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1476750cookie-checkBloom: Prelude Demo Available; Skips Steam Due To Valve’s Crowdfunding Policy
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2017/09

Bloom: Prelude Demo Available; Skips Steam Due To Valve’s Crowdfunding Policy

Developer Studio Fawn recently announced that Bloom: Prelude‘s demo is currently available right now from over on the Itch.io page. The developer is still working hard on the project while gathering funds through Patreon. The game was supposed to have a demo on Steam, but due to Valve’s policies on crowdfunding, it’s skipping the globally recognized digital distribution storefront.

In a press e-mail the developers note that they had plans on bringing the game to Steam Early Access but things didn’t quite work out. Why? Because of Valve’s policy on taking a cut of the proceeds.

The press note further states…

“[…] after creating our page and submitting for approval…we were shocked when Valve replied that our crowd funding needed to happen through their storefront as an empty DLC or micro-transaction (of which they take a substantial amount).”

 

“I don’t really understand why Valve is after such a large cut of a crowd funding (for the follow up game even!) …but it just wasn’t something we could do.”

Studio Fawn has been working on an extremely tight budget for the last four years and couldn’t afford to take a massive cut for the time being.

However, Valve has made it known in the past when it comes to the Early Access FAQ that it shouldn’t be used as a crowdfunding means or as a last ditch effort attempt to finish funding the game in hopes of hitting a full release. Even still, Studio Fawn found solace in Itch.io for the time being, so you can still download the demo from over there.

If you have no clue what this Bloom: Prelude is about, there’s a trailer below to give you a bit of a heads-up about the game.

The isometric adventure game is still pretty rough around the edges, but it does feature some interesting visuals. It is, of course, a long ways off from release. The developers mention themselves that it’s still being iterated and fixed up, but you can at least get a small idea of what direction they’re headed in.

The prelude is a free demo that sets up for the upcoming Bloom: Memories. It’s noted on the developer page that the game is about discovery and that players will get to experiment with uncovering more about the world, the characters and the abilities that you can utilize.

There’s no ETA on how far out the game will be from completion, but you can grab the 1GB demo right now from over on the Itch.io page.

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