Have you considered publishing on Steam?

[Jpxe]

Hello, just wanted to ask if you would consider publishing on Steam?

[WithinAmnesia]

Has anyone made a commercial Flare video game on steam? I would like to know more for I am aiming to producing a hopefully commercially viable video game that works with the Flare Engine and the Fantasy core. I remember a weird mobile game (I think?) that used some of the Fantasy core art assets yet I am unsure if it was released on Steam or not?

[dorkster]

@WithinAmnesia To my knowledge, there are currently no commercial games using Flare. Ghostlore was almost one, but they switched to Unity. The mobile game you are thinking of is Exiled Kingdoms, and is also on Steam. Unfortunately, we've gotten people calling Flare a ripoff of Exiled Kingdoms just for legitimately using some of the same assets. But that is to be expected with open art.

A game doesn't need to be commercial to be on Steam. Take OpenTTD or SuperTux as examples. There are also games like Tales of Maj'Eyal that are "commercial" on Steam as a way to support the project, but are still available on their official site as gratis.

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I've certainly considered putting Flare on Steam, but I'm still very hesitant. The "community" on Steam is far more critical and demanding than the free software/open source/indie game communities. I'm not sure I want to open those flood gates. Sure, I could just throw it up there and pay to attention to the response. But I feel like that would just do nothing but reflect badly on the project.

I could be overthinking things, though. Feedback has been very positive on itch.io, which has a fairly broad audience (although not as broad as Steam).

[Jpxe]

@dorkster I'm not 100% sure about the community but after a quick look at other open source games on Steam it seems most get very positive feedback and ratings. You could also put in as early access to temper peoples expectations, that's what SuperTux did.

[WithinAmnesia]

You could have a demo like the first dungeon etc? Not the full thing more like a small version to peak interest perhaps? Or maybe a new free game / mod for steam? I'm not to worried about Steam. If I can get my game on GOG that would be a success, steam is a bonus same as itch.io etc.

Also Steam is geared towards commercial releases anyway so all that there is in a large part is extra marketing in a kind of 'typical' big online community what want a lot but tend to make less, a less creative community. With a commercial release of a flare like game with links to the open source components that would naturally show new people to Flare as well and maybe so maybe there is no big need for a free Steam release. I don't really think many people want to mange a potentially unruly community that could come from steam without being paid to do so but who knows. I like this community so far because it gives no entitlement and it is a place for creative people to well create things without pressure. I would like to eventually have a Steam release of my own video game but only with it is properly ready for a release and even then I would like to get it on GOG as a higher priority for GOG does not like shovel ware where as Steam does. So I would like to go for high quality with a launch and I'm not targeting low quality.

One of the reasons I killed my older RPG Maker project was it was too similar to shovel ware garbage on steam, and I need to make my case be know that it is aiming toward high quality and not 'just another bad game in a sea of bad games'. So I have to be careful. So hopefully I can get a GOG release with an Itch.io storefront as a higher priority than Steam. There are lots of people who use Steam but you should be aware that is because of the lesser content filters on Steam in part and also for the more mainstream focus which makes lots of money yet at what cost?

[dorkster]

@jesperjackson Early access would be a good way to limit expectations, at least by a little.

@WithinAmnesia If I'm going to pay $100 to list the game on Steam, there's no way it would just be a demo. Plus, the Empyrean Campaign is already pretty short. I couldn't imagine cutting down any more.

[WithinAmnesia]

@dorkster "Early access would be a good way to limit expectations, at least by a little."

Is there a 'late access'? What happened to this if so? How did the Empyrean campaign come into being anyway? Was a sort of 'second quest' an idea or something once upon a time?

"If I'm going to pay $100 to list the game on Steam, there's no way it would just be a demo. Plus, the Empyrean Campaign is already pretty short. I couldn't imagine cutting down any more."
If the current Empyrean campaign is equivalent to a 'demo' in terms of content volume. Then what would a 'full release' look like for the Empyrean campaign? Or is this a novel / new sort of un-pursued / unexplored in great detail kind of idea / concept / interest?

[dorkster]

Late access? Isn't that just post-1.0 :)

Clint came up with the original concept and posted it to the wiki in 2014: https://github.com/flareteam/flare-game/wiki/World-Layout. It was designed to replace the prior "alpha_demo", which was mostly a loose collection of maps, with a more cohesive game.

I can say with confidence that the Empyrean Campaign is exactly the length I want it to be. Enough content to be enjoyable, but doesn't overstay its welcome. If new stuff gets added, it will be done sparingly.

[Danimal696]

Uploading to Steam would be good for visibility, but having to pay 100$ for that? F*ck Gabe Newel, specially since that money would have to come out of someone´s pocket to never recover it. Does GOG also have that policy? maybe they would allow it for free.

[dorkster]

I don't think GOG has a fee, but I think the approval process is more subjective. I'm personally not a big fan of GOG since their client doesn't support Linux. I think itch.io does a better job of satisfying people who want a DRM-free store for games, and their client works on Win/Mac/Linux.

The appeal of Steam is really the size of the audience. And I prefer the $100 fee over the old Steam Greenlight system where devs had to constantly beg for votes.

[Danimal696]

You won´t really lost anything trying GOG, the point is reaching more people, but of course it´s your decision. Actually, I didn´t even knew itch.io existed.

[WithinAmnesia]

Difficulty of getting your game to ~'market' (from my experience pathfinding for my video game):
Good Old Games: Hardest (needs case by case basis review, higher quality standards, legal / business + other details to launch).
Steam: Medium (needs 100$ up front + some legal / business + other details, lesser quality standards to launch).
Itch.io: Easiest (needs no money (free), accessible, minor legal / business details, lower quality standards to launch).

[kneekoo]

I think it would be nice to have it on Steam and GOG. I don't have a soft spot for RPGs but Flare grabbed my attention and it's so nicely done, that I already put 7 hours in. :P

The only thing to complain about would be collision detection for projectile weapons. It looks like it's correctly done, it's just that the ridges curves (terrain) can get in the way a bit too easily sometimes. It's not a big deal, you're also protected, but I just wonder how it would be like for those edges to be a bit more forgiving.

Anyway, I hope it will be published on Steam (and GOG?) for many others to discover it. :)

[Blueberryy]

Game needs co-op or multiplayer feature and some Transifex translation project advertisement on readmes of both repositories or in Discord server before being placed on Steam, plus it would be great if it will be free-to-play and with Steam Workshop support.

[Blueberryy]

Hey @dorkster, have you planned to create official Flare Discord server? Would be cool to also add bots to it that track things from various stuff (new forum mod threads or Github issues and new Flare game version releases)

[dorkster]

@Blueberryy I don't use Discord much, but I've gone ahead and made an "official" server: https://discord.com/channels/1054841509314297906/1054841510203498600

[Blueberryy]

@Blueberryy I don't use Discord much, but I've gone ahead and made an "official" server: https://discord.com/channels/1054841509314297906/1054841510203498600

Thank you so much!

[Blueberryy]

@Blueberryy I don't use Discord much, but I've gone ahead and made an "official" server: https://discord.com/channels/1054841509314297906/1054841510203498600

Ugh, can you post another link? It leads to nothing

[dorkster]

Hmm, maybe I posted the wrong link. Try this: https://discord.gg/c7yJsnY9

Edit: New link without a time limit: https://discord.gg/6UmaA8HA55

[Blueberryy]

Hmm, maybe I posted the wrong link. Try this: https://discord.gg/c7yJsnY9

Yeah this one is working. Thanks