With many questions remaining to be answered as we move to Steam Direct, rumors and speculation are swirling among consumers and developers. As a developer who has been very familiar with the Greenlight process since 2015 and has successfully completed it twice with Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion and HD Renovation (these games together have over a million users), I would like to talk about Direct and my first impressions of it There's a lot to talk about, including changes to protect against abuse of Steam Trading Cards, pricing, and what the new system will mean for developers and consumers.

The old way: Steam Greenlight

Let's start the conversation with Steam Greenlight. This will be just background information, I will try to keep it short. Steam Greenlight is a Steam feature implemented by Valve to help indie developers sell their games on Steam. How the process worked: The developer paid Valve $100 to participate in Greenlight. The developer only had to pay this fee once, and then could upload any number of games to Steam Greenlight. The money was not returned.

After payment, the developer was given access to the Steam Greenlight portal, in which he could create a Greenlight page with information about the game (title and description), upload videos, trailers and screenshots, useful links (for example to game demos) and links to pages on social networks . In addition, you had to add everyone involved in the creation to the page (if there was anyone else besides you), after which everything was ready to publish the page in Greenlight.

Now for how the approval process worked - once your page was published, your game would end up in Steam Greenlight, where users would vote "Yes", "No" or "Maybe" to express their interest. They could also follow and share links to the page, leave comments, and read blog posts and announcements from the page's creator. All games in Greenlight were ranked by the number of "Yes" votes, and if your game was in the top 100 on Steam Greenlight, then you could count on eventual success. If your game made it to the very top of the popularity contest (one of the top five places), your game was approved by the community and given the green light. Congratulations! What happened after is not very important for this article, so we'll leave it at that.

New method: Steam Direct

Now let's talk about Steam Direct and what we know about the process. Remember the $100 Steam Greenlight pledge? By paying it, you could publish any number of games. Well, now you have to pay $100 per game. The payment is no longer a one-time payment. The bright side, so to speak, is that if your game itself earns more than $1,000 on Steam, then that $100 will be returned to you.

After payment, you need to fill out information about yourself: name, social security number, etc., so that you can verify that you are who you say you are. Valve also requires you to fill out a tax form and banking information. During the filling process, you will be required to sign several non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). After all this bureaucratic work is completed and when the company is satisfied that you - real person, you will be allowed to enter commercial information - game name, description, cost, etc. During the Greenlight process, this was not required until your page was greenlit.

Once you have all this sorted out, you will be invited to the Steam Developer Portal. Here you can download your game: files, achievements, Steam trading cards, and the like. It is necessary to submit a nearly finished version of the game to Valve for testing so that the company makes sure that you are not trying to publish malware or anything similar on the platform. This usually takes several days. The same applies to Steam trading cards and others additional files to the game. Valve recommends doing all of this at least 30 days before the game's scheduled release so that all files are approved within a reasonable amount of time and no one has to panic. The term "game" doesn't have strict definitions, but Valve will spend a few days checking whether your game matches the description on the page. Once Valve approves, you can release the game on Steam. Congratulations!

The price of fame

Yes, there are problems with this. The most important thing is that previously your game should have gained some interest in Steam Greenlight. In Steam Direct you just need to pay, and that's it - you're already in business. The problem is that Steam is practically turning into a PC version Google Play Store.

This is a very dubious move for me as a developer and consumer, because there will be more on the platform more games. Doesn't seem so bad, right? But in fact this is so, because on Steam it’s already difficult to find in the general pile worthwhile games - 40% of games on Steam were released in 2016. Steam Direct makes it even more difficult to find new games that will catch your interest. As a developer, you'll have to compete with a bunch of not-so-quality games taking up the front page that you should have taken up.

Steam Direct adds a new continuous stream of games, but finding games is also difficult due to tags added by users. Anyone, troll or not, can go to the game's Steam page and add tags to it. People often add the "horror" or "scary" tag to very low quality games, even if they aren't horror. It could be a 2D side-scroller about a unicorn collecting cakes, but if the game is bad, trolls will label it "horror." If you search for new games with the "horror" tag, you will probably find horror games or scary games, but there will also be games that are definitely not related to this genre. This problem already exists, but the more low-quality games that appear on Steam due to the constant addition of new ones, the more users will abuse the tagging system.

