SS Rebirth 2

[TurboSlug22]

I would say that you should go with the assumption and hopes that Valve will publish and host the Continuum client for free, rather than anticipate paying for it. As mentioned before, they already host a lot of things for free. Compared to most of those, Continuum is hardly near the same filesize. I don't see a reason why they shouldn't accept Continuum for free.

 

First, I think we should try and see what kind of reply Valve would give. Then we can think more about money (if necessary based on Valve's reply). I want to know whether they accept or decline, and if they decline -- why?

 

Well, the process is laid out here:

 

http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php

 

I was going to send them the email in the first post of this thread WHEN YOU GUYS THINK ITS READY - along with a link to dl the client. I think when youre first presented with Continuum though its sometimes hard to see the good gameplay elements involved and confusing to know what you should be doing, so perhaps we can include some gameplay footage just for steam to see... Ie, not something that we'd intend to include with the client that steam would be hosting.....

Edited November 15, 2009 by TurboSlug22

[L.C.]

Demo of game: Continuum v0.40

Release date: September 13, 2007

Target price: Free

Gameplay footage: If I didn't have such bad Internet I would record some 1080p/HD quality footage. I have a registered copy of Fraps if anyone ...

[TurboSlug22]

Hello everyone!

 

Its a great sign that there's been no criticism here about this idea since my last post earlier today... I take that to mean that we're ironing out the kinks and getting close to an idea that nobody disagrees with!

 

Given the events that occurred today on my computer while I was asleep I am led to believe however that there are some people who dont like this idea. At this point, I just want to say, all im doing here is taking your ideas and putting them together into a reasonable actionable item that you guys can run with. I also (wanting to know how i'd offended people because I honestly haddnt intended to nor did I think I had..) took a very careful read over my posts and found something that I said that could be misconstrued... Therefore, I would just like to take the time to emphasize that at NO time could I ever bear to bring upon this community any ill will. My honest and sincere intention when approaching gamersgate was to show this community that our client is interesting enough to make negotiations possible with 3rd party distributers and that we have a lot to offer. I only want us to enjoy a revitalization of our community and there are indeed MANY ways this can be achieved.

 

You will notice that this idea was presented to you in an entirely different form and since then, it has evolved having taken into consideration each of your valid comments and concerns. So in reiteration, there is no need to attack the messenger, when all you need do is voice your concern. Incidentally even if the course we want to take as a community is the same course we've always taken, well, I can also see a clear path to ensuring that route as well so if thats what you all REALLY want... then i can help you achieve that as well.

 

I just want to present you all with what we all think is a resonable idea that we can run with. So once again - its needless to go to extremes and involve my personal life here. These are OUR ideas, not mine... attacking me wont make your ideas go away. Lets voice our disagreements with these ideas instead, that works best to make bad ideas go away.

 

So at this point, I'd just like to ask: Is this a bad idea as far as everyone is concerned?

Edited November 15, 2009 by TurboSlug22

[rootbear75]

TURBO... STOP AND LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

 

 

If you haven't contacted Steam already, please DON'T. I realize this is your idea to pitch the Continuum client now to different distribution platforms, but I think you're going about it in a counterproductive manner. Contact with Steam should be done in an exacting and professional style, which you haven't shown anyone you're capable of.

 

We are a charity case more than we are a legitimate business proposition. Steam isn't going host us for any amount that's worth paying them.

 

 

WE REALIZE that you want to increase population... FINE...

BUT YOU NEED TO STOP WITH THE CONTACTING OF DIFFERENT COMPANIES until polix or someone else steps in.... preferably if someone can get Ghost on here.

 

I Think you've done a great job getting the ball rolling, but your ARE NOT the person i'd (and i think other people agree with me on this point) want dealing with this.

 

Pass it off to polix or someone else. YES i realize it means waiting... oh well. You have to wait.

 

 

Like i have said MANY times before.... WE DONT KNOW YOU

[L.C.]

I Think you've done a great job getting the ball rolling, but your ARE NOT the person i'd (and i think other people agree with me on this point) want dealing with this.

Nobody is perfect, and some people are better at certain things than others. I see potential and benefit in Turbo in some areas that most people here are [greatly] lacking in. I do not think Turbo is 'quite the best' at writing letters, which in this case, all we need to do is find someone we know in this community who is good at writing and ask them to rewrite the rough draft of the letter using the 'main selling points' or something. I know Turbo will understand what I am saying, and I also know he won't be offended in me saying this and he will take it lightly because this is what constructive criticism is about. Criticism that is not constructive is more like trying to put pressure on someone in attempt of convincing them to simply give up and go away.

 

WE REALIZE that you want to increase population... FINE...

BUT YOU NEED TO STOP WITH THE CONTACTING OF DIFFERENT COMPANIES until polix or someone else steps in.... preferably if someone can get Ghost on here.

