Steam Workshop

Well...That was a busy week. I'm now charged with running the entire site and Poetic has an R63 profile pic I can't seem to look away from. Mike has stepped down to become like Grey who in turn is practically the Everypony version of Yoda now and this very site is 2 years old.

By Celestia's g-string, it's handy or that wouldn't make much sense. Now, do I abuse my new power or do I do a good job? Hmm...Armies of slaves to storm and conquer Equestria Daily and wash my tails or work to make this site a better place? Hmm...

While having Seth as a slave might be fun and I'd finally get to have a showdown with that Xyro guy...

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Nah! Let's review stuff. Get some normality back for a bit.

[size=+1]Steam Workshop[/size]​

Why am I talking about this? Well...

Number One: it's been out for a while and we get to see what cards have been laid down so far. From this perspective, we can judge how well Valve's little experiment in Modding has worked.

Number Two: I thought it sorta interesting to take a step back and look at this thing. It's kinda unique for a large company like this to make a system for modifying games so easily. Normally, they couldn't give a monkey's leg shavings!

So, let's see, shall we?

Steam Workshop started off just as a tool for Valve to crowd-source new weapons and items for Team Fortress 2. You'd make a model and send it in to be evaluated. Oh! And Valve even gave tutorials on how to do this. The result was BUCKING AWESOME! The creativity in this thing is awesome. Some will never be put in the game but are sooooo awesome to see regardless. My favourite so far has been a beret and walrus moustache to dress the Engineer as Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters. Sweet! The creativity rivals that of Valve themselves. We've got more miniguns and shotguns than you can cock a Rescue Ranger at here. There's more rocket launchers here than the Territorial Army have adverts. There's more flamethrowers than Youtube. There's loads of really cool looking guns here!

And then? Well, it became the modding hub it is today. And a damn fine one it seems to be too. Skyrim, Garry's Mod, DOTA 2, Scribblenauts Unlimited. All of these games gain extra content from this hub. It's uses are kinda varied but they are kinda neat. Few have any real issues.

Portal 2 is one of the slickest. Simply put, it's like Happy Wheels. Users can make their own puzzles and submit them to the Workshop. From there, you pick it out as a favourite and just play it. That's really the beauty of this system, it's as automatic as it can be. Just click a button and it's largely done. Yay! Again, the quality of level design can be outstanding. Some have even managed to push things further than the original level tools would allow with some levels including custom made surfaces, voice work and even game mechanics. My new favourite thing to do in Portal 2 is have a race. While not fully supported by the mechanics, it does manage to be fun and exciting.

The idea is to get round an assault course designed around the portal gun faster than your opponent. Complete a set number of laps and you win. Easy. The challenge comes in the form of how fast your going. The pace is set by the propulsion gel that's typically spread all over almost every surface in the level. You have to make your way through the level as quickly as you can without messing up your portal placements at high speed. If you do, you forfit your current speed, allowing your opponent to either extend their lead or take it from you. While the punishment is pretty harsh and the levels aren't quite to finely tuned to the point that they're accessible to everyone, they're still a blast. Heck! Some have traps you can set off to screw your opponent over. Sweet!