Mutant Mudds developer expresses frustration with Steam Greenlight

Renegade Kid's Jools Whatsham has expressed his disappointment in both of Steam's submission processes, which have so far failed to secure a release slot for the very well received Mutant Mudds.

In a blog post on Gamasutra, Whatsham said his initial Steam submission was rejected with no feedback, as per Steam's policy, which strongly contrasted with his experiences working with Nintendo.

"When we submit a game to Nintendo they test the game to ensure it does not crash or have any major bugs that impede gameplay. If the game contains any issues in this regard Nintendo sends us a report that explains why the game was failed. We fix it and resubmit. Nintendo works with developers where needed to isolate issues and correct them," he said.

"Valve is a successful company that is reportedly in good financial shape. With this in mind I assumed they would have a robust team in place that provided a similar submission service as Nintendo."

Baffled by the abrupt rejection of a game that has already proved its chops on 3DS, Whatsham took heart when Steam Greenlight was announced - he and many others assumed Valve had rejected the game so it could be part of the Greenlight process.

Unfortunately, Mutant Mudds has not succeeded, climbing as high as #40 at one point but mostly stuck around #80, with 30,000 votes split almost equally between "Yes" and "No".

"It quickly seemed as though the games that were being received well on Greenlight were either first-person games, contained zombies, and/or were supported by a built-in PC community or a unique publicity angle. Mutant Mudds could not find its audience. Greenlight is, after all, a popularity contest," Whatsham continued.

"Some seem put-out by calling it this. There is nothing wrong with it being a popularity contest. Isn’t that the point of asking a community of thousands to vote? It is what it is. But, now do I need to launch a dedicated PR campaign to get my game(s) noticed and accepted on Steam?"

Since the post went live, the Steam Greenlight campaign has drawn a lot of attention, and as of the latest update, has attracted over 18,000 "yes" votes. Renegade Kid is hoping to receive around 35,000, the usual number for games in the top 20 Greenlight charts.

Mutant Mudds is available on 3DS via the eShop as well as GOG, Gamersgate, Desura and the App Store.