Steam integration


(Burneddi) #1

Hello,
I would have a little suggestion (or request) to make.

As everyone know, a 7-years old free game with the kind of community ET still has is quite unusual. Yet everyone must admit that slowly the playerbase is diminishing - public servers often contain more bots than players and proscene is plagued by cheaters and the fact that nobody wants to use PunkBuster because of the horrendous lag it gives doesn’t make the situation any better (Luckily a new anticheat entirely deticated to ETPro is in development).

So my proposal is to approach Valve to get them to distribute Enemy Territory in Steam. For free. RtCW is available in Steam (in Wolfenstein Pack -product though containing all sorts of different Wolfenstein games, for 20€), so why shouldn’t ET be? Steam is a huge media and millions of players use it - and it could be just the little “kick” ET deserves. Many people might have never heard of ET but if it was available with one click (fully patched naturally, no hassle) to everyone I’m sure atleast some of the people giving it a try would instantly fall in love with it.

Of course I do not know if Valve likes their platform to be used for free game distributing, nor do I have any idea if any of the Splash Damage guys like this idea (after all, this game has brought ~no money for them), but I figured it was worth speaking out.


(BackSnip3) #2

I think that’s a good idea!
Having the game automaticly patched would prevent newbies from complaining about that they can’t connect to the servers.
Valve distribute already free games in some kind:Half life 2 deathmatch has offers to be free!


(Burneddi) #3

Also note that I did not intend to suggest that ET should be made a Steam-only game - merely that a Steam version should be out alongside the normal standalone version. I personally dislike playing games on Steam with the steam.exe hogging a lot of memory (I have 4gb though but I just like keeping it simple), but still many people do and some of them could be potentional ETPlayers.


(BackSnip3) #4

I did not meant the game to be only on steam also :stuck_out_tongue: I would disapprove this!
And I don’t think the memory is a problem when you see the game requirements:wink::stroggtapir:


(Etnies) #5

Great idea, and i’m sure it could be easily done with a small bit of effort.


(stealth6) #6

don’t think it is possible without somebody paying for it.
All games steam has offered for ‘free’ were their own games, or games that normally do cost money.

I’m thinking steam is just another way for valve to make money, I wouldn’t say that it’s a tool made for the community to save PC gaming…

EDIT: it’a good idea though :slight_smile: if only it was possible


(Kissaki) #7

What one can read from other devs, especially indie ones, their terms are a lot easier to understand / better than those of other digital distributors and their price is ok.
I wouldn’t say it’s “just another way for valve to make money” as valve on the contrary to other publishers like, especially, Activision Blizzard does care about their customers and their service and not only money.

W:ET could also be a good way to promote Steam with yet another free game, so there’s also something to gain for Valve.
I wonder… Would they host free 3rd party stuff?