Steamworks Integration / Deeper Pc Controller Support / Steamos (Linux)?

[TheDark1105]

I want to bring up a few suggestions I have for how I would like to see certain aspects of Warframe evolve. I know many people will have very different opinions on what I will be suggesting, but I feel it's better to be shot down than never take off. Yes there are many other more pressing concerns right now but this is what's been on my mind about the game, importance aside.

 

My first topic: Steamworks.

 

Not sure how this will be received, but I would love to see deeper integration to the services Steam provides. Things like inviting friends through Steam, trading Mods, Blueprints and maybe even Platinum via the Steam trading interface, adding trading card/badge support, and perhaps even getting on that user generated content hype train and starting Steam Workshop support.

 

Here's a great talk that took place at Steam Dev Days on a lot of the benefits that Steamworks can bring to the table:

 

Of course the addition of some of these features would almost certainly mean Warframe could only be acquired via Steam and the game would need to be launched exclusively through Steam down the line.

 

What are your thoughts on this? Is deeper Steam integration something you would like to see as well? Are you happy with Steam's current role (an alternative download method)?

 

My second topic: Controller support.

 

Currently the extent of controller support on PC is once you're in a match. While this is better than nothing, it's still less than ideal for couch gaming or streaming the game to devices like the NVIDIA Shield.

 

What I suggest doing in the future is providing controller support in the Warframe interface so everything you can do with a keyboard and mouse can be accomplished with a controller (minus social things like text chat). This has already been accomplished on the PS4, but the interface has been pretty drastically adjusted to accommodate that.

 

I would propose the PC gets that PS4 interface. Now before everyone gets their torches and pitchforks, I would like to say I only want this controller interface to appear when a controller is detected on the machine. And if one is detected have an option to disable controller interface support altogether if you want nothing to do with it. (And while I'm at it, Steam Controller support down the line would be excellent to see too). Getting flagged in Steam for having full controller support is quickly becoming a big deal - best to have that capability no?

 

I'm probably in the minority for more controller support on PC, but I'm curious... for you keyboard and mouse die hards, would this be an acceptable change in your mind?

 

And finally: SteamOS/Linux.

 

This is hard. Like, really hard. I can see a lot of dependent use of D3D in the engine right now. But Linux is the future. It's been said by many others, by people much more credible than myself (I'm not even a founder for crying out loud!). Hell, the fact the minds at Valve have already banked so much of their time and resources on it is more telling than any one person preaching this. I'm not saying "HOLD ALL DEVELOPMENT; IT'S LINUX TIME", but it's a process that should be considered and started sooner rather than later. it's much better to start considering Linux/OpenGL support now before more reliance on D3D is added. A lot of gamers (myself included) are itching for Linux, but unless the games we want to play are on that platform, that market share percentage won't be changing anytime soon. So lead the charge - pioneer the future of gaming!

 

I again link to another fantastic talk at Steam Dev Days regarding porting games to Linux and I highly suggest anyone in the games industry to watch it.

 

In fact, there are many talks on difference aspects of porting games to Linux, so you might as well look through the list of talks here:

http://www.steamdevdays.com/

 

Thanks!

 

If you read all of this - thanks for your time. If these suggestions are too outlandish, I hope at the very least this sparks other ideas on improving the game. Over and out Tenno.

[direcyphre]

Trading will never happen through steam, because out inventories are already too large to be manageable through Steam (sustaining parity between the game and Steam). It's current available in-game for in-game uses. There is certainly a future for other items like the Phased items we saw during the holidays, despite all the blind hatred for Steam itself.

 

Steam workshop doesn't really work for the same reason you wouldn't have it for MMOs; it's not a moddable game.

 

Pretty sure SteamOS has come up before, and while some may believe Linux is the future, it's still somewhere in the future. Since this game runs the Evolution Engine, it'd be faster to throw the assets into a different engine entirely than attempting to port it to Linux.

