3. couple of things regarding the steam launch

couple of things regarding the steam launch


  • I really enjoy this game and I'm hoping there will be a positive response from the Steam community, considering that can make or break a game. Looking over the steam page, I think it does a good job of describing and showcasing the game. I think as long as there are realistic expectations, most new players are going to love this game. And by "realistic expectations", I just mean that this is a game for people who want to have fun with programming, regardless of skill level.

    There are just two things I think might be worth doing: the screeps wiki has a nice start (the structure is there) but needs a lot of work to get it up to date. I wouldn't mind chipping in if this is a tool that we want to use as a community. Between the really awesome official api documentation and the IRC chat, I haven't needed it much as a newer player. So maybe it isn't necessary at this point, but if that is the case then perhaps it might be good to remove it from the front page of support.creeps.com. Or just put a "needs contributors" with the link or on the wiki front page.

    The other thing is some feedback about the 10 CPU credit for buying the steam client. In general I think this isn't a bad idea, and I was planning to get the client anyway. But there has been a couple people coming into the screeps chat asking if 10 CPU would be enough to play without a subscription. I realize with the subscription credits that will be implemented the idea is that some players actually would be able to play without a sub, but I wonder if that might be out of reach for new players. Maybe obtaining the subscription credits will be easier than I realize, so it might be possible. Either way, "10 CPU" means nothing to a new player, so when you talk about that feature in the steam description it might be good to give a little extra information about how much they can expect to be able to do with 10 CPU (e.g. "control 1-2 rooms, but further expansion will be an optimization challenge").

    In fact, it could be clearer overall that the game requires a monthly subscription, it is only mentioned once pretty far down in the description. When most people buy a game on Steam they aren't expecting a subscription model, it has to be really clearly stated.

    Just hoping to see a bunch of high reviews as new players start joining, this is a great game 😃

  • Dev Team

    Thanks for you thoughts, much appreciated. Please consider writing a review on Steam once you buy the game.

    In fact, it could be clearer overall that the game requires a monthly subscription, it is only mentioned once pretty far down in the description. When most people buy a game on Steam they aren’t expecting a subscription model, it has to be really clearly stated.

    The problem is that the clearly visible CPU subscription purchase option is still hidden at the store page due to a setup mistake made by Valve staff. I hope it will be resolved today.