 

Pass it off to polix or someone else. YES i realize it means waiting... oh well. You have to wait.

Duh. We're all human.

 

Like i have said MANY times before.... WE DONT KNOW YOU

Then why don't you ask him about his background instead of trying to trash two threads with the same message?

Edited November 15, 2009 by L.C.

[PoLiX]

I thought L.C. went through this before, as did I. Where they wanted Priit's approval, and in L.C.'s case we needed to modify the client or something. Or maybe that was mine... been quite a few years now since I went through the run around with steam.

 

The issue is, neither I nor Ghost nor anyone besides Priit can really get the dirty done with them without having any questions come up.

 

The issue that stopped me dead, was them wanting us to add a link to Steam (which we now may be able to modify in there) in the client, and there was an issue with steam not loading the client properly. This is something I haven't tested since .40 came out, but I then had to tell them about Priit being inactive, and his control in the game. Which then led to them being worried about cheating becoming rampant, and them being connected to a game like that, etc. etc. And sadly a month or so later, CE began going nut wild, and well they kinda proved their point (not that they caused CE, but yeah). Now with .40, cheating is a bit harder (not impossible), but I dunno how the steam client will handle loading continuum. It was causing it to crash steam, run the process infinitely in the background, and/or not even load continuum.

 

You can add custom games to the steam client if I remember right, so maybe that'd be step 1. Seeing if you can open continuum from steam now or not. We can't fix a technical issue there, so if that becomes a common case, then we aren't much better off than before. Though we can tell them to load it seperate from steam or download it from us instead I guess... but dunno.

 

Just some food for thought.

 

Edit: Oh, and don't think just cause I don't always post what is going on, don't mean I ain't contacting companies and trying to get stuff going. A lot of the ideas you're going to have, I have probably tried at some point or another. Doesn't mean they aren't worth trying again, but I'll always be more than happy to tell you my experience and the issues that came up. Most the time its money, or us not being able to modify the client and force a mass re-release of it, etc.

[L.C.]

but I dunno how the steam client will handle loading continuum. It was causing it to crash steam, run the process infinitely in the background, and/or not even load continuum.

There are some Steam games out there now, like Trackmania (racing game), that works just like Continuum. Steam is not required, although the game is downloaded through Steam, updated through Steam, and launched through Steam. I found out that I could just copy and paste the Trackmania folder Steam created in the SteamApps folder to another machine that doesn't have Steam, and run the game straight off without any problems.

 

Which means that Continuum can be the same. Steam creates a folder for Continuum in the appropriate SteamApps folder, downloads the root content of Continuum (everything inside the "/Continuum/" folder) into that folder, and simply executes Continuum.exe to run the game. This can be done, as it is done like this for games like Trackmania.

 

(Essentially that is adding a "custom game" shortcut in Steam, except that Steam downloads the game for you and places its files in some directory under SteamApps. Download and open http://www.hlrse.net/subspace/Continuum040Setup.exe in WinRAR -- this is a self-executing/installer RAR archive that I created, and this demonstrates how flexible it is to deploy Continuum without using an installer.)

 

(With my packaging of Continuum, it is set that a registry file is executed after ""installing"" Continuum to preconfigure Continuum; this is not required, as Continuum will automatically use defaults and generate appropriate registry entries. But perhaps, if Steam allows, some technique like this could be used to keep directory server lists updated for people so that they'll theoretically never have a problem with dead directory servers.)

 

But yeah, adding a link to Valve/Steam in Continuum isn't a problem, as you mentioned.

 

As far as cheating goes, Valve should know that (since they do not run and operate the servers and networks like SSC, BlueT, SSCX, etc) they do not need to worry about this -- as it is already taken care of.

 

As far as I see it, I still do not see any conflicts or problems. Unless something in specific needs to be elaborated more and detailed.

 

 

 

EDIT: Did I mention that Trackmania Nations is available through Steam for free? The game is I think a few hundred megabytes in size too. Continuum is nothing compared to that.

 

EDIT2: And suppose, if the whole Snrrrub & Ghost Ship dilemma ever got resolved and Snrrrub came back and continued to develop Isometry and hacking the client, Continuum could be mass updated through Steam like this. (By the way, I'm not counting on this actually happening.)

 

EDIT3: Just tested the custom game feature in Steam on Continuum and it works perfectly fine without any problems.

 

http://www.hlrse.net/Qwerty/steam_cgCont.png

Edited November 15, 2009 by L.C.

[TurboSlug22]

TURBO... STOP AND LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

 

 

If you haven't contacted Steam already, please DON'T. I realize this is your idea to pitch the Continuum client now to different distribution platforms, but I think you're going about it in a counterproductive manner. Contact with Steam should be done in an exacting and professional style, which you haven't shown anyone you're capable of.

 

We are a charity case more than we are a legitimate business proposition. Steam isn't going host us for any amount that's worth paying them.

