Should I release my game as an open source project now that I am having reasons to believe Steam doe

If you're way too f****ng bored now or just drunk or retarded, read on to see the story of my game:

An year ago I put my game on Greenlight steam. It was total S*** at the time and asset flip. You probably think the game did poorly and never got approved? Wrong! It was approved via greenlight and actually reached top 5th place in greenlight out of 1400+ games.

Now the fun part...I was happy with the success and went through finishing the game. I started the game literally from scratch because i didn't want people to accuse me of "asset flipping". 2 out of the 3 levels were re-build from scratch.

I ultimately did something that looks like this:

http://novucomp.com/rebel-semirealism.png

http://novucomp.com/rebel-work-reflection.png

^ Those are far from the most telling screenshots of what the game has to offer. Here is a trailer which has a low fps rate because my screencapture software ucks - but the game runs smoothly on decent machines - even steam approved the exe already....

http://store.steampowered.com/gfxproxy/betagfx/apps/256666613/movie480.webm?t=1467884569

I have no problems releasing at as early access and the price is currently low...well compared to doom and gta -... 8$ and not 60$.

However Steam are already finding reasons not to approve the Store page which aside from any possible paranoia seem to tell me they simply don't want the game but can't just say "no". I'm sure when I've signed up I've agreed to accept the fact that they can reject with no explanation given, but so far this hasn't been the case, they seem to give reasons not to accept the store page which postpones the release.

My current strategy is:

Put it on sourceforge as demo with one of the levels + source code (unity project for it...) and then lower the price to 5$ via paypal for full release.

WIll this ever work? I've also already contacted Gog and 2 publishers who wanted to play a demo months ago.

I just want to get rid off this sh**y game, don't want to turn this into a never ending slavery to a project I don't even enjoy working on. I want it to end.

 

Sorry I reposted this from reddit and the title doesn't fit, it should be:


"Should I release my game as an open source project now that I am having reasons to believe Steam doesn't want it?"

 

will be happy to post better screenshots too - the ones aren't that special i know...

 

HTTP 403 - Forbidden

 

^ thanks 0_0...well expected - the store page isn't approved like i said.

Here i just downloaded it and reuploaded on youtube as its easier for me this way...it's 480p but....can't find the original mp4 atm. :

 

Maybe instead of assuming you're the pawn of a larger conspiracy to keep your game off of steam you should tell us what Valve said their reasoning was for not letting you upload it yet.

 

^ that's the problem. copy paste from reddit - the whole story:

 

copy/paste the story atm:

"

The reason for my suspicion is the whole approval process that far:

I uploaded for approval roughly a week ago..the exe was approved in no time, just one day. I thought thats the hard part and that the description is the easiest.

Then the description "hanged there" for several days....no approval, no rejection...I then start thread in a forum - no answer. Then finally maybe after someone seeing the thread in their forum replied to my email that they can't release because I have added an "EULA" in the legal lines of the description. Fine...i removed the eula and resubmitted.

Then...they wrote that that the game should consider early access. Fine...but that gave me big red flag: Basically, why are they reporting about the exe once the game is already approved but the description not? Are they hinting they can determine if a game should be early access based on screenshots and video alone 0_0? I don't get it...

Fine, I put early access as an option and re-submitted for review. Again started a thread in their forum asking politely to send me single email with all issues possible instead of spreading it out in several. Then...no reply, even some guy replied but not valve."

 

With that being said, I've read "horror stories" about people unable to upload their builds or the testers unable to play their game. Now this was my fear and not the f****ing EULA which I fixed but they came up with something out of the blue.

Obviously you'd feel slightly paranoid in a situation like that, there's no logical explanation that it's all fine if you analyze the whole process of approval that far.

 

Just cut your losses and drop it. You've clearly made up your mind already. Likely you just feel you need to still monetise it somehow because of sunk cost fallacy. Am I right? I'd say put it on https://flippa.com/ if you want, but I wouldn't expect to get much for it. Also note that you probably aren't allowed to resell any assets that you used.

 

^ yeah well thnx...

I've been considering flippa for totally different things - such as: if I need money fast for a mobile app. Any experience with that? I mean I've made some money with google play over the years but now considering a whole different approach which as anyone can guess will mean less money via flippa but I wouldn't mind just testing it.

I mean, sorry if this sounds too vague and all over the place - what I'm trying to say is: sell an app for FAR less than the projected money I'd be taking from google play on 15th-20th the next month, just curious if flippa works at all or is it just brokerage where "investors" are looking for other investors...

 

I'm just happy that steam is finally putting some quality controls in place! Yay Steam!

Sorry dude, even if you really did put work into this, it really has no place actually being sold to gamers.

 

Sorry, no idea. I never used flippa nor did I release anything on steam. If you have a mobile game that gives you income I'd keep it unless it also has ongoing cost of some sort attached to it and you want to cut your losses on maintaining it or something like that.

