oivoi

joined 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Very much looking forward to playing this :—-)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Saw one of my old games in the trailer, picked as the "Game of the Day" <3. I'm so glad Flashpoint is keeping old Unity3D web games too, from becoming totally abandonware.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Cool! I had a hunch there'd be Deck users like you :--)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Personally, I'm just not into that solo game dev career anymore, been there done that. It'd basically require for me to start up my own business again, thanks to Finnish laws. Good point about the steam keys, hadn't thought about those at all :--)

I have no solid plans for a game specifically designed for the Deck yet, but I'm really into local multiplayer games, and do think a game that you play on a shared Deck might be cool. For example a game with just joystick controls - one stick for each player. My background is in making local multiplayer mobile games and I feel the same kind of games would work just fine on a Steam Deck, too, with the hardware controls adding new possibilities for designs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

As a hobbyist game dev, I don't mind making games for a niche group of users, but I'm probably going to skip the idea of making games just for the Deck, as there isn't really a platform for that kind of games. And in my case, I'm talking about freeware games; games that won't be making that 5 dollar profit. But still, designing a game with the Deck especially in mind feels like a fun and fresh starting point to me :--)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I too like the fact that you can tinker with the device and make the device more personal to you, especially as the Deck is also a machine that just works, if you stick to the game mode. I feel like I get the best of two worlds.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yes, the store works so well that I’d guess not too many people bother with the desktop mode. It also works really well for developers, as @[email protected] mentioned, with installing non-Steam games still not too hard for those who really want to, like @[email protected], so I guess there's really no need for any change.

I'll probably just end up developing for devices with gamepads in general. The idea of making a game specifically for the Deck is intriguing, like maybe a shared-controller local multiplayer game, but I guess it's better not to lock the designs too much to the Deck's features, especially since there isn't really a platform to showcase those kinds of games.

 

How many of you install games outside Steam on your Decks? Do you find the process easy?

I'm a hobbyist game developer myself, and I'm looking into making games especially designed for the Steam Deck. However, for freeware games, the $100 price per title on the Steam store is a bit too steep. I wish there was an easy-to-use alternative store on the Deck, but since that's not the case, I'm wondering if it would make any sense to develop games for the Deck and publish them, for example, on Itch.io.

(As a proof of concept, I created this step-by-step guide for a hacky Steam Deck version of my old game, Soccer Physics. I think it still applies, even though it's a year-old build/guide: https://www.ottoojala.com/soccerphysicssteamdeck/ )