Definitely not the best, but still worth a mention is “Stormworks: Build and rescue”. Basically a Lego like “build a ship/plane and do missions on the oceans” game - missions nowadays are also including far more than rescue.
Valves strategy of not doing anything new in the last decade while every other publisber shoots themselves in the foot seems to be working pretty well for them.
I don’t know, it’s only been around for a few months.
Valves strategy of not doing anything new in the last decade
That’s not their strategy. I mean, among other things you may have heard of this thing called the Steam Deck? Or Family Sharing? SteamOS? Shit there’s a new video every week about Steam Client updates and improvements.
I think it ultimately comes down to having to support another platform ads more work and risk then its worth.
For example theyd have to convince people to essentially break androids walled garden which means valve has to make sure everything they offer for android isnt malicous. Then there is the fact that phones are different specs, more testing, potential customer support … Its a whole can of worms, but valve would gain little. There arent many people who want steam on their phones but dont already have it on pc.
Vavle is good at what they do, they have basically cornered the PC and portable PC markets already, i think not mucking around in an already monopolistic mobile market is a pretty wise business decision on their part overall.
The past weeks i got back into playing some Diablo 2 and played some worms armageddon with friends. Worms has some free & legal options to play but i need to look into how i make them work.
I’m also starting to lose myself in Blue prince. I was a bit hesitant in the starting hours, feeling like progress was limited, the puzzle element rather basic and the whole game too RNG based.
But now that I’m further in, I’m really starting to unravel the hidden depth of a lot of its mechanics and secrets. I’m keeping notes on my netbook and it’s starting to become more of a wiki. I’m currently unlocking and discovering new stuff at a very satisfying pace, and my opinion of the game is growing immensely.
If I remember correctly you were also a huge fan of Outer Wilds. While I do understand the comparisons, this does feel like a whole other thing to me. More mysterious and strange, but also a bit more sterile. Outer Wilds is just so filled with love and beauty on top of its mystery, that I cannot fathom any game ever pushing it from the top spot in my favorite games of all time.
Yeah I agree there so far. I’ll have to see once I beat it and peel back some of the layers. But yeah while it is scratching that same discovery itch for me, outer wilds is an unmatched experience. I will say though, while the rng is definitely different, there is a similar feeling to starting a new loop in OW and starting a new day in BP
True, that same “I wonder what I’m going to discover today?” feeling. Just had an insane run in BP with lots of new stuff an an absolute abondance of all resources. Sadly no antechamber, but I’m getting closer. Also starting to unravel the story, this too seems way more interesting than at first glance.
I didn’t realize that but it doesn’t change the fact that:
The PC draws way more power than is needed
The PC must be powered on (mine draws ~40 watts at idle)
A monitor has to be plugged in and turned on.
The aspect ratio on the devices have to match or you’ll get letterboxing.
If your main display is 4k it will run the game at 4k even if you’re playing on a 720p display so you have to go in and change the graphical settings every time you switch devices.
In my limited experience it literally just doesn’t even work at all.
Even if you’re running over the web you’re limited to the strength of your data connection.
It just doesn’t work like it should, in my opinion. Hopefully they can fix this in the future with Steam Machines.
Valve is in the business of selling PC games. Moving into a new market wouldn't be trivial, and Google has put up a lot of barriers to make it especially difficult for a third-party app store to challenge their monopoly.
They support games for Windows, Mac and Linux. And I’m sure they would support them for PS, Nintendo and Xbox if they weren’t created with explicit intention of not allowing that sort of thing. Android is the only market they could feasibly enter and choose not to.
Moving into a new market wouldn’t be trivial
No but it also wouldn’t be that difficult for a company with Valve’s resources, and would be extremely lucrative.
Google has put up a lot of barriers to make it especially difficult for a third-party app store to challenge their monopoly.
Why would you think that? Of course it would be difficult, it's a massive undertaking.
Amazon and Epic have both tried to launch their own Android storefronts. Neither one has been even remotely successful. Amazon will be shutting theirs down soon.
For the reason I mentioned in the OP. Because it’s been done before, several times. Including by Epic, with a fraction of Valve’s resources.
Amazon and Epic have both tried to launch their own Android storefronts
Everything I’ve read about the Amazon store indicates that it sucks on every level, for all parties.
The Epic Store is only a few months old. And they can’t even make a decent or profitable app for PC so I’d be very unsurprised if their mobile app is also trash.
4.5 You may not use Google Play to distribute or make available any Product that has a purpose that facilitates the distribution of software applications and games for use on Android devices outside of Google Play.
I’d wager the majority of Android users have never downloaded an application other than from the Google Play Store. Even among those who would try, a large amount of them would probably get scared off by the “unverified sources” popup Android gives you if you try to install an app in another manner.
That’s like saying Amazon has a “barrier” to online sales because they refuse to allow Target to sell products on their site for free. They’re competing services, why would they allow that?
I’d wager the majority of Android users have never downloaded an application other than from the Google Play Store.
Developers most often distribute software outside of official repos in Windows and MacOS, and they do so successfully.
It’s not that hard, you just follow the prompts on the screen.
The average person has never had to install Windows or MacOS, they buy a computer with it pre-installed. And they buy phones with Google Play pre-installed.
We’re not talking about installing an operating system. I’m not suggesting Steam create their own OS (although they’re also doing that). We’re talking about installing an app.
I’m saying it’s easier to sideload apps on Android than it is on Windows and MacOS, where it is the primary distribution method used by average people every day.
That's very much not true then. Have you ever tried to set up a third party store like F-Droid?
Android requires you to dig into the settings before you can install third party APKs, and gives you several big scary warnings about it. If you download an APK from the web browser, it will then prevent you from directly opening it, claiming it's to protect you from malware. Instead you have to open the file browser and find it in your downloads folder, then you can install it from there. Finally, it will give you even more big scary warnings about letting any app that isn't Google Play have permissions to install its own APKs.
I’ve installed them all. FDroid, Obtainium, Aurora, Accrescent, along with a slew of other sideloaded independent apps, on several devices. That’s not how it works.
If you sideload an app, a pop-up will ask if you want to enable the current app to install the new app and give the typical warning about malware that you’ll get on any OS (for good reason). You click the pop-up, it redirects you to the proper location in the settings app, you toggle the switch and…that’s it.
Just get a bluetooth controller and use the SteamLink app on your phone. It let’s you lounge back and play games just like the steam deck and for way cheaper. I’m actually finding it hard to justify buying a Steam Deck when I have this option.
I’m in the same situation, working 8 hrs at a desk and I can’t join the discord group like I used to during school years. Now I just watch tv on the main monitor and use SteamLink on my phone
I think if you tried an OLED Steam Deck, you might change your mind. The screen alone is amazing… But also, the fact that it’s a fully functioning Linux device is great as well. So much better than Android.
Yea oled is very nice, it’s what most phones today have too. (Mine included)
It is nice to have a portable computer, but op is asking for playing games and your games can have wayy better graphics if you stream it from a full gaming pc vs compromising quality to have it run on the steamdeck. When you’re just running games on steam there’s not that much more difference between the two.
I hella want to mod KCD2 to have magic spells and dragons. Though I do find it funny to say “It’s a great RPG based in reality. You get to do awesome quests like digging a ditch or herding sheep!”
It’s not that simple. Proton implements the Windows API functions required to run a Windows game on x64-based Linux, but it’s not a CPU emulator. Emulating x64 on ARM at the speeds required by a game is virtually impossible.
If Steam comes to ARM / Android, it would have to be a whole separate ecosystem of games. But Valve is late to the game there since we already have several players on that market, not least the standard Google Play Store.
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