Game Giveaway of the Day

#1

The Deer

In Brief

The Deer was created by Fabio Ferrara and Giulia Airoldi who are Chubby Pixel. The game was made specifically for children and is a short educational game about the Pleistocene epoch , commonly referred to by non scientists as the Ice Age.

Suggestions:

If you don't like today's game please give some feedback detailing why you don't like the game and how it could be improved from your point of view . If you don't like this genre at all, explain why. There are still thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you, and in the case of today's game include a mode that would allow you to experience the game without using a VR head set.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can get the game via Steam HERE. In the Steam summer sale it is only £0.31p/$0.52c with 47% off.

The game is still available via Failmids site HERE, and ends around the same time as today's game giveaway.

Installation

To get today's game you need to link to steam via the game giveaway page. Click on the small green button labelled 'Proceed to Download Page' then click on the larger green button labelled 'Download Now The deer'. This takes you to a new page where it says 'To get game key, please authorize through Steam.' Click on the orange colored 'Steam'. This opens up yet another browser to Steams log in page. Complete the login details. If you've not used the browser to log in before, or if your security wipes cookies you'll have to re verify this via your Steam email. Once you've logged in a new gamegiveaway page will open that says 'Thank you for authorization' Fill in the requested details (these may already be filled in if you've done it previously and not cleared out the cookie cache). Basically you are asked for a name and an email. Once filled in check the Captcha. A large green button should appear that says 'Get the key'. Once you've clicked that you should get a message saying 'Successfully submitted - The key was sent to the given email address, check your inbox and spam folders. Once you've found your Steam code, you can activate the game on Steam by inputting the code via the Game button that is located along the top of the Steam client. Clicking on 'Game' then selecting 'Activate a Product on Steam' from the drop down menu, follow the prompts and you'll have 'The Deer' tied to your Steam account permanently.

If you still haven't opted to install the Steam client, it can be worth it just for the free games available of which there are a few hundred. The client does not take up much hard drive space and has a small memory foot print. Once installed make sure you are not signed up for the beta program otherwise you'll get daily updates, which often means re-booting the client. For those who want to add even more games to their Steam account cheaply there are literally hundreds of excellent Steam game codes available at this time for upwards of 90% off from various Indie bundle Sites. You can see these by checking out the thread called The Weekly Round-Up of Game deals over in the game discussion forums HERE. Also the Steam summer sale has started with discounts as high as 90% off. You can pick up loads of indie games for as little as £0.39p. The Steam sale ends on the 4th July.

There are also a few hundred free Steam games, some of them Free to Play which generally means pay to win as most (but not all) include dlc's that enhance the game. If you play one of those games, you are likely to get trounced by those who have purchased the buffs and better weapons. there are also lots of free single player games. You'll find lists of these free and free to play games via various Steam groups or via the Games drop down menu on Steams Store page. Just hover your mouse over games (next to Featured Items) and you'll see Free to Play. Clicking on that will open up a list of free games with four tabs labelled Popular New Releases, Most Popular, Coming Soon and Specials. If you look to the right of the Most Popular list you can see a filter system that is divided into four sections, i.e. Narrow by tag, Narrow by category, Narrow by feature and Narrow by Operating system. The first one is extendable by clicking on see all. You can now see all of say the single player games by checking the checkbox labelled the single player. If you want to see a list of all free and free to Play games check all of the boxes. Checking just the single Player box then selecting the Most Popular tab will show you every free single player game available. At this time there appears to be 117 free single player games. If you check all of the boxes you'll find 445 games of various genres.

The game installs to the following path by default unless you chose to install to a different path from the main Steam installation. Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish:

C:\Program files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\

You can select to have a shortcut installed to the desktop and start menu if you wish

Introduction:

"The Deer" is an educational interactive experience for children.
You'll be an ancient Deer during the Pleistocene (Ice Age) epoch and you'll discover everything about this marvelous era.

- Did you know that during the Pleistocene there were no dinosaurs? They had become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, more than 60 million years before the Pleistocene Epoch began.

- Did you know that many animals, specifically, mammals were much larger in body form than their modern relatives?

