BG:EE/BG2:EE and Steam

LuciusDei

Hey folks,

I'll preface this by saying I'm aware of the situation regarding Steam, and why the EEs are on Steam, and Beamdog's involvement with handling the Steam versions etc.

My question, in relation to Steam, is somewhere down the line once sales have quietened down and Beamdog/Overhaul move on to new projects, or games, or things, will things like Steam Achievements and/or Steam Trading Cards be added to the Steam versions of the game? The achievements may be a bit more tricky, as they'd require some actual coding and such, but the Trading Cards would be relatively simple to do. Now, I'm aware that Overhaul get significantly less profits from the Steam versions than what they get through their own website sales, and Atari are the ones who mainly deal with Steam, and that by adding achievements/cards may encourage people to buy the Steam version, but it would be a nice feature, and I know that as 'pointless' as these things may seem, they do help to drum up sales amongst Steam users, where previously they wouldn't buy it.

I have bought the EE through both Beamdog and Steam (when it was on sale), firstly to support Overhaul, as I believe it should be they who get the most profits, and secondly to have it on my Steam account. I'm just wondering what Overhaul's view is here. Would it be worth adding these things to drum up extra sales, and add a bit more for fans of the games to do/get out of the game.

Messi

Those would be certainly nice, but what I'm most interested in is why the Mac version isn't on Steam at all?

Fablewynd

I agree that it would be nice to see achievements, or at the very least cards. I can understand why the Steam version would be the bare bones it has to be, like you say, but I think once the sales have died down, and Overhaul want to move on to new projects then adding in something like the cards would a good way of drumming up a few extra sales where otherwise they wouldn't get them.

I know that a great many people like the whole Steam Trading Card thing and buy games solely based on whether they have cards or not. To some people that sounds stupid, and I can see the point, but if some people get a kick out of those things it shouldn't be scoffed at. I don't know how much work achievements and cards would be, but looking into the whole card thing I don't think it would take that much time to do.

I'm curious what the devs would think to this.

Heindrich

Hmm... Is it just me but I never understood the point of the trading cards, achievements etc... I mean am I supposed to be incentivised to become a 'better gamer' overall by playing lots and lots of games on Steam to collect achievements and cards?

I am genuinely confused and curious on what I maybe missing out on.

ChildofBhaal599

Heindrich1988 said:

Hmm... Is it just me but I never understood the point of the trading cards, achievements etc... I mean am I supposed to be incentivised to become a 'better gamer' overall by playing lots and lots of games on Steam to collect achievements and cards?

I am genuinely confused and curious on what I maybe missing out on.

yeah i personally do not care for the achievements. however, the cards give some little goodies when you get them, like a high steam level allows more friends, getting special game emoticons, background and stuff, and getting coupons (though i never got on i thought of using) also all you need to do is play the game really to get half, though that other half becomes a problem as you trade or buy.

Fablewynd

Yeah, the achievements for me are negligable, I am more in to the Trading Cards simply for the little perks you get with them. I guess achievements are for those who want to show that they have done something in game, for other players to see (e-peen status, really) but you have things like 'complete BG2EE without using any party members' or 'recruit all available party members' etc. Just small things but nothing major. Steam seems to have moved from just being a collection of all your games all in one place to an actual social environment, almost like social media, in which you can decorate your profile and display your various badges and wallpapers and such.

As ChildofBhaal599 said, the cards are used to add extra friends to your account (as you have a cap at low levels) as well as earn special vouchers (I once got a 90% off Portal 2 one, which I used) and other little cosmetic things listed by the above poster. It's all negligable, cosmetic stuff that really doesn't do much (other than the vouchers) but they're still nice to have if you like collecting those sorts of things.