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Geek Culture / Sell DBPro Games on Steam?

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Blobby 101
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Posted: 11th Apr 2013 23:14
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No, you get DRM - that's just a part of steam's platform, but you can hardly expect them to have created an implementation of steamworks for DBPro can you? Either way, a quick google would have thrown up all the answers you needed: Steamworks

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Indicium
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 02:28
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Steam games certainly don't have to be written in C++, and with Mac and Linux ports of Steam - they don't have to be Windows Executable either.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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old_School
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 04:58 Edited at: 12th Apr 2013 05:00
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Quote: "In the indi market, there are tons of DBPro games that qualify, anything that Binary Zoo have done for example, Dark Coders competition games, most of the games in the puzzle comp... when you look there are a helluva lot of finished games that wouldn't be out of place as commercial indi games - and are a lot better than most of the crud that we see on the 360."


Name one that was published and I don't mean self published I mean real published. Quick note Indie has a "e" at the end.However, I do agree a lot of crud games on the X Box but they are on x box live still so ...
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mr Handy
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 08:52 Edited at: 12th Apr 2013 08:57
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Quote: "they don't have to be Windows Executable either."

they say:
Quote: "What systems must my game run on?
To remain in Steam Greenlight and qualify for distribution via Steam, your game must at least run on a Windows PC. You can also be developing for any other platform you like, but we are only able to support PC, Mac and Linux releases at this time."

probably it have to.

---

I am just wondering - now ALL games must pass through greenlight?

«Just because you’re unique, doesn’t mean you’re useful»
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 10:53
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Quote: "Name one that was published and I don't mean self published I mean real published. Quick note Indie has a "e" at the end.However, I do agree a lot of crud games on the X Box but they are on x box live still so ... "


Not sure what you mean by 'real' published. There was a Thai game based around Tony Jaa made by a Thai games studio. I don't think it was as popular in the West. But hey, it's not all about the West.

But I'd probably say one of the most successful DBPro titles is Evochron Mercenary.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/71000/?snr=1_7_15__13

Of course, it's self published. But, I'm not sure exactly what you're after. If you're thinking more along the lines of a title published through EA, you'd be unrealistic. DBPro is a hobbyist/indie tool, it's meant to be a cheap & easy to use solution, not a AAA package.

Star Wraith games have been a successful indie studio for a number of years. Self published doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, for example, Jagex are self-published and they're quite a large studio with a number of skilled people. They were taken on for developing the official Transformers MMO. And as crude as people may think of it, Runescape was a highly successful title, which is kinda responsible for how big the studio is.

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Kuper
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 13:05
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So any information about ho much cost is for self publish game in steam? also steam has achievment system ans its own protection so how can i add it in my DBpro exe?
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Van B
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 13:16
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Quote: "Name one that was published and I don't mean self published I mean real published. Quick note Indie has a "e" at the end."


Well there's TYTT, a collection of typing tutorial games - that was sold in Woolworths - most of the games were written by members of the community.

Then there's probably over a dozen DBPro games on the intel AppUp store.

And my new game will be published, boxed, and also sold on any online store that will have it. These are just examples that I've been involved with, there's every chance that DBPro games have been published in other countries that we never even heard about.

As for using the term indi, instead of indie - well it's a habit, but it also saves wear and tear on my keyboards E key.

I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more memes.
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mr Handy
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 13:43 Edited at: 12th Apr 2013 13:51
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@Van B

According to Wickedpedia:

VERSUS

Quote: "Indie porn"

SERIOUSLY!? An article for homemade porn videos, I suppose? I don't want to know anything about it... Stupid Wickedpedia.

@Kuper

Try to contact guys from Evochron Mercenary team, I suppose...

«Just because you’re unique, doesn’t mean you’re useful»
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Benjamin
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Posted: 12th Apr 2013 20:35
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Quote: "To remain in Steam Greenlight and qualify for distribution via Steam, your game must at least run on a Windows PC"


Lies, at least for the latter part. They sell DOS games, packaged with DOSBox for minimal installation effort.

Of course, I can't imagine anyone writing a DOS game for Steam.

If you are unsure what a particular area will do then please consult the Assistance Table at the bottom of this page.
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Indicium
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 02:20
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Quote: ", your game must at least run on a Windows PC"


I stand corrected.

