[Tacops] TacOps v4 Online Sales ?

[Ralf Pichocki]

Good morning.

IF Steam or something similar is an option, I would absolutely love to see a "(game) developer version" aside from this, i.e. just as it is now. Why so? As Martin said, you cannot launch two instances at the same time - regardless of licenses and of computers, it's bound to your account.

To test a scenario, however, just this is necessary: start several instances and simulate a battle. I would guess, the absolute minimum for this would be five computers, the more the better. So, please provide a downloadable, copyable version as well (possibly double or triple price, but anyway).

Best regards, 
Ralf. 



Am 17. August 2025 20:48:12 MESZ schrieb Martin Cracauer <cracauer at cons.org>:
>I have no experience hosting a game on Steam.  I see an increasing
>number of 2D and 3D wargames pop up on Steam, many exclusively.  So I
>guess it can't be all bad.
>
>Steam gives you more than just game sales.  They always include forums
>that you probably need to zookeep.  People expect regular blog-like
>updates or notes on software updates, which is all integrated into the
>client.
>
>Life on Steam is review-driven, and reviews are partially driven by
>price.  There is a strong hierarchy what kind of game in what state
>can command what kind of price.  Anything over gets negative reviews
>just because of the price.  The old $25 for TacOps seem about right to
>me.
>
>People can edit reviews later.  There is a culture of "in doubt
>negative" and remark inside the review that it will be edited to a
>positive one if xyz gets fixed, or the developer attitude changes, or
>whatever the matter is.  Outright review bombing due to unpopular
>turns of direction can be devastating and are common enough that Steam
>summarizes such periods differently.  As a result, hosting on Steam
>naively without having all ducks in a row can be a hard to recover
>from mess.
>
>I estimate that TacOps would do well because it works and the price
>is/was right.  TacOps has some flexibility issues that could attract
>negative reviews but I think those can be partially avoided by stating
>them clearly enough pre-sales.
>
>As mentioned Steam is also implicit copy protection.  If Steam shuts
>down people can't play your games anymore.  Other developers probably
>like it because then they don't have to worry about copy protection.
>I dislike that I can only run one instance of steam with a game up at
>a time, no matter how many computers I have.  I moved my DCS install
>out of Steam because of that.  Can't leave the DCS editor up on the
>screen for later and play Scramble on another computer.
>
>Martin
>
>Major H wrote on Sat, Aug 16, 2025 at 06:33:56PM -0500: 
>> Anyone very familiar with Steam, Epic Games, or other online distributors ?
>> 
>> I am financially good right now, without selling anything.  But I wonder
>> once in a while if I am leaving money on the table that could buy more
>> trinkets for the grandkids and polish the old lake cabin a bit.
>> 
>> TacOps v4 is somewhat dated/retro, but it is stable, and I get a few emails
>> weekly asking where it can be bought.
>> 
>> Thoughts, suggestions, pros and cons  ?
>> 
>> Best regards, Major H
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>
>-- 
>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>Martin Cracauer <cracauer at cons.org>   http://www.cons.org/cracauer/
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