Steam's Farming Fest is on now, with demos and deals by the acre! Whether you're growing the garden of your dreams, building a cozy farm, or getting as close as you can to experiencing the real stress of what it's like running one, there are hundreds of games to discover.

Our official trailer above gives you a good sense of what you'll find, but you may as well mosey on over to the event itself: Steam Farming Fest, now through May 6th!

Today we have updated a portion of our Refund Policy regarding pre-purchased titles. This change covers titles that are in pre-purchase and offer “Advanced Access”. Playtime acquired during the Advanced Access period will now count towards the Steam refund period. You can find our more information regarding Steam Refunds here.

All week, explore discounts and demos on FPS games; just take a look at the official trailer above to see examples of everything from tactical shooters and team combat to games that send you underwater or into the wilderness to dive and hunt.

And that’s just scratching the surface! If you’re looking to play a first-person game and shoot with anything from bullets and arrows, to rocks and even water, you’ll likely find it in this fest.

Join us now for the Steam FPS Fest, running through April 22nd at 10am PT.

https://youtu.be/oZNNd2j_Fmo

Steam Deckbuilders Fest runs March 25th through April 1st (no fooling!) and packs in a ton of deals on deckbuilders of all kinds.

You'll find a bunch of different themes to explore all week long in card-like fashion: Navigate dangerous pirate-infested seas; battle aliens; play mini golf; build a cardboard town; and more.

Head on over to Steam Deckbuilders Fest now, and have fun!

Back in November we announced the Steam Deck OLED. It's available now, and though it's got a bunch of great improvements like longer battery life, faster downloads, and better repairability, the star is its ultra-bright HDR OLED screen. When the launch was on the horizon, we got together and started to plan the announcement trailer. We knew early on that we wanted to shoot something in-house, and we wanted to shoot it practically (with actual cameras) to show off the new screen.

Then, as we began to the see the new screens around the office, we were shocked. We knew we'd spec'd bright, OLED screens, but these things were EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT. Startlingly bright. So bright, in fact, we wondered if we could use actual Steam Deck OLEDs as the only light sources to light our launch trailer. That seemed fun enough—and dumb enough—to try, so we got to work.

Stanley Kubrick lit Barry Lyndon with nothing but candles. Could we light the Steam Deck OLED launch trailer with nothing but Steam Deck OLEDs? And if not, could we get a deal on a LOT of candles?

We figured we would need about 100 Steam Decks to pull this off. And as luck would have it, we had that many old OLED prototypes laying around the office. As for how our bounty of OLEDs should frame the central "hero" Steam Deck, we thought it made sense to fully surround it like the lighting in a product photography studio, or a dance club. You're likely thinking exactly what we were: the only way to create this effect was to construct a large, metal orb.

At Valve, we will construct an orb at any opportunity.

We had the 100 Steam Decks. We knew they absolutely had to be suspended inside a giant orb. What else was required?

• A combination custom-milled and prefabricated aluminum frame, designed and built by folks in the Valve hardware prototyping lab.
  
• Two bonded network switches, long-ago retired from Steam. (That's right! There is a chance that the brain of our orb was once the very same server on which you no-scoped a fool or downloaded Doki Doki Literature Club.)
  
• A mobile networking rack left over from an old The International we found in the corner.
  
• Every spare network cable we could grab in the IT offices.
  
• Dozens of Deckmate Steam Deck mounts (an off-the-shelf Deck peripheral made and sold by a member of the Steam Deck community)
  
• Hundreds of tiny 3D printed clips, mounts, and brackets to hold it all together.

Once we had all that, it was time... to build the orb:


The Orb itself was designed and built by a handful of people responsible for the actual Steam Deck hardware: some who work on the device itself and some who work primarily in the prototyping/fabrication workshop. The networking was a collaboration between people in the IT group and help from Steam networking (including those retired switches from Steam and the rolling rack mount from an old The International broadcast setup)


Software was maybe the most fun, because it wasn’t custom. Steam Deck is “just” a Linux PC in a tiny case, which meant we could use a bunch of existing solutions. We wanted to iterate quickly, so ideally any video displaying on the orb would work in real time (as opposed to rendering out individual videos per-screen and playing them in sync). So we ended up using OBS for the whole setup, both from the transmitting computer and running on each receiving Deck in the orb, with the NDI plugin for low latency sync.

