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STEAM | April 2014 - Insert witty title here.

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RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
So, an absolutely AMAZING human being heard how bad my life has been lately, and they just bought me the Steam Special Edition of Tropico 5.

I now have 1,000 games.

I realize that's small-time compared to some of you.

I'm just

I'm emotionally overwhelmed here. I've been despairing almost nonstop. Yesterday's super positive response to my published article, the "great thread, Doc!" stuff that's been in my last two threads here, and this Tropico 5 thing are the only good things going on in my life, and I am just so... like, I don't even know how to describe how amazing I feel right now.

Things are awful--truly awful--but some people have just completely blown me away with their kickassery.
You just made me remember that I forgot to congratulate you for the PC games coverage thread. I meant to do it via Steam chat, but I totally forgot, so I'll do it now: that was a great thread, and I sincerely enjoy the way you write. Your style is nice and easy to understand, and you manage to state your points clearly. Your posts show that you really care about the stuff you write about, and that you've given it much thought.

Your threads, along with Stump's reviews, Monk's encouraging and optimistic words, Jase's advice about everything Steam-related and several things from other GAFfers I'm not going to mention because it would be very long (basically, if you're a good Steam-GAFfer you'll have a place in this list due to having a part in making this a -usually- fantastic place to post in) are some of the best things this forum has to offer, without hyperbole.

Here's a song that's been cheering me up ever since I was 5. Hope it manages to make you smile a little too :)
 

molnizzle

Member
Does anyone have any tips to make SweetFX work with Saints Row: The Third in DX11? I feel like I've tried everything and it just won't launch. Works fine in DX9. According to Google I'm like the only person on the planet who's ever run into this issue.

So aggravating.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Alright guys, this is coming along nicely:

Before (without Enhanced Steam):
fTw2KBM.png


After (with Enhanced Steam):
pvWHx8W.jpg

So what I'm doing is basically stretching the existing image out to fill the page, but then overlaying it with a CSS gradient that fades from clear to solid black, and stopping both the image and gradient at the same pixel height.

This prevents the image from being stretched too far, as about 700 pixels down the page is where the actual mid-page content begins. It also solves the issue of higher resolutions, as the image is only scaling in one direction. Although, it looks a little strange at 4k:

(click to see - much too large to show here)

I think it's looking good, and just browsing around Steam it's like it's breathed new life into the storefront.
 

Ruruja

Member
Spare.

ModBot said:
Instructions for participants:
I am giving away a Steam key. To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway has a manual blocklist. The giver has identified members who abuse giveaways and restricted them from participating.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:

header_292x136.jpg


Gun Metal -- MB-C72DC8D91EE83BCE - Taken by BorntoPlay - Taken by BorntoPlay
 

Grief.exe

Member
So, an absolutely AMAZING human being heard how bad my life has been lately, and they just bought me the Steam Special Edition of Tropico 5.

I now have 1,000 games.

I realize that's small-time compared to some of you.

I'm just

I'm emotionally overwhelmed here. I've been despairing almost nonstop. Yesterday's super positive response to my published article, the "great thread, Doc!" stuff that's been in my last two threads here, and this Tropico 5 thing are the only good things going on in my life, and I am just so... like, I don't even know how to describe how amazing I feel right now.

Things are awful--truly awful--but some people have just completely blown me away with their kickassery.

I can tell you poured your heart into the last two threads, and it shows.

I was enthralled by your dissection of the FPS genre.
 

Parsnip

Member
Alright guys, this is coming along nicely:



So what I'm doing is basically stretching the existing image out to fill the page, but then overlaying it with a CSS gradient that fades from clear to solid black, and stopping both the image and gradient at the same pixel height.

This prevents the image from being stretched too far, as about 700 pixels down the page is where the actual mid-page content begins. It also solves the issue of higher resolutions, as the image is only scaling in one direction. Although, it looks a little strange at 4k:

(click to see - much too large to show here)

I think it's looking good, and just browsing around Steam it's like it's breathed new life into the storefront.

