Experimental branch without Steam?

I was about to purchase the game, but when browsing the information on how to access the experimental branch, it was all Steam this, Steam that.

Is it possible to play the experimental branch without installing Steam?

I do not want to install a bunch of extra crap on my machine just to install a game, especially not something like Steam. Whatever happened to download an installer and launch it? I guess that’s too complicated for kids these days. Seems bass-ackwards to only allow experimental branch access via Steam as this means the middleman gets a bigger $cut.

Right. You might pipe down a bit. Those are an awful lot of assumptions old man :wink:

Not to mention a not so great first impression of yourself.

Steam gives more exposure than going at it yourself. It gives the workshop for easy sharing of content. Reliable distribution and updating. The list goes on. And experimental does not give a bigger cut, its just a newer version of the game. And Steam wants a cut, so its Less money for the developers.

In the end it doesnt even matter. The developers chose this as their distribution channel and you either accept it or… go somewhere else for your games i guess?

You’re welcome to stay here, but with a slight attitude adjustment.

Your friendly moderator,
Patrick

4 Likes

And Steam wants a cut, so its Less money for the developers.

That was precisely my point.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum! :slight_smile:

I think it is a valid question you bring up and sure you do have a point around being forced to use Steam in the current state. So to give you an understanding, from our point of view we basically “pay” (via the cut) Steam to handle everything like distribution, payment, VAT, invoicing, returns, marketing, sales event etc. Steam does this really good so that we as developers don’t have to think about any of that and simple focus on making the game. Today we can update the experimental branch directly from our game engine with a simple click and the process takes less than 5 minutes.

Now, we are actually in the process of looking into other non-Steam distributors that will sell the game standalone and not via Steam. For example, we are present on Humble Bundle today but we only sell Steam keys. We plan to change this but that will require more work from us as we need to keep several platform up to date with the latest build version and this gets extra complex if we should also include the experimental branch. We also don’t see the benefit of setting up our own store and distribution channel at this point.

So in short the answer is: No, unfortunately there is only the Steam option available today.

/Fredrik

3 Likes

I don’t understand the hating on Steam. It’s a convenient resource that allows me to easily install/reinstall games on multiple computers. As for “all the extra crap”…what crap? Just one application.

As Fredrik states, it’s a distribution channel that handles all the infrastructure of distribution, freeing-up developers to do their thing…develop. It also allows wider availability of games, especially from indies, who would otherwise go unnoticed.

Be advised, I’m not some ACEO fanboy (read some of my latest posts) nor an internet white knight. Just sharing my opinion of the Steam platform vis-a-vis game distribution advantages.

1 Like

As it turns out, the real crux of my complaint was a result of some confusion on my part. For some reason I thought the two game purchase options on the main page were Steam (self-explanatory), and some other “humble bundle” which I had assumed (!) was just a direct purchase without a middleman aside from credit card merchant account fees. I mean, myself never having heard of Humble Bundle.

So I mistakenly thought that anyone could buy the game direct from the developers, but only Steam users could participate in the experimental branch. I see now that’s not the case, not exactly anyway.

Hey, as a developer myself (but not games), I understand there are benefits to something like Steam. It’s your game, and I get it.

I went ahead and purchased it anyway. After having to reinstall steam, it seems it isn’t quite as bad as it was in the early 2000’s or whenever I last used it.

Dallas- I’m not sure I’d describe it as hating. I simply didn’t want some bloated application running in the background using my connection and “taking control” of my games. And I remember it being much more “in your face” last time. It’s just a difference in philosophy. IOS vs Android. Airbus vs Boeing. The first item in each of those pairs has something in common.

2 Likes

I renew my sincere welcome to these forums :slight_smile:

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 31 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.