Hi Bers,
I would like to ask if your team of developers have looked into putting some of your games on Steam to increase popularity? I am going to try TT2 soon enough, but I come from the old Gunrox community. I am sure that Gunrox at the very least has very good potential (I will find out with TT2).
There is nothing on the steam store that compares to Gunrox. At the moment, popular games like League Of Legends and Hearthstone have a very strong competitive aspect to the game and they both have low hardware requirements to run. I believe you have these things in Gunrox. Steam has grown a lot from when Gunrox was first launched and I feel it would serve like a strong platform to reboot your game. Like you said in another post on these forums, the development of the game depends on whether the community supports it. You have only had good feedback about the quality of your games (People complain about balance all the time so that does not count. Your games are polished and have no bugs). What I am trying to say is that if you get good reviews about your game now on the forums then why would that not be the case on steam?
I am not sure if you think this is possible on your end, but here are some details that could get you started...
Steam used to have Steam Greenlight that allowed the community of video games to upvote which indie games would be launched on the steam store. Since this past February, Steam decided to change that to Steam Direct to "allow developers an easier way to get their game to the marketplace". I won't go through all of it, but here is a "general" list on how to get your game onto steam:
- Sign digital paperwork
- Pay $100 app deposit fee for every title you wish to submit (You get $100 back when you make your first $1000.00 from your game)
- Complete Financial Paperwork (bank + tax info)
- Prepare your steam page for launch
- Allow 30 days for Steam (the company) to check and review the game so it is safe to use for the public
The process in my opinion seems fair as they want to make sure that your game is serious and that they have the time to review to see that you are a good business partner for them. On your end, I think you can still make $100 off Gunrox in a reasonable amount of time. I'd like to see you invest in your business and take a chance at going big and make the games as big as their potential.