Heard of Evolve?

[Dr. Delta]

This is nearly borderline Legal Trouble. Not in the sense that it copies steam though.

Honestly if you want to sell some platform to someone, it's generally not a good idea it looks similar to your competition. Thats probably one of the stupidest things they could have done at the time, and because of this people will generally degrade this platform client to" Oh it';s a Steam rip-off" Or "That shit is a low budget version of steam" and perhaps "They're joking right?".

I honestly can't see this platform going anywhere. I can understand it's uses in games that could require overlays, but steam can already provide that. It can already provide communities at which to announce to said community a game is being played or something like "Everyone Play some TF2 @ Interlopers.net server!". Honestly this feels like a mega step backwards in the "online" socializing software and community type interfacing.

The features I currently see listed will probably and eventually be included in almost every client we'll see. At this point theres not much reason to reinvent the wheel, which it seems to be something the developers of Evolve have been going after. And this is clearly evident by the fact that they literally talk to the viewers of the trailer like this has never been done before, or that this is some whole new kind of magic. It reminds you constantly of the " how the simplicity of things is not existent".

Honestly this is seriously stupid shit, and I think they are entirely wasting their time. Not only are they going to have to persuade people to stop using clients like Steam and D2D, but they're also going to have to hire a huge team to compete with how much those other clients have to offer. Not only this, but they'll have to offer much more than what steam and D2D is doing to really make anyone want to care. A perfect example of this is "Games for Windows Live". Sure it has a decent amount of users, but it just wasn't something that was fully backed up. As a result people would rather not use it, and go straight to something like steam.

I also feel that the team behind evolve are going to have to eventually give people some sort of reason to want to use their software, and eventually integrate into games. While GfWL isn't obviously the best, it allows games to access specific things within the client, same can be said for Steam. The integrated code between those clients also offers a lot of things I think that Evolve is going to have to persuade game developers, if eventually at some point evolve would want to. And lets face it, they will. Otherwise the evolve is going to slowly sink into the depths of oblivion, and cease to be used.

Either way I think you Evolve guys are a bunch of morons. Great job entering the market and business of Client integrated programs for gaming. It's not like steam has had years ahead of you, or GfWL, or even D2D. Honestly from a business standpoint, it's retarded. You guys are going to waste so much money, and so much time putting effort into something that is never going to be able to compete with the likes of these type of programs that offer the same features, if not even already more. This isn't the kind of business that you can bring revolution to anymore, because others already have it going on, and literally are going "full steam ahead". There is huge momentum with the current offerings of clients out there for this, that are going to be really hard to get in the race with.

Say even if it does happen, you're going to be just ANOTHER peer to peer way of in-game communicating. Then it will eventually boil down to what you can offer that makes you different. Being entirely honest here, Steam is the king. GfWL only has the momentum it does because of the Xbox 360. D2D has a decent amount of user base, but even then it's still not offering what steam has.

Well, if they're sooo retarded; why doesn't steam support multi-im? Or match-making/server browsers for all the games they sell? Apparently Evolve does. And people want 1 client, not 10 for every single network.

[MrTwoVideoCards]

Jesus you just had to go and quote the whole thing.

Anyways thats not the issue. The real problem as well, and what you would have to understand from a business point is that IM software is constantly evolving. It's hard to know when and where the "next big thing" will be. I mean you, you take a look back at myspace, and everyone then was flippin' their wigs over it. Then comes along facebook, and it entirely becomes the "next big thing" and somewhat translates to the next "myspace" if that makes sense.

It's a tricky business because it's something you have to put a lot of time and effort into obviously, and if you don't you won't stay fresh. But you're now wondering how this relates to Evolve in any way? Well the thing here is that, or rather the keyword is: "target audience". Steam was invented back before myspace, back before facebook, back before everyone thought msn was cool, then sucked, back before the HUGE wave of person to person communication became huge.

Obviously we can't expect something like that to just be thrown overnight, and lets face it: How many people have complained about not being able to read Facebook messages on steam? I'm fairly sure thats not on the agenda right now, but I did state that it would "eventually" be something valve would think about, because it's a very natural evolution to what steam currently is.

But I bring again "target audience" here. When I think gaming, I don't think "OH COOL IMMA TALK TO MAH BUDDIES ON FACEBOOK AND PLAY WOW".

And lets face it man, we're on a game design website. How could you EVEN describe matchmaking as a service that is worth having. Obviously from what we understand, matchmaking is something that can be very complex, or very minimal. Obviously Evolve is going to use something basic like: "Input your skill level", and will go from there. It's not like we need matchmaking, on top of matchmaking. So fuck matchmaking. And I'm kinda debating to myself if you really understand programming in general for games. If you had you would understand that not every game steam sells is going to have that kind of service. Go back 5 lines and re-read everything because it's that simple. Unless evolve has integrated code with the game, it's no going to understand how "pro and leet" you are.

You're going to have to manually do it yourself. And it's obviously not going to fucking watch you while you play. Sometimes people don't want and need matchmaking. It's never really been a problem, and it likely never will be. Also Steam does have a server browser that currently supports quite a lot of games.But once again I go back to not everyone wants that, they would like to use in-game features built specifically for the game. Usually 90% of the time it's better anyways.