Neat. Though those background images are going to look really bad when stretched too far. Well, some of them already do. :p Speaking of which, does the custom background feature work in FF version? I see the checkbox in the options for it, but I'm not seeing a place to set it up in the Edit Profile section. I could be blind of course.


I need to get off my ass and check if Chrome is better for me now than it was in the past. Reasons to switch are starting to pile up.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Neat. Though those background images are going to look really bad when stretched too far. Well, some of them already do. :p Speaking of which, does the custom background feature work in FF version? I see the checkbox in the options for it, but I'm not seeing a place to set it up in the Edit Profile section. I could be blind of course.

I need to get off my ass and check if Chrome is better for me now than it was in the past. Reasons to switch are starting to pile up.

Unfortunately I can't really do anything about the existing art, as it's really just designed for that 800 pixel width, though some have more (like King of Fighters). Personally, I feel like "stretched out" is better than "almost entirely hidden behind the rest of the elements on the page".

As for the custom backgrounds in Firefox - yes, it should still be working. However, there are more than 3,000 profile backgrounds available now which means it can become quite slow to load. I'm actually working on replacing this with a two-dropdown-box solution. The first box you'll select the game, then in the second box you'll select the background. For now, that should be easier to manage a bit less load on our server. Look for that change coming soon.

Either way, Chrome is by far the superior browser, both from a technical standpoint and from the amount of things you can do with extensions.
 
Is Eador (the daily deal) any good?

Eador is okay, I guess, but it didn't really hold my attention all that long. I probably need to give it a second chance and a fairer shake at that but that's kind of hard when we've got a glut of fantasy 4x games. A couple of which strike me as being better entries in the genre. Endless Legend and Age of Wonders 3 come to mind first. Warlock 2, which I haven't played, looks a lot more interesting with some of its terrain altering spells.

The discrepancy in prices are pretty huge though. AoW3 is 40$, Warlck II is 30$ and EL is 27$ while Eador is only 5$ right now. There are worse things you could spend 5$ on.

Edit: I feel kind of bad talking down about Eador. It was one of the early greenlight titles and one of the first fantasy 4x games to come out on Steam recently, along with Fallen Enchantress, before this genre revival began in earnest. I feel bad because I don't think I've played enough of it to provide an informed opinion. I could post a brain dump about why I love Civ V, what I do and do not like about Endless Space or why I can't get into Europa Universalis but I can't really go into detail about why I didn't like Eador other than it seemed kind of generic and I got bored quick. It was mostly I got bored quickly.
 

Lingitiz

Member
Just finished Dark Souls 1. What an amazing game. I've been on and off with it for over two years now and it feels incredibly rewarding to finally finish it after all this time.

I'm so pumped right now. Enough to go and immediately buy Dark Souls 2.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Heads-up Bomba, Damned 4-Pack is on sale on GreenManGaming for $7.99 (80% off), which is basically 50% off one copy, except you get four (and if you buy something else and get over $10, you also can use this 20% off coupon: FUSWJT-B1DU64-JBV8UY ).

Damned is a 5-player online multiplayer survival-horror game where one to four people play as humans, one person plays as a monster, with a good different kinds of monsters and human mechanics.

it's still in Early Access but have had a lot of fun with it. Also the next major update for Damned releases in a few days, which will add the third monster to the game, a new level, and insanity effects for the humans.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Basically a fan-made remake of TFE and TSE stitched together as a single game, with a new campaign coming later down the track. It was given to existing owners of the "classic" Serious Sam games (not the HD remakes).

i love your encyclopedic knowledge of all things steam related (no joke)
 
Just finished Dark Souls 1. What an amazing game. I've been on and off with it for over two years now and it feels incredibly rewarding to finally finish it after all this time.

I'm so pumped right now. Enough to go and immediately buy Dark Souls 2.

did you have the prepare to die edition?
 

