{"id":69419,"date":"2026-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69419"},"modified":"2026-07-09T18:25:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:25:34","slug":"indie-developer-says-steam-helped-fix-their-game-in-time-for-next-fest-instead-or-rejecting-last-minute-unbootable-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/indie-developer-says-steam-helped-fix-their-game-in-time-for-next-fest-instead-or-rejecting-last-minute-unbootable-build\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie developer says Steam\u00a0helped fix their\u00a0game in time for Next Fest instead or rejecting last-minute\u00a0unbootable\u00a0build\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About a week ago, a\u00a0first-time\u00a0game developer\u00a0working\u00a0on the social deduction\u00a0multiplayer\u00a0title\u00a0Red Flag\u00a0<\/strong>posted on the\u00a0IndieDev subreddit<\/a>\u00a0regarding\u00a0their\u00a0recent positive\u00a0experience with Valve\u2019s Steam Support. After\u00a0accidentally\u00a0submitting\u00a0an\u00a0unlaunchable\u00a0build\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0day of\u00a0the deadline, they found that\u00a0instead of requesting fixes or rejecting the game, the reviewers in charge of the approval process fixed it themselves, just in time for Steam\u2019s June Next Fest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the dev, Red Flag Team uploaded its demo build on the day of the Next Fest deadline, forgetting that the approval process\u00a0normally\u00a0takes five to seven days.\u00a0This meant that\u00a0if the game\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0approved\u00a0the\u00a0very\u00a0same day, it would miss the opportunity to\u00a0participate\u00a0in\u00a0an important event for gaining visibility on the platform.\u00a0After realizing their mistake and sending\u00a0a follow-up email, they\u00a0were told \u00a0that the game would be\u00a0forwarded\u00a0for urgent review.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though the build was approved after a few hours, Valve noted that the game had actually failed to launch due to an incorrect configuration of the Visual C++ Redistributable files required to run the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, instead of\u00a0rejecting\u00a0the build or sending it back to the\u00a0devs\u00a0for fixing\u00a0(verifying that the product build is executable is part of the review process),\u00a0the reviewer\u00a0instead\u00a0personally\u00a0edited the configuration and sorted the\u00a0redistributables\u00a0before approving the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the Reddit post, several indie devs<\/a> shared similar experiences<\/a> of how Valve fixed the redistributables<\/a> on their games just in time to meet a deadline. It appears that this is a common mistake many first-time Steam publishers make, and those in charge have gotten used to fixing the problem themselves without changing the overall build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Valve\u2019s help, Red Flag’s demo was able to\u00a0participate in\u00a0the June\u00a0Next Fest,\u00a0its\u00a0Steam Wishlists\u00a0nearly doubled, and the\u00a0devs\u00a0are seeing players in their lobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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