Steam Greenlight Adds New Functionality For Users, Developers

Since its launch last August, Valve's Steam Greenlight service has proven itself a boon to indie and small time game developers. The service allows game developers to pitch their titles to Steam for consideration by the platform's many users.

Each game is vetted by the voters, who indicate through Greenlight whether they would buy the game if it was released on Steam. Valve then takes the most popular games under consideration and, like the Godfather, makes them an offer they can't refuse.

Steam Greenlight has seen numerous upgrades and changes to its core functionality since its launch, which have mostly served to make it easier and more accessible to both game developers and Steam users alike. Today, Valve updated the service with the ability to skip items in the vote queue, along with improvements to the collection system, and statistics for developers to pore over.

Previously, users would have to vote upon whether to approve or deny a game immediately. The new system allows users to choose "ask me again later" to put it on the backburner for future consideration. These titles can be revisited in a new menu item helpfully titled, "Items to Revisit Later".

Approved entries are automatically followed by users, who can act as advocates for the game by sharing the link through social media or Steam's community feed. Likewise, users can now create a collection of all their favorite games and even post announcements to anyone who follows their lists.