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TA on Steam
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bobbo8u Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:21 am Posts: 93	TA on Steam now that the game has been released, any idea how long ill have to wait before tribes makes its way to steam? we can all appreciate the convenience, and im sure it will bring additional players/profit. win win UPDATE: let me just say, if TA was only available thru steam, i would happily continue playing. i love steam and have 0 issues with it. that being said, if possible steam should simply be an option, so those who hate it dont have to use it. if given the choice, remain like it is now or go steam only, i would prefer steam only, but that would make a minority of consumers rage. according to some other posts in this thread, steam is mentioned in the EULA, which is significant evidence for its eventual use, but HiRez may have changed their minds. questions for devs: i assume you have at least looked into TA on steam, since GA is on there. is TA for steam currently in development? if no, what are the roadblocks? will steam force all accounts to become steam accounts or can you keep them separated? will you be forced to monetize through steam? How has your day been? Thank you for making this awesome game. Last edited by bobbo8u on Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:20 am

Argaont Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:21 am Posts: 700	Re: TA on Steam T:A in Steam... is this true? I wish devs say NO. Steam is a miserable spawn of crippled zombie llama. If you get what i mean. If Ascend will be available to play only through this "service", i'll be forced to abandon this awesome game forever T__T _________________ Birmancat. Infiltrating your base 24/7.
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:29 am

Xbob42 Beta Tester Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm Posts: 188	Re: TA on Steam Argaont wrote: T:A in Steam... is this true? I wish devs say NO. Steam is a miserable spawn of crippled zombie llama. If you get what i mean. If Ascend will be available to play only through this "service", i'll be forced to abandon this awesome game forever T__T Yeah, God forbid it's available on the best thing to ever happen to PC gaming. Let's make stuff up and boycott good services that offer amazing prices and actually give a d*** about the consumer!
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:44 am

ShpongleEyes Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:01 pm Posts: 224	Re: TA on Steam oh I woould absolutely love to see tribes on steam _________________
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:47 am

starlinvf Beta Tester Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:31 am Posts: 1478	Re: TA on Steam Steam has a small catalog of F2P games, and thats huge publicity when there normally isn't much. The MAJOR drawback however is being FORCED to use the Steam wallet to make purchases, Steam enabled accounts lose all autonomy (game must be launched through steam to access account), and the process will likely be irreversible. Spiral Knights made the Jump onto steam, and every single person who had a standard account and converted to a Steam account, for the steam promotion, have thoroughly regretted it. _________________ "Even if it is just a gimmick, you can bet it'll be a crowd pleaser to see a player's feet kick up in the air and initiate a top down attack."
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:50 am

Xbob42 Beta Tester Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm Posts: 188	Re: TA on Steam starlinvf wrote: Spiral Knights made the Jump onto steam, and every single person who had a standard account and converted to a Steam account, for the steam promotion, have thoroughly regretted it. ...I have a Spiral Knights account and loved and continue to love launching the game through Steam. I like having my entire game catalog available on one service, to download initially and then to update. Why the hell would it be a bad thing? If it got rid of the HORRENDOUS Hi-Rez launcher that'd make my day, actually.
Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:53 am

Litego Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:12 pm Posts: 5538 Location: North Cape - Norway	Re: TA on Steam If steam is not forced it would be great advertisement. Though I'd prefer to use the HiRez launcher because steam force you to put all your games in one folder on one drive, this can be a problem. I am currently running TA of a SSD which is no where near the size I would need to put steam on it. I only wish steam would start allowing you to install each individual game where ever you want. _________________ Lag spike + lag compensation = lols
Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:12 am

Xbob42 Beta Tester Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm Posts: 188	Re: TA on Steam Litego wrote: If steam is not forced it would be great advertisement. Though I'd prefer to use the HiRez launcher because steam force you to put all your games in one folder on one drive, this can be a problem. I am currently running TA of a SSD which is no where near the size I would need to put steam on it. I only wish steam would start allowing you to install each individual game where ever you want. Actually, yeah, that's one major problem with Steam that I hope they fix. Being able to install your games outside of the Steam folder (without going through a hassle, as you currently can...) would be so nice.
Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:14 am

