Indie Developer’s Steam Miracle: How Valve Saved the Day to Beat the Next Fest Deadline
Making a game is a challenging task, and mistakes can happen even to the most experienced developers. This is exactly what happened to the team behind Red Flag, a social deduction game about surviving in a post-apocalyptic bunker with limited resources. The team, consisting of first-time developers, had unknowingly submitted a broken build of the game to Steam on the day of the deadline to get into June’s Next Fest.
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According to a Reddit post, the team had submitted the game just in time, but the review and approval process typically takes five to seven days. This left the team with a small window of opportunity to fix the issue and meet the deadline. The team explains that it was the weekend, and Steam’s Partner Support doesn’t work on weekends, so they sent a desperate email to regular Steam Support.
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Steam replied to the team, saying that they would review the game urgently to hopefully get it into Next Fest in time. A few hours later, the team received an email from Steam, stating that the reviewer couldn’t launch the game due to a C++ redistributable setup issue. The team had forgotten to use the Steam common redist system and had shipped local DLLs instead.
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Instead of rejecting the game and sending it back to the developers to fix, which would have certainly caused it to miss the deadline, Steam’s reviewer fixed the issue themselves. The reviewer edited the configuration, sorted the dependencies, and approved the build so the team wouldn’t miss the fest.
The team behind Red Flag was thrilled with the outcome and expressed their gratitude towards Steam’s reviewer. They mentioned that this is quite a common issue, with several other indie developers sharing similar experiences in the comments. It’s clear that Steam’s reviewer went above and beyond to help the team, and it’s a testament to the company’s commitment to supporting indie developers.
The team’s game, Red Flag, has now passed its first day of Next Fest, and their wishlists have nearly doubled. They’re also meeting players in their own lobby, and it’s all thanks to Steam’s reviewer who fixed the issue and approved the build in time.
This incident highlights the importance of community support and the willingness of companies like Steam to go above and beyond to help their developers. It’s a heartwarming story that showcases the best of the gaming community and the dedication of developers to bring their games to life.
As one commenter wrote, ‘They did this for me on my first upload, too. Thought it was very cool.’ It’s clear that Steam’s reviewer has made a lasting impression on the gaming community, and their actions will be remembered for a long time.
The Red Flag team’s experience is a great reminder that even the smallest mistakes can have a significant impact on a game’s success. It’s a story of perseverance, community support, and the dedication of developers to bring their games to life.
