[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][doclink=marketing/visibility]Visibility on Steam[/doclink][/td] [td]Prominent visibility of products on the front page of the Steam Store is a careful balancing act. We want to show products that customers are interested in buying and are going to be happy with, while also giving new games and software a chance to find their audience.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][doclink=marketing/wishlist]Wishlists[/doclink][/td] [td]Email notifications may be sent to customers based on a variety of trigger actions related to your game, software, or video on Steam. These triggers may change in the future, but this is a description of current set of features.…

This offers lists for Top Selling, New Releases, Upcoming, and discounted and provides for ways to customize additional ways of organizing the DLC. [docimg=browse_page_example_1.png]browse_page_example_1.png[/docimg] [subsection]Default Appearance[/subsection] This browse page will automatically list your DLC with a couple of default logic. Here is a general idea of what happens by default: [list] [*]The page will first list out the items that you specified to appear on your base game's store page. [*]If those items of DLC all have at least 4 screenshots, then we’ll display all those items of DLC in big sections on the browse page, which shows the short description, price, and 4 screenshots. [*]If not all the items have at least 4 screenshots, then we fall back to just showing a row of capsules. [/list] [subsection]Customization[/subsection] You can customize these pages with a similar set of options that you have for configuring your [doclink=store/creator_homepage]developer or publisher homepages[/doclink]. …

[url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/workshop]Setting up your Steam Workshop[/url] [*][b]News[/b] - This tab contains your custom announcements along with any syndicated news about your product. Announcements are a great way to officially communicate with your players. …

Once you've had a chance to monitor some of the discussions that are happening in your hub, you'll have a good idea of any customization requirements. You can add or remove sub-forums or customize existing ones with the following options: [list] [*]Name - The name of the subforum [*]Visibility - Controls who can view each subforum and the content in it. [*]Post rights - Who is able to post in existing threads and create new ones. …

With those in mind, here are some best practices: [list] [*][b]Less Can Be More[/b]: You have more space here, but don't forget: the more you write, the less likely a customer will read all of it. Avoid long paragraphs or 'walls of text.' [*][b]Make it Skimmable[/b]: Consider bolding your key features or section headers using the provided formatting tools. Most customers will only skim this section anyway, so bolding the main ideas will help them stand out. [*][b]Keep the Newbie Audience in Mind[/b]: Many people will encounter your game for the first time through its store page. …

[/introblock] [section]Overview[/section] Steam has the ability to provide free demos for your customers so that they can try before they buy. It's up to you whether or not a demo will be beneficial for your title, but there are a couple of useful things to consider: [olist] [*] Quality – Customers are generally using the demo to make a purchase decision on your game. …

We generally recommend waiting until launch, but there are circumstances where putting a demo out prior to release is effective. If, for instance, you feel like customers need to touch the game to really understand it, then a quality demo prior to release can be useful. [*] Length – You need to balance giving the customer enough content to get them excited, without giving away so much that they feel like they've experienced everything the game has to offer. …

[/list] [h4]Dynamic License Management[/h4] You can now offer your customers games on Steam using a dynamic pool of licenses. Users can log into Steam [b]using their own personal Steam accounts[/b] and have access to both their own games and [b]games that you offer[/b]. …

[h4]Support for Personal Steam Accounts[/h4] Using dynamic license management, your customers will be able to play your games using their own Steam accounts. This means that they can earn XP, badges, collect game drops, or even make in-game purchases within your business just as they would at home. …

The traffic breakdown reports are designed to show you where your game is being surfaced to customers and which channels are directing players to your store page. Below is more information on how traffic reporting works on Steam. …

[subsection]Visits[/subsection] Visits are unique page loads of your product's store page. Customers frequently return to a product page multiple times from multiple origins before deciding to make a purchase, so the metrics captured here are intended to convey the variety of places where customers are finding your product and clicking to learn more. …

[docimg=our_franchises_02.jpg]our_franchises_02.jpg[/docimg] [section]Highlight franchises on your homepage[/section] Now you can customize your sections on your homepage to show a list of your franchises. When editing the sections on your developer or publisher homepage, select “Link your Homepages” from the type picker. …

This has many of the same benefits of following a developer, except that it is scoped to just products that are part of that franchise. When a Steam customer follows your franchise, they are giving Steam a strong signal that they enjoy that content and allows Steam to expand the customer store experience in the following ways: [list] [*] [b]Email notification[/b] - Followers of your franchise will receive an email when a game in your franchise releases or enters early access or exits early access. [*] [b]Featuring games[/b] - When followers are browsing either the Steam front page or a genre and/or tag Steam hub page, Steam will mix in recently released games from the franchise into the main capsules on those pages. …

Item accessories provide a way for players to customize their in-game items, and to create more valuable, interesting, and even unique versions of common items used in your game. Attached accessories will be visible in the Inventory view on the community, and will create "Unique" (non-commodity) item listings when they are offered on the Steam Community Market. …

[code] Stickers applied 123 times [/code] [subsection]Removing or replacing accessories[/subsection] Once consumed, an accessory item can't be restored by removing it from the customized item. Accessories can of course be removed - see the per-item tags documentation for methods to remove tags from an item. For user customization, you may choose to offer a tag_tool whose only purpose is to remove existing accessories. …

The information provided here will determine how your game appears relative to each customer's preferences. Because mature content such as depictions of violence and sex can be sensitive in nature, it is important that you make honest and accurate disclosures. …

Through the content survey and our own pre-release review, Valve attempts to meet three goals regarding Adult Only Sexual Content: enforce legal limits, respect game makers' creative freedom, and fulfill the expectations of customers. Having Live-Generated AI Adult Only Sexual Content during gameplay could affect our ability to meet these goals. The legal and customer risks are substantial enough that we don't want to ship Live-Generated AI Adult Only Sexual Content at this time. …

