Are you an independent developer who wonders why your own projects and endeavors never wind up on Valve’s popular digital distribution service of Steam? How about a consumer who believes players have a vested interest in what the community is spending money on? With Valve’s new system, titled “Greenlight,” the company will allow those of you who purchase products and give feedback the opportunity to participate in the process that chooses which games will become available through the service.
Greenlight, set to launch at the end of next month, provides a platform in which indie games can fairly and objectively compete for the opportunity to be featured on Steam. The community of Steam users will have the ability to vote and approve the games of their choosing, though the specific number of votes a game gets won’t matter as much as relative interest with that game when compared to other titles in Greenlight. Via the Steam Community page:
“Steam Greenlight is a new system that enlists the community’s help in picking some of the next games to be released on Steam. Developers post information, screenshots, and videos for their game and seek a critical mass of community support in order to get selected for distribution. Steam Greenlight also helps developers get feedback from potential customers and start creating an active community around their game as early in the development process as they like.”
If you happen to be an indie developer and are curious to see what the Greenlight process entails, you will need a “non-limited” Steam account, which means you’ll have to buy a title off of Steam if you haven’t done so already. The submission form requires:
– A square branding image (similar to a box cover) to represent your game in lists and search
– At least 1 video showing off your game or presenting your concept
– At least 4 screenshots or images
– A written description of the game along with tentative system requirements
Valve began this process of direct community interaction with the introduction of the Steam Workshop back in October 2011 which set in place a platform for users to rate and provide feedback for their purchases. Come August, Valve will once again look to be the paradigm of customer support and collaboration with the launch of Greenlight.
Source: Steam
