Steamworks platform could be a "gaming revolution"
Team Dystopia's Mike Sanders on the opportunities that Valve's creation can unlock
Valve's Steamworks platform could lead to a "revolution" in game development, according to Mike Sanders, lead producer of indie group Team Dystopia, which released its Source Engine mod via the platform last Friday.
Talking about the team's multiplayer, multi-layered cyberpunk shooter - Dystopia - Sanders told GamesIndustry.biz that Valve was opening up development to all-comers - something which contrasts sharply with the ever-increasing average cost of game development.
"I would almost say that it seems like we're entering into somewhat of a gaming revolution, from where we don't really see a large game from publishers," he said. "Valve just really publishes their console variants through EA and it seems evident that they're opening up the crowd to anybody in their garage.
"It could be anyone from a bunch of kids trying to make in indie game, to a large developer who doesn't really want to pay for publishing, testing, and so on. Steamworks allows for all that, so it's really a good choice for anyone to just jump in and be able to put a game on Steam - and do it the right way.
And Sanders also hinted that there was a lot more to come from Team Dystopia, along with an ambition to follow in the footsteps of companies such as Splash Damage.
"As a group we've been working on something else in the past two years that we really hope on making a splash in the industry pretty soon," he revealed. "There's some really good stuff that we've been working on that we hope to show off, and that's moving away from the realm of modification.
"Without giving too many details about what we are working on, I'd say that people like Introversion, Splash Damage - they're some of our idols at the moment. What we're working on mirrors their models.
"We already have plans to move to the same area near here in North Carolina. There's such a great area for gaming here with Epic and Red Storm. Obviously out of the country it's a little harder to do that, with things costing as much as they do, but there are plans. They're a little more than plans at this point..."
The full interview with Mike Sanders is available now.