Steam game art may not contain foreign text, such as reviews or awards as of September 1, per new Valve guidelines. Developer Steam is looking to declutter its storefront with new rules that prohibit text outside of the subtitle and game title in its main art asset.
The new set of rules focuses on what Steamworks calls “capsules,” the main banner images used to showcase games on the Steam store. In a post on the Steam community site, Valve outlines its new guidelines for graphic assets, stating that “our goal is to make it as easy and simple as possible for customers to find games to buy and play on Steam.”
Valve says that the increased text, award logos, promotional offers, and reviews applied to these capsules has resulted in a lack of clarity in the store. The message continues: “The logos of some games have become so small that it is difficult for players to tell what the name of the game is. In other cases, the images of the graphic assets are so cluttered that they are awkward and difficult to read. »
The Steam developer is also concerned that some of the review notes provided in the image may become outdated as merchants update their reviews over time, a practice that is becoming more and more common in the online gaming world. online and downloadable content. As such, the new rules are meant to clean up images that appear on the main pages of the Steam store.
Steam’s new “Image Retention Policy” states: “The content of Steam Base Image Asset Capsules is limited to the game artwork, the game title, and all official subtitles.” Valve clarifies five additional rules:
- No ratings on reviews, including Steam reviews or external sources of information.
- No award names, symbols or logos.
- No discount marketing copy (for example, no “On Sale Now” or “Up to 90% Off” text).
- No text or image that promotes another product. This does not include the marketing of sequels or other games in the same franchise.
- No other miscellaneous text.
Valve recognizes that developers want to promote major updates and seasonal events, and that reflecting this in capsule design can benefit users. Therefore, developers can use text that describes new content such as DLC, Battle Passes, major updates, and seasonal events as a “capsule image replacement” that can be set to replace the game’s regular capsule image with a new one. maximum of one. month.
The new rules will come into effect on September 1 and Valve has asked all game developers to make any necessary changes to bring their graphics in line with the new rules before then. It adds that “any game that violates these rules may have visibility restrictions on the Steam store and will be ineligible to participate in official Steam sales and events,” so developers have plenty of incentive to quickly adapt their art.
In other Steam news, a recent PSA highlighted a pretty nifty service handler highlighting integration for players who may have missed it.
Source : PC Gamesn
