[carbonbased]

LA-MULANAAAAAA

so happy to hear it is going to get the wide exposure it deserves. it is easily one of the best games I have played in a long time and was a no brainer for a top 2 spot on my goty list.

went ahead and voted for Chasm and Poker Smash. love the art in the former and the latter has always been on my radar.

[Nabs]

Running With Rifles - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=104265955



This looks pretty good. Has anyone played it?

[Gez]

Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold looks good.





The music, graphics and gameplay looks like those old Lucasarts games.

[HolyBaikal]

Went through all greenlight games (result: 112/1042) and found a few very intresting: A Hat in Time:

And thanks to you I noticed this gem.

Thank you!

[Shaneus]

Who was crying? I think people were just voicing the opinion that it was a completed game of reasonable quality. Wouldn't you prefer that such a game be greenlit, compared to say, a game being greenlit only to be kickstartered for financing (failing the kickstarter)? What's wrong with people voicing their opinions that La Mulana seemed like a good choice to pass through? Why the mockery? At any rate, is there any word Pinball Arcade's ranking? I seem to recall some people voicing interest in that as well. The purchase-DLC-to-move-left game sounds funny. I've never actually played Half-minute Hero, on that note.

Pinball Arcade is sitting at 90. It was sitting at 85 when the last pack was released, so despite there being 10 approved games, somehow it DROPPED in rank.

Can anyone explain to me how the fuck that is supposed to work? According to FarSight (via their FB page) it goes by how high your average voting is or something... so (as I interpret it) as time goes on you're average gets lower and lower and so does your chances of getting approved as more and more newer games appear (and therefore have a higher average).

I'm sure it's been posted in this thread, so even if someone can post a link to how this fucking thing works, I'd appreciate it. Because it makes ZERO sense to work it that way (as if the only sales they ever get are in the first week of release).

[exmachina64]

I've lost all hope of Pinball Arcade getting approved under the current model of approval for Greenlight.

[Shaneus]

I've just written this email to both "Valve" and "Gabe Newell" via Valve's email form on their site:

(replace "Gabe" with "guys", otherwise the emails were identical)

Hey Gabe, I appreciate what the motivation was behind Greenlight in getting smaller developers onto the Steam storefront, but I'm concerned that one particular game I'm waiting for hasn't been able to meet the criteria. I've been following the voting process for Pinball Arcade via their Facebook page and monthly newsletters but somehow, despite the fact that they could only be amassing *more* votes as time goes on, they are dropping down the rankings that dictate which games appear on there. For example, after the December batch went through they were sitting at #85, but even after 10 were approved in January, Pinball Arcade managed to somehow drop to #90. Is there somewhere I can read up on exactly how the voting process works so I can work out why this is occurring? If it was any other game I probably wouldn't be so surprised, but given that the title has sold incredibly well across multiple platforms (iOS, PS3, 360) I find it hard to believe that since it appeared on Greenlight in September last year, it hasn't garnered enough votes to justify it's existence on Steam. It'd also be a great opportunity to have something greenlit that is ready to be published and gone live. There seems to be a disappointing number of games that have made the Steam Greenlight cut that are yet to be in a publishable state, so to have something appear with very little turnaround time would be a good thing for both Valve and FarSight Studios as an example of the process working as it should. Also, Cayle George, a massive pinball fan and one of the best in the world works for in company... I'm sure he'd like to see it on there as well! Thanks for reading this, Gabe... hopefully it does not fall on deaf ears and it'll be sooner rather than later that I'll be flipping and tilting on PC thanks to Valve, the Greenlight process and FarSight. -Shane

My only hope is that from the times we've seen Gabe reply to the odd email or two... this is one of them.

[JaseC]

And thanks to you I noticed this gem. Thank you!

I wonder if Mecha realises that it can self-publish on Steam? The use of "the publisher" rather than "our publisher" suggests to me that the game doesn't yet have one.

