idea to add system requirement test engine, maybe?

[sonnyketsit]

hi steam, thanks for the great service i've ever experience in gaming.
i was just thinking whether you could add an engine to test the game before buy (to test whether the buyer pc spec is able play the game)
the idea is coming out because ive purchase starbound (i thought its playable on my low end pc because of pixel art style the game has) and it turns out its not a pixel, its actually a 3D image which looks like a pixel art. so its actually a heavy spec game.. and my pc cannot run it, i must return (refund) the game. so, i was thinking that adding a tester engine would be nice.
its just an idea though... if it cannot happen its no problem, i can still use any engine tester on the net

[[wan-clan.org] Gordy Freeman]

I've provided Valve with source code to do just this.

I don't think they're interested though.

[SpunkyJones]

Search is your friend

[FFL2and3rocks]

Those tests can be very inaccurate, which would lead to people complaining about it whenever it says they can run a game that they actually can't. "Steam scammed me into buying a game I can't run! I spent 3 hours trying to get it to run and they won't refund me! No fair!"

[Fox]

Originally posted by FFL2and3rocks:

Those tests can be very inaccurate, which would lead to people complaining about it whenever it says they can run a game that they actually can't. "Steam scammed me into buying a game I can't run! I spent 3 hours trying to get it to run and they won't refund me! No fair!"

^ This.

Also, it used to be a thing : steam://checksysreqs/<ID> where <ID> is the game' store ID would have said whether or not the game would have ran on the current system. However, if my memories are correct, it was dummied out for the reasons FFL2and3rocks outlined.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by FFL2and3rocks:

Those tests can be very inaccurate, which would lead to people complaining about it whenever it says they can run a game that they actually can't. "Steam scammed me into buying a game I can't run! I spent 3 hours trying to get it to run and they won't refund me! No fair!"

It gets worse.
See. If Steam tells people they can't run a game when they can, then they can face litigation from the game's publishers for misrepresenting/mislabelling their product.

It's like if a supermarket labled a non-dairy product as being dairy. That hurts sales. That costs money. So steam is damned from both sides. This is why the sites that offer such matching, if you will not, don't sell the games.

[Doublefin]

Such a good idea :O Some kind of multipurpouse engine that developers can use as a service to send in some kind of fingerprint of their own engine and the engine can evaluate consumers systems from it. It's genius :O No idea if it's fairly easy to accomplish tho xD but I love the idea.

[Desmond]

everyone's overcomplicating this, what's essentially being asked for is a way to play a demo of the full game, something which shouldn't be too hard to do

steam could offer something similar to the free weekend sales passes, where you can play the game for a certain amount of time but with cloud, workshop, and acheivements disabled until you buy the game, this way someone can test the game multiple times and buy the game only when they know their system is finally able to handle it

if i remember correctly this was how demos worked for digitally distributed titles on XBox 360 and is how they work on the 3DS, so legal issues shouldn't be a problem because they worked for two other distributors

[FFL2and3rocks]

Developers can already create a demo and upload it to Steam if they want, similar to 3DS demos on the 3DS eshop. I don't know about Xbox though.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Internet Explorer 8:

everyone's overcomplicating this, what's essentially being asked for is a way to play a demo of the full game, something which shouldn't be too hard to do [/quote]

YOu have 2 hours to play the game to see if it runs on your system. What surprises me is that people trying to make a mountain out of a molehile to disguise what truly is their own laziness.

steam could offer something similar to the free weekend sales passes, where you can play the game for a certain amount of time but with cloud, workshop, and acheivements disabled until you buy the game, this way someone can test the game multiple times and buy the game only when they know their system is finally able to handle it

As said, after buying, you have 2 hours. Though anyone who isn't a lazy tweeb will read the requirements and thusly know before buying whether or not a game will run on their system.

Imagine that. The idea that simply reading and taking the time to understand what you're reading can impart vital information.