Steamworks Supported Mods Revealed

[Hectic Glenn]

A good while back you may remember Synergy accidently spilled the beans this was coming down the pipeline, there was great speculation on the 5 mods which Valve were going to provide Steamworks support for, as well as Synergy. The official word is the following:

• Age of Chivalry
• D.I.P.R.I.P.
• Insurgency
• Synergy
• Zombie Panic

Most people guessed pretty closely, but now we know this update will be released next week. Steampowered - Source, and a reminder what Steamworks will bring.

Once installed, these MODs will appear in your "My Games" list and will receive automatic updates just like other games on Steam. Also, these MODs now take advantage of Steamworks, which provides stat tracking and tighter integration with the Steam community.

 

[Mellish]

Very good.

 

[scotland1]

No Zombie Master? RAAAAAGE

 

[Asuka]

Neat, this is very good for the mod teams.

 

[Operational]

No Zombie Master? RAAAAAGE

I'd like to see Zombie Master get in there at some point. At this point in time though anything that would delay version 1.2.0 is bad.

 

[DigiQ8]

Excellent!

 

[Marler]

Awesome!

 

[Crispy]

The Steam News announcement claims all those mods will work with "any Source game", but are all of those 5 definitely not using the Orange Box code?


[Edit - checked it out]
Ins and AoC are both HL2 SDK. The ZP forum FAQ states it is using the HL2 SDK.

I found a forum post from a DIPRIP developer that said they were going to be migrating to the OB SDK (the site itself has no easy-access info on the game requirements).

Synergy are already working on an OB version, but they don't make it clear whether you will need the OB SDK to play the HL2 part of Synergy, of if the mod will come in different downloads or even different versions.

So it looks like all the mods are currently HL2 SDK, but two are planning to move to the OB. I wonder if Valve picked the mods because they didn't require the OB, or whether that was just coincidental.

 

[Wills]

I *think* that you can own any Source game and download the Orange Box SDK Base, regardless of whether you own the Orange Box or not now.

Either way, congratulations to all five mods! I hope this turns out to be a great success, and that more mods will follow in the coming months!

Hopefully:

Dystopia
Empires
Eternal Silence
Jailbreak: Source
Hidden: Source
Minerva
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II
Zombie Master

 

[Majestic XII]

Valve hasn't really made any effort to make the OB stuff... work. So I don't blame mods for not using it.

 

[Shinobi]

I *think* that you can own any Source game and download the Orange Box SDK Base, regardless of whether you own the Orange Box or not now.

Either way, congratulations to all five mods! I hope this turns out to be a great success, and that more mods will follow in the coming months!

Hopefully:

Dystopia
Empires
Eternal Silence
Jailbreak: Source
Hidden: Source
Minerva
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II
Zombie Master

this

Valve hasn't really made any effort to make the OB stuff... work. So I don't blame mods for not using it.

and this

 

[Ennui]

HL2: Wars is on Orange Box, I hope once we get a full solid beta out Valve will consider us for Steamworks.

 

[highlander]

this is greaaaaaaaat!

 

[Lucid]

I *think* that you can own any Source game and download the Orange Box SDK Base, regardless of whether you own the Orange Box or not now.

Either way, congratulations to all five mods! I hope this turns out to be a great success, and that more mods will follow in the coming months!

Hopefully:

Dystopia
Empires
Eternal Silence
Jailbreak: Source
Hidden: Source
Minerva
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II
Zombie Master

Why would Minerva get hosted on there? It's not even multiplayer and it's very short.

 

[wormstrangler]

Good stuff. I haven't played any of these mods before, but now I will (except AOC and Synergy).

 

[jondo85]

while this is good news, I really wish valve had given support to all mods for downloading directly from steam, auto-updating etc from day one, perhaps the mod scene wouldn't have died so badly

 

[kineaesth]

Why would Minerva get hosted on there? It's not even multiplayer and it's very short.

Because it's GREAT.

 

[Ennui]

while this is good news, I really wish valve had given support to all mods for downloading directly from steam, auto-updating etc from day one, perhaps the mod scene wouldn't have died so badly

Uh... the scene has gotten better. Smaller, yes, but now we have mods that are releasing playable builds, not mods that are posting media and concept art. It's matured finely in my opinion.

 

[Barnz]

More like it's dead.

 

[Ennui]

all I know is I'm playing more good HL2 mods these days than I was in 05 or 06. Mostly.

 

[mm3guy]

Why would Minerva get hosted on there? It's not even multiplayer and it's very short.

Because it's so good, the author of that mod got hired by VALVe.

 

[mrman234]

I wonder if they'll consider something like this for the Decay PC port.

 

[sickre]

If the mod scene has 'failed' its because of poor marketing and management by the mod teams themselves.

 

[Barnz]

I wonder if they'll consider something like this for the Decay PC port.

