into Open Beta phase.




It's actually a really chill game to mess around with while you listen to something else.

I installed it on my workplace PC since I don't have much work in friday, ended up playing it for 5 hours normally I really hate randomness in pvp multiplayer games (the main reason why I dislike battle royale shooters) but something about this game just clicked. Maybe because it's a combination of well paced in-match progression and CS-like economy that works based on standard negative feedback, and learning synergy is quite fun. I did get really close to victory in a match where the gods blessed me with 1 Enigma level 2, 2 Tidehunters, 1 Kunkka and 1 Gyrocopter but my item choices were shit and enemy's lifesteal was too much to deal with

There's a lot of things I appreciate in this game. No need to be dependant on your teammates like in MOBA, the game almost feels like a strategic ladder fighting game, and each match just has the perfect length. Maybe the flaws will start crawling out once I dig deeper but first impression is quite good.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I also gave Underlords a whirl since it's a whopping 600 megs and I figured what the hell. The learning curve was a complete cliff given my knowledge of Autochess was/is almost 0 (Watched a few minutes once out of curiosity and couldn't give a fuck to learn more), but by my second match and talking with Daka a little bit I had some of the basics (Multiple copies upgrades to a higher level, interest on gold, etc). The biggest issue I've got with learning it is the timer moves at such a brisk pace I can't really read and soak in the synergies, unit positioning, and so on. I basically just jerk myself off leveling up a few heroes unless I get a passive bonus for one type, then I'll specifically shoot for more of those. I'd definitely appreciate the timer moving the game along at a good pace once I knew what the hell everything meant at a glance, but it's rough early on. Not sure it's something I'll stick with very long (In fact I'd guess I won't) but I do see some of the appeal.

 

[pakoito]

If you're playing the bots you can skip the timers, there's a ticker below it. I have 12h played and I've barely beaten the normal AI a couple of times, mostly placing 3-5th. I did a perfect on one of my first games on the first patch T____T7

 

[Jigawatt]

Is this an indication of things to come (mobile cross-platform account, Steam store for Android?), or one-off thing for this game? Everyone (Microsoft, Epic...) wants to sneak in their account system to all devices after all.

(And this makes me wonder again, how Valve is preparing for their own subscription and cloud services.)

My guess is that this is in preparation for using phones as a thin client to stream off your own desktop, basically Stadia but with BYO device. Just last week "In-Home Streaming" got rebranded as "Steam Remote Play" and went from LAN to WAN, so a mobile client for that seems like a logical step.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hey, punk.

#10 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Year 4 Pass
#9 - Grand Theft Auto V
#8 - DARK SOULS III - The Fire Fades Edition
#7 - OCTOPATH TRAVELER
#6 - Hell Let Loose
#5 - MORDHAU
#4 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#3 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
#2 - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS
#1 - Cyberpunk 2077

Last week's chart is bloodstained. And The Punk is going down as the E3 hype calms down.

#10 - Rust
#9 - MORDHAU
#8 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
#7 - Grand Theft Auto V
#6 - Cyberpunk 2077
#5 - ARK: Survival Evolved
#4 - My Friend Pedro
#3 - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS
#2 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#1 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Also Pedro is yet another hit from Devolver.

 

[Steamboat Willie]

My guess is that this is in preparation for using phones as a thin client to stream off your own desktop, basically Stadia but with BYO device. Just last week "In-Home Streaming" got rebranded as "Steam Remote Play" and went from LAN to WAN, so a mobile client for that seems like a logical step.

There's been a Steam Link app available for phones for quite a while.

 

[Alienman]

Here is the brave new design I guess... Jesus Christ. Makes my eyes bleed.

Edit:

Here is another

Spoiler

The hell, not even aligned. And Bloodstains almost clips into the "Global Top Sellers" icon.

 

[unfairlight]

What's the matter, you don't like

ROLE-
PLAYIN
G
GAMES

&

CITY
BUILDIN
G
GAMES

 

[unfairlight]

Yeah nah this looks like 200% dogshit, what the fuck are these webdev cunts in yank land doing?

 

[DalekFlay]

Jesus is there anything you guys won't bitch about?

 

[Steamboat Willie]

Here is the brave new design I guess... Jesus Christ. Makes my eyes bleed.

Edit:

Here is another

Spoiler

The hell, not even aligned. And Bloodstains almost clips into the "Global Top Sellers" icon.

User Interfaces need to be touch-friendly for people wearing boxing gloves now, I guess.

Funny that websites in 2019 on my 27" 1440p monitor display fewer elements on screen than a site from 2000 designed for 800x600 all because of the fucking catastrophe that is modern web design.

 

[Jigawatt]

Here is the brave new design I guess... Jesus Christ. Makes my eyes bleed.

At least it finally answers what is an RPG

 

[Abhay]

Ubuntu Changes Its Mind, Says it WILL Continue to Support 32-bit Apps

Follow up to earlier news about Steam dropping official support for Ubuntu

Spoiler

Canonical has issued a statement on Ubuntu’s 32-bit future — and gamers, among others, are sure to relieved!

The company says Ubuntu WILL now continue to build and maintain a 32-bit archive going forward — albeit, not a full one.

In a response emailed to me (but presumably posted online somewhere) the company cite “the huge amount of feedback this weekend from gamers, Ubuntu Studio, and the WINE community” for persuading them to change track.

That outcry, almost unparalleled in Ubuntu’s history, resulted in Valve, makers of the hugely popular games distribution service Steam, announcing that it would not support future Ubuntu releases.

This, combined with worries from users relaying on legacy applications or Windows-only software ran through WINE, has resulted in a change of plans.

Accordingly, Canonical says it “…will build selected 32-bit i386 packages for Ubuntu 19.10 and 20.04 LTS,” they say.

Notice the word “selected” there. It seems the full 32-bit archive we enjoy now wont stick around, but a curated collection of libraries, tooling and other packages will be made available.

This should ensure that vital consumer software like Steam, and legacy Windows apps many businesses and education establishments rely on, continue to function on future releases.

Canonical adds that it: “…will put in place a community process to determine which 32-bit packages are needed to support legacy software, and can add to that list post-release if we miss something that is needed.”

Shocked? Surprised? Of course you aren’t! The moment Steam signalled it wouldn’t support Ubuntu 19.10 if 32-bit packages weren’t available a volte-face from Canonical was inevitable.

Which, to their credit, they swiftly done.

“The Ubuntu developers remain committed as always to the principle of making Ubuntu the best open source operating system across desktop, server, cloud, and IoT. We look forward to the ongoing engagement of our users in continuing to make this principle a reality.”

This isn’t a total reprieve for 32-bit fans. Ubuntu has no plans to re-add 32-bit install ISOs or provide 32-bit library support in perpetuity.

Instead, it hopes to work with WINE, Ubuntu Studio and gaming community to explore the use of container technology to ‘address the ultimate end of life of 32-bit libraries.’ The aim: to create a safer, secure way to run old applications on newer versions of Ubuntu.

 

[Sentinel]

Steam wasn't dropping support for Ubuntu, it was the other way around. Hence Ubuntu backpedalling (and not Valve).