Lingitiz

Member
did you have the prepare to die edition?

Yeah but I had actually started on consoles and never finished it. Then I picked up the PC version and made it past Smough and Ornstein twice before stopping. This time I just sat down and instead of trying to follow builds and whatnot I just played it how I wanted to. It definitely grabbed me a lot more when I just decided to play it instead of worrying that I'm doing stuff wrong.
 

Parsnip

Member
Either way, Chrome is by far the superior browser, both from a technical standpoint and from the amount of things you can do with extensions.

Last time I tried Chrome I couldn't replicate my existing setup close enough to move over. Some extension somewhere that didn't have a good counterpart probably. It would also crash a lot, but that was a good while back. Back then, even though opening tons of tabs on FF would slow the browser down a lot, it never crashed for me. I imagine things are better now. :D
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
i got this 25% discount code from GMG
9HZ09L-D4RYEU-FIW8BE

they didn't say this code only for me, so i think this will work on any user
it worked on watch dog deluxe edition and went from 60 to 45
but still didn't buy it
i will wait for sales


The 25% voucher expires at 1600 UTC on Monday 5th May 2014

works for me with both bound by flame and wildstar, thanks. might use it. if you use this voucher you cant use credit tho, its fine for me as I only have 10cents atm, but be warned


that voucher doesnt work for me on the damned 4-pack (nor does the 25% one)
 

MRORANGE

Member
I haven't been on top of Steam news for the past month, busy with work and finding a new job


Is there anything new about Steam - news-wise?
 

jediyoshi

Member
Amazing. Trackmania 2 updated with an update for maniaplanet, but running the game itself prompts you for an update that downloads within the client for the actual games.

edit: oh jesus they made everything worse, they just need to nuke this thing from steam
 

Dambrosi

Banned
It's 14,99 € here, I'm afraid that is just a pricing mistake and based on my experience I guess that if you try to purchase it you will not be able to add it on your cart until the mistake is fixed.
Shows how much you know. I got it earlier this evening, thanks SteamGAF, or I would have missed it.

That said, i don't know anything about the game, other than it's brand new out today. Oh well, it's only card moneys, innit. :p

Speaking of card moneys - Croixleur Sigma is finally out. Time to get those animu dollaz :D

I wish all store pages could be done like the KOF page http://store.steampowered.com/app/222940/
Looking forward to the next sale on that bad boy. Hey, I bought the PS3 version twice, so cut me some slack.
 
I haven't been on top of Steam news for the past month, busy with work and finding a new job


Is there anything new about Steam - news-wise?

I searched around, and haven't found anything news worthy happening. Aside from Heartbleed there is nothing new on Steam front and that one is old enough.
 
I haven't been on top of Steam news for the past month, busy with work and finding a new job


Is there anything new about Steam - news-wise?

No. Was a quiet month.

Well, Ars Technica made a string of articles about sales numbers.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-do-strong-reviews-lead-to-stronger-sales-on-steam/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-addressing-your-questions-and-concerns/
 

nampad

Member
Heads-up Bomba, Damned 4-Pack is on sale on GreenManGaming for $7.99 (80% off), which is basically 50% off one copy, except you get four (and if you buy something else and get over $10, you also can use this 20% off coupon: FUSWJT-B1DU64-JBV8UY ).

Damned is a 5-player online multiplayer survival-horror game where one to four people play as humans, one person plays as a monster, with a good different kinds of monsters and human mechanics.

it's still in Early Access but have had a lot of fun with it. Also the next major update for Damned releases in a few days, which will add the third monster to the game, a new level, and insanity effects for the humans.

That looks cool, thanks for the heads up.

Any tips on what to buy to get over 10 bucks?
 
Shows how much you know.

I said just because I've tried myself in other occasions, it happens quite often that Steam often messes up with pricing, just like when they put Borderlands 2 with a 120% discount or something during last sales.

