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[Stumpokapow]

It's not really a matter of wether or not you can afford 100$. It's still a $100 that could have been spent on more important stuff, like beer. Having to pay a bunch of arbitrary fees is never very nice, and they're really just punishing the serious applicants because others are misusing the system. A 10$ or even 1$ fee would still have dissuaded 90% of the trolls, or they could just have moderated the service better.

I think $1-$10 would easily knock out the russians submitting Minecraft or Battlefield 3, as well as the trolls, but probably not the "my first game" hobbyist types.

Personally I don't think the fee is 100% necessary and the problem would have probably solved itself over time as people got a sense of how the process was and they worked more on the discovery stuff, but as long as the fee is there, I think it accomplishes the stated objective in pretty much the most elegant way possible.

They should make it so any submission that gets accepted and has already paid the $100 fee shouldnt have to pay it ever again. Sure someone could submit "tits: the game" and get enough troll votes to get it accepted, but it would happen so rarely that Valve could easily manually work around those kinds of problems.

I sort of feel like this should be true, fee or no fee. Someone who has a game on Steam ought to be able to put more games on Steam without any kind of review process unless their account has been specifically flagged for one.

There aren't many developers who rise to the professional-type level and then shrink back to the hobbyist level.

 

[Hellsing321]

They should make it so any submission that gets accepted and has already paid the $100 fee shouldnt have to pay it ever again. Sure someone could submit "tits: the game" and get enough troll votes to get it accepted, but it would happen so rarely that Valve could easily manually work around those kinds of problems.

The $100 isn't per submission. You only have to buy it once and it flags your account so you can submit as many games as you want on that account.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/219820/?snr=1_7_suggest__13

 

[Bamihap]

Totally Green Light related: the Green Light Bundle is ending in 2 days. Get it here.

Right now we're working on the second bundle. Confirmed games for bundle #2:
Omegalodon
Dawn of Fantasy
Perpetuum
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>

 

[The Grim Heaper]

Totally Green Light related: the Green Light Bundle is ending in 2 days. Get it here.

Right now we're working on the second bundle. Confirmed games for bundle #2:
Omegalodon

YES

 

[Sysgen]

This makes me angry :|


This makes me happy. Great decision

To some people $100 is like a dollar. Solves little at best, nothing at worst.

The $100 isn't per submission. You only have to buy it once and it flags your account so you can submit as many games as you want on that account.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/219820/?snr=1_7_suggest__13

Corrected, solves nothing. Valve should decide what gets on Greenlight and then let the users take it from there.

 

[Mairu]

Totally Green Light related: the Green Light Bundle is ending in 2 days. Get it here.

Right now we're working on the second bundle. Confirmed games for bundle #2:
Omegalodon
Dawn of Fantasy
Perpetuum
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>

The concept of these bundles is cool, I purchased the first one, but I think I'll be hesitating on future purchases to wait to see how likely it is for them to get greenlighted by Valve and put on Steam.

 

[Hellsing321]

To some people $100 is like a dollar. Solves little at best, nothing at worst.




Corrected, solves nothing. Valve should decide what gets on Greenlight and then let the users take it from there.

If Valve chose what was put on Greenlight how would that have been different from the submission process before where lots of good indie games where falling through the cracks?

 

[Chairmanchuck]

If Valve chose what was put on Greenlight how would that have been different from the submission process before where lots of good indie games where falling through the cracks?

Hm...

I guess he means they should just put some "minimum requirements" for the applications and someone should just check if the games meet them, so that really shabby ripoffs, Sexgames or really games which artstyle was made with paint wont find its way on there.

 

[Orayn]

Corrected, solves nothing. Valve should decide what gets on Greenlight and then let the users take it from there.

The idea was to remove the need for Valve to individually examine thousands of indie submissions, so what would be gained by adding another middleman?

 

[Chairmanchuck]

The idea was to remove the need for Valve to individually examine thousands of indie submissions, so what would be gained by adding another middleman?

Are there realy thousands of indie-submissions now? I think a part-timer can easily do it. Just check them for 1 hour every evening.

