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As we approach launch for the Steam Deck in December, Valve has begun ramping up their info for developers with the announcement of a Steamworks Virtual Conference.

Taking place on Friday, November 12, starting at 10AM PT / 5PM UTC the topic will be specifically for the Steam Deck this time, covering these subjects:

  • Steam Deck Hardware
  • Development without a dev-kit
  • Steam on Deck
  • Proton Support
  • Steam Input
  • Steam Deck Verified
  • APU deep dive with AMD

After each talk is done, Valve will host a live question and answer session to go through questions developers have.

Unfortunately, the event itself is locked to Steamworks approved developers. However, like a lot of Steamworks videos, it's likely it will appear on the official YouTube at some point after. If that does happen, we will let you know.

If you missed it, Valve recently held a Q&A session for developers at GI Live: London that you can see below:

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rustybroomhandle Nov 1, 2021
I am planning to check it out f'sure. Most of the content will be stuff known to most of us for a long time now, but I am curious to see who else is in the Q&A and what kind of questions come up.
Shmerl Nov 1, 2021
What's lacking is their "porting to Linux" talks they did in the past (it was called "Steam dev days" I think?). That's not a very good sign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd8ie5R4CVE


Last edited by Shmerl on 1 November 2021 at 9:23 pm UTC
kuhpunkt Nov 1, 2021
Quoting: ShmerlWhat's lacking is their "porting to Linux" talks they did in the past (it was called "Steam dev days" I think?). That's not a very good sign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd8ie5R4CVE

Because it's not a priority. It clearly didn't work in the past.
Shmerl Nov 1, 2021
Quoting: kuhpunktBecause it's not a priority. It clearly didn't work in the past.

That worked just fine. Steam Machines didn't work. That's not the same as teaching games developers to release for Linux.
kuhpunkt Nov 1, 2021
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: kuhpunktBecause it's not a priority. It clearly didn't work in the past.

That worked just fine. Steam Machines didn't work. That's not the same as teaching games developers to release for Linux.

Steam Machines didn't work, because there was no software to play - because devs didn't want to port. That's the whole reason why Valve put so much effort into Proton.
Shmerl Nov 1, 2021
Quoting: kuhpunktSteam Machines didn't work, because there was no software to play - because devs didn't want to port. That's the whole reason why Valve put so much effort into Proton.

I can argue the opposite. Devs didn't want to port becasue Steam Machines didn't work. Software stack wasn't ready. Marketing was non existent, potential sales didn't look promising and so on. It was too early. Proton isn't the main point here even though it helps of course.


Last edited by Shmerl on 1 November 2021 at 11:43 pm UTC
eldaking Nov 2, 2021
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: kuhpunktSteam Machines didn't work, because there was no software to play - because devs didn't want to port. That's the whole reason why Valve put so much effort into Proton.

I can argue the opposite. Devs didn't want to port becasue Steam Machines didn't work. Software stack wasn't ready. Marketing was non existent, potential sales didn't look promising and so on. It was too early. Proton isn't the main point here even though it helps of course.

Even more so, a number of devs actually did port, we got a lot of games (relatively speaking) from that time in particular. Only afterwards, because Steam Machines flopped, some of those were disappointed and didn't make subsequent ports. Not all, though, it worked out for many. Steam machines failed devs, not the opposite.

The Steam Machines just weren't very compelling. It was a prebuilt PC at normal value with the Steam brand. SteamOS was certainly a disadvantage for most people, but I don't think "have to manually install Windows" was the one big problem for the audience.
Shmerl Nov 2, 2021
Yeah, that's why with stronger push for Steam Deck and much better software stack situation today with Vulkan and Mesa, I'd like to see that renewed effort of educating game developers to make Linux releases.
ElectricPrism Nov 2, 2021
Once again I arrive to the conversation feeling like I'm the only one that still sees Steam Machines 2015 as a HUGE success.

But you have to add context.

  • Linux library is what 7,000 - 10,000 native now?

  • Successively we now have Vulkan

  • For all other Windows content we have Proton

  • Steam Controller & Steam Input lead to controller input for virtually all major brands

  • Major Optimizations to SDL, and other Graphics & Input libraries to lower friction and make development fast and easy

  • Steam Linux Runtime solved dependency differential across all distros

  • Wide array of mainstream Game Engine support -- Unreal, Unity, Godot, Cry? etc...


Sure, if you were playing the short-game it may have felt underwhelming at the time, but even then for many years we got Rocket League and lots of fun with other games before Epic bought them out and "slaughtered ma boy". Lots of cool Ferral games like all the Tomb Raiders, Dawn of Wars, etc...

Even though we as humans have a inherit need to "See Pasterns" where none exist and like to compare and contrast, now that we are approaching the pinnacle of the new Linux PC Gaming age, it's hard to have the epiphany that Steam Deck is entirely unique and different from it's Generation 1 ancestor and heritage.

I'm really hoping for a Xbox 360-esk, PlayStation 2, Super Nintendo, and what Sega Genesis golden-age since those are all what? 2nd generation consoles? (Technically I realize the 2nd Generation would require Valve expand to another living room device, but the realization is pretty remarkable.)

Godspeed Mr Gaben. Many Thanks for the coming great journey!!! :)


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 2 November 2021 at 8:15 am UTC
Eike Nov 2, 2021
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QuoteDevelopment without a dev-kit

... or "Linux installation for dummies". ;-)
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