Quote: "Name one that was published and I don't mean self published I mean real published."

Come off it!! Have you seen the stuff you used to work on?


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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old_School
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 18:47 Edited at: 13th Apr 2013 18:49
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Quote: "Come off it!! Have you seen the stuff you used to work on?"


1. This is about DB PRO and things being sold on Steam made using DB Pro, so no need to personally attack people. If that’s your only argument, maybe you need rethink your argument, this is not a flame war; its a discussion.

2. Simply making a point. If someone is willing to invest their money in your product then you got something good. Investors don't just invest in any product. It has to meet a certain standard before they fork out cash. I'm not blaming DB Pro language its self for lack of published software but it does have limitations which may prove too difficult for some to work around.

3. The fact of the matter is we’re talking about Steam aka one of the world’s largest entertainment software companies and software being support/published by Steam using DB Pro. To get anything published through Steam would be huge. The idea of a game engine to prove its successful would be to have software supported by a major software company.

4. Without Steam for example, the success of other engines such as Unity would have been short lived most likely. So if FPSC or DB Pro could find its way into Steam, it would be huge. Theoretically I think Unity would of still been successful without Steam but every bit of support you can get helps a lot in this industry. The entertainment industry or “gaming industry” is very competitive and you have t0 bring you’re "A" game if you want to even be considered a contender. Many will come, most will fall.
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 19:25
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I would say the main attraction of DBPro is cheap and easy tools for hobbyists, beginners and indies. It has proven itself in those 3 areas. Of course, Dark Basic Pro is now outdated, but TGC have moved their focus onto AppGameKit, which is proving itself on the mobile platform and is TGC's current flagship.

Dark Basic Pro was TGC's flagship at a time when there weren't many affordable products out there, iirc Unity 3D Indie was about $200 (which is now free), heck, Unity3D used to be Mac-only, Torque Game Engine was $150 and the shader version was released for about $250, Unreal was only accessible to modders and large game studios with massive budgets (seriously, the Unreal license is ridiculously expensive if you're a game studio). For the price range, Dark Basic Pro's only real competition was Blitz3D.


Dark Basic Pro presented itself as the affordable option that didn't require lots of programming knowledge. It was also accessible to newbies, which made it a lot more attractive during that time our community was a lot bigger. In that time people made some pretty damn good projects. Since then, Dark Basic's main selling point is ease of use, but as you can see, the Dark Basic Pro community is a lot smaller than it used to be. I still use it to test/prototype code on the fly, because it requires less work than it does in Unity3D or C#.

TGC seems to be considering the idea of making big improvements on Dark Basic Pro for FPSC-Reloaded. But it seems for them, their best bet has been AppGameKit and they've been doing quite well in that regard, with a name of games available on different app stores. Looking at the quality of FPSC-Reloaded content so far, it looks like it would be an attractive game development product, with Dark Basic being useful for modding. Though, these days, competition is tighter because products from the higher price ranges are releasing free versions of their tools.

Of course, there are people who still find Dark Basic Pro useful, are great lovers of it and there are people still showing off good quality content. But its community is a shadow of what it used to be. Competitions sponsored by Intel, Alienware, NVidia and so on, that was pretty epic. Dark GDK being bundled on Microsoft's website for Visual Studio 2008. It certainly showed a lot of worth.

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greenlig
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 19:32
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Old_school - Unity's success has little to do with Steam. It is much more a story of there being a gap in the market, and they perfectly positioned themselves there. It is a toolset that makes the barrier to development low, while still having quite a bit of power. They are much more prevalent in the app store. Game-Maker is a similar tool, and services a similar segment.

In the end, it's all about the developer, irrespective of the tools. Getting caught up in whether one tool or another is the accepted way to develop is futile, and just distracts from actually making games. There's no harm whatsoever in getting stuck in and making mistakes. No-one cares that Minecraft was made in Java, evidently. As others have said, the biggest issue in getting onto Steam isn't the toolset, it's the game. Make a really good game and they will come knocking.

Greenlig

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mr Handy
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 20:48
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Talking about popularity, I'd say that Ogre is the most known for commercial products.

«Just because you’re unique, doesn’t mean you’re useful»
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Apr 2013 20:56
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Talking of Ogre, this is a pretty cool engine that uses it.

http://www.neoaxis.com/

I played with it when it was a BETA, my main critique of it was that I didn't find the editor very friendly to use. But, it has prolly improved since then. I might be tempted to give it a go again.

