As per Request
Not about this game but speaking of PC versus mobile @Ramidel @RETowers @Mary_Duffy can any of you tell me if Keeper of the Sun and Moon is getting a Steam release, as that is one title I’d hate not being able to play.
@Eiwynn @RETowers could one of you do me a favour please and move my posts here (and the direct replies to them) over to a new topic: Hosted Games on PC/Steam? In hindsight that would probably have been the better move all along, but I just don’t like making new topics, particularly when I’m sure nobody will read them anyway.
Uh, I really don’t get which of the forum rules @idonotlikeusernames broke with his question. The only problem I see about it is that this might not be 100%ly the correct thread for it but does that really deserve to be flagged?
The correct thread would be the big thread listing the upcoming choice and hosted games, but non-leader users cannot comment on that one. And I do sympathize with the need to keep them relatively uncluttered.
That being said with the demise of the Chrome App store it is highly frustrating that I have no real assurances the titles I am most looking forward to, particularly for Hosted Games are going to be available on my platform of choice (PC).
What CoG does and does not put on Steam does come across as weird to me sometimes (though I’m sure it all chimes with the internal metrics of the company I am not privileged to). Still it’s always frustrating to see the titles you’re looking forward to or hear good things about, like most recently “The Butler did it” not get a Steam release, putting them beyond my grasp.
@Cari-san It is off topic. The thread is now further off topic, but me trying to keep it on topic apparently makes me a bad guy; and if I don’t reply to @idonotlikeusernames I’m also a bad guy here, so I give up! Talk about whatever you want, wherever you want! I assume Keeper of the Sun and Moon has a WIP thread…That would be one place to talk about its release, right? If you have a direct question for staff email is the best way to find something out. Everyone’s email is first name at choiceofgames dot com.
But anyway:
We’re frustrated by Chrome Web Store going away too. Unfortunately we can’t release every Hosted Game on Steam. For one thing, it costs money now and not every Hosted Game will earn back the cost of releasing it on Steam. There are some other factors there as well. I don’t know for sure whether Keeper is going on Steam, I don’t manage Hosted Games, but a quick look at our production docs make me think it is not going on Steam.
Oh, crap. Well one more hope dashed, I guess. Thank you for your honest reply though Mary.
I guess it is one of the ones you can color me as not understanding not getting a Steam Release, because it always seemed to be a big hit here on the forums.
Sure, but this is a general question and knowing in advance whether something is going to be on your platform of choice or not is by definition a general question, suited for a public forum or F.A.Q. .
Believe me if I have an issue that concerns only me, I know how to contact you guys. But I cannot be the only customer who strongly prefers PC gaming over doing anything “mobile”.
@daydreamsincolor Have CoG told you anything definite about whether or not Keepers is getting a Steam release or not?
@idonotlikeusernames
Apologies, I haven’t been told what platforms Keeper will be released to.
The author’s answer has just belied this, unfortunately.
I get that this is not the position CoG wants to be in either, but as a customer I would like, where possible, the platform release information in advance, if only to break out of the frustrating circle where I, as a PC gamer, repeatedly get my hopes up and then dashed. It’s not a great feeling, neither is Steam a great platform, but that discussion is perhaps best saved for somewhere else.
Well, I’m not trying to be mysterious, but I would advise that you stop getting your hopes up—and readjust expectations around Hosted Games being released on Steam. I don’t necessarily have the information about whether a game is getting a Steam release well in advance of it being released.
Can I ask in a casual sort of way why Steam or Chrome is your preference to the website for playing on a PC?
Sure, the main reasons are that I can play offline (I live on the outskirts of a village/town and while I do have DSL, and should be getting fibre-optic next year our service is not always as reliable as it is in say Amsterdam).
There is also the fact that I cannot view or edit the code easily (or indeed at all) on the website version, which leaves me with no possibility to make my own mods such as “it’s raining men”, like I did for @Havenstone 's XoR that allowed me to play a pure gay male character with Breden and Simon both set to male. My other modding efforts though of a lesser nature are more often limited to me occasionally tweaking stat balance to something more to my liking or correcting a code bug (particularly of the variety that misgender my mc in a scene), without having to wait for an official/Steam update to roll out.
