Valve has made Steam development that much more enticing by openly releasing the network’s software development kit to all developers—and through the Steamworks developer site at that. With it, “developers should be able to evaluate potential integration with the various features and APIs in Steamworks, compile the code and perform limited testing of the functionality with the included sample application,” a statement from Valve explained.
Valve also stated that they “see this is as a small, but important step as we work toward providing more broad access to the Steamworks set of features and Steam distribution platform.” It seems that Valve supports the ease of publishing already hinted at by Sony with their revamped PSN, and has seized the opportunity to make their own distribution method more accessible. Today certainly seems like a good time to break into the indie scene.
Of course, it’s not as though they’ve unlocked the door completely. Developers must still go through the Greenlight process and be allotted an appID before all necessary utilities will be provided.
Source: Develop-online