Steam Version of BBO (incorporating Steamworks)

[Assyst]

Hello fellow Bridge Base players,

In order to attract a larger user base to BBO, I was thinking that perhaps a Steam version should be released for younger players. There is currently not a card game section (genre) on Steam, however, this game would fall under the FTP category (Free to Play), and in addition a new section *could* be added.

 

I think this would be of great advantage to video game players, such as myself, who spend their time regularly online chatting with friends. Moreover, I believe that if a casual section does not already exist (on BBO itself), one should be added for players who wish to voice chat with their partner, and take advantage of the steam overlay.

 

As this would be the first proper MP card game on steam, this is just a highly experimental thought which I felt that I should share with the community. Please share your ideas on this topic,

Assyst

 

 

At time of writing there were 2.5 million Steam users online:

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

[jbaptistec]

I think this should hardly be a priority.

I am myself a Steam user and would not think to look for bridge, poker or other classical card or board games software here.

There is another reason : it would probably take far too much time to produce a version which :

• Matches the design of other softwares : if we released BBO as is on Steam, players who just wanted to test bridge out of curiosity would just jump to another game, judging mainly by graphics.
  
• Offers a fun-to-play solo mode. As far as I know, every game on Steam is playable offline.
  
• Provides a clear tutorial to bridge.
  

 

The only advantage I see would be to use Steam cloud computing in order to store played hands. I think this is really insignificant.

[Assyst]

I think this should hardly be a priority.

I am myself a Steam user and would not think to look for bridge, poker or other classical card or board games software here.

There is another reason : it would probably take far too much time to produce a version which :

• Matches the design of other softwares : if we released BBO as is on Steam, players who just wanted to test bridge out of curiosity would just jump to another game, judging mainly by graphics.
  
• Offers a fun-to-play solo mode. As far as I know, every game on Steam is playable offline.
  
• Provides a clear tutorial to bridge.
  

 

The only advantage I see would be to use Steam cloud computing in order to store played hands. I think this is really insignificant.

 

What if a system similar to that used in Dota 2 could be made.

Where if a person were to abandon a game, they would be put into a low priority pool for 24 hours, and the game is recorded as a loss. To other players only wins are shown, but the overall number of games played is shown.

Not every steam game is playable offline. In fact, not nearly (the popular game 'Tribes: Ascend' is a good example of this).

 

I, however, do agree with you, in that this idea is too far fetched and would take too much effort. The developers would have to work in tight cooperation with Valve for help.

[barmar]

I don't play any Steam games, but from a quick glance it looks like it's primarily designed for action-oriented video games, with good support for 3D rendering. It's not clear how much benefit BBO would game from this platform. I doubt you'll see lots of video game players picking up bridge just because BBO happens to be in the Steam Store. With most video games, you can take a quick look at the rules and start playing, since they're all just variations on a few basic themes, but you can't just jump into bridge like that.

 

So online bridge is only likely to attract people who already play bridge, and I think they'll find BBO just fine without it having to be part of a larger gamer community.

[barmar]

On the other hand, online bridge with realistic 3D graphics would be incredibly cool. We could have a picture of a table, and avatars tossing the cards on the table. When you double, your avatar could slam the bidding card for emphasis. If we wanted to be truly realistic, we could have a preference for card-snapping. :)

 

And there could be a "gallery" in the background, which would have more graphical people depending on the number of kibitzers.

[jandrew]

Calm down folks :P

[barmar]

Since it's not likely to happen any time soon, it's fun to imagine.

 

We could combine it with a FPS to re-enact the Bennett murder.

[Assyst]

On the other hand, online bridge with realistic 3D graphics would be incredibly cool. We could have a picture of a table, and avatars tossing the cards on the table. When you double, your avatar could slam the bidding card for emphasis. If we wanted to be truly realistic, we could have a preference for card-snapping. :)

 

And there could be a "gallery" in the background, which would have more graphical people depending on the number of kibitzers.

HOYLE has already tried this.. Let's just say it's a failure....

 

http://www.hoylegaming.com/

[Zelandakh]

It sounds like Minibridge might be more appropriate for this outlet. Not that that is likely to happen either.