Steam Greenlight lists games for Linux

There has been a lot of talk about Valve preparing to launch its games and digital distribution platform – Steam – on Linux. It now looks like the Linux version of Steam is inching closer towards a release. Greenlight – a system where players can choose which indie game should appear on steam – seems to list games for Linux. Greenlight is listing many games for Linux, including Major Mayhem and Blue LIbra, as well as a Linux version of Postal 2.

Steam Greenlight is listing games for Linux

Valve had recently announced the first ten titles coming to Steam from Greenlight. These games are Black Mesa, Cry of Fear, Dream, Heroes & Generals, Kenshi, McPixel, No More Room in Hell, Project Zomboid, Routine and Towns. According to Valve, the first set of titles to launch via Greenlight will be released independently in the months ahead (as they are varying stages of completion).

Announced earlier this summer, Steam Greenlight allows developers and publishers to post information and media about their game in an effort to convince the Community that the game should be released on Steam. Greenlight piggybacks on Steam Workshop’s flexible system that organises content and lets customers rate and leave feedback.

“We’ve been working on this feature for the last few months with the input from a group of indie partners, and the response has been extremely positive,” said Valve’s Anna Sweet when the service was launched. “With the additional help of beta testers, we are able to launch with a solid line-up of titles for the community to start viewing and rating. And, as we’ve done with all Steam features, we intend to continually grow and modify Greenlight as more and more developers and community members have a chance to get involved”.

Apart from serving as a clearing house for game submissions, Greenlight also provides an incredible level of added exposure for new games and an opportunity to connect directly with potential customers and fans.

Valve had first talked about porting over Steam to Linux earlier this summer. The company had started a developer blog to detail the development of the Linux ports for Steam and Left 4 Dead 2. The first post on the blog stated that Gabe Newell, head of Valve, had been interested in the possibility of moving Steam and the Source Engine to Linux. “At the time, the company was already using Linux by supporting Linux-based servers for Source-based games and also by maintaining several internal servers (running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu server) for various projects. In 2011, based on the success of those efforts and conversations in the hallway, we decided to take the next step and form a new team. At that time, the team only consisted of a few people whose main purpose was investigating the possibility of moving the Steam client and Left 4 Dead 2 over to Ubuntu.”

The reason they picked Ubuntu is because they want to first work on a single distribution, as it reduces the variability of testing space and makes early iterations easier and faster. Another reason for picking Ubuntu is because it is one of the most popular distributions of Linux, and “has recognition with the general gaming and developer communities."