Edit: Mind you, the game may need publisher backing to complete.

I've just written this email to both "Valve" and "Gabe Newell" via Valve's email form on their site: (replace "Gabe" with "guys", otherwise the emails were identical) My only hope is that from the times we've seen Gabe reply to the odd email or two... this is one of them.

I've never received a reply from Gabe. :(

[Blizzard]

Also try sending it to gaben at valvesoftware.com -- I once got a reply from there (though it was only one word).

[Shaneus]

I neglected to mention that I used that address as well from my gMail account... though thanks for thinking of it anyway!

[Gez]

Yes the Williams Pinball game deserves to go through but so do at least 60 more on my list. This Greenlight process is kinda pathetic whist shit like War Z or unfinished Paradox games get through without Greenlight. Also why 10 games a month? surely you can pass all the good ones in one go?

[CecilRousso]

Yes the Williams Pinball game deserves to go through but so do at least 60 more on my list. This Greenlight process is kinda pathetic whist shit like War Z or unfinished Paradox games get through without Greenlight. Also why 10 games a month? surely you can pass all the good ones in one go?

Paradox have sold their games through Steam for years already, and people want their games on Steam. It's not strange at all.

[Gez]

Paradox have sold their games through Steam for years already, and people want their games on Steam. It's not strange at all.

They are broken or released in a incomplete state. See Swords of the Stars 2 and Gettysburg: Armored Warfare as two prime examples. Sword of the Stars 2 still gets massive bi to quad monthly update patches after 14 months due to how unfinished it is.

[exmachina64]

Regardless of their completion, the fact that Paradox has to go through Greenlight at all is absurd.

[Gez]

Regardless of their completion, the fact that Paradox has to go through Greenlight at all is absurd.

Dtp entertainment still has to go through Greenlight even though they have games on Steam, shouldn't the same logic be applied to other publishers and developers including Paradox?

[Decado]

Dtp entertainment still has to go through Greenlight even though they have games on Steam, shouldn't the same logic be applied to other publishers and developers including Paradox?

Um...shouldn't the logic be that they shouldn't have to go through greenlight either? The whole system seems pretty damn silly.

[Gez]

Um...shouldn't the logic be that they shouldn't have to go through greenlight either? The whole system seems pretty damn silly.

Exactly.

[Haunted]

I've heard there are some legal issues between Valve and dtp entertainment for legacy titles, that's why they're having problems getting their stuff on Steam.


edit: but Gray Matter shouldn't be affected by that, so who the fuck knows

[exmachina64]

Um...shouldn't the logic be that they shouldn't have to go through greenlight either? The whole system seems pretty damn silly.

This.

[hamchan]

I don't understand why the Pinball Arcade has to go through Steam Greenlight when it's available for every other platform. What a dumb approval process.

[wonzo]

Mari played that on 360 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSIQHNY9xA&t=2m40s

tbqh this looks better than the vast majority of games on greenlight

[Shaneus]

I don't understand why the Pinball Arcade has to go through Steam Greenlight when it's available for every other platform. What a dumb approval process.

AFAIK, it's because they don't have a publisher for PC. The reason it's experienced delays on 360 is because the publisher for that platform went bankrupt, but they have one now so maybe there's a way around it (at least, by the sounds of this comment they made on their FB):


I'm more curious about how a commercially available game like WRC3 needs to be greenlit. It boggles the fucking mind how it works at all.

[ToyMachine228]

When we decided to kick off our Greenlight Spotlight series at Steam Game Fans, I turned to you guys for suggestions. We chose Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller for our first piece. Here it is;

http://www.steamgamefans.com/greenli...ller-2483.html

This is a recurring series so we're very much open to more suggestions for which piece we do next. Each one contains a short overview, hands-on impressions and an interview with the developers. Let us know what you want to see for our next spotlight. Thanks for the feedback!

[Wok]

This is not totally related to Greenlight since these games won't get an automatic approval, but it is still interesting to see which student games will be finalists of the IGF student competition.

