You can download the mp3 of the podcast, play it in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.
Topics discussed in this episode include:
- The launch of the Greenlight service, and Valve's previous issues assessing indie games
- Roguelikes on Greenlight, including Tales of Maj'Eyal, WazHack, Cardinal Quest II, Epilogue, Red Rogue and HyperRogue (see also the Roguelike Collection and the Turn-based Roguelike Collection)
- Ups and downs of the interface
- Is it appropriate for roguelikes?
- Controversy over the $100 fee (see also this article by Jonas Kyratzes)
- Increased visibility for games on it and extra sales because of being on Greenlight
- How well the games are doing on the service, including some raw stats
- What has changed about Greenlight since launch, and some discussion of the acceptance of 10 games for Steam
- Alternatives to Steam, such as Desura and IndieVania
- Thoughts on how the service might develop / improve in the future, and how PC gaming in general may develop
Tune in next week for an episode for more roguelike-y stuff - perhaps some discussion of ARRP.
Thanks once again! Cool to hear about Greenlight from the perspective of roguelike developers.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the draw of roguelikes, or the types of roguelikes I really like, is the immense possibilities of item interaction and, I guess, creative expression in how you solve problems that you're faced with.
I particularly found the discussion on how to present a roguelike to a non-rogueliker audience very interesting!
Oh, one point I meant to make is that this episode features accents from 6 different countries - I think that's a new record for us :)
ReplyDeleteI recognized this. It was awesome. I sell strawberries at farmer's markets throughout the NW United States (Oregon and Washington states). My favorite game is 'place the accent.'
DeleteI mistook a Kiwi for an Aussie yesterday, they were sorta pissed...:-(
I also mistook a Scot for an Englishman, they were also miffed.
If you don't like monopoly, don't support the monopoly.
ReplyDeleteBeing a hobbyist isn't good enough these days; everyone wants to be an "indie" developer. However, you can't really say you are independent if you must rely on a big company to sell your product.
It's not about being a starving artist either; if you have a chance to make money from the games you envision by all means go for it. Just drop the attitude that roguelikes would make it mainstream if only the Greater Powers wouldn't hold us back. They aren't, roguelike just aren't that popular, that's all.
I think the idea is more that we'd like more visibility for roguelikes, and getting more on Steam would be a boost to that. Dredmor is proof that there can be an appetite for the right sort of game.
DeleteBut the whole hobbyist vs indie thing is very important. If you want to make a commercial game then straight away you have restraints.
And yet we see so many core roguelike elements make it into some of the most popular games right now, like perma death in DayZ. I think roguelikes could grow more in popularity by becoming more accessible. Though I guess the graphics barrier and, perhaps, the turn based nature put off the main mainstream used to battlefield 3 graphics and real-time, high-paced gameplay.
ReplyDeleteAs my schedule has become more busy with the years though, I find that I no longer have the time to play the Skyrims and the Wows, because they demand too long game sessions from me. So for me roguelikes has been a blessing in its turn based nature, allowing me to put in a couple of turns now and then, and think about the game while going about my chores.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteA distinguishment must be made between arcade style permadeath and roguelike style permadeath. Most importantly this lies in whether it ties up with procedural content to emphasise the replayability of the game.
DeleteI also think there's a new type of permadeath coming to the fore, independent of arcade or roguelike roots, which is multiplayer-focused permadeath. We all expect to lose our character in an online deathmatch, but we generally don't have a lot invested in that character anyway. This is different from the immersiveness of roguelike permadeath.
Yes indeed, strange how I didn't realize that up until you put it like that. It's more like death in MUDs with DayZ I guess, since all you "really" lose is your equipment, there's no starting over. Quite like Cataclysm in that reguard, if you stripped away the skill system :)
DeleteMore of an overall podcast comment, but could you syndicate through Zune by any chance? I have a windows phone and while i can definitely do a workaround to enjoy this on my phone, it'd be nice to just subscribe.
ReplyDeleteIf this is a giant pain or there's a huge issue with Zune as a podcast maker, I apologize, but just from a personal standpoint it'd be nice to see :)
I had actually submitted to Zune about 6 months ago, before I was even working on the show. I also hosted a podcast about 4 years back or so and had a similar problem: they were totally unresponsive in adding feeds. I'm not sure what their process is; anyone can submit a podcast feed link, so perhaps it's a request volume thing. I would suggest also submitting a link to the feed to their directory the bottom-left button at http://social.zune.net/podcasts/), just in case that is the case :)
DeleteSo Steam had trouble finding the good indie games, so they made a system where people can separate the wheat from the chaff?
ReplyDeleteSo now there's too much chaff, so the problem still exists.
Tell you what, Steam can just hire me and I'll go through all the indie projects and tell them which ones are good enough for Steam. Hope they like ASCII...:-)
I missed who exactly on the panel suggested that Valve really needed someone who knew something about roguelikes, but I really would like to direct that person here
ReplyDelete(As in, the person who made that statement, not the less than hypothetical person in Valve)
Delete