Another opinion of mine may be unpopular. I spoke with several developers and they, like me, think that the price publishing a game on Steam Direct should be slightly higher than $100. In my opinion, it should be at least $500, especially since you get money back if you sell over $1,000. Thanks to Patreon, developer streaming channels on Twitch, and simply donations collected on the site, a good developer and good game They can easily collect the required amount of money.

Speaking of payment, what about those developers who sell games for 99 cents or even for free? They won't get their money back, and if they do, 99 cents will have to generate a significant amount of sales. The situation with free games is even worse, because in-game transactions are not taken into account when refunding funds. Someone may say: “Why return the money? You get ADVERTISING!” Or: “Why do you want your money back? Are you making games just to make money?!” To both of these statements, I can answer that game development is not always cheap. It's good when you get a return on your work, it helps create new games.

The situation with developers releasing free games. I sympathize with those who want to put the game on Steam, make it free and at the same time not get any money from this new system nothing - it's not very fair to them. Developers who make little profit may receive no money at all. My first game on Steam was free. I understood that I couldn’t get the money back because: 1.) It’s impossible and 2.) None of the developers would get their money back. If sis Steam themes Direct was introduced then, I would be jealous of those who got their money back because I wouldn't have been able to do it. I hope there will be some kind of system to help such free game developers. It might be worth giving the money back if they get X number of downloads, like this paid game, who earned $1,000.

One more topic: abuse of Steam trading cards

A major problem with Steam Greenlight was the abuse of Steam trading cards. The developers generated thousands of keys, passed them on to bots that launched Steam games for farming cards. Then they put a high price on the cards and received a percentage of their sales.

This problem exists on several levels, including two of our favorite words: the Steam algorithm. If you didn't know: the more time a game is played, the more Steam considers it more popular, so it advertises it more on home page, recommends it to users, etc. It is clear that this is a serious problem. Steam shows us unpopular and low-quality games because card-farming bots break the entire system.

With the introduction of Steam Direct, Valve changed its approach: now a card game needs to reach a certain number of hours of gameplay for all players, plus it must meet some other indicators that Valve hides from us. As soon as the game reaches these indicators, cards begin to fall out. After this, all players who have played time in this game will receive cards. Sounds cool, right? Well, not really. Especially considering that we don't know what the game should achieve. Not to mention, Steam Trading Cards are a big reason for abandonment - if users can't get the cards right away, that could be a problem. Even with the current system, consumers complain that cards don't drop out. This hurts the store, achievement hunters and collectors, all in the name of combating the small number of people farming cards for a living. But I am sure that even with such changes, card farmers will still find ways to continue their scams.

Hey! This is my game!

The last problem that came to my mind is probably the most important of all those listed. This is a problem with stolen works and DMCA bans. During the Steam Greenlight process, attackers sometimes completely copied an existing Greenlight page and published it in Greenlight. Why I call them "malicious": the link to the game demo actually led to malware. Greenlight contained fake pages that tricked unsuspecting users into downloading malware.

This happened at least once with the original Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion in Greenlight. What should a developer do when he sees this? In Steam Greenlight, the developer and the community could complain about a page with a copy of their game, in addition, they could ask for a DMCA block, and if the game received enough complaints, it was blocked. The same applies to fan games and games with replaced resources. What about Steam Direct? How carefully will the search be carried out to ensure that no one steals your work or replaces resources in it? Direct, you won't be able to request a DMCA ban again until the game is released and starts making money, and that's pretty scary to me.

In the worst case scenario, a malicious developer could take someone's game, make money from it, and disappear. These people may even take games from free sources (like itch.io or gamejolt) and claim them as their own. I hope Valve is very careful to ensure that the solution to the problem is not too difficult for the developer, otherwise we will be inundated with such content.

Where to go next?

This is all the information we have so far, plus my thoughts. We'll just have to wait for more details to do a more precise analysis to decide whether this is a good idea or not. I understand where Valve is coming from with these changes. It aims to reduce obstacles in the way of developers, but I'm not sure that such a system is well protected from people trying to exploit it to make easy money.