 

Just put it on itch.io and call it a wash if you've already made up your mind. You probably won't get a lot of sales, but it's better than nothing.

 

Ok, then why the hell are they NOT rejecting this but instead come up with the lame excuse: "sorry no eula"? Are they that stupid?

Plus - I am still waiting to see your work being better, something...I'd be probably waiting for a while

 

^ fine...by liking my post you just confirmed:

1. Steam are stupid. No place for good games there...
2. You can't show something better...

well duh.

 

If you are going to release the source, or try to sell the game source, bear in mind that you cannot resell or redistribute anything that is not yours. And scripts, models or content that is from the asset store or (or elsewhere that doesn't specifically allow you to redistribute), will have to be removed first. Just something to bear in mind.

 

I know, though thanks for the reminder.

 

The approval of the exe sounds like it was just an automated check for malware.

Then they look into it some more.

Might be that they look at your game more closely than others since after reading a few Greenlight comments, the Greenlight project was likely reported for use of CoD and CS:GO assets.

How many copies do you think you'd sell?

 

2 .

Yeah you could be right...the cs thing MIGHT have been an issue but again and again - it was resolved an year ago. Someone actually reported it one Saturday evening last year (guess it was a serious lawyer who reported it - and then steam removed the report - no questions asked.

I won't be surprised if people now report it for the fact that 2010 I've been using php scripts bought from hotscripts.com and not making my own....

 

just btw - the median...that is: most steam games sell 3,000 these days. So, to serve as a guideline to others...

 

wut did I just watch

 

You again? pfff

1. Your game looks bad and from seeing your last video it hasn't improved since the last time you made a thread. Just put it on itch.io, learn from the experience and start something new (maybe something less ambitious than a FPS). Your first game doesn't have to be in Steam and that's ok.

2. Yes he can, I've seen his project (he probably won't though because he's not an arrogant showoff like me haha).

EDIT: dude, is so good to have the old forum back.

 

This. Just watched the video. Its possible there are worse FPS games in existence, but none of those should be on steam either.

It unfortunate that Steam is giving you the runaround and not directly addressing the core concern. They really should simply come back and say 'the game sucks, we don't want to sell it'. It sounds like Steam is starting to regret lowering the green light bar as far as they did.

 

I want to quote this and put it in my signature, because it perfectly wraps up the story of indie game development. I love it. Sorry you're having troubles with your game. Do what you can with it and move on.

 

Sorry but;
Scrap it. Use it as a learning project. It's no where close to being a commercial product.

You even said you just want to move on. Just do it. If you have a decent amount of money invested into assets just use them for another project.

Not all games are meant to be sold; or
seen by others...

 

Yes, is S***ty that Steam didn't stopped you before but take this as a sign, if you release this project in Steam you won't make decent money and your reputation will be damaged (and that's way more important than money at the beginning IMO). We all do crappy projects at first (I also tried to make an FPS when I was starting, of course I didn't tried to sell it) and that's part of the learning process.

 

Ha! It was just approved!!

However...I am not sure Steam allow me to copy/paste my communication with them butl et's just say they sent me one last email that it may be a good idea to remove words such as "S***ty" ).

Anyway, no problem for now guys....seems like I've been just in a hurry as some guy on reddit said....

 

Hahaha.

Maybe you can make a demo so I can see the game's positives, not just a sequence of slow panning wide-screen nature shots?

 

See the game's positives? That's very optimistic of you.

 

Some say:

All's well that ends well.​

But sometimes for some projects it more appropriate to say:

All's well that ends.​

 

I think your game is rubbish and I am sad steam accepted it.

But I'll congratulate you. You have a released game, you went through a ton. You got a DCMA complaint filed before release, you got hammered and mocked (rightfully so), you got dumped onto the asset flip reddit. As terrible as the game is, you've published something. You also at least made an effort to revamp the content and replace most of the asset flipping.

Congratulations. You stuck with it and got to release, it's more than many have done, including myself.

I still hate it though.

PS; you gotta let us know if anyone actually buys it.

 

Thanks I will,

For now probably nobody will because...well I guess there always gotta be a problem with the game lol. Now the game doesn't show up anywhere unless you actually search for it or directly arrive at the page.

I mean, fine...I am not demanding too much such as...placing as "Featured". But logically I'd expect it to show up under "all new released" under Early Access or the "All new" from the "Action" category?

Such as somewhere here:

http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Early Access/?tab=NewReleases#p1

For now there's zero traffic it seems and the release date is set to 15th July, While the store page shows 14th July...

 

You're guaranteed a number of visibility rounds and the like. Read the docs they send you. I think it's like 5 founds with a million guaranteed views each or something. I'd give it a day before you check the lists and stuff, might take a minute to update.

 

Have patience, most likely the database hasn't been updated yet. Give it a little time and I'm sure you will be placed in appropriate categories and traffic will start coming in.

 

Who knows...it could be one of those "24 hours till we include it in our MySQL database"....kind of things.

