Steam

It's a question that's been on my mind and it may have already been answered; but can we expect to see SOTA available on steam? I feel like it would make a lot more people comfortable to purchase and play the game; and provide a means of publicity; and an easy way for fairly regular gamers such as myself to play the game. If this was addressed forgive me; sometimes I don't pay attention.

 

Or perhaps even just link the game with steam; so I could launch it through steam and/or log in with steam.

 

I think it should be even if only for the exposure to potential new players. Right now there are 4.5million people on steam and that is hardly unusual.

Plus it would be convenient for those of us who already use it.

 

Only if the game is able to start and play while being offline, and important aspect for RG. As well, IIRC, he prefers no DRM.

 

Well now it is really easy to get on Steam by using Greenlight so I do not see why they would not want to have the game available via Steam...

We definitely have the voting power already...

 

I am sure the final game will be on Steam. Whether backers will get Steam version is unknown. We would need a DRM free version in addition to the Steam version since Steam is DRM. Many other KS projects provide both, but there is some cost to provide backers Steam keys too.

 

Umm does steam have the ability to play a persistent game offline? Isn't it always on DRM?

Because one of the things RG said was that he wants the game to have the ability to play a certain amount of time (with some functions limited) of the online game offline. So you could play on the plane and then the server could catch up when you land

 

I think they are considering the possibility, but yeah, Steam has DRM so yeah. Not sure what the offline restrictions are as I am always online on Steam to play.

I think at least we know for sure we will get a DRM free copy, but Steam may be used as a Retail Distribution Platform. I don't know what ramifications that has on the offline mode.

Hopefully if they go with steam they will still sell DRM free on the website.

But Steam would be a great way to get some exposure too.

 

There is a play in offline mode thing on Steam so it is possible. Alternatively just giving people (at least the backers anyway) a DRM free download of the game to play offline is a good thing.

 

Hang on I'm not talking about the offline only mode.

I am talking about the ability to play the ONLINE mode offline for a limited amount of time which is what RG stated he wanted. As he said in the interview you wouldn't be able to go buy a house offline because someone else might have bought the same house but you would be able to do some crafting or other limited things which are unlikely to be exploited (and therefore need to go through the server) or change the persistent world for a limited amount of time (like while on a plane) and then when you get back online these would update

 

Wouldn't it be no different to the FRO or OPO just everyone is filtered out?

That on Steam should work fine should't it?

The MMO's I have on Steam open a Launcher and patch and then log you in, so couldn't a similar launcher provide the 'updates' to the server for your activities to catch up?

Since you can launch Steam in Offline mode you can access the game and then in Online Mode sync to the 'cloud' at shtoud's servers.

I could just be talking crap though since I only use sophisticated networks as a user

 

how do you launch steam offline??????

Seriously wish i could work that out because it annoys me having to run it constantly for games like KOTOR which preceded the internet almost let alone always on DRM

Oh and think the mode you were looking for there is SPO but with no internet connection

 

Just because you get a game on steam doesn't mean you have to play it through steam. You can buy a game from steam, even update it through steam but you don't have to online it thru steam.

 

@Umbrae
There is a cost in getting Steam keys to players, all right - but there is also a costs saving, as it offloads at least part of the server / downloads requirement to Steam's servers. I've already seen three KS projects I backed use Steam for distributing Beta clients because it was cheaper than paying for the servers and bandwidth to distribute the beta client otherwise (though in all cases the players will also get the non-steam, DRM-free copies of the game after it is released).

@Sir Asguard

For me, whenever I don't have an internet connection Steam launches in offline mode automatically, letting me play every game I have already downloaded (including KotOR, actually). Steam can also be put into offline mode manually with the same results.

Unless the game uses Steamworks for it's online capabilities (VERY unlikely for SotA), whenever Steam is in online or offline mode has no influence on the availability of multiplayer.

 

@Silent Strider - It really depends because you still have to support the DRM-free folks. I understand the alpha/beta issue, but this does exclude people without Steam so you would lose out on some of your testers. For other KS games that used it the alpha/beta tier was more limited, but for SOTA all backers pretty much get it.

@Others

Steam does have an offline mode, but the ability to play games offline is specific to the publisher. So if EA says no offline then you cannot use offline mode to play the game. Also, I have never been able to get offline mode to work properly. I would always have to at least login to my Steam account before I could go offline. As for the limited time offline for online play, I think games still handle their own network stack, so that should be possible. However, there might be restriction if they wanted to use Steam Workshop, but not sure SOTA would have any use for that since they are using the Unity store for user content.

Also if you publish through Steam then you HAVE to provide updates through Steam for those games. This is why EA does not have expansions available to some titles because they disagree with Steam on this.

I think Steam is a good platform, but you need to diversify. If provided on Steam I will probably use the Steam version, but I would still use the DRM free version for offline play.

 

GOG was also mentioned as a possibility for distribution. When the time comes I'm sure they'll even consider BitTorrent, which might make the most sense for frequent Alpha/Beta builds.

 

There's also the Humble Store (from the guys behind the Humble Bundle) and Desura. Portalarium has no lack of options, and no need to settle for one or more of those until they are ready to distribute the Alpha at least.

 

Couldn't they self distribute anyway?

After all they have already set up a store here so the financial side should be easy

 

They could self distribute but having it on Steam too means it gets wider exposure as millions of people use the platform. It will be an aid in ensuring it is successful, which I think we all want it to be.

 

For those who don't want online DRM then I'm sure the game client will be available through the SotA website. However, the convenience for me having it on Steam as part of my larger collection is very valuable.

Not to mention putting it on one of the worlds most popular digital distribution services would be a nice middle finger to EA and their digital download abomination