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Stardock Reveals Impulse Reactor for Developers
by Brian Leahy, Mar 15, 2010 4:00pm PDTAt last year's GDC, publisher and developer Stardock revealed GOO, or Game Object Obfuscation, which would allow gamers to resell digital game in addition to functioning as DRM. In 2009, Stardock revealed Impulse::Reactor, a toolset similar to Valve's Steamworks, for PC games, which was shown off at GDC 2010.
Impulse::Reactor uses GOO as DRM, but requires no client to operate. Games utilizing Reactor wouldn't even need to be bundled with Impulse, Stardock's digital distribution platform. Furthermore, these games could be sold at retail or even on other digital distribution platforms like Steam, Direct2Drive, etc.
The tools are free to use and the only requirement is that any game utilizing the framework also be sold on Stardock's Impulse service, though not exclusively. This is in contrast to Valve's Steam exclusivity requirement to use Steamworks for features and DRM. (Update: Games that use Steamworks can be sold through any outlet, though they require a mandatory Steam installation. Steamworks features can also be used alongside other services, such as Games for Windows Live, as seen in Dawn of War II.)
That's great, but what does Impulse::Reactor get you? Well, how about GOO for DRM, friends lists, Facebook and Twitter integration, in-game DLC, achievements, chat, matchmaking, rankings and ladders, server lists, and cloud storage for game saves.
Finally, the overlays for these features can be skinned by the developer to match the look of the game. It remains to be seen if developers will flock to this framework for features and DRM. On the other side of the coin, Valve and Epic just announced a partnership to include Steamworks in Unreal Engine 3, which would make it easier for developers to use Steamworks in UE3 games.
More information on Impulse::Reactor can be found on Stardock CEO Brad Wardell's blog.
Comments
From my limited experience with Impulse, it's interface is garbage and slow, there's nothing worth purchasing (everything is D list or worse). It's not even close to the same league as Steam. They also seem to have a lot of network and server issues, which doesn't happen with Steam.
GOO is cool in theory but it will never gain any traction, no devs are going to want it and user demand won't be great enough to change that.
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One thing I really like about GOO is how you can actually transfer games you've beaten to someone elses account if you want, as opposed to being permenantly hardlocked to your steam account. In addition to that, I like how Impulse doesn't need to be on for anything other than to install or patch a game. You don't need to have it active to run a game, or worry even about an "offline" mode. That said, again, Steam has seniority, and its DRM isn't excessive or "in your face" and most people from what I've seen are content with them.
Have I missed any pros or cons to either service?
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This is not true. Any Steamworks game can be sold on any website, the key simply has to be activated on Steam.
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I wonder how long it will take before all the publishers currently selling games through stardock are going to drop the platform after this.
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