Parasite
Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2003
- Messages
- 377
- Reaction score
- 0
Stuff I want to see in steam, besides the obvious optimized HD and bandwidth usage...
Skin Support:
Not just the ability to change colors but, graphics, fonts, icons and all. It will be nice to have steam finally match whatever theme I am running at the time. Alpha blending (at the very least .png) support is a must and Freeform skinning would be nice, as long as its not as complicated as skinning for Winamp 3. There should be an option to maintain your desired skin, or let the current game/mod change the skin when loaded. Also allow plug ins to extend upon skin functionality or otherwise.
IRC and Exterior IM support:
Speaks for itself...Im sure the Built in IM client is great, but it could still be cool to have access to my freinds on MSN or ICQ. Not really nescessary. IRC however, is to usefull to leave out. I think a server side option to disallow IRC in game could prevent any problems that could otherwise arise.
P2P and Group accounts:
Allow users to set up "groups" in steam that are not explicitly controlled by Valve and does not depend on Steam bandwidth. Accounts could be set up much like most forums, where users assign moderators and other custom access levels to limit who gets what content via some level of P2P the using the users own bandwidth. This is usefull even if it meant groups would need to maintain thier own "user" database to interface with the steam database for access. Also, allow groups to use thier own server for thier database/content/bandwidth purposes.
Idle Bandwidth and or CPU Options:
Give users the options to leave steam running and dedicate thier idel bandwidth or CPU power, as well as some options for what steam should consider "idle". A few options for bandwidth dedication could be...throw it back into Steams overall bandwidth, dedicate it to your favorite "Group", or perhaps someone created a plug-in that puts your bandwidth to a more preferable use.
I think allowing steam to offer your idle CPU power to some kind of remote compile system integrated into steam could greatly benifit mappers and mod developers alike.
Extensible and Open Ended Plug-In Support:
Steam will be the interface for Valve games from here on out...as well as the server browser, cheat detection, and on and on. Good plug-in support will allow for things like the obvious in game plug ins like crosshair changers, admin mod, MP3 players etc. But it should also allow for people to develope things like shoutcast, clan news tickers or enhance skin functionality, add "categories" to the steam menu, alarm clocks, screenshot managers, and whatever else someone could imagine. There would probably need to be some way for Steam users to vote for thier favorite plug-ins scince Valve will have to be very conscious of what plug-ins become certified in the never ending search for cheats.
Well, thats my list, any comments? What do you guys hope to see added to steam?
Skin Support:
Not just the ability to change colors but, graphics, fonts, icons and all. It will be nice to have steam finally match whatever theme I am running at the time. Alpha blending (at the very least .png) support is a must and Freeform skinning would be nice, as long as its not as complicated as skinning for Winamp 3. There should be an option to maintain your desired skin, or let the current game/mod change the skin when loaded. Also allow plug ins to extend upon skin functionality or otherwise.
IRC and Exterior IM support:
Speaks for itself...Im sure the Built in IM client is great, but it could still be cool to have access to my freinds on MSN or ICQ. Not really nescessary. IRC however, is to usefull to leave out. I think a server side option to disallow IRC in game could prevent any problems that could otherwise arise.
P2P and Group accounts:
Allow users to set up "groups" in steam that are not explicitly controlled by Valve and does not depend on Steam bandwidth. Accounts could be set up much like most forums, where users assign moderators and other custom access levels to limit who gets what content via some level of P2P the using the users own bandwidth. This is usefull even if it meant groups would need to maintain thier own "user" database to interface with the steam database for access. Also, allow groups to use thier own server for thier database/content/bandwidth purposes.
Idle Bandwidth and or CPU Options:
Give users the options to leave steam running and dedicate thier idel bandwidth or CPU power, as well as some options for what steam should consider "idle". A few options for bandwidth dedication could be...throw it back into Steams overall bandwidth, dedicate it to your favorite "Group", or perhaps someone created a plug-in that puts your bandwidth to a more preferable use.
I think allowing steam to offer your idle CPU power to some kind of remote compile system integrated into steam could greatly benifit mappers and mod developers alike.
Extensible and Open Ended Plug-In Support:
Steam will be the interface for Valve games from here on out...as well as the server browser, cheat detection, and on and on. Good plug-in support will allow for things like the obvious in game plug ins like crosshair changers, admin mod, MP3 players etc. But it should also allow for people to develope things like shoutcast, clan news tickers or enhance skin functionality, add "categories" to the steam menu, alarm clocks, screenshot managers, and whatever else someone could imagine. There would probably need to be some way for Steam users to vote for thier favorite plug-ins scince Valve will have to be very conscious of what plug-ins become certified in the never ending search for cheats.
Well, thats my list, any comments? What do you guys hope to see added to steam?
