Steam's new API lets devs grant easier build access to players

Valve recently pushed a new set of Steam APIs to address "common challenges" for a game's different versions on the platform.

Now, developers can provide players access to an older build version of their game, and a way to preserve their saves from those previous iterations. In its blog, Valve admitted the original process was "fairly obscure," but now lets developers "offer players this choice from within the game itself."

These changes, it continued, "give players more clear choices in how they want to engage with the game. Some want to be part of your beta branch where you are testing out the latest updates, while others may want to play on an older stable build that they know works well with their save file."

Previously, players would have to access those beta branches on their own in the 'Settings' tab; now, developers can add a button and text to a game's menu that shows what a build a player has and invite them to join the beta branch. Inside that branch, players will "see new UI immediately next to the play button in Steam that shows the current beta they have set, and easily lets them opt back out if they so choose."

Once selected, Steam will reboot and relaunch the game into beta mode and its player-selected build. That build will be further reflected in the game's Steam library page.

As for game saves, Valve said the new APIs make it so players are asked if they would like to still use the older version of a title rather than defaulting to the newer one. It noted that "trouble can arise when players with dozens or hundreds of hours of playtime find that their save file no longer works with the latest version of the game.

By "adding some logic" to their game, devs can check what version a player's existing save is linked to, something Valve said is primarily an issue for Early Access games. Alternatively, they could specify version numbers in save files or map a version of their game to a branch ID that "creates a table somewhere in your game that is aware of which versions correspond with each Steam Beta Branch."

The onus will fall on devs to plug these four APIs into their games themselves, and more information on them can be read here.