The problem is, Greenlight differs wildly from other publishing models and, because of that, an understanding of how the system works and how you can make it work for you is imperative. Once submitted, thousands of users, if not tens of thousands, will view and possibly vote or comment on the game. For a small submission fee, any indie developer can upload their game to the service. I really don't like legitimate developers being charged that money, but I'll be glad that the scammers are kept out.Steam Greenlight is a platform that allows active Steam users to vote on indie titles they wish to see showcased on its site. If people had used Greenlight responsibly from the start this wouldn't have happened, but sadly people can be dicks. “I feel the pros of charging the money far outweigh the cons. But then again that is what Kickstarter is for. If they got Greenlight they'd be able to better pursue getting funding. “I think the only people it may affect negatively are those who have a really cool idea and no money to spend on it. It would have well-earned a $100 fee already in marketing, even though we haven't nearly been Greenlit yet. And Greenlight has been really, really beneficial to us already. We expect to be spending so much more money than that anyway. I think if you believe in your game and intend seriously working on it $100 that goes to charity is a non-issue. Submission into the IGF costs $95 dollars. “An Apple developer license costs $100 as well. Steam are certainly doing it because there has been quite a bit of noise in Greenlight due to people posting fake games. So I can't comment from a position of having paid such a fee. “We fortunately missed the $100 fee for Greenlight. It looks like Steam are committed to getting it right so hopefully we'll see some further changes over the next few weeks.” Evan Greenwood, Free Lives (Broforce) I think people who are serious about their game are unlikely to think twice about paying the fee, and it should discourage some of the more pointless clutter. “As for the $100 charge, I can understand how some people are a bit upset about it, but I don't think it's that big a deal. “However, I'm encouraged by the changes Steam have made today, in particular the fact that they've changed the labelling on the voting buttons to make it a bit clearer what your vote actually means. Plus, I thought the downvote button encouraged negativity and trolling a bit too much. “I was a bit disappointed with Greenlight at first as it looked as though they hadn't given a lot of thought to a few things such as the discoverability issue. (opens in new tab) Mark Burvill, Aardman Digital (Home Sheep Home 2) I agree that something needs to be done about junk appearing on the system but this seems like a knee-jerk reaction that hasn't been thought out clearly.” Indie developers are generally pretty strapped for cash so this could affect quite a number of people. $100 is enough that I feel it could put off legitimate developers with a great game that just don't have enough money. The whole point was to prevent spam appearing on the system - $10 would achieve that. For someone like me who'd rather spend my resources on making a better game it's a worrying trend.” Dave Johnston, Smudged Cat Games (The Adventures of Shuggy) Indie game development is becoming more and more a lottery where it's all about getting noticed by buying yourself into contests - and now Steam. “My main problem with Steam is that I like to be able to update my game several times a day and any kind of friction in doing that is bad for me. Maybe something great will come out of it?” Eskil Steenberg, Quel Solaar (Love) Then again, I like Valve and have some faith in that they know what they're doing with the whole thing, and I have no idea what the final steps of the Greenlight process might be like. I really hope that developers won't focus too much attention on what traits proves most successful in helping you pass the Greenlight screening when designing their own games. “Overall, I don't really like the idea of Greenlight, I may be a bit pessimistic now, but to me it seems it will only serve to streamline indie games into marketable products and rob them of any kind of unique personality. Pre-orders or sales should be able to generate that much outside of Steam if you think you have a legitimate chance of getting your game approved through a process which resembles a popularity contest. If they believe they have a game that is good enough to be on Steam, they should be able to figure out a way to pay the submission fee. I'm a little bit surprised that people are upset by it, though. “I think the fee is good, although I think it could be lowered so that developers who aren't in a good financial situation can still afford to submit their games. (opens in new tab) Jonatan “Cactus” Söderström, Dennaton (Hotline Miami)
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