Have a look at these screenshots I've taken as evidence of what I'm saying.

Code:
[IMG]http://abload.de/img/steam4vj3m.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://abload.de/img/steam0edkdh.png[/IMG]


And to be clear, I said to try it but to expect that that may have not worked, if you made it I'm glad for you but I am convinced that it was just a pricing mistake.
 

DocSeuss

Member
You just made me remember that I forgot to congratulate you for the PC games coverage thread. I meant to do it via Steam chat, but I totally forgot, so I'll do it now: that was a great thread, and I sincerely enjoy the way you write. Your style is nice and easy to understand, and you manage to state your points clearly. Your posts show that you really care about the stuff you write about, and that you've given it much thought.

Thanks!

Working on an easy-to-understand version of complicated topics is one of my big goals with games writing. I really hope that the positive reception to my published work (got one published yesterday, first in a year or so!) ultimately leads to me getting a job, but that lack of living in New York or San Francisco, where like 90% of US-based games writers live, really puts a hamper in things. I think the PC focus I've got doesn't help either, since I really do believe that people hire people who fit in well with their "culture," which translates to "people who like what I like too."

Still, I'm working hard for it, because being able to do games writing would be a much better job in regards to my health/education/whatever. Even earning as little as, like, $800-$1k a month would be way better than my current situation.

Your threads, along with Stump's reviews, Monk's encouraging and optimistic words, Jase's advice about everything Steam-related and several things from other GAFfers I'm not going to mention because it would be very long (basically, if you're a good Steam-GAFfer you'll have a place in this list due to having a part in making this a -usually- fantastic place to post in) are some of the best things this forum has to offer, without hyperbole.

That's a great breakdown of Steamgaf. Seriously, I don't think I'll ever be as positive as Monk is. It's just not possible.


Will give it a listen when I can.

I can tell you poured your heart into the last two threads, and it shows.

I was enthralled by your dissection of the FPS genre.

Thanks! I looooove the genre, so it's easy for me to write about. If I had the means, I'd travel the world, interviewing shooter devs, good and bad, and end up writing a book on the genre.

Also, not last three? D:

Somewhat kidding. I actually put my most effort into the PC gaming vs journalism thread. The two that followed, FPSes (which didn't get nearly as many people talking as I'd hoped for, which made me really sad) and the Steam thread... well, they were fun to do, for sure. I'm glad people got to talking about the Steam one more. I hope more people reach out to developers like Bungie and Bethesda and ask them what's up, so they get prodded into action. There's no reason why Prey can't be back on Steam.
 
can someone outline how we, collectively, can outmaneuver trading cards kamikazes? I usually list near the median price to try and widen that, is that a good or bad move?
 

nampad

Member
I personally got Realms of the Haunting, which is an old game, if you like Walking Simulators, though not the best one around, Montague's Mount is the cheapest it's ever been on GMG right now as well.

Bought Speedball 2 HD even though it is rated bad and I own Speedball 2 Tournament. Have good memories of the game playing against my brother on Amiga but probably will never play this version. It brought me 10 cents over €10.

Now I just saw that GMG gives you seperate keys for the game so I wished I had just bought the 4 pack twice. It's a 5 player game and while it is rare, the LANs my friends and I do sometimes have more than 4 people.
 

Kevin

Member
I always remember it as the game that got away. I had all the boxes for the half life games - orange, green, blue, but I never found gunman chronicles game anywhere where I lived so I never got that yellow box to complete the set

11350_front.jpg

Oh man I liked this game. Would buy if it ever came to Steam.
 

Arthea

Member
So I noticed that BloodRayne Betrayal is finally on Steam, for £6.99. Any impressions of the game? The reviews for the console version are rather mixed to say the least.

That's because it's too hard (><)
not even kidding
I remember Malicious being hated a lot, I couldn't understand, it looked amazing in gameplay videos, then I played it... and I've seen the light. Most of us aren't made for such games.
 

