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Game Launcher and SteamUGC


Josh

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I'm working to move our Workshop implementation over to the newer SteamUGC API. There were recently some things updated, and that is still being sorted out. I'm also finishing up the game player.

 

The first incarnation of Leadwerks Game Launcher was pretty utilitarian (and ugly):

blogentry-1-0-45553100-1431392392_thumb.jpg

 

I realized this was pretty drab for a product aimed at consumers, so I designed a more outlandish colorful interface that was purely web-based:

blogentry-1-0-22692500-1431392462_thumb.jpg

 

This one looks nice, but you can tell it will start to feel dated quickly. I'm also concerned about the user's perception of this product. It is meant to be a software application, not a thinly wrapped web page. I'm also sensitive to the danger of this product being associated with garbage like this, enough so that I decided to get rid of the "Game Player" name and call it something else. The name "Game Launcher" is more closely associated with initialization interfaces like the one used in Amnesia. It's just more of an acceptable PC gaming thing:

blogentry-1-0-28969700-1431392832_thumb.jpg

 

My design also took up a lot of space and looked a lot like the iTunes App Store. It is not my goal to build a redundant marketplace within Steam, and that is what this looks like.

 

So with that in mind, I came up with a third design that makes better use of the GUI and minimizes the web elements:

 

blogentry-1-0-62914200-1431441882_thumb.jpg

 

blogentry-1-0-55953400-1431406034_thumb.jpg

 

The buttons in the left-hand lower corner are unicode characters, interestingly.

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I like the progression. The current version is pretty clean and functional. Maybe it could receive a more graphical touch down the line. Also, it's not the end of the world but if the left/right buttons are meant to do something with the current game selection, maybe they should be under that selection, like so:

http://s13.postimg.org/kphpoakyf/Image1.png

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I like it. It's clear and it's straight forward. Clicking the game and opening a more detail/play page is much better than the instant install/play way of before.

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I implemen

I hope update gets fixed so I can update my game...working and functional is more important than looks....

I implemented a new download method that should be reliable now. The update is out now.
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I am still not able to update my game...when you get time I would appreciate it if you would look into this problem...I don't know if it is just my game not updating or if others have the same problem...

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