Steam provides many different features and APIs to improve the multiplayer experience for developers and customers alike. With these features you can easily allow players to find and play with each other using the Steam Matchmaking APIs, or use the Steam Game Servers API to provide persistent dedicated servers that your players can create communities around.…

Whether you choose to integrate our anti-cheat APIs or use your own solution, make sure you give your customers proper warning that such a system exists and that you have UI ingame that clearly explains the ban.[/td][/tr] [tr][td][doclink=features/steamvr][/doclink][/td][td]Steam and Steamworks provide robust support for Virtual Reality experiences via SteamVR. …

Remove any unnecessary bindings not used by your game, and add any custom bindings used by your game. For more information see https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/steam_controller/getting_started_for_players [docimg=TouchBindings.PNG]TouchBindings.PNG[/docimg] [*] On your mobile device start streaming your game, click the [...] button and drag any newly bound controls onto the screen. …

Save it as a new Personal binding and give it an appropriate name such as 'Official Touch Controller Configuration for GAME' and a useful description. [*] Then click the settings button and click Layout Details, which will copy a URL for your configuration to the clipboard. [*] Go to the partner site and edit Steamworks Settings → Application → Steam Input. Under Steam Input Default Touch Configuration select Custom Configuration. Click the "Add Custom Configuration" button and paste the URL for your new config, and click Save. [docimg=TouchPartnerConfiguration.png]TouchPartnerConfiguration.png[/docimg] [*] Publish your updated Steamworks settings for your game, as you would normally. …

Your upcoming game's release date in Steamworks serves two purposes: to tell players when they might expect your game, and to list your game on upcoming releases lists. How these dates appear can be customized within a set of options built into Steam. [docimg=release_dates_example1]release_dates_example1[/docimg] [section]Setting Your Game's Release Date[/section] The release date can be set from your game's landing page in Steamworks. …

[/b] A: Yes, you will specify a specific intended release date, which is helpful for us to understand roughly when games intend to release even if you choose not to share that exact date with customers. We'll also use that calendar date to generate messages (like inviting you to participate in Steam Next Fest, or reminding you to submit your build for review prior to release!). …

Besides using the commercial game licenses from the location's license pool, visitors can also play all of their regular games they own with their personal Steam account. Customers that bring in their laptop, and are allowed to join the network running the PC Café Server, will also be able to access the games in the license pool. [*][h4]Is the Café required to purchase commercial copies of the games?…

This allows partners to add game modes, scoring features or even unlock content to those customers - if it makes sense in a Café or arcade environment. [*][h4]Where do I find my commercial sales data?[/h4] Your Steam Sales Report is available on the secure partner site under the "Reports" tab. …

They can also play the games they already own on their personal Steam account; this will not affect the game licenses in your license pool. You and your customers will benefit from the following: [list][*]Easy game management using a shared pool of licenses all purchased with your Steam master account. [*]Commercial license discounts and bulk purchase option. [*]If you have multiple locations these licenses can be shared across all of your locations. [*]The PC Café Server can also act as a local content cache to minimize Internet bandwidth usage. [*]Gather and view usage stats on how your customers are using Steam in your business. …

[b]Design:[/b] For best results, please use the key art and logo that is being used for any retail boxes or marketing. The art used for them should immediately tell the customer something important about the game. It should be graphically-centric and give the user some sense of the game-play. [list][*][color=#ca5029]Do not include quotes or other strings of text beyond the title of your game. …

[b]Design:[/b] For best results, please use the key art and logo that is being used for any retail boxes or marketing. The art used for them should immediately tell the customer something important about the game. It should be graphically-centric and give the user some sense of the game-play. [list][*][color=#ca5029]Do not include quotes or other strings of text beyond the title of your game. …

The work to create and associate a soundtrack is minimal, so we encourage you to create a soundtrack app if you think even a small number of customers would be interested in the music content of your game. Soundtracks sell particularly well as a component of a bundle including the base game and the soundtrack for a slight price increase. …

The conversion tool will make changes to the Steam configuration for your DLC, but will not publish those changes. No changes will be visible to customers until you publish the changes after running the tool. Customers that already own the DLC will automatically own the converted soundtrack. …

[docimg=daily_deal_updated.jpg]daily_deal_updated.jpg[/docimg] [section]Daily Deal Eligibility[/section] Since Daily Deals appear prominently in the Steam Store and are visible to broad swaths of customers, we need to have confidence that these offers will be interesting to a broad set of customers. Therefore, we judge eligibility for daily deals based on demonstrated customer interest or trending momentum in revenue over the past few months. …

[section]How the Payment System Works[/section] The payment system is a combination of whatever purchase process you have in-game, the Steam billing web service, and a customer approval process. The purchase process occurs in the following sequence. Your user always starts and completes their order in your game. …

Steam will present the converted price to the user, in their local currency for approval. For the best customer experience it is recommended that you provide specific pricing in each currency you expect your customers to use. [*] A list of one or more items that the user wishes to purchase. …

[section=build]SteamPipe Builds and Patch Notes[/section] When submitting a new build for your game via SteamPipe, a small prompt will automatically appear to encourage you to also post a patch note for your customers. This prompt lets you easily submit your patch notes inlines at the point after submitting the build. Often developers will use this to write a bullet point list of the changes made. Patch notes following your build updates is helpful for your customers to realize you are continuing work on and improve your game. [docimg=41b67b4a94e6487c5e07c6085dbb9d63d8d9e166.jpg]41b67b4a94e6487c5e07c6085dbb9d63d8d9e166.jpg[/docimg] You can always use the regular event editor to post the patch notes at a later time. …