So I have correctly predicted 3 out 8 finalists. Some of these games would be worth a page on the Steam store.

Finalists: ATUM (NHTV IGAD) Back to Bed (Danish Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment) Blackwell's Asylum (Danish Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment) Farsh (NHTV IGAD) Knights of Pen & Paper (IESB - Instituto de Ensino Superior de Brasilia & UnB - Universidade de Brasilia) the mindfulxp volume (Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center) Pulse (Vancouver Film School) Zineth (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Honorable mentions: Anodyne (University of Chicago and Carleton College); Chrono Disfunglement (DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore); The Moonlighters (University of Southern California, Interactive Media Division); Narcosis (ENJMIN); Plushy Knight (Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy); SerpenteS (ENJMIN); SneakSneak (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht); Tales From The Minus Lab (University of Southern California)

The complete list is here.

[HolyBaikal]

I wonder if Mecha realises that it can self-publish on Steam? The use of "the publisher" rather than "our publisher" suggests to me that the game doesn't yet have one. Edit: Mind you, the game may need publisher backing to complete.

If that's the case, I'd rather them just put out a Kickstarter.

[Shadow Hog]

Pinball Arcade is sitting at 90. It was sitting at 85 when the last pack was released, so despite there being 10 approved games, somehow it DROPPED in rank.

Where exactly do you get that figure, anyway? I tried Googling "Greenlight rank", but the only things I could find were mostly out-of-date. The only exception was this, which seems to be more up-to-date in terms of listings, but seems all wrong with rank (The Pinball Arcade is ranked 695, according to it, which sounds wrong; in fact, it seems to ascribe "rank" as "when did this get uploaded?").

[Gez]

I'm more curious about how a commercially available game like WRC3 needs to be greenlit. It boggles the fucking mind how it works at all.

Pretty much. Valve needs to pull it's head out of its arse in regards to Greenlight and scrap the whole thing. It's a kick in the balls to alot of people, both consumer and publishers alike.

[Shadow Hog]

So is it just me, or is every game I ever voted for now "one of the top 100 in Greenlight!"?

Because, well, I know I've only voted up like 43 titles as far as I know, but I seriously doubt I have that good taste.

[Family Fry]

So I have correctly predicted 3 out 8 finalists. Some of these games would be worth a page on the Steam store. The complete list is here.

Blackwell's Asylum already has a steam page, demo.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/21...nr=1_702_7__13

I was going to join in on your predictions, would have scored 3 out of 8.

Back to Bed because the trailer looked very polished. ATUM and Blackwell's Asylum, mainly because I have tried both titles.

Alas I didn't so it doesn't count.

[JaseC]

Pretty much. Valve needs to pull it's head out of its arse in regards to Greenlight and scrap the whole thing. It's a kick in the balls to alot of people, both consumer and publishers alike.

At the very least, games on Greenlight by developers/publishers that already have a title on Steam should be given a free pass to skip the Greenlight process.

[speedpop]

If it gets greenlit then it gets greenlit. If the game was worthy of a commotion then it would cause the votes to be inflated to the point where it would be accepted in no time at all ala Primordia.

The people have been given a voice as to what they will buy.

[Blizzard]

If it gets greenlit then it gets greenlit. If the game was worthy of a commotion then it would cause the votes to be inflated to the point where it would be accepted in no time at all ala Primordia. The people have been given a voice as to what they will buy.

The problem is, that logic only applies to games that are more popular than X number of votes, where X is whatever number you or Valve considers to be a cutoff to be accepted.

And not only X number of votes, but X number of votes in Y amount of time, possibly, if the positions decay over time.

This means that games with niche appeal lose out to games with mass appeal, regardless of quality -- and as far as I know, there are both games of low quality and games of niche appeal already on the Steam store, so I feel like it's reasonable to allow say, an already-completed pinball game of presumably high quality (if all of the above is true, I haven't personally played it) on the store even if it doesn't get as many votes as a FPS, or something that's going to be kickstarted and possibly not even developed after it takes a Greenlight slot.

