I got an email today at 10:50 that said "The Superfluous" has been Greenlit by Steam. For those that don't know much about the PC Gaming market this is huge news.  Steam is the largest PC game distributor in the world.  Being Greenlit means that I'll be able to sell "The Superfluous" on Steam.

Selling a game on Steam has been one of my biggest dreams. Reaching this milestone is really beyond exciting. The process has been super stressful and I am sure my family will be happy to have me become closer to my normal self.  Below I'll post my stats for the game.

I've seen a lot of games relying on less than ethical means to reach their Greenlight goal. Basically this means promising a Steam key if they vote Yes on their project. I don't really get this though. It doesn't reflect how good your game is and makes it harder for Steam to pick good games to Greenlight. Also it reduces the amount of money the game generates.  So it is a lose for the community and a lose for the developer (if it's a good game).

Here are the stats.  These are really only useful for other developers.

So far only the setup to the story has been mentioned (see project page). A large chunk of the story will be in the form of emails and correspondences between the Captian (you) of "The UWN Superfluous" and several other people/entities. [Have you read Ender's Game? I love the letters at the beginning of the chapters; that is kind of my inspiration]. I'd like to introduce you to some of the characters you'll meet.

- The Politician: He cares about how the mission will make him or his party look. Has no real knowledge of space travel or military tactics... or much of anything really. He is a junior politician forced to be the head civil leader in your mission (senior politicians know being attached to something so wasteful is political suicide).

- The General: He loves blowing things up and sorting out the chaos later. He believes it is better to ask for forgiveness than to pass up a chance for mayhem. After finding out there is life on BAR-101 he is thrilled by the fact he can try out some of his new tech on living creatures.

- The Ship AI: She is really not in the mood to be here and she lets you know it. She has spent years alone in hyperspace and is dreading the fact she has to make the trip back after. She will try to delay the inevitable, get the crew off task and occasionally sabotage the mission. No 'Three Laws of Robotics' here

- The Businessman: The private investor; now that the government stopped funding the mission is the sole source of income. He only cares about the gold you are finding on BAR-101 and is constantly trying to find ways to make money from the mission. Space Spelunker Bobble Head or a 3D Printed Slime, anyone?

-The Scientist: Her main purpose to the story is to explain the ecosystem and life on BAR-101; all through the magic of pseudo-science.
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One thing they all need are names (except for the ship AI). Can you think of any good ones?