Steam Machines in 2014 – Opening up the Living Room
Greg Coomer, Anna Sweet
Valve and Steam Machine OEMs will jointly present on what to expect during 2014, including schedules and product release plans. We’ll discuss what we’ve learned so far from our public beta testing, including a rundown on how people are actually using Steam Machines. We’ll cover best practices in preparing your upcoming games for use in the living room. Also! Tweet questions and suggestions live to the on-stage team. After that Q&A the audience will vote on the best question and the winner will get a pretty sweet prize to take home.
The Steam Controller – Production, Programming, and What’s Next
Eric Hope, John McCaskey
The Steam Controller is going to be used by many Steam gamers to play your games. During this hour we’ll discuss the rollout plans for the controller, how to get the most out of the Steam controller for your customers, and we’ll demonstrate how to integrate the Controller API into your games. We’ll share what we’ve learned so far from the public beta testing. We’ll also have controllers on hand for everyone to try, and we’ll let you know when you can have a controller of your own. Also, tweet questions and suggestions live to the on-stage team and try and make them crack up. Note that these people don’t have a sense of humor, so if you manage to break them we’ll definitely make it worth your while.
Getting Started with Linux Game Development
Ryan Gordon - Icculus
This talk is designed for Windows Steam developers that are interested in preparing their games to run on Linux. It will cover available tools, the basic porting flowchart, and common problems and their solutions.
In-Game Economies in Team Fortress and Dota
Kyle Davis, Robin Walker
A look at the multi-year history and development of the in-game economies and micro-transaction systems in Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2, including some of the surprises we encountered and the lessons we've learned that are broadly applicable.
User Generated Content and the Steam Workshop
Alden Kroll, Tom Bui, Josh Weier
What VR Could, Should, and Almost Certainly Will Be within Two Years
Mike Abrash
We’ve figured out what affordable Virtual Reality (VR) hardware will be capable of within a couple of years, and assembled a prototype which demonstrates that such VR hardware is capable of stunning experiences. This type of hardware is almost certainly going to appear in short order, and the time to starting developing for it is now. This talk will discuss what the hardware is like, and the kinds of experiences it makes possible. A few attendees will be randomly selected to try out the prototype following the talk.
Virtual Reality and Steam
Joe Ludwig
Come and hear what Valve is working on in Steam to support and promote Virtual Reality (VR) games. This includes a discussion of the Steam Overlay in VR, Steam store changes for VR, and our VR plan for Steamworks.
Best Practices for Driving Game Sales on Steam
Chet Faliszek, Alden Kroll, Cliff Harris - Positech Games, Alexander Bruce - Antichamber
Interacting with Customers
Robin Walker
United We Win: Lessons Learned from Collaboration and Co-Working around the World
Ichiro Lambe - Dejobaan Games
What secrets do the Boston, Chicago, Copenhagen, LA, London, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Toronto, Utrecht, Vancouver (and other!) communities have to learn from each other? This talk surveys successful indie groups and collaborative spaces around the world, outlining the top 5 things that make them successful, the top 5 things they warn against, and what resources they can provide you.
Data to Drive Decision-Making
Mike Ambinder
This presentation covers Valve’s approach to the acquisition, collection, and interpretation of data across our products and services. We will go over the infrastructure required to implement a data-driven approach to decision-making as well as common problems, useful analyses, and lessons learned as we’ve built up our capabilities around data.
Getting Started Debugging on Linux
Bruce Dawson
Debugging on Linux can be initially intimidating for a developer accustomed to Visual Studio on Windows. This talk explains how to get comfortable debugging on Linux, including which debuggers Valve has found useful, how to get symbols and source code to show up, and how to confidently investigate typical bugs. In addition to C++ debugging some other Linux tools that are commonly needed by developers will be demonstrated.
Porting games to Virtual Reality
Palmer Luckey
The team at Oculus has spent time helping a variety developers bring their existing content to virtual reality across multiple platforms. This talk will cover many of the best practices, technical hurdles that VR developers should be aware of, and some of the counter-intuitive approaches we've seen work.
Steamworks Features – A Technical Overview
Chris Boyd
This talk is designed for partners that are new to Steamworks features and those who would like to discover what new features are available. It will cover an overview of the full feature list, from Lobbies & Matchmaking to Steam Trading Cards and Micro-Transaction integration.