I mean, I just hit the button, maybe it will take minutes or so. In any case - I am happy with it. Even if it remains hidden, it will be left in history for me in such case - I won't be always thinking about it as something Upcoming, something that I need to add that...and....that until I build it, something to constantly chase me as something "yet_to_be_done".

Sure, the game can go under major improvement but the phase passing here was important. If it gathers some traffic though I may continue working on it...

 

Just keep in mind that this isn't necessarily a good thing. Having a very poorly received title on Steam can come back to haunt you. People may - and most likely will - be inclined to prejudge your future games based on your past ones.

 

Apperantly Rimworld is pretty good:

http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Early Access/

I mean, fine...but the game appears 5 times one after another 0_0 ?? - at least that's what I'm seeing, yet mine is hidden. Guess it's temporary thiing to be fixed...

 

You're looking at popular new releases. Check under all new releases. Naturally popular will be skewed.

http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Early Access/?tab=NewReleases

You may still have to go digging though. Steam receives far more than a single page of games per day.

 

Fine, still looking for an explanation as to why a game is actually 5 games lol ....

again - hopefully a bug they will fix soon.

 

http://i.imgur.com/jYyHtZF.png

^ to anyone curious what the steam admin looks like while approved. Though I don't get it - looks like I can abandon early access any time I want - but won't do so until I put more enemies some day and add multiplayer + check again and again like for 100th time for bugs.

I still fail to accept the Screenshots look bad - they can be better but are good . The trailer is more of a mixed bag, basically "not total S***, but average or bad". I may consider contacting someone who has experience doing videos some day...

Also, according to their NDA I won't be able to speak about sales regardless of success. I may just take it down if the sales are none and then contact Gamasutra or others to tell them not to write all the fairytales about "I am on steam, I made a killing". And if the game remains hidden - putting it on a website or as open source for other devs to learn seems like way better option.

I'm sure some people will like to have the skyscrapers and reflective floors for free easily available on sourceforge...

 

Totally off topic - but I'd avoid sourceforge like the plague. Sourceforge a malware & Trojan infested cesspool of repackaged junk.

github is the typical place to put open source code these days.

I'd never ever consider going to sourceforge, You'll never wash that dirt off.

 

I mean seriously....again not trying to claim that my game can compete with gta or so but a guy on reddit whose username is "stupidsh*t" and who says he is on his way to buy a bag of weed jus claimed that this:

(the slaughtering grounds):

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/s...2e11deebf6f04c0ffd0e.600x338.jpg?t=1465451177

Looks better than this:

http://i.imgur.com/qFJsuM6.png

They've actually used the first screenshot on their steam page and it has tens of thousands of sales + hundreds of positive reviews. Personally I wouldn't play an fps when I can not even see the hand holding the pistol....

 

I liked it as a kid .

Github is too...well hard to find things there. But fine I may consider it. Or code.google.com

 

Wait till the Steam community starts up with their comments and reviews. They're never pleasant.

Once upon a time it was a good platform for open source. Those days are long behind us.

Google Code no longer hosts projects. It's scheduled to go away completely sometime near the end of the year.

http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2015/03/farewell-to-google-code.html

 

There was a time when sourceforge was a good sane place. That day has long past.

To give you an idea, do this - open chrome, start to type sourceforge into the URL/Search bar and watch the top suggested completion: "sourceforge malware" there's a good reason this happens

 

Or you can read the plethora of news articles detailing how malware is bundled with just about anything you download.

http://www.howtogeek.com/218764/warning-don’t-download-software-from-sourceforge-if-you-can-help-it/

 

Yeah I had a feeling it went down the road, once their projects literally disappeared at one point + they now allow shareware even, not? But all I care here is traffic, not even money. The reason I ever considered steam was - traffic. If I remain like that with zero views it will better to put it on download.com or my website, no need going through the hell with steam and then getting zero views and waiting 2 months -30% cut to get money from zero sales lol. it sucks, they even force you to change how you put your game on other sites if you place "Early Access".

Again, with zero traffic on steam it makes absolutely no sense to use them.

 

You may receive some measure of traffic simply by having a game on Steam but modern game development requires you to actively market your game in some manner. That doesn't mean you have to go out there and pay for advertisements but you do have to spread the word about your game.

Minecraft is a very good example of this. If it weren't for the various personalities on YouTube giving it so much attention it would have never achieved even a fraction of the success it did. Back then the flood of games each day wasn't even as bad as it is now.

These days there are thousands of games being released every day across all the major stores. If your game does not stand out from the crowd, if it does not receive the needed marketing, it will be buried.

 

Stop being salty about negative comments, your game looks bad and you decided to put it in Steam anyway so better get ready to get a lot of vitriol. The worst offense of your game is the framerate, if you can't get at least 30fps in your damn trailer you should know that you have serious problems.

Better get some thick skin because if you can't deal with the constructive criticism of this forum you are not ready for what you'll get in Steam.