Today the number of Steam users exceeds 150 million and all of them have at least one game on their account. However, immediately after installation, the client is delivered blank, that is, the owner of the personal computer must independently add suitable applications. You can select a game from an existing library or add a program that is installed on your computer. The service also supports the installation of third-party applications that are not available on Steam. Details on how to add a game from Steam are further in the article.

The steps required to add a game depend on the user's goals. All 5 known installation methods are described below.

Adding a Third Party Game

The method is intended for cases when the game is downloaded from the Internet and installed on the system, but without using Steam. In order for it to be displayed in the library, and also to be able to take advantage of your own account, you need to add the application to the Steam catalog.

How to add a third party game toSteam:

1. Launch the Steam client.
2. In the bottom left corner, click on the plus icon with the caption “Add game”.
3. From the drop-down list, select “Add a third-party game.”
4. The next window displays a list of all applications that are installed on your personal computer. Check the box next to one or more games.
5. Click "Add Selected".

Healthy! Sometimes the game does not appear in the list of applications. In this case, you can click on the “Browse” button and specify the path to the application directly. Through Explorer, you need to select the exe file of the game, not its folder, then press the “Open” button.

After completing the procedure, all added applications are displayed in a list in the “Library” tab. To start the program, select it from the list and click on the “Play” button.

Adding a game using a key

If you have a digital key, then it is possible to add games to Steam using it. The code can be received as a gift from a friend, won, or purchased in a store.

How to add a game to your librarySteam:

1. Open the Steam client and click on the “Add Game” button (a little above Start in Windows).
2. Select the “Activate on Steam” option.
3. In the new window, click “Next”.
4. When the “Steam Subscriber Agreement” appears, click “I Agree.”
5. Enter the key and click on the “Next” element.
6. If the code is specified correctly and it is current, a window will be displayed indicating the successful completion of the procedure. All that remains is to close it with the “Done” button.
7. Open the “Library” tab and go to the game page.
8. Click “Install”.

After downloading and installing, the game becomes available for use.

Add a game through Explorer

Steam always adds all installed games in one place. By default, available applications are stored at the path: Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common on the system drive. If the user manually changed the storage directory, the appearance of the link may differ. If you create a folder with the correct name in the target directory and place the files of a previously installed game in it, it may appear in Steam. After launching the platform, the service will automatically find the application and begin updating or fixing it if some user files are missing.

In a similar way, you can add free Steam games or previously purchased ones. But paid applications will still not work without a key. In this way you cannot add programs and games that are not supported by the service.

Installation from another computer

If the Internet speed or limited traffic do not allow you to download the game directly via the Internet, then you can take it from another personal computer. As already mentioned, all games are saved in one place, you only need a flash drive with enough memory and you can copy installation files. For this method to work, you definitely need another computer with current version games.

Instructions:

1. Open Steam\steamapps\common on the computer with the game and find the folder with its name.
2. Copy the entire directory and transfer it to a flash drive.
3. Connect the drive to the target personal computer, move the files to a similar location.
4. Go to the Steam “Library” tab, select a game and click “Install”.
5. Specify the path to the transferred game.
6. After checking and updating the game, it will be available for launch.

Adding previously installed games to the Steam library

The method is useful when reinstalling operating system. It allows you to save games even after installing another one Windows versions. By default, all data would be deleted from system disk. To secure applications and eliminate the need to download them again, just move the desired directory to another logical drive.

How to add an installed game toSteam:

1. Open Steam and activate and update available games.
2. Create a “Games” folder on the drive (not the system drive).
3. Inside, create a directory “Games1” and “steamapps”.
4. Transfer data from the original “steamapps” folder on drive C to the one you created yourself.
5. Open the Steam client, go to the “Library” and click on the “Install” button.
6. Manually specify the installation location in D:\Games\Games1.
7. After the installation begins, close the platform application, including from the tray.
8. Move the "steamapps" folder to Games1.

Now reinstalling the operating system will not harm, the games will remain in the system. The exception is full disk formatting.

