Steam Dev Days 2016

Overview

On October 12th to the 13th I attended Steam Dev Days, an event hosted by Valve Software in Seattle, Washington. I was representing Red Moon Workshop, an indie game studio whom I've been helping lately with their web content.

Steam Dev Days is primarily a game developer conference that discusses tips, improvements and business updates about the Steam platform. It's the second Steam Dev Days they have done so I was excited to take part.

Business Update

Valve started the conference by providing some insight into the growth patterns of Steam and some of their scaling pain points. They showcased how they are making content easier to find by tailoring it to user behavior, they also showcased some of the new tooling they are adding to the Steam store to make it easier for customers to use and discover things they are interested in.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality was the talk of the town at Steam Dev Days, and it's no surprise as Valve launched their flagship VR unit this year, the HTC Vive. Even Chrome supports early Virtual Reality content now which could be fun to experiment with.

Valve were also showcasing their new prototype HTC Vive controller at the event too.

Steam Controller

I was a beta tester for Steam Controller back in 2013 and had an early prototype unit. It was fascinating seeing how far along the units and their API's have come.

Goodie Bag

The goodie bags were incredibly generous and included so man things such as a shirt, keyrings, stickers and a Steam Controller with a custom decal kit.

Conclusion

Overall, Steam Dev Days was a fun and insightful event and I'm glad I was able to attend. I'm looking forward to seeing what Valve has in store for the future and working more with the Steam API's.

I even found time to get beer with some friends during the trip, of course.