So is it just me, or is every game I ever voted for now "one of the top 100 in Greenlight!"? Because, well, I know I've only voted up like 43 titles so far or now, but I seriously doubt I have that good taste.

You are the Greenlight Whisperer.

[Zero-Crescent]

Drox Operative is up on Greenlight:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=122180124

Check out the Giant Bomb Quick Look to see why this is worth your vote.

EDIT: Huh, they changed the layout for the Greenlight pages. Now it shows the "Next in Queue" button all of the time, and it also displays a banner if a title you voted for is in the Top 100
EDIT 2: Looks like that latter functionality is broken right now, since it seems to be showing every game as being in the Top 100.

[Gez]

At the very least, games on Greenlight by developers/publishers that already have a title on Steam should be given a free pass to skip the Greenlight process.

But then we get shit like War Z, Sword of the Stars 2, Gettysburg Armoured Warfare, Dino Dday, Revelations 2012, Bad Rats, Orion Dino Beatdown, Two Worlds and other pieces of bad broken shit.

Even Dead Island released in a unacceptable state and it just proves Valve doesn't give a shit and doesn't test games that go on Steam.

[Shaneus]

Where exactly do you get that figure, anyway? I tried Googling "Greenlight rank", but the only things I could find were mostly out-of-date. The only exception was this, which seems to be more up-to-date in terms of listings, but seems all wrong with rank (The Pinball Arcade is ranked 695, according to it, which sounds wrong; in fact, it seems to ascribe "rank" as "when did this get uploaded?").

21st Dec 2012 newsletter:


18 Jan 2013 newsletter:


How in the fuck does that make any sense at all?

The problem is, that logic only applies to games that are more popular than X number of votes, where X is whatever number you or Valve considers to be a cutoff to be accepted. And not only X number of votes, but X number of votes in Y amount of time, possibly, if the positions decay over time. This means that games with niche appeal lose out to games with mass appeal, regardless of quality -- and as far as I know, there are both games of low quality and games of niche appeal already on the Steam store, so I feel like it's reasonable to allow say, an already-completed pinball game of presumably high quality (if all of the above is true, I haven't personally played it) on the store even if it doesn't get as many votes as a FPS, or something that's going to be kickstarted and possibly not even developed after it takes a Greenlight slot.

Exactly right. What's fucked about that (amongst other things) is that if you had a trickle promo campaign at the start where only the most fanatical voted (which TPA did), then gradually built up the votes then your average (which is what approval seems to go by) is going to be well under something that gets a shedload in the space of a week. And the fans that voted for your game so early on obviously can't vote again, so they're basically dead votes that count for a fraction of what they did when you first cast them.

Pretty much. Valve needs to pull it's head out of its arse in regards to Greenlight and scrap the whole thing. It's a kick in the balls to alot of people, both consumer and publishers alike.

Yah-huh. The dude who developed Gunman Clive (whose name escapes me) has basically given up on getting his game on Greenlight (despite moving a stack of copies on iOS, Android and now the Nintendo eShop). The idea itself of Greenlight is a good idea, but the voting and ranking process defies any logic whatsoever.

[Wok]

Where exactly do you get that figure, anyway? I tried Googling "Greenlight rank", but the only things I could find were mostly out-of-date. The only exception was this, which seems to be more up-to-date in terms of listings, but seems all wrong with rank (The Pinball Arcade is ranked 695, according to it, which sounds wrong; in fact, it seems to ascribe "rank" as "when did this get uploaded?").

I don't know how the ranks are computed. I guess they should be these of September 2012, as for the ratings.

IMPORTANT - Ratings are no-longer shown - the results here as they were 19/9 before they disappeared!

[Haunted]

21st Dec 2012 newsletter: 18 Jan 2013 newsletter: How in the fuck does that make any sense at all?