The third and final reason is that if for some reason I cannot complete a game in one sitting/evening Chrome and even Steam “save” my progress, whereas due to security measures I cannot relax due to my job my normal web-browsing gets reset (cookies deleted, etc, etc,) if I log out.
So to recap, offline play and modding. Pretty much the same reasons as with many of my other PC games, including the AAA ones.
I do hope, other better solutions for the PC crowd, like myself, might be found in 2019 or beyond.
How about Amazon? I have no idea about modding with Amazon releases but I can download books to either my computer or phone to read, I’m assuming it’s the same for apps?
Isn’t literally everything encrypted with Amazon? If so that would effectively prevent modding, or even simply viewing the code, as I don’t think Amazon is going to hand over decryption keys/programs.
If anything when using a platform not specifically optimized for the PC Google would still be the way to go on account of Bluestacks.
Anyone here got any experience using that Android emulator to play CoG’s? Can you even view the code/files with it? Do you need a cell phone sim-card with a data plan to trick the system in order to use it to order or play CoG’s in the first place?
In any case it would still be a poor “solution” compared to having things simply be natively available on the PC.
In terms of PC, steam does offer the best experience. I have bluestacks android emulator, but you end up with a tiny screen and a lot more hassle than using steam.
I suspected as much, “mobile” gaming really isn’t my preference, but if Keeper really isn’t going to be on Steam any time soon or ever…
What about that Google Play store on Bluestacks, does it ask for a sim-card and phone number with data plan, or can you just buy stuff with only your Google account and the normal payment information?
Lastly of course can you view/edit the code in Bluestacks?
You just need a Google account for that.
As for viewing/editing code in Bluestacks; I don’t think that works, unfortunately. Could be wrong though; I only had a quick look around.
When purchasing a game form the CoG website, are you only able to do so via credit card? I was hoping for PayPal to be an option, but that doesn’t seems to be the case from what I’ve seen? I guess this would be my reason for not buying from the webiste.
Though if you did buy it through the website, shouldn’t the code that’s behind the paywall be unlocked as well? Or is that not how it works?
Anyway, seems like I need to look for an alternative to Steam as well, even if Bluestack and Amazon are not exactly ideal. There are more and more games I want to play that aren’t available on Steam and I’d hate to miss them.
I don’t know if you can view it or not, but obviously, you sure as heck can’t edit it. So stat balance tweaks, or a second mod, like I did for XoR, would be flat-out impossible.
It’s quite obvious that as a PC gamer I, and I think many people with me, would just like a solution that allows us the freedom to play the Hosted games we like on our chosen platform natively. Whether that’s through Steam, Itch.io or a program to download from the XoR website, that does not require being permanently online for a whole playthrough and preferably allows us to view/edit the code as PC gaming and “modding” tend to go hand in hand.
You can certainly view the game code on the CoG website (it’s pretty similar to viewing WiP code on Dashingdon’s). But, yeah, no editing as far as I know.
I’ve never used Bluestacks, only VM that comes with official SDK, but I’d wager that you still wouldn’t be able to mod any app without breaking certificates. Like it’d go on a phone.
And the phone experience is exactly what I want to avoid.
And unlike on Dashingdon’s no save games either, so the session is still wiped clean every time I log out.
So that brings me back to hoping that somewhere in 2019 CoG finds a way to fully include PC gamers, like me, in Hosted Games again.
It’s a pity you absolutely cannot download an offline version from the website.
Just FYI @ParrotWatcher but Totem Force, is one of the games I plan to mod to tweak (mostly) the hidden darkness stat.
I am kind of butting here, but wouldn’t it be possible to buy and download the app to your computer and play with an android emulator?
It would be better than not playing it at all, even if it’s not that ideal.
Oh, I see more people already said so, so apologies