And don't give me that shit that people want one client. Thats obviously not the case anymore now in this day and age. There are so many types of software/websites for everything that offers all kinds of services it's ridiculous. Everyone ends up trying to find "the best" of what that software specializes in. Steam does this. I don't need to msn my friends on steam, or facebook them.

And holy shit why would they call it ad hoc gaming. That doesn't even begin to make sense, I just noticed this.

[MrTwoVideoCards]

Yeah obviously, even the script they wrote for the lady narrating sounds terrible. It's that general stereo type of your typical gamer.

[Dionysos]

I thought it was a joke, actually... I'm still half convinced it is

[mbombz]

Interesting feedback, but, you don't have to whole picture. The demo reel only talks to the game connectivity portion. McGribble was so eager to share with his buddies on Interlopers he forgot to tell the rest of the story.

Now that I have your attention I would like to let everyone know there is much more to Evolve. The chat game / connect client is only the front end of the system. the product just launched on October 10 and is still in beta development. McGribble posted here to give everyone the chance to get in on the beta release and get registered. This is an opportunity to be part of something new, give your feedback and have your feedback heard while the system is developed. What is being developed you ask? The website.

The website is where the goodies are going to reside. What is the big deal about the website? Imagine Facebook for gamers or your game identity. A place where you can post your status, connect to other friends, post your downloads(?), create groups, etc etc.

Oh, and "Steam without the store?" - not quite. The store is coming - and you will not be tied to Steam titles. So, Steam is not king after all. I am not with Evolve but I know the guys building it and have been giving them my feedback. So far it seems like an interesting idea and useful for expanding my group of gaming buddies.

That trailer (besides being old) was not targeted at gamers but rather to get their first round of funding. That was successfull and they have been able to get to their launch and get the product out in beta form.

I supported McGribble's idea to post on Interlopers for two reasons.
1. How often do you hear of a group of gamers trying to do something to promote the gaming industry and actually realizing some level of success? Not very often.

2. Having realized their first round of funding and hit BETA they want to invite gamers to give feedback and be a part of the development. When was the last time you heard of that happening?

[MayheM]

To Clarify, I'm McGribble...

[no00dylan]

It's the next best thing since sliced bread, I'm with mcgribble, I don't work on evolve but I know the people and they're good, guess steam isn't king after all.

[Gary]

I honestly hate the Steam client, on every computer I used it on it's been horribly slow and unstable. I only use it because I have to. I love the idea behind steam though.

Also on the topic of this app, I won't use it. It's just another program to run and not to useful for someone like me(can't play online).

[source-maps]

I honestly hate the Steam client, on every computer I used it on it's been horribly slow and unstable. I only use it because I have to. I love the idea behind steam though.

Also on the topic of this app, I won't use it. It's just another program to run and not to useful for someone like me(can't play online).

hate is a big word, but if steam was a real person, I would punch it in the face from time to time

[unreal4ever]

I see now, this forum is indeed about a Steam game (Half Life 2). (I'm on slow connection)

*Steam fanboy overload detected*

* Runs away *

[cpl. punishment]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone here actually thinks Source is better engine then Unreal Engine.

That's a loaded statement if I ever heard one.

[MrTwoVideoCards]

Way to necro-bump.

[Gary]

I have no idea what kind of forum is this, but it's probably about some Steam game.

We are the E.T. game news & tutorials site(yes the game for the Atari 2600)... could you at least attempt to read the big ass banner at the top of the screen that says "Half-Life 2 News & tutorials"...

There's tons of games that aren't Steam-only. Eg UT2004 which has a lot of dedicated gamers like me (meaning we have never needed Steam at all).

The way you say that, it sounds like you are saying "dedicated" gamers don't use Steam. If that is the case, your an idiot. What do you consider a dedicated gamer to be, I consider a dedicated gamer to be someone who puts large amounts of time and effort into both playing and sometimes expanding upon a games experience(modding).

I hope I didn't start a sh*tstorm. Usually Steam gamers are really 'touchy', when it comes to discussing Valve's competitors or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if someone here actually thinks Source is better engine then Unreal Engine.

I greatly dislike how you are generalizing the 2+ million Steam users as touchy and fanboys.

Also, as for the engine thing, I like Source better then Unreal in some areas, though I do know that Unreal kicks our ass when it comes to graphics. Really, it comes down to personal reasons for modding the Source engine over the Unreal.

[unreal4ever]

By dedicated I meant dedication to some game.

You obviously don't know what it is. There's 2 types of gamers:
1. Those who play everything they get their hands on. Usually those player's aren't highly skilled in any game.
2. Those who's majority of gaming time is spent on 1 certain game. Those are the people who "own" you in UT99, for example.

All in all, what I meant is that there's tons of people out the who don't need your beloved Steam or even hate it.

Anyway, chill out. You guys have fun playing L4D3 when it comes out and I stay where the real skills are needed.

[Gary]

That's a small narrow view: assuming all those who use steam love it, classifying a huge amount of people into two groups, saying that L4D requires no skill just because you think so.

As for Steam, if read a few posts back you would know I hate the client(though love the idea). And while even I dislike L4D, I know that it does require skill, even if the skill isn't the same kind seen in every game. Just because you classify a skill in your own little world as useless, does not mean that it is an less of a skill.