 

[Hellsing321]

Are there realy thousands of indie-submissions now? I think a part-timer can easily do it. Just check them for 1 hour every evening.

There has probably been over 1000 submissions for the week its been up when you take all the fake and spam games into account.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Just finished voting on every game. 305 yes votes.

Once they changed the buttons, my basic criteria was the following:
1) Is this a game in a genre that Valve doesn't seem to get at all (pinball, for example?) If yes, vote yes.
2) Is this something that looks like a game that would be sold for any amount of money to someone who would be a fan of the genre? If yes, vote yes.
3) If not, is this doing something truly unique that I've never seen before? If yes, vote yes.
4) Do I feel severely guilty that I'm about to vote no? If yes, vote yes.
5) Vote no.

 

[paperboywriter]

is there a table of the games and their votes?

 

[HadesGigas]

is there a table of the games and their votes?

http://www.shrewdlogarithm.com/greenlight.htm

Current top 10:
1 Slender: Source 29%
2 Project Zomboid 27%
3 No More Room In Hell 25%
4 Routine 18%
5 Dream 14%
6 Towns 14%
7 Heroes & Generals 13%
8 Black Mesa 13%
9 Kenshi 11%
10 Cry of Fear 11%

 

[SapientWolf]

Just finished voting on every game. 305 yes votes.

Once they changed the buttons, my basic criteria was the following:
1) Is this a game in a genre that Valve doesn't seem to get at all (pinball, for example?) If yes, vote yes.
2) Is this something that looks like a game that would be sold for any amount of money to someone who would be a fan of the genre? If yes, vote yes.
3) If not, is this doing something truly unique that I've never seen before? If yes, vote yes.
4) Do I feel severely guilty that I'm about to vote no? If yes, vote yes.
5) Vote no.

Blatant clones sometimes fit this criteria but I don't always feel comfortable voting them up.

 

[Dizzy-4U]

I'd kill for Goldeneye:Source to be up there, but Activision will sue them instantly

 

[Stumpokapow]

My favourites:

AfterFall Insanity Extended Edition
Ancients of the Abyss - This is an intentionally super low-fi FPS, almost like a demake or something. Looked very neat to me.
Broforce
Buck & Miles - Very crisp graphics.
Chuck's Challenge 3D - A new puzzle game with levels by the creator of Chip's Challenge
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
Escape Goat - Played on XBLIG, bought in Indie Royale, this is the best Sega Genesis puzzle-platformer that never existed.
Fly'n
Gamekid
Gunman Clive - Played on iOS, really like the art style and think this is a good distraction game to kill an hour or two.
LA-MULANA
McPixel - WTF?
Mort the Intern
Mutant Mudds - Played on 3DSWare, I thought it was good but not quite there, hopefully the bonus content takes it up a notch.
Octodad: Deadliest Catch - Even Shakespeare's greatest tragedies can't touch your heart like this.
Path to the Sky
Pitiri 1977
Plunger Lunger
Project Giana
Real Heroes: Firefighter - This is a port/HD Remake of that one firefighting game that was received surprisingly well on the Wii.
Rot Gut
Routine - This was probably the biggest left-field surprise of the whole pack for me.
Snails
Squirrel Adventures
TRIP
Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race
The Oil Blue - I confess that I still haven't gotten the hang of this, but I had a lot of fun with it when I played it (IndieRoyale)
VolChaos - Very fun little platformer on XBLIG
Waking Mars - Great game on iOS.

Blatant clones sometimes fit this criteria but I don't always feel comfortable voting them up.

The only one I struggled with was the obvious Jones in the Fast Line clone. It looked good enough to justify an upvote, but it looked really really close, OTOH Jones in the Fast Lane is not for sale anywhere and it's never going to get a sequel, so...

 

[Nabs]

Get Rich or Die Gaming

 

[Chinner]

did you pass on organ trail then stump?

 

[Atomski]

I'd kill for Goldeneye:Source to be up there, but Activision will sue them instantly

I dont understand the point in free mods being submitted.