What do you mean? Sounds like some other games have passed it in the vote count since the first newsletter.

edit: I thought the uploaders were able to see their rank.

[JaseC]

But then we get shit like War Z, Sword of the Stars 2, Gettysburg Armoured Warfare, Dino Dday, Revelations 2012, Bad Rats, Orion Dino Beatdown, Two Worlds and other pieces of bad broken shit. Even Dead Island released in a unacceptable state and it just proves Valve doesn't give a shit and doesn't test games that go on Steam.

I feel like you're trying to make a point but have just listed a bunch of games that made it through Valve's previous approval process. :p In any case, the fact remains that there are several developers/publishers that have games that would (or would have likely) otherwise made it on to Steam if it weren't for Greenlight. I'd wager that a guarantee of safe passage for previously-accepted developers/publishers would do more good than harm.

Edit: Dead Island was a simple mistake that was quickly fixed -- somebody submitted an old dev build instead of the retail build. Valve scrapping Greenlight would just mean a reversion to the previous approval process, which itself would still mean "broken shit" gets through as evidenced by your own list. Greenlight could use improvement, sure, but scrapping it wouldn't have the desired effect; if nothing else, the system -- even in its current form -- helps to prevent less-than-desired titles being approved since the community at large can downvote them.

[Shaneus]

What do you mean? Sounds like some other games have passed it in the vote count since the first newsletter. edit: I thought the uploaders were able to see their rank.

That's one month. In one month, when there were 10 games approved (moving everyone up 10 places), they managed to effectively drop seventeen places? If it was based on average vote count, that's understandable but it's a ridiculous way to do it, because they need to find more votes every month than the previous one (an exponentially higher amount, given their current position). Obviously new games will have a higher average because they're all fresh votes, compared to something like TPA which has to find a large amount of new voters (because existing voters can't vote again) every month. Which is obviously impossible, because the market that you're appealing to is diminishing with every person that votes.

[RedSwirl]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

[Nabs]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

For sure.

[Stallion Free]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

Yes, they should be in a separate category, the primary category, the one people first see when they view the Greenlight page.

[morningbus]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

It'd be preferable if 3 categories existed:

1) Completed, ready-to-go games. 5 to 10 games a month move up from this category.

2) In development. Up to 5 games a month move up from this category and are guaranteed distribution.

3) Concepts. No "moving up," simply gauging interest in something.

[SapientWolf]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

Not only that, but I think games should get aged up if they've been lingering in the top 100 for awhile. Otherwise, some fairly popular stuff just might never get released.

[Nabs]

We in there



Recent submissions that are in the top 100: Chasm, Poker Smash, Potato Man, Fortress Forever, Rocket Girl, Derrick the Deathfin, Freedom Planet (Sonic fan game that went legit), and Wimp. I have the touch of gold. Now lets get CSD on Steam.

[Shadow Hog]

It'd be preferable if 3 categories existed: 1) Completed, ready-to-go games. 5 to 10 games a month move up from this category. 2) In development. Up to 5 games a month move up from this category and are guaranteed distribution. 3) Concepts. No "moving up," simply gauging interest in something.

Technically, that third one already exists. So, really, all they'd need to do is divide the existing pool up between the first two categories, and then up the allotment of passing titles accordingly, which I'd be all for.

[Blizzard]

Anybody else think already-completed games, especially already-available games, should get priority in the Greenlight process?

Yes, or at least a special category, as long as Valve reserves the right to veto something because of quality reasons (and is willing to convey this to the developers).

[Nabs]

Evoland



I wonder how short it ends up being.

[Platy]

Evoland I wonder how short it ends up being.

It is a version of the 24 Ludum Dare overall winner !

One could say that *puts on sunglasses* that it evolved a lot since then

=P

[Blizzard]

Evoland I wonder how short it ends up being.

Whoa, I love the sprites on the left two images.