Steam

[Alberto]

Hello

 

I am not familiar with Steam

 

What's the difference between the stand alone and the Steam version ?

 

Must you pay an annual fee for using the engine ?

Must you be connected to Steam site when using the engine ?

Can you publish your game only on Steam?

What else ?

[Josh]

What's the difference between the stand alone and the Steam version ?

Leadwerks is presently only sold on Steam.

 

Must you pay an annual fee for using the engine ?

No.

 

Must you be connected to Steam site when using the engine ?

No, Steam can be run in offline mode.

 

Can you publish your game only on Steam?

You can publish your game to the Leadwerks Workshop on Steam or as a standalone. If your game is approved on Greenlight, it will be already set up for publishing on Steam.

[Alberto]

Thanks

 

If so , why did some members complain then ?

I can not see any problem

[Olby]

I can not speak for others, but my main concern was with having to install and run Steam. I don't use Steam at all and only installed it once in 2005 to play Half-Life 2. However over the years Steam has become omnipresent and as far as PC gaming goes its pretty much the only major games distribution platform. I guess people hesitate because normally game engines or any other programming SDKs are not locked to a specific platform, then again since I switched I haven't had any problems. If you don't want to be online just run Steam offline, it works.

[gamecreator]

There is a hesitance to depend on Steam when from an outsider's perspective it isn't necessary and other engines don't use it. It's just one more thing that could go wrong. However, in reality, it never does and worrying about it is more or less pointless. And apparently it makes Josh's life easier which allows him to focus on other things, which benefits the community.

[NobbyVedania]

I don't like steam since valve forced their user to use it to play half life 2. I don't like facebook also, even when lots of friends are recommending it to me.

 

I enjoy to play around with game engines and decided to give leadwerks a try a view month ago even if it costs me 200$. Unlike CryEngine it was available without using third party tools like steam for getting updates. That was a main point in my purchase decision. In september I asked Josh if we still get standalone updates even if he doesn't sell it as standalone version anymore. He sayd "YES" and I trusted him.

 

Trust is a main issue in customer relationship. It's not only about getting maximum money with a minimum of effort. But since my questions about his promise to continue providing standalone updates has been ignored, I lost the trust completely. I am not willing to get forced to use steam and I will drop using leadwerks. It's not an option for me anymore, as CryEngine is not an option for me also since the free version was frozen since they sell the engine on steam.

 

Bye leadwerks community, it was a nice time here.

[Rick]

Where do people even get their games if not on Steam? I mean I don't even have a CD/DVD drive in my PC's anymore and haven't stepped foot into a game store as they don't seem to sell much on PC games these days. Targets section is getting smaller and smaller each year and is about 50% The Sims!

 

My view is that resisting online marketplaces is pointless. Soon there will be no CD's/DVD's and everything will be digital. It's clearly the future that's coming closer every year. It can't be stopped.

[NobbyVedania]

Where do people even get their games if not on Steam?

I buy via paypal and download in 2 minutes at gamesrocket.com. Download links will stay in user account ... no client software needed.

[Olby]

Although I caved in and got Steam edition, I still believe software - especially programming related should not be on Steam. They even call it games.

[Rick]

Ah OK Noshi, so you aren't against online marketplaces just the need to download a client to get and play. I see now. So what bothers you about needing a client specifically?

 

They even call it games.

 

What do you mean? Steam has a separate area for non games in their listing of what software you have.

[Alberto]

Thanks all

 

I dont see a big differance between standalone and Steam version

It seems to me an emotional rather than an real issue

 

BTW I am going to purchase a new PC,

Can I load Leadwerks on both machines with the same licence ?

[Rick]

Yes. I have a laptop and desktop and run LE from Steam on both.

[NobbyVedania]

what bothers you about needing a client specifically?

I recommend to make such surveys BEFORE making descisions. Ask the costumer which update method they prefer and THAN decide. It's a question of respect to the costumers, to make business decisions according to their needs. This is also a good idea for the process of implementing new features. Ask the community and THAN decide. The community will be grateful to see that they can incorporate in developing your product. If you now the unreal community, you could get a feeling of what are their factor of success.

 

That's my last comment on this topic.

[gamecreator]

He was asking about Steam; why would you not use it?

[Rick]

Yeah I was asking about Steam. However it sounds like Steam has been a huge boost to LE's sales so it sounds like it was a good decision even if it upset some customers. I mean you can't please everyone.

[knocks]

I dislike steam as it dictates when I update my software and should I choose not to update I am unable to use the software I purchased.

 

Bandwidth is not free and running a household that is restricted to 4g connection of 15gig at $100 month and 3c per MB over that I can’t afford to let a program choose how I use that bandwidth.

[Rick]

You can tell Steam to not update and I'm pretty sure you can still use the software if you don't upgrade can't you? Guess I always just update.

[knocks]

You can tell it to not auto update but when you go to launch an application that requires an update it will download and install before running.

 

I have plenty of steam games/apps but dislike not being in control of how/when i choose to use them.

[Josh]

There are archive builds available of Leadwerks on a roughly monthly basis, starting in August of this year. You can set the application to use one of these and they are never updated. This is done just in case some critical bug or changed behavior causes incompatibility for a major project.

 

Right-click on the application and select the "Properties" menu, then look at the "Betas" tab.

[danieru]

I think very much like Noshi, actually I don't use facebook too. **** that gigantic on-line "social networks" that are nothing more than enormous records with lots of info from the "user" (or should I said, from the "used") with knows god with what purpose! ((This is one of my thoughts on why I don't use facebook or similar (like Steam), and not necessarily what Noshi thinks (could sound obvious but I don't want you to think "oh, so this is also what Noshi and similar thinks")) LOL now this is Lisp)

 

I don't like the Steam client because it's proprietary software. Now you may thinking "dude Leadwerks IT'S proprietary software. WTF are you doing here then?". First, a little of retrospective: I wanted to make simple 3D games using C++, but never make a game before. So I decided that I need an engine that provide an easy to use C++ API and an active, big and friendly community. I really tried to find free/libre/自由な engines with both, but I didn't find any at that moment. Then I thought "Well, it's just Leadwerks and the Nvidia driver that I'm already using and should be temporally. Not a big deal" and "When I earn enough experience I'll throw Leadwerks and try some of these free/libre/自由な engines on a free/libre/自由な system with no proprietary software". Thats why I bought Leadwerks, and precisely the Standalone. To avoid more third-party proprietary software like Steam.

 

Another reason because I don't like Steam is because they impose Digital Restriction Management to all the games. But I could install a Steam client on my PC if it's free/libre/自由な and consider the Steam version if Josh don't write (or a staff) "only the proprietary one, please". But still if that happens, only means that I will consider the Steam version. I will not change my version because what I really bought was the standalone, and because what really bothers me is that looks like Josh decided that everyone should install and use Steam (you have to use it at least the first time and to upgrade), even if they bought the standalone because that was what they wanted. That also make me feel totally powerless because left me with only two "options": Respect more the developer's decision than yours or bye bye because the standalone don't even work.

 

I really hope that my assumption "the standalone version was abandoned" is just that, an assumption. Like when I assumed the standalone wasn't going to be abandoned even when it looked like josh preferred Steam.