 

[HadesGigas]

I dont understand the point in free mods being submitted.

Being on Steam like other free mods were (then Valve forgot they started doing that and haven't added any new ones in years).

 

[Dizzy-4U]

I dont understand the point in free mods being submitted.

Exposure?

 

[Warm Machine]

If a game like Routine is sitting at only 18% it is going to take months and months before any regular indie title will be approved.

 

[Stumpokapow]

did you pass on organ trail then stump?

I did pass on it, but not because it was a clone, because I think that this kind of game ought to be a freeware thing (and I don't give a crap about zombies holy shit does anyone at this point?).

If a game like Routine is sitting at only 18% it is going to take months and months before any regular indie title will be approved.

Well, I guess there's two possibilities.

Either Valve is basically done approving indie games and they constructed Greenlight as an elaborate ruse not to approve indie games anymore, Steam going COD exclusive...

... or they still haven't settled on a final voting number and plan to manually approve games that they enjoy that don't hit the threshold anyway.

 

[Atomski]

The amount of adaptation and change Valve has made to Greenlight in just a few days would take bigger more lumbering companies months if not years to do...

So damned true.

 

[Warm Machine]

I did pass on it, but not because it was a clone, because I think that this kind of game ought to be a freeware thing (and I don't give a crap about zombies holy shit does anyone at this point?).



Well, I guess there's two possibilities.

Either Valve is basically done approving indie games and they constructed Greenlight as an elaborate ruse not to approve indie games anymore, Steam going COD exclusive...

... or they still haven't settled on a final voting number and plan to manually approve games that they enjoy that don't hit the threshold anyway.

Obviously I know that and have read through that

You know as well as I do that they have full stats on their side as to who is doing what with the voting both up, down, abstaining. They also have metrics on sales targets vs. store visibility for both regular sales and Steam sales, factoring that into their equations for individual titles on Greenlight.

As well, they are tracking Greenlight visibility against their own currently online userbase. Checking to see what % of people on Steam are bothering to even look at Greenlight when it launched compared to now.

They probably put their numbers up as a "Best Case" and I know that they will have to erode those numbers based on traffic in and out of specific games being featured. As there is next to know statistical feedback on the dev end it is incredibly difficult to see what is going on within any game on the service.

Really, I don't doubt they are keeping it private so they don't have to deal with large user groups of people, or developers suggesting that they know when a game should be put up for sale. I've always maintained that Steam is all about Valve and Valve has every right to do with Steam as they see fit.

For all we know, Routine has seen 1 million up votes. Imagine if a publisher or other entity was privy to that information? You could easily use those metrics to leverage all kinds of business arrangements.

 

[beril]

Well, I guess there's two possibilities.

Either Valve is basically done approving indie games and they constructed Greenlight as an elaborate ruse not to approve indie games anymore, Steam going COD exclusive...

... or they still haven't settled on a final voting number and plan to manually approve games that they enjoy that don't hit the threshold anyway.

They did however state in one of their updates that they've already started adjusting the target number, which makes it a bit worrysome that it's still so high.

Ultimately it all depends on what their policies are, which we don't really know. Is greenlight a way for them to open up for more indie releases, or just a way to outsource the selection process while keeping about the same number of releases. I guess we'll find out in the next few months

 

[Chinner]

theyve lowered it twice already. this is still something they're feeling out. no doubt they'll look at the progress in a weeks, months etc time and readjust it again.

nothing is final at the moment.

 

[Stumpokapow]

They did however state in one of their updates that they've already started adjusting the target number, which makes it a bit worrysome that it's still so high.

I don't view that as troublesome. There's no reason to believe their plan was to adjust it once and then never again. They're still working on it. And again, since they've already said they don't expect things to hit 100% to have to get on Steam, we still really have no idea how often we can expect them to intervene or what their angle is.

They probably put their numbers up as a "Best Case" and I know that they will have to erode those numbers based on traffic in and out of specific games being featured. As there is next to know statistical feedback on the dev end it is incredibly difficult to see what is going on within any game on the service.

