Author Topic: Is there a spot for DLC?  (Read 4912 times)

vigorousjammer

Re: Is there a spot for DLC?
« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2013, 12:08:04 pm »
A few people have already begun to add DLC to the Steam category.

I've been raging for a few days, but I'm too nice to tell them to stop. :P

The way I see it, stuff that has an actual impact on extending the game - extra maps, additional gameplay modes, and sometimes characters - should be added.

Things that give you an advantage, like weapons packs, or purely cosmetic stuff, like costumes, player skin customizations, or this inexcusable cashgrab should NEVER be listed here.

I realize that this contradicts my comments about characters in post #3 of this thread a bit, but as long as it's a proper new character that isn't just a reskin, it's cool.

I don't think it contradicts anything, a new character in a fighting game is essentially a whole new part of that game... They have new movesets, new animations, it changes the balance, and definitely has meaningful gameplay changes...

On the other side of things... those character skins for Street Fighter IV are just that, skins... and I agree that stuff like that shouldn't be added
Also, what the hell? is that a bacon gun?

Hmm, maybe DLC could work like Developers and Publishers currently do (text input with auto-complete generated from previous entries), except you'd be able to add multiple.
This would let the main search bar be free of what would obviously become a super bloated DLC selection... and would still let people add in all of their owned DLC.
Perhaps there would also be some way to relegate what shows up on that auto-complete list to only show DLC for the game you're adding it to?

The problem with this is that it gets rid of a lot of the functionality of the main pages (seeing how many other people own it, release dates, box art, box text, etc.). Perhaps there would be some way to add it like mentioned above, relegate it to only appear on that specific game, in the DLC text box, but also have each entry create it's own small page. Each of those pages could be listed in the person's collection, indented underneath the main game.

Here, here's a few mockup images:

In this one and the next one, we see the adding process...


You type in something, and if it's already been added, it auto-completes.


In your collection this is how it will appear, indented. Also note the "show/hide DLC" button. This button would ideally only appear under games where you've added DLC.


You can also add notes, purchase date, and cost, just like a normal item... however, note that there isn't any boxes to check for "Cart", "box", "manual", etc... since a DLC copy of somethign wouldn't have that.
Also note how the title is presented. It would take the title of the game, add the static text " DLC - " after it... and then whatever name the user supplied for the DLC.
Perhaps this window could pop up for each item a person adds, when they add them.


If you were to click on the DLC's title in your collection you'd be brought to this page, which would look mostly like a full page... except this would not show up in the main search bar, only when adding DLC to a specific game.
Note the "Release Type" where it says "Rock Band DLC" This could be automatically generated for whatever game they added it to.
I'm not sure if we'd want the Developer & Publisher sections to automatically be taken from the game's page or not, but the platform absolutely should be copied.
You'd also be able to add box art & box text, just like any other release.

I'm also wondering if the standard submit could be used as a way of adding new entries (Even though they wouldn't show up in the main search), but then there would have to be a way of noting which game the DLC is for. Perhaps there could be an entirely separate DLC Submission page? ...or maybe once you note that something is DLC, another text box could show, and you would search for a game to add it to... The game you add would then determine the platform, developer, publisher, etc.

I think this idea is definitely superior to the other one I had. What do you guys think?
« Last Edit: May 14, 2013, 03:20:27 pm by vigorousjammer »

foxhack

Re: Is there a spot for DLC?
« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2013, 01:16:29 pm »
On the other side of things... those character skins for Street Fighter IV are just that, skins... and I agree that stuff like that shouldn't be added
Also, what the hell? is that a bacon gun?
No, that's a skin for your gun that makes it look like bacon. It doesn't fire bacon. Though if it did, it'd be an awesome weapon against people who can't eat pork. :P

I like your idea, I had thought about something similar a while back (not nearly as detailed as your own idea, though), but it's still way far off. We have to let matt finish the other stuff he's working on first, ya know.

vigorousjammer

Re: Is there a spot for DLC?
« Reply #17 on: May 14, 2013, 03:23:42 pm »
On the other side of things... those character skins for Street Fighter IV are just that, skins... and I agree that stuff like that shouldn't be added
Also, what the hell? is that a bacon gun?
No, that's a skin for your gun that makes it look like bacon. It doesn't fire bacon. Though if it did, it'd be an awesome weapon against people who can't eat pork. :P

I like your idea, I had thought about something similar a while back (not nearly as detailed as your own idea, though), but it's still way far off. We have to let matt finish the other stuff he's working on first, ya know.
Yeah, I can see that... I'm sure Matt wouldn't want to implement a feature just to do it all over again after the new site launches... why do all that work twice?