We gonna contact them. :naughty:

 

[Lucid]

There are a lot more mods out than there were 2/3 years ago, but that counts for nothing if nobody plays them.

 

[G(ordon)-man]

They should add black mesa source.Because practically they are doing valves job.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Yeah, they're doing Valve's job by...remaking a game that Valve already made 10 years ago? Yeah, love that reasoning.

 

[Crispy]

Uh... the scene has gotten better. Smaller, yes, but now we have mods that are releasing playable builds, not mods that are posting media and concept art. It's matured finely in my opinion.

It's had a few miscarriages and one or two stillbirths, but now we're seeing a few mods taking their first steps.

That was an horrific, if accurate, analogy. I apologise. :|

If the mod scene has 'failed' its because of poor marketing and management by the mod teams themselves.

Management, yes. But I don't think most released mods have had major issues with reaching an initial playerbase. A lot of mods have problems presenting important information in a clear format (I'm talking about the ones that have no About/FAQ page or if they do it's out of date or missing info such as 'can my PC run this game?', and ones where it isn't clear or easy to get the latest download version). But in general the mods that need the publicity (the released ones) are getting it.

The ones that are coming to the fore now are the ones that are updating and improving their players' experiences. Good recommendations because of improvements to the mod are going to get you more players than just turning up the hype.

 

[Lobster]

I still remember the days when people modded for fun, to experiment and create without worrying how succesfull it is at release, these days everyone seems to want to create retail quality products and fail miserably, its such a waste of time and talent.

Minerva was small and simple, but it was one guy working to create what he wanted, he never spammed the net with publicity about it, he just released what he had, when he was happy with it, and responded to any interest people had about it.

I dont understand why BlackMesa deserves god status above everyone else for releasing a group of screenshots, dont get me wrong, I want them to succeed because I really like the idea and I lhave enjoyed reading their devblog, they clearly have alot of talented people, but lets wait till they release somthing before people start shouting "OMG VALVE NEEDS TO HIRE THEM!"

All the mods listed for steam support have been consistantly updated since release, and alot of the other mods mentioned do aswell, so it will be good to see this expand.

 

[Operational]

IMO not enough mods follow the 'Release early, release often, get community feedback and repeat' mantra.

 

[sickre]

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?category2=16

Excellent deal then, just buy HL2 Deathmatch and you can play these pretty sweet mods Only $5!

 

[Operational]

Oooh be careful. HL2 Deathmatch won't allow you to play Source Engine 2007 mods.

 

[Sledgehammer]

HL2 Deathmatch is free for Nvidia users (here, if it bothers you).

 

[Operational]

I'm not sure if that includes the Source SDK though.

 

[Mess]

I'd like to see this rolled out to SP mods too, mainly to make use of the achievement system.

 

[jondo85]

Uh... the scene has gotten better. Smaller, yes, but now we have mods that are releasing playable builds, not mods that are posting media and concept art. It's matured finely in my opinion.

That is kind of the point though, despite the mods getting better, less people play them. Also, there have been big mods out for years now, so this is still really late.

To be honest I don't know if any amount of support from valve would have helped. I was hoping when HL2 got released that we would see new mods get a large player base, like CS, but thinking about it, just too many people play CS, and now that it is a separate game, not a mod, all those people are less likely to be in the habit of investigating mods.

 

[Operational]

The thing is not only has the amount of games available increased but game diversity as well. It makes it much harder to make a unique mod that stands out and is also really popular.

Also game design, as a whole, is a lot more polished. Personally I like my mods a bit rough around the edges but you seem to get more people demanding high polish and good graphics rather than appreciating the gameplay.

 

[Lucid]

I never understood why so many mods have such a small amounts of players and servers, yet they seem to have huge communities circulating around said mods.

It's like, if you really want to show your support for the mod... then play it!

 

[Bluestrike]

- Many players expect mods to be close to retail quality before trying them out :/
- Release frequent sounds neat but you also need a team thats capable of doing that.
- I doubt singleplayer mods benefit more from achievements then a multiplayer mod.
Also most singleplayer mods are 'just' new content and have no coders what could implement the achievements.
- Black mesa source is not on steam because its not a released mod and I'm a bit sceptical about those big singleplayer mods are ever going to be released.

 

[Lobster]

- Many players expect mods to be close to retail quality before trying them out :/
- Release frequent sounds neat but you also need a team thats capable of doing that.
- I doubt singleplayer mods benefit more from achievements then a multiplayer mod.
Also most singleplayer mods are 'just' new content and have no coders what could implement the achievements.
- Black mesa source is not on steam because its not a released mod and I'm a bit sceptical about those big singleplayer mods are ever going to be released.

Your right that steamworks wont offer much to a singleplayer game, but having them hosted as part of steam would be nice.

I remember a big singleplayer project for Half-Life, what was it, Nightwatch? when that fumbled after a few years of development it sucked, to many mods go that way.