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Steam Workshop support added to GameNative in latest v0.9.0 update

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For those who have missed it, GameNative is an Android app that lets you play your Steam games on your phone and Android gaming handhelds. Since launching the team behind it have been busy making improvements, making logging in as simple as logging in on Steam, adding cloud save support, and most recently, adding support for achievements when played on-device. Now though things are being taken one step further with Steam's Workshop content now being available.

Though in the past you could mod your games by opening its container and copying files across directly, this update allows for proper Workshop integration for games that support it. It should be noted however that the app does not have its own Workshop browser, with you needing to have subscribed to the things you're interested in using the Steam app or website. Outside of Workshop support, we also see a slurry of additional features and fixes to make gaming on the go that bit more attractive. The most notable of these is likely the initial PowerVR support, bringing GameNative to Pixel 10 users for the first time.

If you're interested in the full changelog, you can find it along with the download linked below.

:arrow: GameNative Download
 
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MeowthBlep said:
waos
this should become an official valve product
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Does Valve have a track record of acquisitions for third party apps like this?

Jagex "works" with the Runelite dev team to ensure guided & approved product delivery but they have to because the only reason OSRS has as many players as it does is because of how quintessential Runelite to making the game actually playable.

If more folks adopt GameNative as a service then I'd certainly expect Valve to be a bro and either support the team or aquire them outright and let them keep operating how they have been, just with a bigger budget & some corporate guidelines.

Regardless, hell yeah more mobile gaming so I don't have to focus on work!
 
Alagara said:
Does Valve have a track record of acquisitions for third party apps like this?

Jagex "works" with the Runelite dev team to ensure guided & approved product delivery but they have to because the only reason OSRS has as many players as it does is because of how quintessential Runelite to making the game actually playable.

If more folks adopt GameNative as a service then I'd certainly expect Valve to be a bro and either support the team or aquire them outright and let them keep operating how they have been, just with a bigger budget & some corporate guidelines.

Regardless, hell yeah more mobile gaming so I don't have to focus on work!
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Valve has already dumped a ton of money into FEX, the translation layer used to translate ARM instructions to x86. They're also bringing SteamOS to the Steam Frame. I doubt they'll get involved with the GameNative project specifically, but I am interested to see if they will allow any ARM device to install SteamOS
 
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Alagara said:
Does Valve have a track record of acquisitions for third party apps like this?

Jagex "works" with the Runelite dev team to ensure guided & approved product delivery but they have to because the only reason OSRS has as many players as it does is because of how quintessential Runelite to making the game actually playable.

If more folks adopt GameNative as a service then I'd certainly expect Valve to be a bro and either support the team or aquire them outright and let them keep operating how they have been, just with a bigger budget & some corporate guidelines.

Regardless, hell yeah more mobile gaming so I don't have to focus on work!
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It could happen like that
Valve could fork it maybe
 
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Another major feature in this version is that games from non-steam sources now also support known config and loading them directly, which is a huge deal in just being able to hit play right away, and a proper download and storage manager.

I wonder if they'll manage to add mod support for sites like nexusmods, too, that'd be surprisingly convenient.
 
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Alagara said:
Does Valve have a track record of acquisitions for third party apps like this?

If more folks adopt GameNative as a service then I'd certainly expect Valve to be a bro and either support the team or aquire them outright and let them keep operating how they have been, just with a bigger budget & some corporate guidelines.
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MeowthBlep said:
waos
this should become an official valve product
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The word "acquisition" leaves a sour taste in my mouth since in this industry it's almost always an anticompetitive tactic. I don't think you can legally acquire GameNative anyway. It's not an asset, or a product. What, they'll transfer the proprietor's rights to something that's free software? Where's the value in that? That only makes any practical sense if you want to release a locked down version which you can't do under most FOSS licenses.

Valve should be contributing, not buying.
 