Cth

Member
Bear with me for a sec..

I was laid off 3 years ago, and took the opportunity to finish my degree and to try and re-enter the workforce. Long story short, I'm currently working two part time jobs and recently obtained the REACHIT grant for the purpose of career re-transitioning (I was in IT 20 years ago, finally getting back to it) In the past week, I earned 3 MTA certifications (Networking, Security and OS) and almost obtained a fourth (Gaming Development) that I missed by 4 points. By the end of this training initiative, I expect I'll finally have a full time job again, making hopefully twice what I previously had been making.

I'm getting my house refinanced (or a forebearance) soon, and to celebrate my turn of good luck (and the arrival of tax refunds) I'll be gifting someone a game of their choice ($10 or less) 3 hours from now. It can be on GreenManGaming, Steam, HumbleStore, etc -- winner will PM me what and where.

With any luck, I'll be able to do more giveaways once I land the full time IT job I'm hoping for (as an aside, if anyone is in the Charlotte, NC area and is hiring or knows someone who is, drop me a line :D)

ModBot said:
FREE $10 Game of Your Choice!

Instructions for participants:
To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line below containing the key.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This giveaway is a raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 3 hours after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two:

$10 Game Of Your Choice -- MB-D6BC5BE6274E7712

t1398904045z1.png
 
Is Eador (the daily deal) any good?

Personally, I would save that money for when Age of Wonders 3 goes on sale. I've found AoW3 to be superior on all fronts.

Eador has an amazing concept but I found the execution to be bad. The game itself has a lot of different mechanics, but none of them really work together in any meaningful or sensible manner. I guess I would call it fundamentally flawed or ill-conceived, though the scope and sheer ambition of the game may be enough to win some people over.

The problems I have with Eador are manyfold: I found the gameplay to be very repetitive, which was not helped by the length of the game (epic); The strategic maps and combat maps also feel very samey and oddly designed - there was never enough resources for me to have both a defending and attacking army, which meant victories were always extremely one-sided; Worst of all, the combat felt very primitive and straightforward while strategic tactics felt very restricted because of movement logistics and available resources.
 

Azar

Member
I don't think anyone has posted this article as its own thread yet, but at PC Gamer we had one of our writers spend about two months inside a cheat selling website investigating it and trying the cheats himself.

He wrote a pretty awesome story about the cheating business, how it works, and how it makes millions a year.

The game he focused on was Counter-Strike: GO and the hackers he talked to talked about VAC a lot, so I thought it made sense to post here. Obviously I like it since I edited it, but I think PC GAF will dig it!
 

Nzyme32

Member
So, an absolutely AMAZING human being heard how bad my life has been lately, and they just bought me the Steam Special Edition of Tropico 5.

I now have 1,000 games.

I realize that's small-time compared to some of you.

I'm just

I'm emotionally overwhelmed here. I've been despairing almost nonstop. Yesterday's super positive response to my published article, the "great thread, Doc!" stuff that's been in my last two threads here, and this Tropico 5 thing are the only good things going on in my life, and I am just so... like, I don't even know how to describe how amazing I feel right now.

Things are awful--truly awful--but some people have just completely blown me away with their kickassery.

I really digged those threads you made, I just hardly post outside this thread.

Would this happen to have stemmed from the total biscuit thread?

I just found another guy with the same illness as me but still fighting the fight so to speak. We've been PMing each other little life-hacks we use to try and help out his situation. I've had a pretty horrible decade or so, but have managed to battle through somewhat successfully. Although there are still difficulties in trying to completely get back to life, (particularly getting a job after a bit of a void in my CV due to everything - and obviously disclosing such stuff doesn't work so well most times) there is at least optimism and light at the end of the tunnel. Considering how dire the situation was years ago, and seeing no possible future, it's crazy to think now there is one close by.

PM if you need a chat or anything, or pop into this thread. It's always good craic. Shit gets better, it's just never clear when
 
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