Game Development — Steam Deck

Once upon a time, getting your PC game on Steam was key in getting the distribution and return on your title. While AAA developers used the Steam platform to reach even more gamers, indie developers saw it as the only way they could ever compete with the big boys. 

In 2022 alone, nearly two million Steam Decks were sold, and estimates of over three million in total sales since its release make it a revolutionary release in PC gaming. While the Nintendo Switch has captivated casual players, the Steam Deck allows PC gamers their own unique opportunities to take their adventures with them, forever changing the landscape of the gaming platform entirely. As a game developer, I find it a trend that’s impossible to ignore.

Courtesy of Steam Deck

With the advent of the Steam Deck, it’s not only more important than ever for every indie and AAA developer to be on Steam, but the title has to be as optimized for the new platform as possible. Simply being on Steam isn’t enough anymore. For big publishers, this simply means more resources and manpower must be deployed for optimization. However, for small studios, being fully Steam Deck compatible is essential for the game to be playable for as many people as possible.

In the case of our upcoming title, Maximum Apocalypse: The Video Game, based on the award-winning roguelike table-top adventure, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that the game performs the same way on your PC as it does on your Steam Deck.

The alternative would be that Maximum Apocalypse wouldn’t “feel right.” That “feel,” however, starts with the game’s look, and that’s where our team got started in development. In order to encapsulate the fun, we first had to understand what made the game special. Knowing the strength of the award-winning board game's visual style, we instead clamped down on an accessible visual style that actually lent itself to “maximum” playability.

“The video game being 2D allows us to have a smoother development for the Steam Deck,” our Associate Producer, Dennis Paulo Delgado, said. “The hardware limitations of the Steam Deck and with the game being only in 2D and not being graphically intensive, allow us to be ready to easily ship the game to the Steam Deck. In addition to this, the game is developed in Unity which allows for the game to simultaneously be built on Windows/Mac/Linux. These factors allowed us to be ready to develop with the Steam Deck in mind.”

Now, onto the real “feel.”

Have you ever played an emulated or ported game where the controls aren’t exactly how you remembered them, or the buttons feel like they are in the wrong places? It happens a lot more than you think, and especially in the Steam Deck arena, many developers haven’t made the needed modifications and are forced to hope the game handles just as well on the Steam Deck as it does on PC.

Luckily for board game fans and anyone else who wants to dive deep into this nifty tale, we’re committed to ensuring Steam Deck functionality for Maximum Apocalypse. They’re literally hard at work like there is no tomorrow, providing a seamless experience for players.

Steam’s definition of Controller Support for the Steam Deck is pretty basic, as every game on the platform must support Steam Deck’s physical controls. The default controller configuration must allow users to access all content. Players must not need to adjust any in-game settings in order to enable controller support or this configuration as well. This may seem trivial to many players at this point, but again, the number of games that don’t play the same way on the Steam service as they do on the Steam Deck was concerning enough for Valve to create a team to test the compatibility of as many games as possible to ensure how well they play on the Deck.

At Mega Cat Studios, we’ve taken this a step further and made sure during the development process that the game controls just as well on the Steam Deck as it does on PC. 

“Maximum Apocalypse is ready to be played on a controller. In the PC version of Maximum Apocalypse, the player would just need a mouse to navigate through the controls of the game,” Delgado said. “In the development of the game for the Steam Deck, our plan is to maximize the Steam Deck controls to provide a smooth experience in interacting with the several elements that exist in Maximum Apocalypse (ex: Equipment/Map/Cards). After the controls are implemented, we just have to make sure that all interfaces that would’ve shown any Keyboard and Mouse Glyphs are replaced with the Steam Deck glyphs.”

For games that allow saving, Valve recommends enabling automatic clouding of saved games: users should be able to save their game on a Deck and resume on a different PC, and vice versa, without manually transferring files. While this seems like the norm for many games released today, several smaller publishers and independent games don’t offer the feature. We, however, are adamant about making sure players can take the title from the Steam Deck, back to their PC and vice versa whenever they want.

Are online modes working? What about Offline Mode?

Maximum Apocalypse has it too.

Valve strongly recommends that all single-player content is accessible without an Internet connection and that Maximum Apocalypse will have an offline mode. You can test your game without any online connectivity, including the first run on a new Steam account. This feature is especially valuable for Deck customers, who may have more sporadic network access than a standard gaming PC. It’s also great when you want to play games the old-fashioned way, by yourself, for pure relaxation.

With full Controller Support, Cloud Saves, and an offline mode, Maximum Apocalypse not only encapsulates what made the original tabletop game fun and accessible but will also provide the same type of fun on Steam and, more importantly, that sexy Steam Deck of yours.

“(With) The project being on two platforms, we had to consider the player playing on both platforms and having their progression on said platforms being synched. Value has provided developers with tools such as the Steam Cloud to sync the player's progression between platforms (Steam Deck and PC),” Delgado said. “The project team also had to consider the portability of the Steam Deck and tested the game to be played on single-player so that players could play Maximum Apocalypse on the go.”

Providing It All, Just in Time For the End of the World… Maximum Apocalypse is Steam Deck Enhanced.

Don't miss your chance to be a founding member of the wasteland! Support Maximum Apocalypse: The Video Game on Kickstarter in its final days and secure exclusive rewards. Wishlist it on Steam to be ready for launch day!