Our first test of streaming video to all the Steam Decks at once.

NDI is a standard developed by NewTek (for all you old-school video production- slash Amiga-heads, they’re the creators of the Video Toaster!) for sending streaming video around a LAN with low latency and good sync. In addition to being used by live broadcasters who prefer networking over dedicated video cable pulls, it's commonly used by modern planetariums and megachurches. It was perfect for our needs.

We wanted video that played in the orb to look correct, not stretched out or distorted, so we needed to build a video template that took the spherical shape into account. We took the original CAD file for the aluminum frame and did a quick spherical unwrap in a 3D modeling program to know the approximate screen positions in a flat space. We took that and dropped it into a very wide and high res After Effects project to animate in, and then sent it back out to the orb as a single, tightly packed 4K video.

Animating an iris open effect on our motion graphics canvas, and looking at it in the packed video grid that will be streamed to the orb.

The result was that we could watch motion graphics on the Orb—playing from an OBS scene, or through After Effects—and then tweak them and try again very quickly. It let us get experimental right away, and start solving problems on the shoot using the orb itself. Not to get too deep into the weeds of video production (way, way too late), but for the final shot in the trailer, we wanted to add rim lights to the Steam Deck in the center of the orb. Because our graphics composition was playing back in real-time, it was as simple as drawing some bright white rectangles in OBS, and dragging them around the canvas until they were providing the lighting we wanted in-camera. Here’s a video of the packed 4K grid streaming over to the orb in OBS:

The video grid streaming out to the orb in OBS.

It meant we could capture some truly bananas footage, lit entirely in-camera, that both looked beautiful and showcased the power of the displays in the new Steam Deck at the same time. And if we did our jobs right, the results would look good to anyone, whether they noticed how we achieved the look or not. It also meant we got to build a huge video orb, which we know is a life goal shared by many.


So there you have it. After all that design, engineering and problem solving, we made an ad. It involved lots of cameras, a smoke machine, a big moveable arm, half a dozen last minute deck swaps, and many edits and gnashing of teeth. Here’s the final product:


After the ad we couldn’t bear to tear down the orb, so we put it in the lobby where we presume people from around the globe will make the pilgrimage to bask in its glow. Well, once we plug it back it in.

---

Later edit: Turns out we have a 3D scan of the orb in its original location, viewable here.

Hello! We are excited to announce Steam Families, available today in the Steam Beta Client.

Steam Families is a collection of new and existing family-related features. It replaces both Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View, giving you a single location to manage which games your family can access and when they can play.


To get started, you can create a Steam Family and then invite up to 5 family members. You can manage your family from your Steam Client, mobile device or web browser.



By joining a Steam Family, each member gains access to the following Steam features:


When you join a Steam Family, you automatically gain access to the shareable games that your family members own and they will also be able to access the shareable titles in your library. The next time you log in to Steam, this new 'family library' will appear in the left column as a subsection of your games list. You maintain ownership of your current titles and when you purchase a new game it will still show up in your collection.

Best of all, when you are playing a game from your family library, you will create your own saved games, earn your own Steam achievements, have access to workshop files and more.

Family Sharing enables you to play games from other family members' libraries, even if they are online playing another game. If your family library has multiple copies of a game, multiple members of the family can play that game at the same time. For a more detailed look at how Family Sharing works, see the FAQ below.

Family Sharing is a feature that developers may opt their games out of for technical or other reasons at any time. Visit the Steam Store to see a list of games that currently support Family Sharing.




Steam Families includes new parental controls that allow parents to set limits on what and when children play games on Steam. You can control which games your children have access to and monitor their activity. This information is available from wherever you access Steam, including your mobile device when you are away from home.

Members of a Steam Family can have one of two roles: adult or child. Any adult family member can manage invites and apply account restrictions. Children are subject to parental controls and do not have permissions to manage the family.

Parental control features let adults:

• Allow access to appropriate games
  
• Restrict access to the Steam Store, Community or Friends Chat
  
• Set playtime limits (hourly/daily)
  
• View playtime reports
  
• Approve or deny requests from child accounts for additional playtime or feature access (temporary or permanent)
  
• Recover a child's account if they lost their password

We understand a common (and sometimes time-consuming) task for parents is purchasing games for their children. This usually requires that parents complete a gift purchase or let their kids borrow a credit card.

