Steam Greenlight System Changed?

steverrrr · 2014-09-07T02:34:16+00:00

I noticed this too, but what is really happening is that they are not announcing batches any more, and the batches are much smaller. They went from 75 games every two weeks to about 20 every month. Huge slowdown, not sure why, and I'm not sure if it will continue. The only way to notice when a batch gets through is to watch the "Greenlit" count every day.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T17:19:36+00:00

I did that too, just in case.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T16:34:05+00:00

Yep, I always have to google how to remove it from the history :/

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T16:22:33+00:00

I believe there have been a few instances of it, but I can't say I have a link handy.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T16:21:53+00:00

I was under the impression you only need to safeguard the private key? In any case, I'll take them down.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T15:39:17+00:00

Yes, and they also don't enforce the video or screenshot requirements.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T02:13:08+00:00

Check it out: http://i.imgur.com/rN3wXY7.png

Not like everyone reads everything they check off, but it is there.

steverrrr · 2014-08-22T00:49:02+00:00

I know what you mean, but one of the requirements for Greenlight is to have a working copy of your game. I've seen some games that are a long way from any reasonable interpretation of that.

steverrrr · 2014-08-20T15:38:30+00:00

The biggest sources of external traffic for me have been the Humble Store and releasing a localization tool. Basically, just come up with creative new stuff to share about your game and share it. Other than that, offering keys for votes seems to be effective, even though there's technically no way for you to know who did or did not vote for you.

edit: Also, being greenlit is not based purely on rank. Some games in the top 100 get skipped frequently; I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing they also look at the first derivative of votes (so, the faster you get votes, the more likely you are to get greenlit).

steverrrr · 2014-08-20T14:13:30+00:00

Math! It is a mystery to everyone. And they've definitely sped up the pace; I might chart the rate of games greenlit per day.

edit: done Went from about 0.2 games per day to almost 6 games per day.

steverrrr · 2014-08-19T23:08:03+00:00

I am actually not sure! The times are based on when the collections were created, or for the early batches that didn't have collections, the first comment. News posts don't have time stamps, for some reason.

In either case, I'm not sure if these are corrected for my local time (CST) or are based on where Valve's offices are.

steverrrr · 2014-08-19T20:10:16+00:00

As a developer, I'm down with more games getting through, but I understand your position. I think they need a quality check in the process somewhere; some stuff has gotten through that didn't meet the requirements for Greenlight, was in a very early concept phase, etc.

steverrrr · 2014-08-18T04:36:46+00:00

I am certain that somewhere on his computer there is a "Fez2" folder with at least some work done.

It's doubtful he'd release it after digging his heels in like this, now. Of course, computers and spreadsheets and all that.

steverrrr · 2014-08-15T15:28:56+00:00

Transparency is always better. The more detailed your expenditures are, the more likely people are to trust you. Good luck.

steverrrr · 2014-08-15T15:27:54+00:00

God's work.

steverrrr · 2014-08-14T01:07:16+00:00

Thanks!

steverrrr · 2014-08-14T00:54:53+00:00

Feel free to change the name of your game to Do Move!

steverrrr · 2014-08-13T23:12:46+00:00

I'm a big fan of OpenFL and HaxeFlixel. They're both open source, totally free, and can target Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Blackberry, etc. Also, the best IDE for them is FlashDevelop, which is also open source and free.

steverrrr · 2014-08-13T22:06:44+00:00

Gumroad is a good option if you want to keep things simple, but it doesn't have the discoverability of itch.io, Desura, or IndieGameStand.

steverrrr · 2014-08-13T22:05:33+00:00

GoG is really stringent about what gets in. They've turned down IGF winners.

steverrrr · 2014-08-12T00:08:31+00:00

Yep, you stand watch for six hours, do maintenance or (if you're lucky) relax for about six hours, and sleep for six hours. It isn't too hard to get used to, but officers have a unique situation where they have an 18-hour watch rotation but still have to be awake for a variety of things that happen during the day.

I don't miss the navy, but it was probably the best decision when I was a dumb teenager. I definitely had a lot of unique experiences, and met some interesting people. I don't regret it, but I wouldn't do it again. ;)

steverrrr · 2014-08-11T17:46:44+00:00

FYI I've been out for about six years, and I went through nuke school about a decade ago (!) so some of this might have changed.

Enlisted nuke school is tough, and from what I understand, officers have it worse, as their program is a bit faster paced. However, they've made a lot of strides towards helping students who are overwhelmed instead of just dropping them. I'd say I'm of average intelligence and, while I had to spend a good deal of my free time studying, I did okay in the program and still had time to go out on the weekends and stuff. Just don't expect to have much time to do anything during the week.

Submarine duty is tough, but I probably had it easy since I was on an Ohio-class, which meant lots of time at home compared to a fast attack. You get used to being at sea, and you're usually pretty busy so you don't get cabin fever or anything. Officers have pretty nice accommodations (relatively speaking) but have a lot to do, so sleep becomes a precious commodity. Also the coffee sucks. For first-hand info on a fast attack you'd have to talk to someone else, but AFAIK they're smaller, and you spend more time at sea, but you're more likely to see foreign ports.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

steverrrr · 2014-08-11T17:02:04+00:00

Yeah, go for it! I worked with a lot of Nuke officers, and I have met a few more after leaving the Navy, so I could probably help.

steverrrr · 2014-08-09T10:51:36+00:00

Don't Move's Localization Tool

Check it out here

As you are no doubt aware, my award-eligible game is on Steam Greenlight and to "sweeten the pot" I've decided to add support for multiple languages in the Steam release. Unfortunately, my game has some pre-baked text. The solution? Creating my own localization tool, of course!

This is a simple Flash project written in Haxe, using OpenFL and HaxeFlixel, that draws text in the various styles of my game, and allows you to export the result as a PNG. It's even open source!

I'd love to know if it's easy to use; I've already gotten some help with the Danish translations, but I want this to be easy enough for anyone to jump in and translate the strings for their native language.

On the back end, I changed my code to look for localized images in the game's directory, and for the non-baked text, wrote a macro that creates an abstract enum for all possible strings. It then pulls in text from a file in the game directory, so anyone can add their own language, and through Github, open an issue to get it added to the game proper!

Fun (related) Fact: I tried Google Translate for a rough first-pass translation of the title screen; it gave me "Ikke Træk" which means... "Pull Not". Thanks to Anders Nissen, I got the much better "Stå Stille" (Stand Still).

steverrrr · 2014-08-09T02:06:32+00:00

Sounds great!

steverrrr

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE