Strategy First gets Steamed

[Evil Avatar]

Strategy First sends along a Press Release announcing that they are going to be bringing titles to Valve's Steam platform.

Software publisher Strategy First, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Silverstar Holdings, Ltd., and Valve Corporation, a leading entertainment and technology studio, are pleased to announce a multi-title distribution deal that will deliver a collection of Strategy First’s front line titles and new releases via Steam, Valve’s online platform for digital content distribution and management. Strategy First is the first entertainment software publisher to move forward with Valve’s Steam, which connects nearly 6 million gamers worldwide.

“S.C.S - Dangerous Waters™,” a groundbreaking naval simulation game due for arrival in December 2005, will be the first Strategy First title made available to millions of Steam gamers.

Emanuel Wall, Product Manager at Strategy First said, “Throughout the years, Strategy First has delivered great games from many developers while navigating the evolution of genres, technology, and distribution mechanisms -- whether it’s moving from 2D to 3D, or from floppy to Steam.”

“Strategy First has a proven reputation for delivering high-quality products, created by independent developers, to gamers around the world,” said Gabe Newell, Valve’s founder and president. “We’re delighted to offer these titles as the Steam audience expands to nearly 6 million gamers.”

Future announcements outlining this multi-title deal will be announced in the weeks to come.

[Varsity]

Haha, take that CS kiddies!

[commodus]

Sweet. It's nice to see others joining this innovative service and diversifying its offerings. I do wonder, however, if systems like Steam will ever achieve a level of integration like the new Xbox Live...

[bKangy]

Awesome! Glad to see Steam expanding well.

[AntB]

Looks like Steam is picking up some steam. :D

[doyama]

I definitely like how Steam is being used to deliver games that would never have the chance or exposure in traditional retail channels. There are some great turn based war games that just never have the big numbers to justify a retail game but would be ideal under a Steam model of distrubution.

I certainly hope that models like Steam and Stardock are a way for some developers to get exposure and content out that would otherwise be lost.

[NeuroMan42]

STEAM is really gaining momentum... just like a Steam Train.

WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!!!

[Serapth]

Odd, I thought Strategy First went tits up earlier this year...

[Citizen Philip]

OOoooooooh! Strategy First on Steam :D Jagged Alliance, I remeber thee.

[markster3000]

It's about time Valve got the digital distribution train going.

It was almost looking like Steam was going to be a glorified HL mod selection interface.

[11thfinger]

Where the hell is the new Jagged Alliance you bastards?!

[aversion2k]

At first I hated the idea of steam, No box!, no manual, no cd :(

But nowdays whenever I buy a game from a store I get a teny box, no manual and no cd case, just a crappy cd floping around in the bottem of the box.

If I have the option I'll be buying my games off steam from now on

GO STEAM :D

[RMan]

Where the hell is the new Jagged Alliance you bastards?!
Yea, I don't care how they deliver it, but I want a new JA without the annoying random reload incucing "realism" that made the previous games a chore to play.

[[Jez]]

Agreed, and you should still be able to order flowers and a fruitcake :)

[Captain Awesome]

Valve rules.

[11thfinger]

Yea, I don't care how they deliver it, but I want a new JA without the annoying random reload incucing "realism" that made the previous games a chore to play.

Boo to you, sir... reloading every firefight for a perfect outcome is what made the series great. ;)

[RMan]

Boo to you, sir... reloading every firefight for a perfect outcome is what made the series great.
Hehe, hopefully that was sarcasm. Just went back and played JA2 a few days ago. It's really dissapointing how much unrealized potential that game had, so much good mixed with so much tediousness. Even if they made those mistakes again, I'd likely still buy it, but I think it'd once again be only a cult favorite.

[11thfinger]

It kind of was sarcastic, but I was so goddamn anal about letting my guys go into medical treatment, that I was really crazy about reloading if anyone got badly hurt (or lost stats)... but somehow that only added to my enjoyment of the game. The more you saw each scenario unfold in different ways every reload, the more you realized how rich the game was.

[Citizen Philip]

Hehe, hopefully that was sarcasm. Just went back and played JA2 a few days ago. It's really dissapointing how much unrealized potential that game had, so much good mixed with so much tediousness. Even if they made those mistakes again, I'd likely still buy it, but I think it'd once again be only a cult favorite.

I liked JA2. I turned the hosptial grounds into my inventory shop, it only became annoying when those stupid loyalists would be killed and ruin the beautiful harmony of my filing system with their raven pecked corpses.

I enjoy the utter vastnses of the game, there is no feasible way to explore the entire map in a single game. Hell I didn't find those hicks on the farm until my second or third try.. and the optional Sci-if and extra or minimal weapons?! Comon that game was great!

[Tentaro]

Dear Steam,
I love you.

[goc_sin]

I would like to see www.battlefront.com start using steam as well.

[RMan]

The more you saw each scenario unfold in different ways every reload, the more you realized how rich the game was.
Although that's true, I think a hardcore mode for the more dedicated folk like yourself is more appropriate, but all the settings seemed to inflict this style of gameplay on those who didn't want it. The richness of the game, IMO, was supplied by being a well developed game with nice tactical options and likely the best use of voice acting I've ever seen, very immersive. The game was good, but the reloading kept it from being great, IMO.

Honestly, the game would be so much more fun if my guys could be put down and revived later, with no serious death penalty or stat loss (basically, more like final fantasy style death penalties). That way you could have those harrowing battles where it's barely won with one guy left standing. Right now, if only one guy goes down you're pretty much reloading, and it forces you to play ultra cautious, which kinda limits your tactical options. You'll invariably have some folk scream that this would be unrealistic, but really, in the end as long as I get the all powerful reload option it ain't close to realistic.

[Citizen Philip]

Although that's true, I think a hardcore mode for the more dedicated folk like yourself is more appropriate, but all the settings seemed to inflict this style of gameplay on those who didn't want it. The richness of the game, IMO, was supplied by being a well developed game with nice tactical options and likely the best use of voice acting I've ever seen, very immersive. The game was good, but the reloading kept it from being great, IMO.

Honestly, the game would be so much more fun if my guys could be put down and revived later, with no serious death penalty or stat loss (basically, more like final fantasy style death penalties). That way you could have those harrowing battles where it's barely won with one guy left standing. Right now, if only one guy goes down you're pretty much reloading, and it forces you to play ultra cautious, which kinda limits your tactical options. You'll invariably have some folk scream that this would be unrealistic, but really, in the end as long as I get the all powerful reload option it ain't close to realistic.

Didn't you ever learn to setup ambushes? You have your scout sneak around and get you some details.. setup your troops in convient overlaps firing arcs and then... SHOOT A PISTOL. Every badguy that could hear it would come running... right into your ambush.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

Yea, I don't care how they deliver it, but I want a new JA without the annoying random reload incucing "realism" that made the previous games a chore to play.

We added the random seed variable to the saves because we didn't want people to save and reload prior to every shot. For example, when you move to one square and an enemy shoots you for 10 points of damage, you reload to move another square instead. With the random seed the enemy may or may not shoot you every time you reload.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

When I encountered enemy forces in the wild, especially at night, I set up a "wagon circle" tactic by having a merc face each direction. This way I won't be flanked.

[RMan]

Didn't you ever learn to setup ambushes? You have your scout sneak around and get you some details.. setup your troops in convient overlaps firing arcs and then... SHOOT A PISTOL. Every badguy that could hear it would come running... right into your ambush.
Oh, I did that alot, that's kinda my point (and there's no way that still didn't result in alot of reloading, the enemy patrolling/placement and random firing results guaranteed a good deal of it, no matter how smart you were). Exploiting this AI problem was the easiest way to win practically every mission, I'm not saying I think the game was too hard to beat, just too annoying to beat. Again, I like the game, and I'm glad you do too, but that doesn't mean absolutely everything about it was perfect. In fact, here's some other things I found annoying that you'll undoubtedly hate me for :):

Stat reduction: Reducing enemy stats made little impact, they were soon dead anyway. Reducing player’s stats was just lame, it forces a reload, and it happens by no fault of your own, just randomly. It would not have made the game feel any less realistic if it wasn’t there (it would technically be less realistic, but nobody would have missed it).

Downtime: When not fighting, the doctor, patient, training, etc. switching was annoying. If no enemies are around, and I’m not traveling somewhere, people with medpacks and medical skills should automatically doctor, those with injuries should automatically patient, those with repair packs should repair, and all others should have a default training option (having the teacher/student thing was cute, but not really worth keeping). Also, getting training bonuses for training at specific locations would be good (like marksmanship bonus if training at the academy). Switching back and forth between squads and other duties was just tedious.

Lack of global inventory: Keys, and other special items should be kept in a global pool, managing trade items and keys isn’t fun.

Why are M-14s more common than rocks :).

My big burly men throw like girls, and can’t seem to bounce things off walls (or did I miss a way to do this?).

I’d like to know the percentage chance of a shot working, and/or some indication of the quality of cover I have (since it’s not really that clear normally).

They really needed some recognizable enemy types and variation therein. I feel like I fight the same red guy WAY too much, they should have stocky tank-like guys, sometimes with swords or other melee weapons; ninja like guys that sometimes like to jump, not climb, from roofs; sentry guns; anything to mix up the combat a bit. I’d love to see crazier stuff, but perhaps that’d be better for another universe.

[RMan]

We added the random seed variable to the saves because we didn't want people to save and reload prior to every shot.
Oh, that's good, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I'm talking about the extreme penalties and the fact that they force reloads, and they're generally kicked in by a random factor (IOW, the random part wasn't the problem, the reload is the problem).

[Oblivion]

steam is going to be a significant distro channel, I really like it. it can give the developers more money back for their work, cutting out the middle man and that is a fucking good thing.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

BTW, I'm glad there are quite a number of JA2 fans here. :D

We had a lot of great gameplay and bugs feedback from the fans when we released the stand-alone demo, which lacked the strategy aspect of the game. I'm sure if we had some sort of strategy aspect in the demo, more of the gameplay balance and bugs would have been ironed out.

[RMan]

I'm sure if we had some sort of strategy aspect in the demo, more of the gameplay balance and bugs would have been ironed out.
Agreed, well, if you're doing another one I'd be willing to help with testing (hardly the only one, I know, but just offering my support :)).

[vornskr]

Strategy First also developed Galactic Civilizations.. :D

[DJACE]

Wow, it's weird that this came up now, since I just installed JA2 last week and started playing. This of course has lead to many of the guys in my dorm asking "What the hell are you playing?/It looks like crap/It reminds me of Fallout" because they're so used to modern graphics. I stopped trying to convert them, but I'm not stopping playing until Deidiranna lies at my feet once again.

No matter how many flaws the game had (What was the reward for giving the leather shop to the tatto guy? What is the consequence of marrying off a female merc (I always married off Ira, just for spite)?), it was still an amazing game that had it's charms. If Strategy First can recapture that essence, no matter how many flaws it has, JA3 would still be a great game.

On a side note, anyone try New Jagged Union? It was so much like an updated JA, but it was really low quality and REALLY hard to control.

[51|RandoM]

Honestly speaking, these guys look like crappy pubilshers. I hit their website, went through the gamelist, and saw exaclty one game I would classify as good(jagged alliance 2), and that isn't a game they created.

More power to them, though, if they have some good titles that need exposure. this will be a great side effect of Steam, allowing stuff that normally wouldn't get significant exposure to see the limelight.

I am a steam fanboy, been one for awhile.

Darwinia being a good example. Very good game, very little exposure in the US. If steam can help them push a few more copies, more power to them.

Hell, I'm all for digital distribution. Fuck preorder, have the game on your system the day of release, just unlock it. No bullshit trips to the brick and mortars, no assholes pushing stratgey guides and or GAME INSURANCE on you. Lol. game insurance is the best. I try not to be a dick, but when somebody at eb/gamestop starts pimping game insurance, I laugh in their face.

[Varsity]

Strategy First also developed Galactic Civilizations.. :D
Stardock developed, SF distributed.