Solving possible problems

There are situations in which everything does not go according to plan. Good news The fact is that startup problems can actually be solved.

Known issues when adding games to Steam:

• The game is not added. Failure is rare. The most likely source of the problem is that the game is already on your account. Reinstalling should help. If the application is probably not in the profile, then the source of the problem is the Steam client itself. Reinstalling the application should help.
• Steam doesn't work properly with installed game. Users often complain that third party applications do not have access to Overlay, Steam Link, Controller, etc. The thing is that the company deliberately disabled such features to combat piracy. There is no way to fix the problem.

Found a typo? Select the text and press Ctrl + Enter

Hi all! I needed register your game on Steam, But step by step instructions I couldn't find it. There was old information about Steam Greenlight or scraps of Steam Direct registration, which gave one answer to some questions - you’ll figure it out yourself, everything is clear there. But for me, without experience in this matter, not everything was clear. I had to consult and look for information on the internet.

If you know good articles on registration, write about them in the comments.

I'll tell you about my experience. My name is Denis. I live in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Maybe in other countries things will be different.

Let's create an account on Steam. I couldn’t even find something as simple as registering a game on Steam, and I only read about SteamWorks on one of the forums. Follow the link and begin registration.

A nuance - we write the same everywhere - first and last name (in English).

First tab "Introduction". Scroll down and click "Continue."

Go to the second tab "Name and address."

We write legal. Name. I registered as an individual entrepreneur, so I write my First and Last Name.

"Company Form", I choose - Sole proprietorship(sole owner).

Address. For example, Lenina 25, bldg. 3, apt. 73, will be like Lenin 25/3 apt 73

"Non-disclosure agreement", put a tick, " Continue."

"Steam Distribution Agreement", scroll down, fill in the fields, check the boxes and enter the captcha. In the column "position of signatory" we write Owner, as the only owner.

You will be transferred to Steam itself. Log in to your account, select a payment method. I chose Visa. You need to pay $100. In my case, after a purchase without an SMS request, 5,650 rubles were withdrawn.

Next "Payment and tax information".
There are two sections here and .
I had difficulties with these points.

To do this, you need to open a bank account for an individual entrepreneur. After calling several, I chose Tinkoff. I think he has the most favorable tariff for removal. 6 months of free service, then per month - 490 rubles, commission for withdrawal (per month) - up to 400,000 rubles. 1.5% + 99 rub. If on a Tinkoff debit card, then up to 150,000 rubles. no commission. If you need to withdraw more, then there are other tariffs, which are also, in principle, beneficial for large amounts. If you know other profitable options, write them in the comments.

Having opened an account in rubles, I find out this thing. With Steam, money will come in dollars. Therefore, in my case, dollars will bounce off my ruble account. That's why I open an account in dollars. This is a simple procedure. Call your bank and they will tell you everything.
There were also errors when filling out some items. For example, such that the system did not believe that I was 28 years old. Reloading the page didn't help. I had to exit and click “Enter tax information” again, fill it out, and this time everything was without errors.

Let's go to “Enter payment information”

Fill out the form. You can find out your bank's SWIFT code by calling your bank. Select the account type “Current (settlement)”. Save.

Then we go to point “Enter tax information”
Start/Continue

Everything is normal here, except for the “passport expiration date” item. What??? This point surprised me a little, but if you think about it... We change our passport at 20 years old, 45 years old, then like 55 years old, then I don’t know...
I'm 28 years old (time flies). It turns out that the passport will expire at 45 years. In my case, date of birth: day, month and year 2035. But on Steam you can only specify 2027, so we write 2027)

Then this point. I don't remember where it came from. Maybe, after some strange errors, it appeared as an address confirmation.

Consents. Everywhere put "Yes"

Status. No

Type of actual income of the owner, this word was automatically written here Individual, did not change

Then I choose "Russia"

Then they ask if there is TIN?

First I selected "No". And I received extra. tax 30%.