- Did you know that this age witnessed the final extinction of the giant shark Megalodon, that had been the top predator of the oceans for millions of years?

The above are some of the interesting facts that you'll find out playing "The Deer"! Unfortunately there were no T-Rex's during this age since they were already extinct millions of years before.

Reference accessed HERE. 26th June 2016

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting The Deer to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

The Deer is a very short educational point and click game with several activities ideal for young children; however some children that this game is directed at may require a parent to read the information panels. By the time a child is confident enough to be able to read the script fully I reckon this game would seem far too boring for them. The activities comprise of three small mini games. A very simple memory board, with only six pairs of items to choose from (though a second play through will find the items in different positions) a 'find the correct item' where you have to spot five food items that the deer would eat during the Ice Age, from a total of fourteen, plus one more activity that sees you placing bones in the correct place on an outline of a deer body. There are only several information panels, some of which are accessed by clicking on certain area's of the playing area and that is about it.

It took me less than five minutes to read all of the information panels and complete the activities that are included in this game. The images and video I have posted basically cover the whole of the game.

The game is controlled by two keys A and D or the left and right arrow keys that allow you to walk either left or right and the left mouse. Unfortunately you can't just turn any time you wish, once you start in a particular direction you have to complete whatever activity that is in store for you before you can go in the opposite direction. To access activities or information panels you use your left mouse button to click on the appropriate activity that is indicated either by a pictograph, a Play button or a question mark.

The main menu allows you to see the games instructions which are not really instructions on how to play the game, but an introduction to the game. The introduction says:

''Travel back in time and explore the world where an ancient deer lived. During this adventure you will learn more about the PLEISTOCENE EPOCH (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago)

There's also a button labelled curiosities on the main menu that takes you through five information panels that cover the 'Epoch and Environment', information about The Deer, the type of fauna (i.e. animals) that the game is based on, friends of the deer and the evolution and expansion of Homo Sapiens. All information panels are very basic and once started you have to move through each panel via a right pointing arrow until you reach the last panel, which then allows you to return to the main menu.

The 'About' button takes you to a panel that lists the two developers and the name of their development house. clicking on each of these will take you to their respective web sites, though Fabio Ferrara's web site has exceeded it's bandwidth, so you can't visit that one.

Other Reviews:

I couldn't find any

Video's:

You can see a video of the The Deer game play HERE. It basically shows you the entire game in 10 minutes, though in reality, the game can easily be completed in less than five minutes.

Conclusion:

This is one of the shortest games I've ever played. It took me just over three minutes to discover and read all of the information panels and complete the three activities that this game comprises. This is not a game for adults, but an adult may be required to help the toddler that will enjoy this game. anyone over the age of about 5 years old will find this game far too short and boring. It also gives very little information about the Ice Age. There could have been much more information included especially about the actual ice age, i.e. glaciers, mammoths and other animals such as the sabre tooth tiger as well as early man. Lots of different offshoots could have made this game much more interesting, not only to the children it is aimed at, but the adults that will undoubtedly accompany them on their voyage of discovery.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developers 'Chubby Pixel' for giving away a key for The Deer (I'd already purchased this game before the free keys became available) and to the game giveaway team for giving the community the opportunity to check out this game. You can also still get a free key for this game over on Failmids (Ashraf's) site, but both require a Steam account to play the game. Even the developer links the game to Steam.

Useful Information:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

The latest free game over on Origin has changed to Nox. Nox is an action role-playing game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It details the story of Jack, a young man from Earth who is pulled into a high fantasy parallel universe and has to defeat the evil sorceress Hecubah and her army of Necromancers to return home. Depending on the player's choice of character class at the beginning of the game (warrior, conjurer, or wizard), the game follows three largely different linear story lines, each leading to its unique ending. If you've ever played the early RPG's such as Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale or the early Fallout series and liked them, you'll probably like this game as well. It's 16 year sold now, but still looks pretty good for it's age. This type of game has held it's appeal and looks far more than the early first person games. I highly recommend it..

You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

If you are having problems installing the game check the thread I've linked to above. If you can't find any fixes check the comments made by the community below and over the last few weeks for suggestions. Thank you.