To streamline this process, Steam Families introduces a new payment option where a child account can request an in-family adult to pay for their shopping cart. The adult can approve and pay for the purchase from their mobile device or email. Once approved, all games from the shopping cart will be added to the child's account.




To test the new Steam Families feature, you will need to be opted into the Steam Family Beta. Any family members you invite will also need to join the beta. 

• While Steam is running, click on Steam upper left, then choose the "Settings" menu.
  
• Select Interface, then under "Client Beta Participation" select the dropdown menu
  
• Select Steam Family Beta from the drop down list, and click OK. You'll be prompted to restart Steam at this point.

Once opted in, go to Account Details on the Store page, then click on the Family Management section.



Who can be in a Steam Family?

While we know that families come in many shapes and sizes, Steam Families is intended for a household of up to 6 close family members.

To that end, as we monitor the usage of this feature, we may adjust the requirements for participating in a Steam Family or the number of members over time to keep usage in line with this intent.


Can I leave a Steam Family?

Steam Families are intended to contain your immediate family. As major life events can change who lives in your household, it is understandable that some day you may need to join a new Steam Family. Adults can leave a family at any time, however, they will need to wait 1 year from when they joined the previous family to create or join a new family.

Children in a Steam Family cannot leave the family themselves and must be removed by an adult in the family or by Steam Support.

As it is rare that a family member leaves the family, each Steam Family slot has a cooldown of one year before a new member can occupy that slot.


Can I be kicked out of a Steam Family?

Yes, adult family members can kick any family member out of the Steam Family.


Can we go through a real world example of how a Steam Family might share games?

Of course! Let's say that you are in a family with 4 members and that you own a copy of Portal 2 and a copy of Half-Life. At any time, any one member can play Portal 2 and another can play Half-Life. If two of you would like to play Portal 2 at the same time, someone else in the family will need to purchase a copy of the game. After that purchase, there are two owned copies of Portal 2 across the family and any two members can play at the same time.

In this example, if your family chose to not buy a second copy, you can play any other game in your library while waiting for your family member to finish playing your copy of Portal 2.


Which games are currently eligible for Family Sharing?

A game's developer controls whether a game is eligible for sharing with Steam Families. All developer settings for the previous Steam Family Sharing feature are being brought forward to Steam Families. So, if a game is currently eligible for Family Sharing, it will remain so in the new system unless the developer chooses to opt-out later.

In addition, not all games can be shared due to technical limitations. For example, titles that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription in order to play cannot be shared between accounts.

We want as many games as possible to be accessible via Family Sharing, but we realize some games might have special cases where this feature isn’t feasible or doesn’t give users a good experience. Developers who have these concerns can reach out to us via the partner support page to get help with options and solutions.


Do I need to share all of my games with my family?

By joining a family, all games are automatically shared with the other members in your family. Adult accounts can use parental controls to limit which games each child in the Family can access.


What happens if my brother gets banned for cheating while playing my game?

If a family member gets banned for cheating while playing your copy of a game, you (the game owner) will also be banned in that game. Other family members are not impacted.


Do I need to be online to play a shared game?

You can play games from the Family library offline as long as that game supports Family Sharing.


I'm currently using the existing Steam Family Sharing feature. What happens now with Steam Families?

You should set up a Steam Family! Once done, Steam will automatically recommend inviting any accounts that you were previously sharing with.


I'm currently using the Family View feature with my family. What happens now with Steam Families?

If you create a Steam Family and add a child account, any existing Family View settings associated with that account will be transferred to Steam Families under Parental Controls. The ability to unlock controls by entering a PIN will be removed, but the settings are otherwise untouched. Once they've joined the family, you can modify their parental controls at any time.


Have more questions about Steam Families? See our Support FAQ.

We'd love to hear what you think about this new feature. Let us know in the Steam Families forum.

The sights and sounds of spring have arrived on Steam! And as you can tell by our official trailer, by "sights," we mean "LOOK AT ALL OF THESE GAMES ON SALE!" and by "sounds" we mean "LISTEN TO ALL OF THESE GAMES ON SALE!"

A lot of folks like to use this time of year to do a little "spring cleaning" around the house, but we won't judge if you "spring clean" your Steam library instead. Explore discounts, demos, and more on thousands of games of all kinds; plus visit daily for free sticker drops!

The Steam Spring Sale, March 14th through 21st at 10am Pacific.