Thanks to the support of the community, Anarchy Arcade has been greenlit! The beta is planned to hit Steam in September 2014 with Steam Early Access. The final version will be released Q1 2015.
Steam integration is particularly substantial for Anarchy Arcade because Valve’s Steamworks API allows for an upcomming Anarchy Arcade feature called “Steam Stacks.”
Steam Stacks are media-rich 3D represnations of your Steam Profile, Steam Game Achievements, and Steam Community Feeds. They are fully customizable just like User Arcades from the prototype, but with one important restriction: only content hosted on official Steam servers is allowed to be spawned in your Steam Stack. This restriction is only imposed on Steam Stacks; all of your User Arcades will still give you 100% freedom just like in the prototype.
As a result, Steam Stacks are as safe and appropriate as the Steam Community itself. Steam Stacks are automatically jam-packed with media that interests you: games, videos, screenshots, artwork, achievements, guides, discussion, activity feeds, friend feeds, etc. A completely safe, automated, and immersive way to experience your Steam-powered entertainment.
Many of these automation features will also be available in User Arcades, but with limitless possibilities thanks to addon support.
User Arcades are the type of arcades demonstrated in the prototype. They give you 100% freedom to spawn shortcuts to any file or website, they are extremely customizable, and can adapt to provide the functionality desired on a user-by-user basis. It is so adaptable that it can be used as a hassle-free personal 3D desktop, that you could also share with your friends.
As a result, content in User Arcades is not always game-related. This is why the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade will always provide a clear distinction between Safe Zones and User Zones.
Safe Zones are servers that allow only Steam Community content.
User Zones are servers that allow you to spawn shortcuts to any file or website.
The Steam version will have a variety of different methods to play with friends. Some of these methods are real-time, while others allow you and your friends to participate on your own time.
Your Steam Stack is a public 3D representation of your gaming life. It is hosted in the cloud and can be visited by your friends at any time. It showcases your recent gaming activity, your proudest moments, and the awesomness the virtual world you’ve created in Anarchy Arcade.
Just like your Steam Profile, people can check out your Steam Stack by themselves when ever they want. Or you could explore it together in live Multiplayer mode.
Anarchy Mall Earlier I said that your Steam Stack is hosted on the cloud. Well, think of the Anarchy Mall as being that cloud. It’s where you can go to check out the Steam Stacks of your friends and see what they’ve been up to in their virtual worlds. It’s also where you go to customize your own Steam Stack, collect unlockables, browse the newest Workshop items, and much more.
A BETA version of Anarchy Arcade is planned to hit Steam Early Access in mid September 2014. It will not be full featured. Instead, it will focus on testing specific aspects of Anarchy Arcade with the purpose of making the full Steam version as awesome as possible.
Here is the general order in which features are going to be implemented:
Improved & Revamped Backend
Virtual SmartPhone
Steamworks & Community Features
Multiplayer
Anarchy Mall
Kickstarter
Art Asset Overhaul
Steam Early Access
Addons & Scripting
User Arcades
This schedule is tentative and will adapt over time. My objective is to have a fun & stable build of Anarchy Arcade with Steam features by mid September.
As development starts picking up speed, I am increasingly busy with coding, artwork, and research. However, sometimes creating a game can be just as much fun as playing one, so I will be posting weekly progress announcements so you can follow exactly what’s being developed in Anarchy Arcade.
If you’d like an even more technical peek into the latest developments, you could follow Anarchy Arcade on Twitter.
If you can’t wait for Anarchy Arcade, the prototype is still up and running better than ever! Just head on over to AnarchyArcade.com and click Download to get started.
As always, if you have any questions, just post them in a comment or a discussion thread somewhere and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Until next time, have fun!
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