By: Aaron Berstein
BLUE BELL, PA--Valve, one of the biggest computer game publishers and developers in the business, has recently started a program that goes along with their Early Access and Workshop. Valve’s Greenlight program takes developing games or finished games and puts them on their worldwide Steam community catalog. This has had a huge effect on the independent game design industry by taking their games and publishing them on a worldwide scale for next to nothing in return.
“Steam’s for games and software as well” says Matt Murray, an interested communications student at Montgomery County Community College. How Greenlight works is a developer submits his or her game or non-game software to Greenlight, then the community on Steam votes on what they would like to see completed, and gives advice and support to the developer. This feedback is one of the most important things a developer can receive during development as it gives them an insight into what the community, their customers, would like to see from them. This allows them to change the game to the community’s preference, which will result in increased sales and general enjoyment. A lot of big titles have started as Greenlighted titles such as Rogue Legacy or, coincidentally, Game Dev Tycoon, and the reason they get big is because Steam manages itself with their own advertising, which means that a brand new game will be shown to several hundred thousand people at once increasing their possibility of sales.
As a Game Design student, I believe that Valve’s Greenlight program is extremely helpful to new game designers and independent companies. If you can afford the charity donation of $100 that Valve asks for in order to make sure you’re serious about your submissions, then Valve will allow you to publish your games with them, for only about 10% of the profit you make. This gives the developers, like me, an advantage that before was not available to them.
“Steam’s for games and software as well” says Matt Murray, an interested communications student at Montgomery County Community College. How Greenlight works is a developer submits his or her game or non-game software to Greenlight, then the community on Steam votes on what they would like to see completed, and gives advice and support to the developer. This feedback is one of the most important things a developer can receive during development as it gives them an insight into what the community, their customers, would like to see from them. This allows them to change the game to the community’s preference, which will result in increased sales and general enjoyment. A lot of big titles have started as Greenlighted titles such as Rogue Legacy or, coincidentally, Game Dev Tycoon, and the reason they get big is because Steam manages itself with their own advertising, which means that a brand new game will be shown to several hundred thousand people at once increasing their possibility of sales.
As a Game Design student, I believe that Valve’s Greenlight program is extremely helpful to new game designers and independent companies. If you can afford the charity donation of $100 that Valve asks for in order to make sure you’re serious about your submissions, then Valve will allow you to publish your games with them, for only about 10% of the profit you make. This gives the developers, like me, an advantage that before was not available to them.
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