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Steam Remote Play (previously in-home streaming), the feature of Steam that allows you to stream a game from one PC to another device sure is handy and Valve are giving it a bit more of a push now.

While it's been a feature of Steam for quite some time, Valve never really seemed to do a whole lot with it. That was, until they renamed it and allowed you to stream to many more devices and outside the home too.

In a new blog post on Steam, Valve have announced they've given over 100 popular titles a default configuration. Valve said this has enabled them to learn more about how to build good touch controllers and they gave some examples. One of those is the Linux game Stardew Valley:

In this game the X button uses your farming tools. They're used rapidly and extremely often, so we enlarged the button to make it easy to press without looking. The arrow buttons cycle through your quick-bar items, and each of the sub menus have been given a helpful icon for quick access. The top center of the screen is sometimes used for dialog, so we moved the Steam button to the upper left. We also moved the keyboard button which is used for giving everything on your farm personalized names. The rest of the screen acts as a cursor trackpad for easily organizing the inventory.

After reading it, I decided to go and test it myself. I linked up my Android phone to Steam with the Steam Link application, went over the other side of the house and down a level to bring the wireless signal down and even then while playing Stardew Valley it's surprisingly brilliant. If I had a tablet with a slightly larger screen I could easily see myself playing more games like this from my Linux PC.

They also mention Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch which makes full use of the Steam Input API, with controls that change based on different game sections which sounds very cool. I really hope to see more developers make great use of this.

See the full post about it on Steam. As for finding games that are properly setup for it, Steam also now has different categories to easily find them including:

Thankfully, once you get properly into each of those lists you can narrow down by platform, while keeping it ticked for Remote Play features to easily find a Linux supported game with it. Quite a few show up too—nice!

For developers who want to make use of it and enable players to more easily play their games on other devices Valve have some documentation and a new API for device detection for games to adjust the resolution and UI as needed. Pretty sweet feature.

Steam Remote Play could be especially handy! No I'm not talking about doing a little farming while on the toilet (although the thought had crossed my mind…), perhaps more when you're sick and you don't want to sit at a desk with your PC? My laptop is pretty…pants (understatement) so streaming to my phone (or the laptop when it plays nice) might be something I will do more often if they keep doing handy updates like this to make the experience nicer overall.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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11 comments
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Eike Sep 27, 2019
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QuoteMy laptop is pretty…pants


Even too "pants" (had to look up this one :) ) to act as a client for the streaming?
Liam Dawe Sep 27, 2019
Quoting: Eike
QuoteMy laptop is pretty…pants


Even too "pants" (had to look up this one :) ) to act as a client for the streaming?
I tried it a couple times, didn't end well on the craptop. My phone is waaay more powerful heh, such is the way with tech.

Edit: I should have mentioned that sitting back with a phone/tablet, especially when ill, is far nicer than a laptop sat on your lap (IMO).


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 27 September 2019 at 4:34 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Sep 27, 2019
Quoting: GuestWhen they release it on iOS I'll give it a try.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/steam-link/id1246969117
fmartingr Sep 27, 2019
Quoting: GuestWhen they release it on iOS I'll give it a try.

iOS is already available: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/steam-link/id1246969117

I've been using the iPad version to play Dicey Dungeons from the bed and it's amazing.
14 Sep 27, 2019
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This is pretty dang cool!
Nezchan Sep 27, 2019
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: Eike
QuoteMy laptop is pretty…pants


Even too "pants" (had to look up this one :) ) to act as a client for the streaming?
I tried it a couple times, didn't end well on the craptop. My phone is waaay more powerful heh, such is the way with tech.

Edit: I should have mentioned that sitting back with a phone/tablet, especially when ill, is far nicer than a laptop sat on your lap (IMO).

Really wish I knew more about this when I was laid up after surgery last year. I would have played SO much Stardew.
buckysrevenge Sep 27, 2019
I haven't tried the update, but before that, games that aren't critical with the timing (recent ones that come to mind are Dicey Dungeons and Steamworld Quest) work really well. I use it semi-often
mao_dze_dun Sep 27, 2019
Yet, they can't be bothered to ad HEVC/h.265 support for desktop to desktop streaming... How can they be THIS lazy?
Nezchan Sep 27, 2019
On second thought, I just tried it out and it runs INCREDIBLY slow over my connection. So that's a thing that won't be happening.
Mambo Sep 28, 2019
Quoting: mao_dze_dunYet, they can't be bothered to ad HEVC/h.265 support for desktop to desktop streaming... How can they be THIS lazy?

I can imagine why they don't go there: it's a patent racket, it adds latency, acceleration is not portable or predictable enough.
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