I don't really see that as being the case. When they announced Greenlight months and months ago, they announced that they would adjust the vote threshold back and forth over the first 2-3 weeks. I don't think adjusting it down reflects a less-than-expected interest in the service.

For all we know, Routine has seen 1 million up votes.

Before last night's changes, nothing had more than a few hundred thousand views.

 

[jaundicejuice]

This Golden Axe knock-off had my vote at the elevator of corpses.

 

[Wok]

My favourites, which are now only ten:

• Faerie Alchemy
• The Sea Will Claim Everything
• INIT.
• Momonga Pinball Adventures (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Qasir al-Wasat: A Night in-Between
• Shaun the Sheep - Home Sheep Home 2
• The Oil Blue
• Fly'n (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Gunman Clive (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Octodad: Dadliest Catch

 

[Jables Swan]

Totally Green Light related: the Green Light Bundle is ending in 2 days. Get it here.

Right now we're working on the second bundle. Confirmed games for bundle #2:
Omegalodon
Dawn of Fantasy
Perpetuum
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>
<insert your favorite here>

What are the chances you get a Steam key for the games you purchase in these bundles once they get onto Steam?

 

[Dog Problems]

This Golden Axe knock-off had my vote at the elevator of corpses.

Yeah, I voted for that one also. Can't say no to a beat'em up.

 

[BadSanta]

I have submitted my game. I never had so much people seeing it lol. Your vote is welcomed

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=94256598

 

[The Grim Heaper]

What are the chances you get a Steam key for the games you purchase in these bundles once they get onto Steam?

From the FAQ:

Where are my steam codes?

When any of the games included with the bundle become available on the Steam store you will get a code to download the game on Steam. In the meantime you can always download the DRM free versions of the games from the Green Light Bundle website.

 

[Haunted]

What are the chances you get a Steam key for the games you purchase in these bundles once they get onto Steam?

100%

 

[Stumpokapow]

My favourites, which are now only ten:

• Faerie Alchemy
• The Sea Will Claim Everything
• INIT.
• Momonga Pinball Adventures (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Qasir al-Wasat: A Night in-Between
• Shaun the Sheep - Home Sheep Home 2
• The Oil Blue
• Fly'n (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Gunman Clive (which I discovered on Greenlight)
• Octodad: Dadliest Catch

I upvoted all of those except Faerie Alchemy. The Sea Will Claim Everything was interesting for me--at first I went with a gut "no" vote, but my girlfriend said to click more, and the more I clicked, the more I felt that the premise and description made up for my initial issues with the presentation.

 

[Jables Swan]

From the FAQ:

Thanks mate. Awesome stuff.

 

[Haunted]

I'm also through the current batch for now. 355 yes votes. Feels lenient somehow...


Favourited 7 games:

Routine : Hits all the buttons for me. One of my dream settings, incredible vibe and gameplay mechanics I'd want from my horror games - well in development, release expected early 2013.

Towerclimb : Given my recent Isaac and Spelunky binges not a surprising choice; it's a game in that vein, randomly generated levels, great to play in short bursts, always a new experience within the same ruleset - beta already available.

FRACT OSC: Loved last year's beta build, Tron and Darwinia-inspired aesthetics, weird architecture to explore and solve(!), all weaved together by the musical theme - well into development, prototype build available.

Fly'n: Great art, interesting and varied mechanics, very professional presentation. Bonus points for being made by a GAFer (well, one of the nine devs is a GAFer) - No mention of release window on the Greenlight page or the official site.

McPixel : WarioWare meets one-room puzzles and weird humour - Already available.

No Time to Explain: Fast-paced platformer with a solid sense of humour, really giving me Super Meat Boy vibes - flash build available on Newgrounds.

Legends of the Knightwasher: Funny and looks good, the first game I favourited on the service and now the one I'm least sure about - Earliest in development among the favourites, so it remains to be seen what they do with it.

