Slitherine

Hello, this game is really great, it is a shame that so many people will probably never find it!
Why don't you make a deal with a large online shop, like Greenmangaming? That would provide your game with a lot of visibility and many more happy players would buy it! Greenmangaming doesn't have its DRM platform, like Steam does, it just provides a downloader.

Doesnt gmg have their capsule client? Never tried it myself since I dont like those gaming clients.

GMG's Capsule is just a download client. It doesn't do anything to the games. After you have donwloaded and installed a game you can even delete Capsule.

1) There is already a thread discussing alternative distribution platforms (Steam Release?). Don't let the name fool you, it's not just about Steam.

The short answer to your question (from that thread):

IainMcNeil wrote:Thanks for the posts but we have a strategy which has worked well for the last 13 years and we are not planning GoG, EA origins etc. We have a Steam account are looking at that but this is the only platform we are considering for next year.

2) Green Man Gaming is terrible. They've embedded SecuROM directly into Capsule, their download client.

They're sneaky about this, too, it's rather hard to find any clear info on the subject. Here's another article from that same time-period, when GMG launched apparently. There's also an article from Destructoid, but they use my previous link as their source.

I use Steam, GoG, GamersGate and Desura (though I prefer Steam), but GMG is something I refuse to touch, even despite the fact that they somehow have great deals.

I'm not sure how it works... some of the games they sell are Steamworks, I guess those don't go through Capsule, instead only giving you a Steam key? It's possible that only their games listed as requiring Capsule use SecuROM. Regardless, I refuse to give GMG money out of pure principle: this is a company who thinks that having SecuROM in their downloaderis a good idea. That's beyond terrible.

Not everybody minds SecuROM, of course, but this means that GMG has no place in a discussion about Steam "because they don't use DRM", as you say; GMG uses far worse DRM than Steam does.

Honestly, I don't even know if Capsule still uses SecuROM. I haven't been able to find any recent news about the issue. Maybe this means they don't use it anymore? I think that a much more logical assumption, though, is simply that this means nothing has changed.

ElegantCaveman wrote:The short answer to your question (from that thread):

IainMcNeil wrote:Thanks for the posts but we have a strategy which has worked well for the last 13 years and we are not planning GoG, EA origins etc. We have a Steam account are looking at that but this is the only platform we are considering for next year.

But Greenmangaming is not a platform, it is just a reseller.

ElegantCaveman wrote:2) Green Man Gaming is terrible. They've embedded SecuROM directly into Capsule, their download client.

I don't know where that info came from. Perhaps SecuROM is involved only on some games? Because I have several games bought on Greenmangaming and donwloaded through Capsule and I never saw SecuROM in any way.
For example, one of the games I have downloaded from Capsule is Darkout. Darkout has a launcher similar to the one in Pandora, i.e. it checks by itself if there are updates available and downloads and install them. I originally donwloaded the game from Capsule that provided just the setup. After installing Darkout I have only used its own launcher/updater for everything.

Teodosio wrote:But Greenmangaming is not a platform, it is just a reseller.

By "platform", I'm fairly certain Iain meant "digital distribution platform".

GoG, GamersGate and Desura all only have download clients, same as GMG. Except theirs don't use SecuROM.

GMG is a digital distribution platform. Don't confuse the use of the word "platform" with consoles or clients like Steam or Origin (which are a form of DRM in their own right).

Feel free to replace the use of the word "platform" in the quote with "online store".

Teodosio wrote:I don't know where that info came from. Perhaps SecuROM is involved only on some games? Because I have several games bought on Greenmangaming and donwloaded through Capsule and I never saw SecuROM in any way.
For example, one of the games I have downloaded from Capsule is Darkout. Darkout has a launcher similar to the one in Pandora, i.e. it checks by itself if there are updates available and downloads and install them. I originally donwloaded the game from Capsule that provided just the setup. After installing Darkout I have only used its own launcher/updater for everything.

That info comes from when GMG was launched. Press releases or interviews, or whatever. As mentioned in the links I provided.

The fact that they're pretty damn quiet about the whole thing is reason enough for me to not trust them, honestly.

As for not seeing SecuROM in any way, that's kind of the point of SecuROM. It hides. It'll usually install itself quietly during setup. A lot of people don't have any trouble with it. But then again, a lot of people do.

There are various versions of it, though, and I have no idea which version Capsule uses. Some are terrible, some are mostly benign.

But point being, SecuROM is probably the most draconian and problematic third-party DRM that exists in gaming (at least for some of its versions). And the fact that Capsule uses some kind of SecuROM (or did, even if it doesn't anymore... because that means it could again in the future) means that GMG is absolutely not a viable alternative to other distribution platforms if you're using "It has no DRM!" as your rationale. Because it does have DRM.