alix-stolzer
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Opening the valve: Steam Curators rule the front page
Ask a hundred independent developers what impacts their sales most and you'll likely get a hundred different answers, but among the more popular ones will be the topic of discoverability, the ways in which prospective buyers are able to find lesser-known video games. Platforms like the App Store and Steam see a lot of foot-traffic in their featured sections, and even brief visibility for independent developers can make for a massive difference in their bottom line. As more games have made their way to Steam via regular release, Greenlight and Early Access, it's become vastly more difficult for a new game to be discovered. Enter Steam Curators, Valve's means of placing the weight of game recommendations on those outside its walls. The service launched this week and allows any person or brand (such as your friends here at Joystiq) to compile lists of games their followers should play, shifting the scope of the store's front page to include recommended games and a section for popular curators. Given Steam's incredible popularity and its status as a "must-have" piece of PC gaming software, Steam Curators is a major step for the service, and developers hope that it might heavily influence independent game sales.
You only get one chance to play Upsilon Circuit
Upsilon Circuit is an upcoming PC game from Legend of Dungeon developers Robot Loves Kitty, but you might never get the chance to play it. In fact, only eight people will ever be playing the game simultaneously, and once one of those players dies, that's the end for them; in Upsilon Circuit, you only have one life. Ever. Think of it like Twitch Plays Pokemon meets Diablo 3, as televised by The Running Man, playing a game of 1 vs 100. Yeah.
Greenlight Supershow live-streams 13 hours of indie hopefuls June 29
The Greenlight Supershow will capture the hottest games on Steam Greenlight for a 13-hour live-stream event on Twitch, starting at 10:30AM on Saturday, June 29. The Supershow showcases more than 25 games, each vying for a spot on Steam via Greenlight, and will include Q&As, giveaways, and sneak peeks at new things. Portions will be co-hosted by YouTubers Jesse Cox (OMGFcata) and Ryan Letourneau (Northernlion), as well as other indie-loving web personalities. The Greenlight Supershow will feature Ray's the Dead, BroForce, Girls Like Robots, Escape Goat, Black Annex, Delver's Drop, Paranautical Activity, McDroid, Dino Run SE, 8BitMMO and Tower of Guns, among others. Check out the entire schedule – including breaks with games that have already been Greenlit – right here. The whole shebang is organized by Alix Stolzer of development duo Robot Loves Kitty, who says the event comes complete with Valve's support. Stolzer's multiplayer roguelike, Legend of Dungeon, was Greenlit in April, and she wants more indies to find the same success on Steam. This weekend, consider ditching those Saturday morning cartoons and checking out the Greenlight Supershow all day long.