 

[Jintor]

Replay Game's interview on Valve removing their interactive erotica game Seduce ME from Greenlight due to 'violating' the terms:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-05-no-sex-please-were-gamers

I call bullshit Valve

 

[Haunted]

My favourites:

AfterFall Insanity Extended Edition
Ancients of the Abyss - This is an intentionally super low-fi FPS, almost like a demake or something. Looked very neat to me.
Broforce
Buck & Miles - Very crisp graphics.
Chuck's Challenge 3D - A new puzzle game with levels by the creator of Chip's Challenge
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
Escape Goat - Played on XBLIG, bought in Indie Royale, this is the best Sega Genesis puzzle-platformer that never existed.
Fly'n
Gamekid
Gunman Clive - Played on iOS, really like the art style and think this is a good distraction game to kill an hour or two.
LA-MULANA
McPixel - WTF?
Mort the Intern
Mutant Mudds - Played on 3DSWare, I thought it was good but not quite there, hopefully the bonus content takes it up a notch.
Octodad: Deadliest Catch - Even Shakespeare's greatest tragedies can't touch your heart like this.
Path to the Sky
Pitiri 1977
Plunger Lunger
Project Giana
Real Heroes: Firefighter - This is a port/HD Remake of that one firefighting game that was received surprisingly well on the Wii.
Rot Gut
Routine - This was probably the biggest left-field surprise of the whole pack for me.
Snails
Squirrel Adventures
TRIP
Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race
The Oil Blue - I confess that I still haven't gotten the hang of this, but I had a lot of fun with it when I played it (IndieRoyale)
VolChaos - Very fun little platformer on XBLIG
Waking Mars - Great game on iOS.

The only one I struggled with was the obvious Jones in the Fast Line clone. It looked good enough to justify an upvote, but it looked really really close, OTOH Jones in the Fast Lane is not for sale anywhere and it's never going to get a sequel, so...

The only ones I didn't upvote from this list were Gamekid and Snails.

Both looked fairly boring and like variations of games I've already played dozens of times on various flash portals. You really need to have either a standout presentation (and no, 10-colour retro graphics aren't it) or a really compelling gameplay twist to get me to change my mind from that initial assessment.

 

[BadSanta]

Thanks for your vote Stumpokapow.
I know the game is not perfect yet, I have a lot of ideas to improve it, plus some great new levels in mind but I never had the expected support. Greenlight is probably its last chance before I move on to another project. But I'm confident given the exposure Greenlight offers.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Replay Game's interview on Valve removing their interactive erotica game Seduce ME from Greenlight due to 'violating' the terms:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-05-no-sex-please-were-gamers

I didn't see the submission in question. Was it really graphic or something?

$100 for a serious game submission that you've already likely put months of man-hours into is really not that high. But I take your point.

If you are already developing an indie game, $100 is nothing in comparison to what you've already spent in some cases.

 

[Blizzard]

I didn't see the submission in question. Was it really graphic or something?

It was an adult game apparently about seducing virtual women, complete with pixellated genitalia in the Steam screenshots if I recall correctly.

 

[HoosTrax]

The Metroidvania fan in me wants this so bad:

Especially since the last few installments in the CV series have not been on DS, the only semi-modern "console" I own.

Game is stated to be in pre-alpha, but the gameplay trailer looks pretty polished at this state.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

It was an adult game apparently about seducing virtual women, complete with pixellated genitalia in the Steam screenshots if I recall correctly.

Oh.

Okay.

 

[Haunted]

Oh.

Okay.

Gameplay video.

Safe enough for Youtube.

 

[SapientWolf]

More of these lists need Forge on it. It's easily in my top 5 at PAX. Where are all those Phantom Dust fans?

 

[Roto13]

Get Rich or Die Gaming

Proves that $100 isn't enough.

 

[Haunted]

Proves that $100 isn't enough.

I was fairly sure I've seen that game before the fee was introduced, but the time stamps say otherwise, hm.

In any case, that's another $100 for charity, so I'd consider it a success. Shitty XBLIG game from 2010.


edit: vv yeah. Strange.