Official Steam Group for FG?

[Qai]

Is there an official Steam group for FG?

[Tiqon]

If there is I want to be a member :). If not maybe make one?

[JohnD]

Every game available on Steam has a dedicated forum on their website, regardless of whether or not one exists elsewhere. I'd imagine that FG will be the same.

Someone from here will need to take point over there otherwise it will look like a dead product as apparently many people on Steam never leave those forums and gauge community activity solely by what happens there, which does affect purchase decisions.

[Tiqon]

Every game available on Steam has a dedicated forum on their website, regardless of whether or not one exists elsewhere. I'd imagine that FG will be the same.

Someone from here will need to take point over there otherwise it will look like a dead product as apparently many people on Steam never leave those forums and gauge community activity solely by what happens there, which does affect purchase decisions.

True John. BUT you can make groups also, groups where you get to be a member, not reated to a site. I think this is what Qai is talking about? E.g Im in a group with my RL friends only.

[JohnD]

Hmm... well there is a "Group" function here on these boards now. But I guess my main point stands - unless it is on the Steam site, you won't get many coming from there to wherever.

[Qai]

True John. BUT you can make groups also, groups where you get to be a member, not reated to a site. I think this is what Qai is talking about? E.g Im in a group with my RL friends only.
Yes, this is the kind of Steam group I was referring to. It's not a site or forum. It's the group that appears on your profile that you are a "member" of and which can host chat rooms, post announcements, feedback from members, etc.

[Stardog]

Hi, I'm a Steam user. I've been waiting for this to release in the store over there for a bit. Someone definitely needs to be on point over there because your product will be judged by the community that is active in those forums and by how demonstrably responsive the official moderators for FG are over there. It wouldn't hurt to have some trustworthy folks running a decent user group as well. If you know someone over here that could handle that task and bring a solid group of existing users with them into said group, I think it would definitely help things get off on the right foot. Steam users catch a lot of flak, but not all of it is deserved. Still, some surely is.

Anyway, I thought I'd stop over here because I'm dying for this to get released. I have my reasons for waiting for the Steam release to purchase this, but I've actually been wanting to get it for the last few years now. I'm hoping, too, that having the Steam community involved will open up many opportunities for games online using your platform.

[Moon Wizard]

The product is currently released, and available via the Store link above.

A Steam implementation is currently on the list, right after I finish up a big documentation push.

Right now, we're thinking that the Steam implementation will be very light. We want to allow non-Steam users to play with Steam users, so that really limits how much of the Steam API that we can use.

Regards,
JPG

[JohnD]

Hi, I'm a Steam user. I've been waiting for this to release in the store over there for a bit. Someone definitely needs to be on point over there because your product will be judged by the community that is active in those forums and by how demonstrably responsive the official moderators for FG are over there. It wouldn't hurt to have some trustworthy folks running a decent user group as well. If you know someone over here that could handle that task and bring a solid group of existing users with them into said group, I think it would definitely help things get off on the right foot. Steam users catch a lot of flak, but not all of it is deserved. Still, some surely is.

Anyway, I thought I'd stop over here because I'm dying for this to get released. I have my reasons for waiting for the Steam release to purchase this, but I've actually been wanting to get it for the last few years now. I'm hoping, too, that having the Steam community involved will open up many opportunities for games online using your platform.

And this is perfect example of what I was referencing in my posts back on December 22, 2013. You need to be active over there as well or those users will assume this is a dead product or not released yet, despite years of evidence to the contrary.

Welcome by the way...! :)

[Hastur]

Hi, I am a steam-user, too.

first of all sorry for my bad language skill.
I really appreciate your great work. I am going to buy your product via steam or at your store in any event. But I think heres a problem of transparency. I voted for your product on steam and let some friends do the same, because I thought, there will be some consequences for the program if it is available via steam. My main hope was a matchmaking-system via steam and no longer the need to portforward. But I have no information what you are planing (no need for definite details, but some plans would be nice) and so I dont know, if it is reasonable to wait with my purchase. If the only differnce will be that you start the program via steam or via the fg.exe, then I buy it from the store here at once. (Even if I wonder why you put it in steam then in the first place). But if I can expect some improvement, then I wait for the steam-release. And a vague timetable would be nice then.
Hope my problem has become clearer than my language promises. And if anything of the above sounds harsh or abusibe: Nothing is meant that way, sorry.

Greetings
hastur

[Moon Wizard]

I would LOVE to use the built-in Steam matchmaking and NAT punch through. However, the problem then becomes that Steam FG users can not connect to non-Steam FG users, and vice versa. Doug and I have talked about at length, and we don't want to fracture our user base or our code base.

Also, we want to release on Steam as soon as possible, once we can start working on it. (which is right after the next documentation update) Due to the way that Steam distribution works, the only thing that we HAVE to do for Steam distribution is figure out licensing (which we can do right now by giving Steam a set of keys to sell), and figure out how to let Steam sell DLC (we're contractually bound to sell same DLC on Steam as in our store). The DLC is the big issue we need to figure out when we get there.

Any improvements to networking, port forwarding, and matchmaking will have to come later.

Regards,
JPG

[Hastur]

Many thanks for your response. Thinks are getting clearer now for me.
I suppose, that it will be most likely not possible to switch from the version from your shop to the steam-version after I decided to buy the one from your shop. So, if I buy it from your shop, I will be excluded from the planned steam-improvements like easier match-making and player-search etc. If I am not wrong with this consideration, that means waiting for my players and me (hunt Nyarly later this year ;-)) . I am going to buy the ultimate version later then (which really is too expensive to buy it twice . I would not be that complicated if I was planning to buy the Full version.).
Thanks and greetings
Hastur

[Moon Wizard]

Given that we want to implement matchmaking for all FG users, whatever matchmaking improvements we make will be for all users outside of the Steam systems. So, it will be available for all FG users.

Currently, FG users organize games via the forums and the game calendar on this web site.

One of the considerations is that Steam matchmaking is designed for drop-in play, which is not what is required for pen-and-paper RPG games. Here are the types of matchmaking that we've identified:
* Private long-term RPG group where everyone knows each other. This group just needs tools to help get linked up every session.
* Public long-term RPG group. GMs will typically take applications or characters in advance. Once they have accepted enough players, they will start the campaign, which will then be closed from that point on. This group needs tools to help publish games while spots are open, accept player "applications", and then help link up once the campaign starts.
* "Convention" RPG sessions (or one-shot sessions). This group needs tools to allow drop-in play, but no long-term tools.

I'm sure there are other variations in matchmaking types, but these seem to be the major groupings. As you can see, Steam matchmaking would only really be useful for the one-shot session crowd anyways.

Regards,
JPG

[Blacky]

Indeed.

And the whole trick about it all is to find the GM, and motivate him. At least for anything but a one-shot, it all revolve around the GM. There is no game without them. Even a picky GM can find players, it's usually a matter of days or weeks. On the other hand, finding the right GM can takes years and isn't certain at all.

[Valarian]

And the whole trick about it all is to find the GM, and motivate him.
Bribing with chocolate and/or beer usually works - though is a little more difficult online.

[Griogre]

I agree the brides have dropped dramatically since I started running online.... ;) On the other hand, the player base is just humongous.

[grimm182]

Bribing with chocolate and/or beer usually works - though is a little more difficult online.
Bribery?...well there is that whole steam wallet and games wishlist aspect...sound like a great way to pay it back to great GMs!! :)