Why Steam?
- Thread starter jazarahg
- Start date
I am quite happy with Frontier's own Launchpad and can get by without Steam for now at least.
There's just people that use steam and like all their games in one spot. Steam does make it easy to uninstall and reinstall games. I myself don't care.
I would like to see it on Steam for the in house streaming feature, means the kids can play without meddling with my computer[haha]! I totally understand why Frontier are going with their own platform for now though and don't blame them for doing so, would just be a nice to have in the future!
me too, I was wondering if maybe there was some benefit to using steam. lol im fine with it the way it is
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
I see , never thought about that ..thanks
1. Steam Workshop: User-friendly and very easy way to share your creations and check other peoples stuff out.
2. Steam Library: no need for tons of launchers/applications running.
3. Steam Community: Chat with your friends while in-game, without tabbing out.
4. Steam Community: If there is ever a multiplayer, Steam provides a very easy way to create own Servers, join friends and invite friends.
5. Steam Community: Easy and fast way to share your Screenshots and Videos and recieve comments on them.
6. Steam Community: Built in guides, forums and whatnot, which are easy acessible without having to tab out.
7. Steam Library: No need to redownload the Launcher and files every time.
8. Steam Cloud: Savegames are safe.
9. Steam Updates: Updates through Steam are easy and fast. Also Update news are always nice to have straight away, without having to check forums.
That's all i can think of for now. Steam has no contra's for users. The only downside is that the Developers don't get 100% of the money.
2. Steam Library: no need for tons of launchers/applications running.
3. Steam Community: Chat with your friends while in-game, without tabbing out.
4. Steam Community: If there is ever a multiplayer, Steam provides a very easy way to create own Servers, join friends and invite friends.
5. Steam Community: Easy and fast way to share your Screenshots and Videos and recieve comments on them.
6. Steam Community: Built in guides, forums and whatnot, which are easy acessible without having to tab out.
7. Steam Library: No need to redownload the Launcher and files every time.
8. Steam Cloud: Savegames are safe.
9. Steam Updates: Updates through Steam are easy and fast. Also Update news are always nice to have straight away, without having to check forums.
That's all i can think of for now. Steam has no contra's for users. The only downside is that the Developers don't get 100% of the money.
The games I usually play, RCT3, Silent Hunter 3 & 5, rFactor and Microsoft Train Simulator, don't need Steam. Yes I know they are old games now, but I am old too. [rolleyes]
I can play all these games without having to be on line. If Planet Coaster was eventually put on Steam, does that mean I have to be on line to play it?
I can play all these games without having to be on line. If Planet Coaster was eventually put on Steam, does that mean I have to be on line to play it?
No, only while installing/downloading. Steam has an offline Mode.
Thank you for that. Technology is not my pet subject at my age in life, I have a job to keep up with it. [haha]
I think the fact that you would be forced to use Steam if the user generated content was only able to be shared that way is a pretty big downside.
Also, from a development point of view, having Steam dependencies in your application might not be ideal.
When it comes to the money aspect, I'd rather see Frontier invest more into developers and artists to improve their game, than feeding money to a third party.
I never used any of the Steam stuff you mentioned. But I liked the workshop integration for Cities Skylines. However, after a while, it got quite messy, with lots of broken or abandoned assets (due to game updates), which made it almost impossible to find the good stuff.
When relying on Steam for example, I don't think Frontier could update player's assets themselves, when they decide to introduce a breaking change.
When Cities Skylines introduced nighttime, that would break pretty much every UGC there was on the workshop. If the assets where under the game developers control, there was at least a chance, this would not happen.
I think in the end it is all about usabilty. If Frontier can make something better on their own, I would definitely encourage that. The fact that Steam is already there and used by many people, is not an argument.
You raise some good points there Thokari and I can see why Frontier are staying away from Steam, when they are quite capable of hosting the game themselves, although they have gone with steam for Elite & Dangerous. If Frontier do go with UCG it would be much better to control this from their own site, so that no dodgy files get into the game. I remember with some of the RCT3 UGC which was uploaded all over the place, having some broken files, which caused in game problems and other files that were not complete. Others didn't have a self extracting file and many like this had no Read Me file attached, so you had no idea which folders to store certain files.
I am quite happy with the in game content that Frontier are providing, as it has been amazing what has been created, with just two theme sets so far. However if Frontier do finally introduce UGC, then I just hope that it is monitored properly, so that it works when you download it.
They will not be able to playtest every File that is going to be uploaded, so this point is pretty invalid
It's a place you can trust. I have Cities Skylines off Steam even though I got the disc version. Plus it's nice to be able to play games offline rather than having a mandatory online connection to play any game. I read somewhere that when the game comes to Steam that Frontier might give us a code (who have already got the Alpha) to get the game off Steam too. AND.... Steam offers Refunds for change of mind games. If you purchase the game and for whatever reason your PC can't play it well or you no longer want it or need the money towards something else, they'll refund it. But you have to play the game for less than 2 hours and apply for a refund within a certain period. I did this for the first time with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. It was like meh I don't want it, paid NZ$23 for it on Steam, I need the money for Planet Coaster Alpha. Yeah, we like to keep our customers happy, here's your refund. Me? wooo, thanks.
To start it you can add a shortcut to steam..
I really don't care myself as well. Got loads of games on steam but my currently most played games aren't steam ones.
The launcher works fine offline. I got loads of programmes. So why not another.
And the UGC could be implemented in the Mainmenu where one has to be online to browse and get.
It would be even easier, because if you try to open a park and a UGC set is missing there could be a popup "There are UGC-Sets in the park which are not on your computer. Do you want to download them? Downlaod size X"
And the UGC could be implemented in the Mainmenu where one has to be online to browse and get.
It would be even easier, because if you try to open a park and a UGC set is missing there could be a popup "There are UGC-Sets in the park which are not on your computer. Do you want to download them? Downlaod size X"
Last edited:
Frontier could just make it optional, would make everyone happy. Everyone gets a Steam code, if you don't activate it, you can still play with their launcher.
I also like the "Time played" on Steam. It doesn't work for "Non-Steam-Games". I like to keep track of how addicted i am.
I also like the "Time played" on Steam. It doesn't work for "Non-Steam-Games". I like to keep track of how addicted i am.