Steam support for games bought through Kickstarter

How will the game interact with Steam if you bought it through Kickstarter?

Specifically can it connect to the Steam VoIP API?

How does Steam integration work in general for the same game when it's bought through Steam and when it's not?

They'll send a code that lets you install it through steam.

Will there be an option to get the game from a different source? While steam is much better than other providers, it does have DRM, and I want to burn my copy of this game to DVD's (unless we can get physical copies from the get go, but I think that would require shipping costs), not just have it somewhere online.

I can't go into specifics, since I'm not a developer and the game doesn't exist yet...

but I'm guessing they'll have a separate launcher if you don't want to install it through steam.

Technically you can still do that with Steam, I forget what its called but you can make a back up of a game's files and keep them on your external HD or burn them to a DVD and use them later(like say after a format) to install the game locally instead of downloading the files again.

Mike

If you right click on a game in your library there is a "backup game files" option. I think that's what you're talking about, but I've never tried it myself.

Yeah that's it, I used it when I built my new comp, very easy and pain free.

Mike

Yes, but doesn't that still require you to run steam to play the game? And to have steam installing to install the game? I'd like to have all my files with me, with no online requirements in case of anything (like steam closing down, yeah I know, not likely any time soon; or losing my Internet access [I travel a lot, less at the moment with me going back to college]).

1. Install games.
2. Set Steam to Offline mode.
3. ????????????????
4. Profit!

Mike

I don't want steam to be a requirement at all, whether in offline more or not. Anyway, I'd like to assume that it won't be a requirement, seeing as they said there will be no DRM whatsoever.

Of course, I realize some people love steam, and see nothing wrong with it. Just don't like having games that rely on outside software (like Steam).

Who brought steam up?
Any statement that PA will use Steam now?
I didnt see that so far.

The devs already mentioned, that multiple distribution channels will be used and that there will definitely be a DRM free version. You will not have to use the Steam version if you don't want to.


But why wouldn't you, it's far more convenient :Þ. Also, you'll install Steam now for Forged Alliance anyway, right? Right?

lol, well, I already have steam, doesn't change the fact that I'd prefer the game outside of steam. Convenience has never been a problem for me. In fact, it's far more convenient for me to pop in my TA cd, click install, click play, and that's it. No additional programs. No extra programs running. No problems.

If I can't find my SupCom cd key though, getting FA will have to wait till I buy a gift card to use to buy it. It'll be a good way to kill time till PA beta comes out.

Same can be said for a digitally distributed game too, like over Steam for instance. No installer required, no physically fiddling around with a CD required, you just click install and click play. How is that any less convenient? Or rather, how is having to handle a physical object for your computer any less convenient than... not having to do that? ;P Imagine if you'd had to manhandle some physical object for every application you ever installed on your computer, smartphone or elsewhere.

It's funny how you said no installer required, then follow up with press "install" and play. It might not be the same, but it's still an installer. Also, if "fiddling" with a cd is hard, then doing anything outside of computers is.

Also, I do have every single application from my my computer and ipod touch burned to blurays. And i love it. I've never had an issue finding anything, and I can restore my windows, and reinstall all 100+ programs I'm using right now in less than a couple hours altogether.

To do the same on an Internet connection with it's relatively limited speed (compared to disc read speeds), as well as remembering all the different sources for each of the different programs I used (steam for games is fairly simple, but I have some games from other sources, and other programs rarely come from one single distributer, and if they do, they rarely keep track of what you had), would take me at least a couple weeks.

Of course, I'm a very organized person, so I don't know how this applies to people who just throw everything around in their room, and never put things in categorized folders on computers.

I worded that wrong. What I meant was: you were stating

but the installer of the game is already an additional program, no matter if from the CD or via Steam. Also

Steam would just be an additional Service. A Service that you'd gladly use for convenience. Not just because you have all your games in one place, on any computer, without carrying around physical objects between all these systems. But also because all your game's settings can also be stored in the Steam cloud as well. I am sure your system has currently a lot of services running already, which are for you personally of no particular use . And these services might even already start up automatically with each boot, but you would not have to do that with Steam if you don't want to.

Well, of course it is! But it seems you are simply not as dedicated to the computing world as others . Evidenced by this:

:shock: Wouldn't it be easier to store everything on a Harddisk instead? Or on a Server/NAS. This way you could even access it from anywhere. Why the hassle with physical media?

Well, if your internet connection is really that limited... also you wouldn't have to re-download all the games all the time. In case of Steam you can even simply copy the whole Steam folder, without doing any installation. Or use its dedicated backup facility. With your other programs, you could put them on a server. You don't have to remember many different sources for them either then.

