If you can, Mary, tell the others that the “Butler Did It” is one of the titles that your Steam customers will embrace. I think it will become a popular title if offered on Steam.
The other, I don’t recall off-hand, so I am not in position to comment.
Keeper of the Sun and Moon always seems to have been a big hit here on the forums. Of course for me personally it is one of the very few I’ve gladly sacrificed some of my scarce free time for to beta test it free of charge, so for me the release version would be an instant buy. Always stings doubly if you cannot obtain a game you’ve personally sacrificed something for and been a (very small, that’s true, but still) part of.
Plus @Delliot has said he might look into a Linus Romance, which would make the game even better still, should that happen. 
Both that title and Keeper would be instant buys for me the moment they hit Steam.
I don’t know how they determined NPT would get a Steam release. I did not expect it but was tickled pink at the opportunity. And if it disappointed them sales-wise I feel legitimately bad about that, both for their sake and my own. I wish it had done better, and I certainly wish it had some reviews other than the one I wrote.
But one thing I would say in their defense is based on what sales data I have gotten so far, even if NPT isn’t exactly a runaway hit, it has gotten an unusually large percentage of its business from Steam. Over 20%, if memory serves.
Also, while I know an example was needed, I can’t say it was a good feeling to be namechecked in such a negative capacity.
Indeed, sorry if I hurt your feelings there, I was just grabbing a recent example at the top of my head too.
The fact that I cannot choose for the male protag to be truly gay, along with the other woefully limited character (design) options made me bow out of NPT with the demo.
Of course this is personal, but I usually come here for the chance to play games where my mc can be an unabashedly and unashamedly gay protagonist, of the sort you just cannot get in mainstream media and AAA games.
Space Adventures is a genre that appeals to consumers on Steam … I am not surprised your game was chosen for Steam. I am glad that it is doing well and predict that it shall have a steady stream of purchases, especially those who are snared by the other space adventures in the Steam library.
Which probably makes npt a better fit for steam than most HGs as people are more used to it in parallel genres like visual novels that often have more preset characters. I’m sure COG looks at the metrics to predict how games are likely to sell when making these decisions.
I know it’s frustrating not to have games on the platform of your choice, but at the end of the day, the games have to make enough money to justify being put there, and I say this as an author with 2 games not on steam. I’d obviously like my games to be on as many platforms as possible, but get why they can’t be.
If you want to mod them how you like, I’d try grabbing some of the free titles to start with off the various platforms to see if you can get modded coded games via copied text files working for you and see how you go from there. It might not be ideal, but it works at least you know you can do the same for games you buy later and at least have access to whatever you want on the PC.
Seems to easiest solution would be if the website version were downloadable and not locked to server-side only, constant online play.
Probably won’t happen unless and until CoG makes its own omnibus app for the PC, that might be able to serve as an offline launcher someday too.
Hope that somewhere in 2019 CoG will at least consider taking a look at if they cannot take advantage of Itch.io as a storefront as most other small and Indy developers seem to be doing as of late.
As for the frustration level, just tried Dragon on my firm-issued I-crap phone and I was just about ready to fling the thing at the wall after about five minutes…so, yeah, “mobile” gaming really isn’t for me, as on the phone I would at the very minimum really, really need a back/undo button as I hamhandedly “swiped” in the wrong choice at least thrice in those five minutes.
A quick first attempt at self-assembly of Dragon’s text files seems to indicate I’m either missing a couple of bits and pieces to make it work for me, or maybe I need to get better at CS coding, as I’ve never done more than simple alterations, not wholesale assembly before. 
Also, obviously, any time I spend on wholesale self-assembly is time I cannot spend actually playing the things, plus it won’t get updates or addons either, unless, again I assemble them myself.
I would not like to have to assemble something with code as complex as XoR, or Vendetta myself, obviously.
I second the itch.io mention, although I’m not as familiar with it as steam, some interactive fiction games have shown up there
Could I ask what sort of factors go into the decision of whether or not you a Hosted Game is released on Steam, or is that something you’d prefer not to go into too much detail on? 
taking a shot into the dark here, I’d say part length, part how likely it is to sell well?
^^^^
Folks…I think we’ve got about as much mileage as we’re going to out of this topic. The only new thing added recently has been hustler’s hurt feelings. Hard as it is to accept that right now we’re not going to find a solution that makes everyone happy…can I suggest we drop it? I’m sure CoG has heard the itch.io recommendation and noted the frustration.
If it’s okay with you @Havenstone I’m going to use this post to keep track of my Hosted Games on PC wishlist.
I know a demand factor of one is not going to change much, if anything, but at least it’s a way for me to keep track. And, as always, should enough others join in then maybe, just maybe something could come up for a re-release on Steam eventually.
So the current list for me is:
The Kepler Colony: Evacuation
The Butler did It,
Gladiator: Road to the Colosseum and
Keeper of the Sun and Moon.
I mentioned this on a similar thread, and wanted to put it here as well:
Would it be possible for CoG/HG to allow an author to choose to set aside the amount needed to put their game on Steam as an advance of sorts? Like, if it costs $100, they offset their first $100 of royalties to cover the cost? Or they have that amount taken from their initial Steam earnings? A bit more of a bookkeeping hassle but some authors might be willing to do it to get a chance at another platform. Just wanted to throw that out there as a suggestion.
I don’t think so. I’ll come back later with some numbers.
Thanks, any information would be helpful.
So it costs $1000 to put a Hosted Game on Steam. Now, I can’t release sales information on our Hosted Games. I can only tell you that many, many, many Hosted Games have not earned $1000 in revenue on iOS and GPS combined. My own game, which came out in 2017 and, granted is free, short, and shitty, has netted $1200 in pay to unlock ads sales. After almost two years.
We just can’t do it. We’d go thousands of dollars in the hole.
There are other factors involved as well. For example, if you go on Steam, I believe Valve requires you to have a video of your game (most devs display theirs on Youtube.) Unless you have the skills yourself, getting something done to a decent quality will cost money.
Additionally, CoG has to deal with contracts, other platforms, employ their own people, etc. which also can cost money.
Now if your end goal is just to get on Steam, and not worry about other platforms, there are some other avenues.
First is obviously coming up with $100 to pay for the Steam costs initially. However, if you are serious, realize that you may well spend a lot more than this.
Second is to find a game engine which suits your needs. While I love Choice of Games, unless you go through CoG, you can’t really use ChoiceScript to monetize your games (CoG has a list of requirements, etc. which states this).
However, there are many other free engines available. There is a reason a lot of Visual Novels use Ren’Py; anyone can use it and profit from it, all they have to do is keep a page essentially saying “Made with RenPy”
$1000. One thousand. USD. To get on Steam.
Since we wish to get correct, here is the pertinent link:
Right there, the price for the Steam Direct Product Submission Fee is $100 US.
None of it is recoupable until you earn $1000.