GamaSutra - Adam Saltsman is an accomplished, thoughtful game designer, and the creator of games like Canabalt and Hundreds. But he's been thinking beyond just game design and development -- he's been thinking about games' place in culture and society.
And so have other people. Notably, Gamasutra's own Leigh Alexander, veteran designer Raph Koster and indie developer and academic Robert Yang have explored this discussion around what games are, the role of the creator and what criticism really stands for.
Developer Adam Saltsman would not argue that Overland is difficult — it was developed as a key ingredient from the start.
"There are a few things that we get from procedural generation: more emergence and unpredictability, as opposed to being a roller coaster for the player to only experience the things I wanted them to feel," says dev Adam Saltsman.
By Jessica Conditt
Twenty-one randomly selected indie developers walk into a digital room and ponder the question, "Which online distribution system has been the most effective for your games?"
If this were the set-up to a joke, the punchline would probably be, "Facebook." But for many indie developers, the question of which platform to publish their games on is a very serious one, with potentially dire consequences. Pared down, platform success is all about accessibility, upload and support, and in terms of those factors, there's a clear, unsurprising favorite: Steam.
Steam is hands-down the best value for no subscription(Ps+) digital service. Unlike Sony and MS, Valve are not being held by the balls by retailers.
You may be right but psn is actually starting to do well as said in the article. These indie devs say they think it will continue to grow bigger on psn from now on. I love this quote about both psn & steam.
"That's an incredibly tough one," Provinciano said. "Hmm ... can't really say. It would be between PlayStation and Steam, but it's a tough decision. I'm glad neither force exclusivity."
since I used steam. i mean really used steam. Last time i was on the service was when i used it to validate my copy of Half life 2 (when it came out). so yeah....that has been a while.
And go figure i never knew steam had achievements so i guess they threw a nod to xblive and the achievement system. Like i said, I havent used that service in a long time.
After the xbox and xblive came the 360 and that was where i did all my gaming (until the ps3 came out). My gaming PC (at the time) just wasnt up to par with the games coming for pc and 360 and i would buy the 360 version because of convenience. i knew that the game i bought would play. albeit perhaps inferior to the pc but i wasnt about to spend $$$ to fix up my PC for only a few games.
I went the cheap convenient route while my good friend went the steam route. I dont doubt the service is much better than it started out as. hell psn and xblive have improved over time as well. My familiarity with live and psn makes it hard for me to build a new pc to take advantage of steam.
to those who use steam on a daily basis, i commend you as you are doing with steam what others choose to do using xblive or psn and that is actually be a productive member of that service. You get out of it what you put into it.
Bravo steam and bravo the steam community.
@Gimmemorebubblez
You mentioned PS+, but the difference is that you get a ton of free games when you sign up for the subscription. I agree that Steam is still the best place to purchase games, but its kind of hard to knock Sony for the great work they've done with PS+.
@Darth
Wow, what a mature and objective comment! Pretty shocking to see on this site, so I'll help add to your mountain of bubbles.
On topic-
I've been a Steam junkie for a few years now, it's amazing how much they've improved since I began using the service. I was even so impressed with big picture mode that I had to upgrade and move a spare PC to my living room to share the throne with my ps360. Keep it up Valve!
As for the humble store, I've bought the bundles before but wasn't aware they had a store... Anybody familiar with it? Are the deals comparable to the bundles(beating the average, not pay a penny like a jackass)?
Long live the King and may he enjoy many more years of trolling us with Half Life Ep 3.
Steam wins any contest by a long shot. Although PS+ is a great service the PS store is massively overpriced with several new games selling at a ridiculous £60! And MS Points, what was wrong with real currency?
GoG.com beats steam and every other sevice hands down no contest and if indie devs are not releasing on GoG.com they're stupid and smell like poo
Steam is the best, obviously. I love having PS Plus, as well. Steam sales, PSN sales, and PS Plus all ensure that I have more games than I know what to do with. ;)
