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Bawb
25 May 2007, 12:12
Has Team17 ever considered moving any of their games to the increasingly popular Steam platform for online distribution? The Worms franchise could benefit from it, especially the older games but it's just a thought.

arcticworm
2 Jun 2007, 09:45
I don't think so.

robowurmz
2 Jun 2007, 12:21
It would be good idea, but then again, there's the incredibly annoying side of Steam, where if ValvE makes a mistake, and steam doesn't work, it's impossible to play your games...

Bawb
2 Jun 2007, 16:02
Steam has worked reliably for me for the past 12 months and I've never known of any major issues.

Melon
2 Jun 2007, 19:09
Although I've never used Steam, I think it might be a good idea to move Worms Armageddon onto Steam instead of Trymedia. As far as I know, Steam might be able to automatically update it to the latest one when a new update is available, rather than the sucky rip-off Trymedia version that you can't play online on.
Although, I'm not totally sure how Steam works. And besides, it's probably not worth Team17's bother now that WA is 8/9 years old, but hey.

Everett1
2 Jun 2007, 19:28
Good idea, I like how under Steam's list you just double click the game's name and it automatically pops up.
Now, I've never had any problems with Steam as I use it for Half Life 2 but others have complained of stability issues with Steam and the fact of being online just to play the game.

AndrewTaylor
2 Jun 2007, 22:24
TryMedia is easy but doesn't work properly. Steam works, but is inconvenient. Ultimately, the game is the same either way (assuming TryMedia patch, which they don't).
But personally, give me a disc anyday.

MtlAngelus
3 Jun 2007, 06:03
Steam has worked perfectly for me since like 2 years ago or something.
Except that one time when I forgot my password. But then I remembered it. YAY.

Darkspark
3 Jun 2007, 12:55
TryMedia is easy but doesn't work properly. Steam works, but is inconvenient. Ultimately, the game is the same either way (assuming TryMedia patch, which they don't).
But personally, give me a disc anyday.
inconvenient?
Discs are not inconvenient?
I can go anywhere in the world with a net connection and play games I have bought over steam by simply downloading them and a small application.
Something that annoys me about W:A is the amount of time waiting for the disc to spin in the cd rom drive just before a game is about to start. Whilst waiting for the game to start, the disc has to spin down, then when the game starts, its another wait. Running the games locally off Steam would be much more efficient.
Plus, you dont have to be online to play a steam game. After its authenticated, you can choose to play it offline forever.

Melon
3 Jun 2007, 13:03
With a disc you can very easily make a disc iso image, like most of us here have done. Loads almost instantly in all places as it's reading off of your harddrive.
Are you saying that you can upload the same game from Steam to as many computers as you like once you've bought it?

Bawb
3 Jun 2007, 14:25
Steam isn't inconvenient, for me it's the exact opposite. Patches are easy to distribute(unlike Trymedia) and you can go to any other computer with internet, download the Steam program, log in and then download any game on your account and play to your heart's content. Obviously you can't log in to the same account and play online at the same time on multiple computers but that's just common sense.

MrBunsy
3 Jun 2007, 14:26
Are you saying that you can upload the same game from Steam to as many computers as you like once you've bought it?Yup, you can. Which is to it's advantage. However, if the steam master server ever goes down (which it has done at least once) you can't log in, and can't play your games. I know the whole offline thing exists, but it doesn't work properly for games like Red Orchestra.
The best solution, if you ask me, is to do what Introversion have done, where they sell their games over steam, and on CD (and you don't need the CD in to play!), and direct download from their website. That way you can chose whether you want to use steam or not.

Darkspark
3 Jun 2007, 15:18
Nobody is saying to Team 17 to exclusively release their old games on Steam. Most developers that put their games on steam, also distribute the traditional route. It seems these developers don't see using Steam as aiding a competitor, as the benefits to Team17 would far outweigh any costs to them.
Being on Steam brings you a world wide audience. I would personally like to see Worms sold on steam with additional special content. It would be extremely easy to patch games and bring updated content to every owner.

MrBunsy
3 Jun 2007, 17:06
Nobody is saying to Team 17 to exclusively release their old games on Steam. Most developers that put their games on steam, also distribute the traditional route.
As far as I was aware, though, most of them still require steam to play regardless of how the game was bought, IV is the only exception I know of so far. It's is one of the few things which wound be up about Red Orchestra.

Darkspark
3 Jun 2007, 19:53
It wouldn't be absolutely neccessary for it to run through Steam. I tend to think of steam as a shop. It can be as helpful as you like.
You can use it to just buy a game, authenticate it then set it to offline in steam. Put an icon on your desktop, and there is nearly no difference to running it off an ISO.
Even updates do not necessarily have to take place in the steam platform. Updates can be applied in game. Steam is only neccessary to either get the game to you, or to decrypt files ensuring a genuine purchase. Any other usage is an extension of its purpose. Updates are a good example.

MrBunsy
3 Jun 2007, 20:31
In theory, mabye, but Red Orchestra for one won't work properly unless steam is running and online. The user has very little choice, it all depends on what Valve / the developer has set up.
T17, if they were to use steam, would I imagine go for steam being optional, but if you've bought the game through steam you can't easily separate it from steam.
-plus steam stopped working on me this afternoon, so I un-installed it and re-installed it to fix the problem, which it did, but it didn't ask me if I wanted to delete all my games, which it also did. So now I've got to wait however long with it downloading at less than half my maximum speed.