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old_School
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 01:18
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Ogre wow now that’s an old engine, I've not heard that engines name tossed around in years. I personally never messed around that much with it but herd good things about it years ago. UDK and Unity though are the engines you hear about today and seem to be the standard for 3D these days. Personally a fan of Unity Pro myself with its ability to port over to all major consoles and mobile devices; really justifies its price tag.
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Indicium
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 01:26
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Actually I think Visual Basic is better for 3D these days than UDK because UDK is old.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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xCept
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 02:03
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Quote: "3. The fact of the matter is we’re talking about Steam aka one of the world’s largest entertainment software companies and software being support/published by Steam using DB Pro. To get anything published through Steam would be huge. The idea of a game engine to prove its successful would be to have software supported by a major software company. "


Others have already mentioned that Evochron Mercenary is in the Steam store for $25, and is the product of DB & DBPro and has gotten good reviews. Having said that, it is astronomically difficult for most games to make it to Steam, but that has nothing to do with what engine the game was developed in. There are currently over 1,200 games on Greenlight, and Steam has only approved about 30 of them since the service started last summer.
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mr Handy
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 14:17
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So now every game not from partner publisher MUST pass through GL?

«Just because you’re unique, doesn’t mean you’re useful»
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xCept
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 18:28
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Quote: "So now every game not from partner publisher MUST pass through GL?"


Yeah, I believe they enforced this rule last November. However, Valve may still bend the rules if the game wins an acclaimed award etc. But the majority of indie devs will now have to go through Greenlight and depend on popularity of their game in the Steam community to get their game greenlit.
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Jeku
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Posted: 14th Apr 2013 23:20
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I don't believe Valve is bending the rules for anyone. Some games that were successful a long time ago are having to go through the GL process simply because the publisher hasn't published on Steam before.


Senior Developer - CBS Interactive Music Group
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Chris Tate
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Posted: 15th Apr 2013 15:20 Edited at: 15th Apr 2013 15:35
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Quote: "Name one that was published and I don't mean self published I mean real published."


What kind of publishing do you mean? If you mean on the shelf in Game, PC World and high street stores then FPS Creator and Driving School are two that springs to mind. If you mean published by steam; not every game needs steam. If you mean published by Acti-Vision, or UbiSoft or Nintendo or someone then the title would need to bring in at least 4 million copies for it to be worth putting millions of dollars to market and advertise the title; as far as I know, apart from Notch there aren't many small indie game production companies or individuals out there who have achieved that with any language; at least in this day and age; I could be wrong.

Thing is, you can't walk into PC World and buy a copy of Minecraft can you? You can't buy Minecraft on steam can you? Does that mean people who self publish are unsuccessful?

Quote from Notch
Quote: "As much as I love Steam, I do somewhat worry about the PC as a gaming platform becoming owned by a single entity that takes 30% of all PC games sold."


So, that goes to show steam isn't really what everyone wants, the issue is making a good game.

Quote: "Without Steam for example, the success of other engines such as Unity would have been short lived most likely. So if FPSC or DB Pro could find its way into Steam, it would be huge."


I doubt this would ever happen; they would want you to make games out of the source engine. Profit deal.

The only thing to worry about is to make a good game that everyone talks about; even if it is a casual game or platform game a bit like Mario; if it is good, then there will be a demand; if there is a demand there will be sales; publisher or no publisher.

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mr Handy
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Posted: 15th Apr 2013 15:32
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Quote: " the success of other engines "

I thought people love to play games than discuss their engines. Unrelevant.

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«If you contributed to the reason for locking, you may now find yourself on moderation, or in extreme cases in the grave»
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ViktorLazarev
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Posted: 22nd Apr 2013 18:31
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I made a monster with this post .__. And it would be cool if FPSCreator or reloaded. Even with DBPro games. It would be a challenge to put in the Game Overlay UI from Steam on to it.

http://youtube.com/user/ViktorLazarev
Life is never good without a computer.
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Chris Tate
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Posted: 24th Apr 2013 14:45
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Quote: "It would be a challenge to put in the Game Overlay UI from Steam on to it.
"


Nah, it is hardware accelerated and handled by Valve.

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