lawlertron Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:07 pm Posts: 517	Re: TA on Steam Probably a conflict between Valve and Hi-Rez over which company gets to monetize your information by data mining it and selling it to Twitter or whoever else wants to pay. Similar to the reason EA didn't put BF3 on Steam. Although in that case EA told you up front in their terms of use what they were going to do. Hi-Rez never gave an answer as to what data their "Hi-Rez Patch Service" sends over a TLS encrypted channel to Twitter when the game launches. I'm gonna dig into that some more with an API hook monitor or something. I need to figure out how to intercept the data at the application level before it is encrypted for transport over the network. see: viewtopic.php?f=313&t=56286&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:14 am

starlinvf Beta Tester Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:31 am Posts: 1478	Re: TA on Steam Think about this for 5 seconds.... Its important to note that Spiral Knights is written in Java, and will run on any platform with a working JRE 1.4 or higher and OGL API supported video drivers. Spiral Knight Steam account has: - Steam Achievements - Purchases through Steam wallet - Special promotions -- (Steam overlay is not exclusive. The method it uses will work with any program as long as the DLL hooks are open) Spiral Knights Steam account Can't: - Login without Steam client installed, and user registered on the system* -- (Where as normal accounts just need a working web browser, or a cache of the files and specially crafted shortcut.) - Make Energy (cash currency) purchases without a working Steam overlay (again requiring steam client to installed, AND the game running) - Fund the Steam wallet unless Steam can accept your desired payment method. Most countries don't use Credit cards for this type of service. - And the most critical problem with Steam on F2P.... You can't play the game in certain countries due to region locks in Steam. AND Steam can't accept payment to fund the wallet in certain countries due to various Legal restrictions, some being related to Micro Transactions, others due to distribution rights. - As far as I know, you can't convert a Steam enabled account to the game's basic account due to technical reasons and possibly Steam agreements. *Steam login works using a silent authentication system (no user interaction), by having the Steam client hand over your Steam ID (UN) and a randomly generated password when the account was created. When they added a Steamworks 3rd party login interface to the main site (giving steam players access to the site's support section and forums), there was a short period where you could login to the game (bypassing Steam) using the "Play Now" link. Oddly enough, this worked because the SK user account and Steam login are technically independent, but any Steam related menus (like the purchase menu, or Steam Friend lookup) would cause the game to lock up while trying to make calls to the API for the Steam client. _________________ "Even if it is just a gimmick, you can bet it'll be a crowd pleaser to see a player's feet kick up in the air and initiate a top down attack."
Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:24 am

Display posts from previous: Sort by

TA on Steam

Author

Message

bobbo8u

Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:21 am
Posts: 93

TA on Steam

now that the game has been released, any idea how long ill have to wait before tribes makes its way to steam?

we can all appreciate the convenience, and im sure it will bring additional players/profit.

win win

UPDATE: let me just say, if TA was only available thru steam, i would happily continue playing. i love steam and have 0 issues with it. that being said, if possible steam should simply be an option, so those who hate it dont have to use it. if given the choice, remain like it is now or go steam only, i would prefer steam only, but that would make a minority of consumers rage.

according to some other posts in this thread, steam is mentioned in the EULA, which is significant evidence for its eventual use, but HiRez may have changed their minds.

questions for devs:
i assume you have at least looked into TA on steam, since GA is on there. is TA for steam currently in development? if no, what are the roadblocks? will steam force all accounts to become steam accounts or can you keep them separated? will you be forced to monetize through steam? How has your day been? Thank you for making this awesome game.

Last edited by bobbo8u on Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:20 am

Argaont

Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:21 am
Posts: 700

Re: TA on Steam

T:A in Steam... is this true? I wish devs say NO. Steam is a miserable spawn of crippled zombie llama. If you get what i mean.

If Ascend will be available to play only through this "service", i'll be forced to abandon this awesome game forever T__T

_________________
Birmancat. Infiltrating your base 24/7.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:29 am

Xbob42

Beta Tester

Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm
Posts: 188

Re: TA on Steam

Argaont wrote:

Yeah, God forbid it's available on the best thing to ever happen to PC gaming. Let's make stuff up and boycott good services that offer amazing prices and actually give a d*** about the consumer!

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:44 am

ShpongleEyes

Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:01 pm
Posts: 224

Re: TA on Steam

oh I woould absolutely love to see tribes on steam :mrgreen:

_________________

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:47 am

starlinvf

Beta Tester

Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:31 am
Posts: 1478

Re: TA on Steam

Steam has a small catalog of F2P games, and thats huge publicity when there normally isn't much. The MAJOR drawback however is being FORCED to use the Steam wallet to make purchases, Steam enabled accounts lose all autonomy (game must be launched through steam to access account), and the process will likely be irreversible.