If today's game wasn't to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

I've still to send out some Steam keys to those that commented on previous weeks games. I decided to take a break from virtually everything for the last few weeks partly to recharge my batteries. I am not going to run the free keys again this week as I'm still behind with everything at the moment, it would just confuse my morphine addled brain even more than it is already. :) I will resume giving more keys away once I've sent out all of those I owe to community members. To those that have qualified for keys so far , please be patient. Also, remember I need to see what you want via the thread I've linked too above that can be found in the game discussion forums. If you've had problems signing into your forum account, let me know what your forum name is and I'll resend you a new password. I have posted lots more games in the list over in the game discussion forums. To those that haven't received a key and who think they should, check out the new games as you may find something more to your liking. also to help me all community members who still think they are owed a key I'd really appreciate it if you re-posted a comment listing the games you wish for in the thread I created specifically for this. It will save me loads of time and maybe even speed up getting the game to you. thank you.

The Deer

<blockquote>In Brief</blockquote>
<blockquote>The Deer was created by Fabio Ferrara and Giulia Airoldi who are Chubby Pixel. The game was made specifically for children and is a short educational game about the Pleistocene epoch , commonly referred to by non scientists as the Ice Age.</blockquote>

Suggestions:
<blockquote>If you don't like today's game please give some feedback detailing why you don't like the game and how it could be improved from your point of view . If you don't like this genre at all, explain why. There are still thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you, and in the case of today's game include a mode that would allow you to experience the game without using a VR head set.</blockquote> 
<blockquote>If you miss today's game giveaway you can get the game via Steam <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/400240/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. In the Steam summer sale it is only £0.31p/$0.52c with 47% off. </blockquote>

<blockquote>The game is still available via Failmids site <a href="http://failmid.com/game/the-deer-100-discount/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, and ends around the same time as today's game giveaway.</blockquote>

Installation
<blockquote>To get today's game you need to link to steam via the game giveaway page. Click on the small green button labelled 'Proceed to Download Page' then click on the larger green button labelled 'Download Now The deer'. This takes you to a new page where it says 'To get game key, please authorize through Steam.' Click on the orange colored 'Steam'. This opens up yet another browser to Steams log in page. Complete the login details. If you've not used the browser to log in before, or if your security wipes cookies you'll have to re verify this via your Steam email. Once you've logged in a new gamegiveaway page will open that says 'Thank you for authorization' Fill in the requested details (these may already be filled in if you've done it previously and not cleared out the cookie cache). Basically you are asked for a name and an email. Once filled in check the Captcha. A large green button should appear that says 'Get the key'. Once you've clicked that you should get a message saying 'Successfully submitted - The key was sent to the given email address, check your inbox and spam folders. Once you've found your Steam code, you can activate the game on Steam by inputting the code via the Game button that is located along the top of the Steam client. Clicking on 'Game' then selecting 'Activate a Product on Steam' from the drop down menu, follow the prompts and you'll have 'The Deer' tied to your Steam account permanently.</blockquote>

<blockquote>If you still haven't opted to install the Steam client, it can be worth it just for the free games available of which there are a few hundred. The client does not take up much hard drive space and has a small memory foot print. Once installed make sure you are not signed up for the beta program otherwise you'll get daily updates, which often means re-booting the client. For those who want to add even more games to their Steam account cheaply there are literally hundreds of excellent Steam game codes available at this time for upwards of 90% off from various Indie bundle Sites. You can see these by checking out the thread called The Weekly Round-Up of Game deals over in the game discussion forums <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/458939#post-569898" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. Also the Steam summer sale has started with discounts as high as 90% off. You can pick up loads of indie games for as little as £0.39p. The Steam sale ends on the 4th July.</blockquote>