 

If you watched the last dev livestream, you'd also see the roadmap to the UI revamps coming. Personally I'd rather have the UI that suits the PC. Optional PS4 overlay? Go for it! However, chances are they'll be adding proper buttons as one of the obvious things that have been pointed out wrong with the current interface (X buttons in the upper right, close/back in the lower left, and other inconsistencies). Trust me, the current UI isn't idea for anyone, but the PS4 UI isn't for PC. It would be a step in the wrong direction, much like the terrible PC porting jobs Capcom has done.

[TheDark1105]

Trading will never happen through steam, because out inventories are already too large to be manageable through Steam (sustaining parity between the game and Steam). It's current available in-game for in-game uses. There is certainly a future for other items like the Phased items we saw during the holidays, despite all the blind hatred for Steam itself.

Perhaps it would be a little too cluttered. But if you play Dota 2 or Team Fortress 2 to the extent you played Warframe I'd argue they would be as cluttered if not more cluttered than how it could be with Warframe. Besides, helping sort a cluttered inventory is more a Steam problem than a Warframe problem.

 

Steam workshop doesn't really work for the same reason you wouldn't have it for MMOs; it's not a moddable game.

Well Dota 2 isn't directly moddable either. It's simply a method of getting the best user generated content noticed by the devs to be easily added to the game. That's where I'm seeing the potential benefit.

 

 

Pretty sure SteamOS has come up before, and while some may believe Linux is the future, it's still somewhere in the future. Since this game runs the Evolution Engine, it'd be faster to throw the assets into a different engine entirely than attempting to port it to Linux.

Did you watch that talk I linked?

EDIT: Or for that matter, what I said in the paragraph about it? Haha.

 

 

If you watched the last dev livestream, you'd also see the roadmap to the UI revamps coming. Personally I'd rather have the UI that suits the PC. Optional PS4 overlay? Go for it! However, chances are they'll be adding proper buttons as one of the obvious things that have been pointed out wrong with the current interface (X buttons in the upper right, close/back in the lower left, and other inconsistencies). Trust me, the current UI isn't idea for anyone, but the PS4 UI isn't for PC. It would be a step in the wrong direction, much like the terrible PC porting jobs Capcom has done.

I think that one UI that works well in both worlds is ideal - but there is a lot of challenge in that. I was more considering a short term solution. I did catch the livestream, very excited for their plans to be implemented!

Edited February 24, 2014 by TheDark1105

[Vanfreddy]

they alrdy had a good gamepad support where u could navigate to the most things but they destroyed it with u11..........

[TheDark1105]

they alrdy had a good gamepad support where u could navigate to the most things but they destroyed it with u11..........

I did not know that. That's a little annoying.

[ZeroPhobic]

My second topic: Controller support.

 

Currently the extent of controller support on PC is once you're in a match. While this is better than nothing, it's still less than ideal for couch gaming or streaming the game to devices like the NVIDIA Shield.

 

What I suggest doing in the future is providing controller support in the Warframe interface so everything you can do with a keyboard and mouse can be accomplished with a controller (minus social things like text chat). This has already been accomplished on the PS4, but the interface has been pretty drastically adjusted to accommodate that.

 

I would propose the PC gets that PS4 interface. Now before everyone gets their torches and pitchforks, I would like to say I only want this controller interface to appear when a controller is detected on the machine. And if one is detected have an option to disable controller interface support altogether if you want nothing to do with it. (And while I'm at it, Steam Controller support down the line would be excellent to see too). Getting flagged in Steam for having full controller support is quickly becoming a big deal - best to have that capability no?

 

I'm probably in the minority for more controller support on PC, but I'm curious... for you keyboard and mouse die hards, would this be an acceptable change in your mind?

Amen!!! I am a controller guy when it comes to most games, if I can't use a controller I don't play, its that simple. DE really has been letting this slide for far far far too long!

[TheDark1105]

They fixed the controller aspect with this latest update! I managed to (from Steam big picture), launch the game, enter my password, and start a mission all with my controller. I love it!

 

THANK YOU DE! I think the full controller support tag on Steam is in order! :D