Good Afternoon,
I first like to thank the devs of VO. Not sure how I have never came across this game until now someone who has played various MMO's. You developed a game that is friendly to all devices and that operates very very smoothly. You don't find too many games like that these days.

Now here is my ultimate question. Why haven't we worked out something with steam? This game would get amazing ratings on there and way more active players. Just curious....

I think I answered my own question with a little research and saw that you guys have been "Greenlit". Exciting!

Does greenlight ever go away? I'm not experienced with it. If Vendetta is ready in 3 years or something, Steam may say "Who are you again???"...

There's no expiration date for greenlighting. Steam and game developers keep in touch and work out a schedule that is mutually beneficial. From what I've read here, Guild will make the best of the opportunity by launching on Steam once they have reached some self-imposed milestones. Right now they are pursuing some other time-sensitive opportunities that may help to meet those milestones.

Valve just bought me lunch at GDC, and they've sent us a lot of hardware. I don't think they've forgotten us.

We are (still) working on a Steam launch. Originally I wanted to make the game look a bit better, which we did with the DX11 engine changes last year (still a few more tweaks to go). Then we were sort of side-tracked with VR stuff.. but that actually feeds directly into the Steam thing, since we intend to support SteamVR.

At least I offered to buy you lunch there if they didn't! Shameless Vendetta OnAir plug!

Ok nice. If they keep paying your lunch, I doubt they'll forget GS. ;-)

Steam will be a must? if so, im out... I wont install Steam so i can play VO.

Just because you can play an online game launched through the Steam client, does not mean you have to.

A lot of games are "steam only" on purpose.

No, we will not be a Steam-exclusive title. That would be pretty strange, for us, with a lot of downsides and no benefits.

How about fixing the game interface before a Steam launch instead of monkeying with novelty headsets that will wreck your eyesight and give you vertigo?

How about reading the posts about how VO as a whole directly benefits from working on VR headset compatibility right now?

See Inc's June 21st post, among others: https://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/31533

I've read plenty of these threads whistler. Including some about an iPhone iOS port as well. What happened to that port?

What makes you think that headsets wreck vision? If it's based on the myth that sitting too close to a TV will damage your vision, well, that's a myth.

As for vertigo, that's just your brain not understanding that it's looking at a screen instead of reality. It'll figure it out eventually, just like it did for movie screens. (Unless you're one of those people who still gets motion sickness at the movies, in which case you're out of luck.)

Focusing on something two inches from your eyes for two hours isn't good for you. This isn't TV we're talking about here. There is plenty of reports of Oculus eye strain and pixel burn where the user sees a grid burned into their vision for a week at a time.

The only reference I can find to what you're describing is this 2014 article from ARS Technica, which is about the DK2 (a non-consumer devkit). The DK2 was kinda rough. Yes, if you use a DK2 for 5 hours a day, I can imagine that would screw with your eyes. That sounds like a bad idea. The difference between the CV1 and DK2 is that the consumer Rift has a much more continuously smooth display (ie, sans-grid). It's like 129839284923x better and easier on the eyes. Hell, the GearVR is a big improvement on the DK2.

Any tech like this requires some common sense. If your eyes hurt, or feel weird, PROBABLY TAKE A BREAK. I dunno about you, but I've sat staring a relatively dim 14" CRT while trying to play Quake or Civilization for hours on end, and realized my eyes were not doing so well. I played a lot of CounterStrike back in the day, feeling like the guy in Clockwork Orange.

Strictly speaking, sitting down in front of a computer for hours on end isn't good for you either. So we should all go outside and do other stuff and stop playing videogames.

That being said, we're following this path for a bunch of reasons I've already related elsewhere. They include things like.. substantial sums of grant money, and the fact that being early on VR opens a lot of doors and possibilities (and it has already).

We're working on a lot of things that will potentially help us redo the interface, and help us ship on iPhone. A lot of that is falling out of the VR development. In general, if we can improve the game, open up new markets, get significant free marketing, all while also raising money for the company, that's a good thing. It's the best thing for the game as a whole, even if it isn't the best for various specific people. That's also true of a lot of changes we make..

Going back to the OP, part of the reason why Valve is buying me lunch (this is not common for indies), is because of our VR footprint. There is value to being an early-mover on a new content channel, where other companies are investing, which goes way beyond what is apparent to those outside the industry.

Anyway, the topic is Steam and whether VO will launch there. VO is greenlit there,there is no time limit for launching once greenlit, and Guild would like to have the game compatible with SteamVR upon launch in order to get maximum exposure. Meanwhile, the work on VR is permitting some outside funding and opportunities.

That about wraps it up.

/edit: Whups! Looks like Inc was still typing while I was responding and locking.