 

 

WE REALIZE that you want to increase population... FINE...

BUT YOU NEED TO STOP WITH THE CONTACTING OF DIFFERENT COMPANIES until polix or someone else steps in.... preferably if someone can get Ghost on here.

 

I Think you've done a great job getting the ball rolling, but your ARE NOT the person i'd (and i think other people agree with me on this point) want dealing with this.

 

Pass it off to polix or someone else. YES i realize it means waiting... oh well. You have to wait.

 

 

Like i have said MANY times before.... WE DONT KNOW YOU

 

Yes, i know, and i havnt contacted anyone since my first post here. You dont need to freak out about this - ive said many times, i have NO fixation with being the guy that talks with these companies - I am not talking with these companies. I am not taking ANY action

 

Jesus. lol

Edited November 15, 2009 by TurboSlug22

[PoLiX]

I'll sit down and do what the faq requests tonight. See where it goes and letcha know.

[TurboSlug22]

I'll sit down and do what the faq requests tonight. See where it goes and letcha know.

 

Sweet!

 

Your last post (i wanted to reply to but didnt have time) had a very good point that im glad you mentioned. I think a reasonable counter to the concern that there would be rampant cheating is that our zones have active moderation - I mean, its an obvious retort, but I just thought I'd suggest it

 

 

http://www.hlrse.net/Qwerty/steam_cgCont.png

 

Dont tell my g/f, but that is the most beautiful thing ive seen in years. Hands down.

[TurboSlug22]

I'll sit down and do what the faq requests tonight. See where it goes and letcha know.

 

Can I ask that you post (privately at least) the replies you get from them? I know the chance is small, but we may be able to suggest some useful ideas to include in replies..

Edited November 16, 2009 by TurboSlug22

[TurboSlug22]

OH hahaha

 

I totally forgot to bring this up - but the guys in my zone came up with a REALLY good point regarding steam...

 

Shift+Tab in a steam supported game brings up the steam chat

 

We should alter the config file in the client we send them to have a custom Mines key set to avoid that issue...

 

Edit: Maybe left alt? and remap the 'show map' to right alt or something

Edited November 16, 2009 by TurboSlug22

[L.C.]

Shift+Tab in a steam supported game brings up the steam chat

 

We should alter the config file in the client we send them to have a custom Mines key set to avoid that issue...

 

Edit: Maybe left alt? and remap the 'show map' to right alt or something

I don't think we should even support the Shift+Tab Steam Overlay in Continuum. It's irrelevant to the purpose of trying to get Continuum on Steam in the first place.

 

Yeah, it might be a nice feature and all, but it would cause a lot of issues for Continuum and would require PriitK/Snrrrub's expertise, which I would also think neither are willing to do or would even agree with the idea of implementing the Steam Overlay in Continuum.

 

We really don't need anything from Steam or Valve more than just getting Continuum published in the games listing to attain a theoretical population boost and permanent attention for the game.

 

EDIT: And replacing the default hotkey "Shift+Tab" for laying mines would be an extremely controversial thing. If this happens, at least half of the community will be flaming angry with pitchforks and shovels. (EDIT3: I guarantee you that there will be replies here strongly and extremely disagreeing with having the Steam Overlay in Continuum, especially as "Shift+Tab")

 

EDIT2: "Alt" already plays a role in enlarging the radar. Sorry bud, but all the hotkeys are taken.

Edited November 16, 2009 by L.C.

[TurboSlug22]

Shift+Tab in a steam supported game brings up the steam chat

 

We should alter the config file in the client we send them to have a custom Mines key set to avoid that issue...

 

Edit: Maybe left alt? and remap the 'show map' to right alt or something

I don't think we should even support the Shift+Tab Steam Overlay in Continuum. It's irrelevant to the purpose of trying to get Continuum on Steam in the first place.

 

Yeah, it might be a nice feature and all, but it would cause a lot of issues for Continuum and would require PriitK/Snrrrub's expertise, which I would also think neither are willing to do or would even agree with the idea of implementing the Steam Overlay in Continuum.

 

We really don't need anything from Steam or Valve more than just getting Continuum published in the games listing to attain a theoretical population boost and permanent attention for the game.

 

EDIT: And replacing the default hotkey "Shift+Tab" for laying mines would be an extremely controversial thing. If this happens, at least half of the community will be flaming angry with pitchforks and shovels. (EDIT3: I guarantee you that there will be replies here strongly and extremely disagreeing with having the Steam Overlay in Continuum, especially as "Shift+Tab")

 

EDIT2: "Alt" already plays a role in enlarging the radar. Sorry bud, but all the hotkeys are taken.

 

I had my map button remapped for a while but yea... i wasnt aware we didnt need to provide the shift+tab functionality - thats one less thing to worry about

 

just trying to cover all the angles

 

Thanks again to PoLiX for taking this one out of my hands - now that theyre free, ive picked up a new project - see my new thread