The folks over at Valve are taking a chance on something new yet again. Earlier today they announced a new system, entitled Steam Greenlight, which is supposed to give more control to both indie developers and Steam users. At the end of next August, independent development teams will be able to submit their games to a central hub where they will be voted on the by Steam user base, and the most popular submissions will be sold on the Steam store.
According to the Steam Community page, early builds are encouraged, and the submission requirements aren’t that complicated. As long as you have a video showing off your game, a few images, and a well thought out written description, you’re pretty much set. Games must also at least run on a Windows PC, but other versions can be made available.
Specifics on how games will be chosen are still somewhat vague. The system is described as focusing not on a simple number of votes, but rather the “relative interest in a game compared with other games in Steam Greenlight.”
Will having some input affect your interest in independent projects? Let us know what you think of Greenlight in the comments below, or over in our forums.