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MeowthBlep said:
waos
this should become an official valve product
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I hope not.
Because it also supports GOG and Epic which clearly wouldn't be the case if this was owned by Valve.
However Valve pumps money into FEX which is being used by GameNative so it's already working the way it should be. =)
 
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I have no use for GameNative as I don't game on a phone, however I'm not aware of any other unofficial client/wrapper for Steam that had actual Workshop support. It's really a great thing that it's open source, so other projects can benefit from features like this.

lordelan said:
I hope not.
Because it also supports GOG and Epic which clearly wouldn't be the case if this was owned by Valve.
However Valve pumps money into FEX which is being used by GameNative so it's already working the way it should be. =)
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One can dream that Valve open sources more of their closed-source components.
 
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I'm curious... How well does this work?
Can you play mouse-heavy games reliably on a tablet?

ChibiMofo said:
Especially given how RAMageddon has effectively canceled the Steam Deck and delayed indefinately the Steam Frame and Steam Machine.
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Valve is actively pushing updates that hint toward aan imminent release. Granted, they're delayed because of the shortage, but it's not like it's vaporware.
By canceled, i take it you mean a potential steam deck sequel? I still use my steam deck regularly, and they get frequent updates (same ones i mentioned earlier).
 
Last edited by Taleweaver,
Taleweaver said:
I'm curious... How well does this work?
Can you play mouse-heavy games reliably on a tablet?


Valve is actively pushing updates that hint toward aan imminent release. Granted, they're delayed because of the shortage, but it's not like it's vaporware.
By canceled, i take it you mean a potential sequel? I still use mine regularly, and they het frequent updates (same ones i mentioned earlier).
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You can just connect a mouse to play mouse heavy games. The default setup has screen interaction work like a big trackpad though, so that is viable for some games. You can enable direct touch input too for the games that play well with that.
 
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Scarlet said:
You can just connect a mouse to play mouse heavy games. The default setup has screen interaction work like a big trackpad though, so that is viable for some games. You can enable direct touch input too for the games that play well with that.
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Thanks for the reply. On hindsight, I should've worded my question better, but it is good to know that it'll allow to use proper pheripherals. :)

Let me try again...steam has their share of mobile ports. Often a bit more expensive outside the steam sale period, but otherwise the same game. You know the kind: not a single keyboard stroke or rightclick required anywhere, huge text fields (or aimed at lower resolutions) and occasionally still with remnants of the original free to play module.

I have a bunch of those games on steam. Often from humble bundles, and not seldomly digital board games. These often fall inbetween a "too casual to play on an actual PC", and a "too tiny a screen on a steam deck" niche. I called them mouse heavy games, but that's not correct (they were originally for non-mouse handhelds).

So really: can I use my (large) android tablet to use gamenative to play steam ports of android games? :tpi:
 
Taleweaver said:
Thanks for the reply. On hindsight, I should've worded my question better, but it is good to know that it'll allow to use proper pheripherals. :)

Let me try again...steam has their share of mobile ports. Often a bit more expensive outside the steam sale period, but otherwise the same game. You know the kind: not a single keyboard stroke or rightclick required anywhere, huge text fields (or aimed at lower resolutions) and occasionally still with remnants of the original free to play module.

I have a bunch of those games on steam. Often from humble bundles, and not seldomly digital board games. These often fall inbetween a "too casual to play on an actual PC", and a "too tiny a screen on a steam deck" niche. I called them mouse heavy games, but that's not correct (they were originally for non-mouse handhelds).

So really: can I use my (large) android tablet to use gamenative to play steam ports of android games? :tpi:
Click to expand...
Haven't tried but should be possible. By default, the touchscreen emulates a track pad, but there's a direct touch input option made for RTS and Visual Novels that will probably do what you want
 
It would be nice to see GameNative users on the valve hardware survey, but I don't know if Valve would be interested in that. That would mean more "SteamOS" (linux) users on the statistics.
 

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