Submitting to Steam

  • #1, by brut69Wednesday, 29. July 2015, 17:13 9 years ago
    Anyone knows how /what is the procedure to submit a game in steam? I am really close on finishing mine after 3 years

    Great Poster

    266 Posts


  • #2, by ygmantellWednesday, 29. July 2015, 21:15 9 years ago
    You must submit through Greenlight. The page is here:
    http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/

    Great Poster

    274 Posts

  • #3, by Simon_ASAWednesday, 29. July 2015, 22:49 9 years ago
    Hi, if it's "your" game, then it probably means that you're an individual developer just like me, which means you do everything on your own - so allow me to share my experience:

    The earlier you can submit your project, the better, because the process can take a lot of time. You need to subscribe your game on Steam Greenlight (link above). It will cost you $100 (it is not free). Then provide a description, pictures and videos. In the end, it allows Steam users to vote for your project. If they like it, they give a positive vote. The more votes you receive for your game, the more chances you have to be greenlit and then published on Steam (but some games with low votes can also be chosen by the Valve teams - don't know how it works exactly).
    It means that it is very important to communicate about your game all the time on social networks and the press, in order to let people know about it, and ask them to vote on Steam. For my game ASA: A Space Adventure, it took half and a year before the game was greenlit (= accepted).

    When the game is greenlit it's just the beginning of another long process before you can sell it. If you don't live in the US, you will probably be asked to submit an EIN or iTIN number for taxes purposes. This number can be retrieved from the IRS (internal revenue service) and it's not always easy to receive it. You'll have to provide a society bank account and several informations, and you'll have to use the Steam Partner interface to configure your game (price, public informations, etc.) Finally, you'll need to learn how to use the Steam SDK in order to upload your game on the Steam servers. It is not as easy as hitting an "upload" button, unfortunately.

    Of course all of this is possible and shouln't frighten you (making a whole game alone is much more difficult): I made it on my own and I'm honestly not really good with all these things. I just wanted to warn you that you shouldn't wait until your game is finished before you start the process!
    If you are confident in the quality of your game, you can also send it to GOG or other gaming platforms who might want to sell it for you, and it could be much easier/faster than through Steam. The main point of Steam is to increase your luck to reach more people. Speaking of luck, I wish you a lot!

    Great Poster

    321 Posts

  • #4, by tristan-kangFriday, 31. July 2015, 14:50 9 years ago
    That's really valuable information you provided, Simon.

    My worry for my game is those EIN process. Because I live in UK but I don't have citizenship yet. So if I sell my game in UK but don't have that number then the tax issue will fuck me up.

    Of course, the ways are open. I need to contact my tutors and let them gamble with me.

    Great Poster

    267 Posts

  • #5, by Simon_ASAFriday, 31. July 2015, 18:12 9 years ago
    Indeed if you are not yet a citizen of UK it's probably more complicated (I have no idea), and you might have to pay taxes... but I'm not an expert (at all). There are probably many other countries that have a trade agreement with the States in order to pay no/low taxes (Europe, maybe Autralia?).
    At least if you live in UK you already have an advantage on me: you can more easily understand/speak oral English than I do, which will make the process to retrieve the EIN much faster (--> apply by phone). You can probably explain your situation to the IRS directly.

    There is also a service to apply to the EIN online but it's only for US residents.

    If you want an EIN - not by phone - you'll have to fill a W8-ben form:
    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf
    (even if you plan to apply by phone, it's always good to be ready to reply the answers, and the questions will be based on this form)

    You can find all the instructions on the site of the IRS:
    http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employ...

    From my own experience it has been very challenging to retrieve this number, because of a lack of informations for foreign people, the fact that I am an individual worker, and some mistakes I made in the W8 form. I hope you'll succeed faster than I did!

    Great Poster

    321 Posts

  • #6, by tristan-kangFriday, 31. July 2015, 19:08 9 years ago
    Nah, I just arrived at UK 2 years ago but still my English... hmp. At least my IELTS score is decent. I suppose I can read and understand English perfectly but I'm still lack of communication at writing and verbal process.

    Yup, I have UK phone number. That's great. And at least I can explain my situation properly to those IRS managers.

    Thank you so much for your providing. The pdf seems helpful but it looks like outdated, 2014 version. I probably need 2015 one. It's really nice there is a language option for Korean at IRS website. Because I'm still South Korean, which will be changed into British after 3 years later. Just planning it.

    It's sad there is no French language option for IRS. I thought they had that language option already. roll

    Great Poster

    267 Posts

  • #7, by brut69Saturday, 01. August 2015, 16:51 9 years ago
    Thank you!
    I will first get a website , add a couple of things there and then release/post here a demo before I try for steam

    Great Poster

    266 Posts

  • #8, by Ryan BissonnetteSaturday, 21. January 2017, 02:12 7 years ago

    Newbie

    1 Posts

  • #9, by afrlmeSaturday, 21. January 2017, 03:16 7 years ago
    hey brut69 whats your game link i'll vote for it and you can vote for games
    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=846621172
    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=846639363


    haha, mate... you made me laugh! Classic, just classic.

    1. This thread has been collecting cobwebs since the backend of 2015.

    2. This is a website / forum for point & click adventure games made with Visionaire Studio, not somewhere to push for votes on random steam greenlight games that have nothing to do with point & click adventure games &/or haven't been developed with Visionaire Studio.

    P.S: I really wish I had a shakeshark emoticon right now. Oh wait look, there it is!
    http://img08.deviantart.net/b3b0/i/2006/088/b/a/_shakeshark__by_taimotive.gif

    Imperator

    7278 Posts