That being said, that's why I prefer Steam when it comes to digital distribution. I like to have everything in one place. I dread the day when I have to use Origin for instance, just for SimCity...



In any case: death to physical media! :Þ

Call me strange, but I like owning games. Digital downloads only provide an initial convience, and thats it. Want to reinstall a game 20 years later? You can with physical media, but its anyones guess with a digital download. It might not be available for download anymore, or the DRM may want to connect to a nonexistent server, or the company may have been sold off without any end-of-life consideration for the games they get in the acquisition.

Steam is also not the all-inclusive perfect solution. Offline mode does not work well. Many games that crash while in offline mode will require you go online to "update" the game afterword. Also, offline mode does not play nice with online mode; I have many games that I set to "do not update ever" that toggle, all on their own, to "update always". Which means the next time you try to launch it in offline mode, it will prevent it until you go online to "update" it. Again.

Also, many games released through steam exclusively will also not be able to be run without steam. Older games that were added to steam as an afterthought can usually be run through a shortcut, but not newer ones. If a game is available on physical media, even if it is a steam game, I will *always* choose to buy it versus a digital download.

In any case, I'm pretty certain this game will be available as digital-only, but since the discussion leaned toward "death to physical media", which seems blatantly ignorant, I just had to chime in.

Only true as long as Steam exists, and I've know quiet a few companies that I never expected to go down, to well, go down. Then you lose everything you had. Backups won't matter as Steam is gone, and you can't install it's backups without Steam, right..... (not sure, personally)?

Actually, I don't use the blurays anymore (listed it more due to my nostalgia of actual discs [though if we get into games, loved cartridges more]). I now have a 3 terabyte (more than enough for me at the moment) portable harddrive that backs up all my files. I just like to have my games in physical format too. As for dedicated, well, I've had a college degree in the field for years, and nearly always know how to solve a problem someone has with their computer, whether hardware, or software (which nearly everyone I know seem to always have).

When I was talking about redownloading everything, I meant EVERYTHING, not just my games. I have about 1.5 TB of stuff right now on my portable hard drive (none of it being movies mind you, most modern ones suck, old ones are still on my DVD's). I don't know what kind of monster Internet connection you have, but my bandwidth is limited to 350GB a month (which I could easily reach long before then if I was a major downloader). It'll take at least several months to get all that downloaded. I don't have terabytes of cloud storage either, so as I said before, I'd have to find the location of all the files, apart from the games, IF all of mine were from steam (which they aren't), as well as figuring out what files I had.

No, that's not strange, I can understand that perfectly.

True of course. I was just explaining it from my point of view, none of these things inconvenience me, or at least any inconveniences are outweighed by the... conveniences Steam provides for me .

Why does it seem blatantly ignorant? Your grief with digital distribution is only with DRM. I am not a fan of DRM at all, especially DRM on physical media. I didn't say "Long live DRM!". I merely stated "Death to physical media", as a principle of things and as a modern convenience, not because I like the DRM solutions that are often employed by some digital distribution services. The fact that Steam's DRM in particular doesn't bother me is another matter, simply because I am "dedicated" to Steam as a service and the type of DRM used is completely different and unobtrusive, compared to (and especially) StarForce or SecuROM (*shudder*). Furthermore, not all digital distribution services use DRM. Gog or Impulse (at least back when it was still owned by Stardock) does not use any DRM (or in most cases with Impulse at least).

It's 2012 now and "everything" is connected. Having to handle physical discs for data is not necessary anymore, for the most part. Again, just to emphasize that point: by saying "Death to physical media!" I am not implying, that I am promoting DRM. DRM is simply an independent matter. It has nothing to do with the distribution of data via a network and is also present on physical media. This also applies to your first paragraph:

That simply depends on where you got it. Digital distribution (of any kind of data, I am not only talking about games here) is not always automatically tied to some kind of 'active online DRM'. Could also be a copy that you can freely distribute everywhere and activate offline via a simple license key.

As long as no such active online DRM is involved in either case, it shouldn't matter to you, whether you get a copy of a Software via a physical medium or via the network. It does not matter how this digital data arrived at your end. You got the copy in either case. And you can use it (and unlock it offline) as often as you want in either case as well.

Of course there are still reasons to 'like' physical media regardless of any of this. Like the prestige of having a box or at a least jewel case for a piece of software or a movie etc. that you care about and can then show off on a shelf. Stuff like that.

Unfortunately, too many things aren't connected, depending on where you live. Plus I've heard most European countries have less bandwidth then use here in the U.S. (bandwidth, not download speeds) at the basic costs. Some countries there limit people to a maximum of 10GB per month, and this isn't even smarphone Internet! Other countries have no reasonable access to the Internet at all. Lots of people aren't lucky enough to get on the cloud yet.