Bawb
3 Jun 2007, 22:59
All current Worms games have been released as retail and I doubt Team17 would suddenly decide to jump ship and make all future games exclusive to Steam. Having the games available and playable with or without Steam I think would be best. I just think that Steam is an untapped market, it has over 13 million users now.

Spadge
3 Jun 2007, 23:01
There are no current plans for existing worms titles to be released via Steam.

Metal Alex
4 Jun 2007, 12:57
There are no current plans for existing worms titles to be released via Steam.
I guess it was clear, but thanks for making it totally tranparent. :D

Bawb
4 Jun 2007, 20:28
Any reason why?

Metal Alex
4 Jun 2007, 20:36
Any reason why?
Why hasn't every single game been ported to steam?
I hope you see my point :p

Bawb
4 Jun 2007, 23:36
I fail to see your point. Please enlighten me.

MrBunsy
5 Jun 2007, 09:01
I fail to see your point. Please enlighten me.
Why would they go to steam? By the looks of things they've already got publishers.

Metal Alex
5 Jun 2007, 16:00
I fail to see your point. Please enlighten me.
If every game out there got to steam... do you think they would accept all?
Or even more: a 7+ year old game?
(released more than 7 years ago, that is)

Muzer
5 Jun 2007, 18:43
As usual with spadge, his post could have hidden meanings. He said there are no plans to release existing worms titles. But what about future ones? He also said worms titles. That doesn't mean Alien Breed DOS can't be released on Steam.
god, he's confusing.

Bawb
5 Jun 2007, 19:13
If every game out there got to steam... do you think they would accept all?
Or even more: a 7+ year old game?
(released more than 7 years ago, that is)
That's a pretty stupid analogy. Why would every single game ever made be put on Steam...that's just unfeasible. It is however feasible to add one or two games to it.
Why would WA being 7 or 8 years old hinder it? It's still popular and in demand. They could try adding Worms Armageddon to Steam and see how it goes, what have they got to lose? If it's successful then that's great, they'll gain money and popularity and can start thinking about other titles being added. If it isn't so successful, so what?

AndrewTaylor
5 Jun 2007, 19:24
Yeah, but it's one more thing to maintain. Even once they've made a special Steam demo and put the game on Steam and set everything up, if even a few people buy it they'd then be expected to keep patching the Steam version every time Deadcode deigns to release a new beta (although I understand that's unlikely to be that many times now).
The more versions there are, the more problems there are. Right now they can pretty well sit back and let W:A and its community manage itself, and watch the money slowly trickle in in dribs and drabs. That's what you want from decade old games.
If it'd make money and nobody has any conflicting exclusivity deals then it'd be worthwhile. If not, it wouldn't. I have no idea if it meets those criteria.

Bawb
5 Jun 2007, 19:50
Once patches are available on Steam for any game I've ever had it has downloaded automatically and worked perfectly, I don't see the issue there.

AndrewTaylor
5 Jun 2007, 19:55
Once patches are available on Steam for any game I've ever had it has downloaded automatically and worked perfectly, I don't see the issue there.
That's because the issue is on the other end. You don't think that happens by itself, do you? Team17 would have to make a Steam version of the patch, have it sent out, update all the protective wrapper code...
Evidently TryMedia find this job sufficiently daunting that they don't bother doing it.

MrBunsy
5 Jun 2007, 19:59
Once patches are available on Steam for any game I've ever had it has downloaded automatically and worked perfectly, I don't see the issue there.
Someone has to maintain the steam end, which would take time and effort, and I have actually heard of some patch related steam problems in the past.
And, as Andrew pointed out, you'd probably need a steam demo. That alone would require quite a lot of effort, as the original demo isn't compatible with windows 2000, let alone Vista. And it's entirely possible that there's a deal with SoldOut which says they can't release the game elsewhere.
god, he's confusing.Were you expecting something else? :p
Edit: What Andrew said :p

Bawb
5 Jun 2007, 20:02
Hmm, I guess the games I play are more easily patched...though I still think it would be worth a shot. You could throw up the orginal Worms or Worms 2 considering they are unsupported by anyone just now and see what happens.

MrBunsy
5 Jun 2007, 20:02
Throw an unsupported game into steam? I just bet Valve and all your new Vista customers would love that.
:p

Bawb
5 Jun 2007, 20:07
Unsupported as in no longer updated.

MrBunsy
5 Jun 2007, 20:09
I suspect updates are required to for them work on Vista though, looking at the number of threads appearing in the WA forum.
And the original struggles to work on XP.

Metal Alex
5 Jun 2007, 20:10
That's a pretty stupid analogy. Why would every single game ever made be put on Steam...that's just unfeasible. It is however feasible to add one or two games to it.
There are much more games with more demand, and a 7 year old game, which is already sold out during all those years is not going to have that many benefits...
And when the feasible limit is filled by other games, a 7 year old won't fit...
A new worms game? well, that's other words. I guess it would work quite great. Armaggedon on Steam would be cool, yes, but it's not going to happen.

Bawb
5 Jun 2007, 20:14
Alright, I give up. I know when I'm beaten.

imatt
5 Mar 2008, 18:37
Alright, I give up. I know when I'm beaten.
It's still a good idea, even if there are those that disagree with you.
Heck, just look at the insane success that is AudioSurf.... a 2D side-scroller Worms release would nearly take over Steam. The earning potential is incredible - and feasible with the release of Steamworks (http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/).
Worms has become a cult classic, and could (and rightfully should) expand well beyond that quite easily.

Bawb
5 Mar 2008, 20:04
Audiosurf is awesome. I saw it in quiet development a few months ago, people liked it, it got released through Steam and huge success followed.

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