Spiral Knights made the Jump onto steam, and every single person who had a standard account and converted to a Steam account, for the steam promotion, have thoroughly regretted it.

_________________
"Even if it is just a gimmick, you can bet it'll be a crowd pleaser to see a player's feet kick up in the air and initiate a top down attack."

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:50 am

Xbob42

Beta Tester

Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm
Posts: 188

Re: TA on Steam

starlinvf wrote:

Spiral Knights made the Jump onto steam, and every single person who had a standard account and converted to a Steam account, for the steam promotion, have thoroughly regretted it.

...I have a Spiral Knights account and loved and continue to love launching the game through Steam. I like having my entire game catalog available on one service, to download initially and then to update. Why the hell would it be a bad thing? If it got rid of the HORRENDOUS Hi-Rez launcher that'd make my day, actually.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:53 am

Litego

Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:12 pm
Posts: 5538
Location: North Cape - Norway

Re: TA on Steam

If steam is not forced it would be great advertisement. Though I'd prefer to use the HiRez launcher because steam force you to put all your games in one folder on one drive, this can be a problem. I am currently running TA of a SSD which is no where near the size I would need to put steam on it. I only wish steam would start allowing you to install each individual game where ever you want.

_________________
Lag spike + lag compensation = lols

Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:12 am

Xbob42

Beta Tester

Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:03 pm
Posts: 188

Re: TA on Steam

Litego wrote:

Actually, yeah, that's one major problem with Steam that I hope they fix. Being able to install your games outside of the Steam folder (without going through a hassle, as you currently can...) would be so nice.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:14 am

lawlertron

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:07 pm
Posts: 517

Re: TA on Steam

Probably a conflict between Valve and Hi-Rez over which company gets to monetize your information by data mining it and selling it to Twitter or whoever else wants to pay. Similar to the reason EA didn't put BF3 on Steam. Although in that case EA told you up front in their terms of use what they were going to do.

Hi-Rez never gave an answer as to what data their "Hi-Rez Patch Service" sends over a TLS encrypted channel to Twitter when the game launches. I'm gonna dig into that some more with an API hook monitor or something. I need to figure out how to intercept the data at the application level before it is encrypted for transport over the network.

see: viewtopic.php?f=313&t=56286&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:14 am

starlinvf

Beta Tester

Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:31 am
Posts: 1478

Re: TA on Steam

Think about this for 5 seconds....

Its important to note that Spiral Knights is written in Java, and will run on any platform with a working JRE 1.4 or higher and OGL API supported video drivers.

Spiral Knight Steam account has:
- Steam Achievements
- Purchases through Steam wallet
- Special promotions
-- (Steam overlay is not exclusive. The method it uses will work with any program as long as the DLL hooks are open)

Spiral Knights Steam account Can't:
- Login without Steam client installed, and user registered on the system*
-- (Where as normal accounts just need a working web browser, or a cache of the files and specially crafted shortcut.)
- Make Energy (cash currency) purchases without a working Steam overlay (again requiring steam client to installed, AND the game running)
- Fund the Steam wallet unless Steam can accept your desired payment method. Most countries don't use Credit cards for this type of service.
- And the most critical problem with Steam on F2P.... You can't play the game in certain countries due to region locks in Steam. AND Steam can't accept payment to fund the wallet in certain countries due to various Legal restrictions, some being related to Micro Transactions, others due to distribution rights.
- As far as I know, you can't convert a Steam enabled account to the game's basic account due to technical reasons and possibly Steam agreements.

*Steam login works using a silent authentication system (no user interaction), by having the Steam client hand over your Steam ID (UN) and a randomly generated password when the account was created. When they added a Steamworks 3rd party login interface to the main site (giving steam players access to the site's support section and forums), there was a short period where you could login to the game (bypassing Steam) using the "Play Now" link. Oddly enough, this worked because the SK user account and Steam login are technically independent, but any Steam related menus (like the purchase menu, or Steam Friend lookup) would cause the game to lock up while trying to make calls to the API for the Steam client.

_________________
"Even if it is just a gimmick, you can bet it'll be a crowd pleaser to see a player's feet kick up in the air and initiate a top down attack."

Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:24 am

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TA on Steam