Turns out, TIN- this is the TIN in our opinion. That's why we write "Yes" and fill out the item "foreign TIN"

And we get 0% tax

And in conclusion "Sign & Submit" check all the boxes, fill out the forms and click "Submit Form W-8BEN"

My application was considered for 24 hours. We get the long-awaited opportunity to add our game

I hope no one has any problems registering in Steam Direct now

We will make a prototype of the game soon. If you are interested in what project this registration was for, you can see it in the group

There are three ways to add a game to your Steam library:

• through the built-in store;
• through the “Add a third-party game” button;
• via input digital key.

When purchased through the store, games are added automatically; the other two methods require simple manipulations through the program interface. We'll tell you more about them.

Note: The screenshots for this instruction were taken on Windows 10. On other versions of the OS, as well as on Mac OS and Linux, the procedure is the same.

Adding a third-party game (previously downloaded)

This function is useful when the game has already been downloaded and installed on your computer without using Steam, and there is a need to add it to the program library for your own convenience. To do this you need to follow a few simple steps.

Open Steam, in the lower left corner we find the inscription “Add”, click on it with the left mouse button. In the menu that opens, select “Add a third-party game” and click on it.

All applications installed on the computer will be displayed in a new window.

Find the game you want in this list, and click on the checkbox (arrow No. 1) next to its name so that a check mark appears there.

If you need to add several games, then select them with checkmarks sequentially. After finishing, click the “Add selected” button (arrow No. 2).

If the game you need is not in the list, but you are sure that it is installed on your computer, you can specify the path to it manually. Click the “Browse” button, an Explorer window will open in which you need to find its executable file. This file is easy to recognize by its icon and EXE extension. We find it, select it with the mouse, and click the “Open” button.

After clicking the "Add Selected" button, specified file is added to the Steam library and appears in the general list on the left. Now it can be launched directly from the application using the “Play” button.

Adding a game using a key

You can add a game to Steam using a digital key previously purchased from another store or received as a gift from friends.

Launch the program and open the "Library" tab. Here, in the lower left corner, find the “Add” button, click on it and select “Activate on Steam”.

Will appear in a new window brief description activation process. Here we click “Continue”.

A standard subscriber agreement will appear, you need to read it (or at least view it), and then click “I Agree.”

In the next window, a field will appear for adding a key (arrow No. 1), after entering which click “Next” (arrow No. 2).

If the key is entered correctly, it is valid and not activated, the following window will appear:

Click the “Finish” button. After this, the game will be activated and will appear in the general list of games in the Steam library.

To open it, you need to click on the name with the mouse and click the “Install” button.

The game will be downloaded, installed on your computer, and will then be available for launch.

Steam allows you not only to add all the games purchased in the store of this service, but also to attach any game that is on your computer. Of course, third-party games will not contain the various dynasties that are present in Steam, such as achievements or receiving cards for playing the game, but still a number of Steam functions will work for third-party games. To learn how to add any game from your computer to Steam, read on.

Adding third-party games to your Steam library is essential for everyone to see what you're playing. In addition, you will be able to broadcast gameplay through the Steam service, as a result, your friends will be able to watch you play even something that is not in the store. In addition, this feature allows you to launch any game that is on your computer via Steam. You don't have to look for shortcuts on your desktop; you just need to click on the start button in Steam. Thus, you will make this application a universal gaming system.

Solving possible problems

Sometimes the procedure does not go as expected - the user encounters certain problems. Let's look at the most common ones.

The game is not added
Quite a rare problem, actually. In most cases, this means that the game being added is already present on the account in one form or another. If the game is definitely not and cannot be on your account, problems with the client himself cannot be ruled out. The optimal solution in the latter case, there will be a complete reinstallation of the Steam application.

Steam does not work correctly with the added game
You can find reports online that some client features work with a third-party game added to Steam: Overlay, Steam Link, you can use the Steam Controller in it, and the like. Alas, this information is outdated - Valve, as part of the fight against piracy, has disabled such functionality for games that are not available in the service and were added by a third-party method. There is no solution to this problem, and most likely there will not be, so all that remains is to come to terms with it.

Conclusion

Now you know how to add a third-party game to Steam. Use this feature so that all your games can be played through Steam, and also so that you can watch your friends' gameplay.