<blockquote>There are also a few hundred free Steam games, some of them Free to Play which generally means pay to win as most (but not all) include dlc's that enhance the game. If you play one of those games, you are likely to get trounced by those who have purchased the buffs and better weapons. there are also lots of free single player games. You'll find lists of these free and free to play games via various Steam groups or via the Games drop down menu on Steams Store page. Just hover your mouse over games (next to Featured Items) and you'll see Free to Play. Clicking on that will open up a list of free games with four tabs labelled Popular New Releases, Most Popular, Coming Soon and Specials. If you look to the right of the Most Popular list you can see a filter system that is divided into four sections, i.e. Narrow by tag, Narrow by category, Narrow by feature and Narrow by Operating system. The first one is extendable by clicking on see all. You can now see all of say the single player games by checking the checkbox labelled the single player. If you want to see a list of all free and free to Play games check all of the boxes. Checking just the single Player box then selecting the Most Popular tab will show you every free single player game available. At this time there appears to be 117 free single player games. If you check all of the boxes you'll find 445 games of various genres.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The game installs to the following path by default unless you chose to install to a different path from the main Steam installation. Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish:</blockquote>
<blockquote>C:\Program files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\</blockquote>
 <blockquote>You can select to have a shortcut installed to the desktop and start menu if you wish</blockquote>

Introduction:
<blockquote>"The Deer" is an educational interactive experience for children. 
You'll be an ancient Deer during the Pleistocene (Ice Age) epoch and you'll discover everything about this marvelous era. </blockquote>

<blockquote>- Did you know that during the Pleistocene there were no dinosaurs? They had become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, more than 60 million years before the Pleistocene Epoch began. </blockquote>

<blockquote>- Did you know that many animals, specifically, mammals were much larger in body form than their modern relatives? </blockquote>

<blockquote>- Did you know that this age witnessed the final extinction of the giant shark Megalodon, that had been the top predator of the oceans for millions of years?</blockquote>

<blockquote>The above are some of the interesting facts that you'll find out playing "The Deer"! Unfortunately there were no T-Rex's during this age since they were already extinct millions of years before.</blockquote> 
<blockquote>Reference accessed <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/400240/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. 26th June 2016</blockquote>

<blockquote>If you have a problem installing or activating or getting The Deer to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647" rel="nofollow">HERE</a></blockquote>

The Game:

<blockquote>The Deer is a very short educational point and click game with several activities ideal for young children; however some children that this game is directed at may require a parent to read the information panels. By the time a child is confident enough to be able to read the script fully I reckon this game would seem far too boring for them. The activities comprise of three small mini games. A very simple memory board, with only six pairs of items to choose from (though a second play through will find the items in different positions) a 'find the correct item' where you have to spot five food items that the deer would eat during the Ice Age, from a total of fourteen, plus one more activity that sees you placing bones in the correct place on an outline of a deer body. There are only several information panels, some of which are accessed by clicking on certain area's of the playing area and that is about it.</blockquote>

<blockquote>It took me less than five minutes to read all of the information panels and complete the activities that are included in this game. The images and video I have posted basically cover the whole of the game.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The game is controlled by two keys A and D or the left and right arrow keys that allow you to walk either left or right and the left mouse. Unfortunately you can't just turn any time you wish, once you start in a particular direction you have to complete whatever activity that is in store for you before you can go in the opposite direction. To access activities or information panels you use your left mouse button to click on the appropriate activity that is indicated either by a pictograph, a Play button or a question mark.</blockquote>
<ul><blockquote><a href='http://postimage.org/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s32.postimg.org/9r069wrt1/The_Deer_009b.jpg' border='0' alt="The Deer 009b"/></a></blockquote></ul>
<ul><blockquote><a href='http://postimage.org/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s32.postimg.org/bk32y8czp/The_Deer_010.jpg' border='0' alt="The Deer 010"/></a></blockquote></ul>
<ul><blockquote><a href='http://postimage.org/' target='_blank'><img src='https://s32.postimg.org/m86tx2myt/The_Deer_011.jpg' border='0' alt="The Deer 011"/></a></blockquote></ul>

<blockquote>The main menu allows you to see the games instructions which are not really instructions on how to play the game, but an introduction to the game. The introduction says:</blockquote>
<blockquote>''Travel back in time and explore the world where an ancient deer lived. During this adventure you will learn more about the PLEISTOCENE EPOCH (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago)</blockquote>
<blockquote>There's also a button labelled curiosities on the main menu that takes you through five information panels that cover the 'Epoch and Environment', information about The Deer, the type of fauna (i.e. animals) that the game is based on, friends of the deer and the evolution and expansion of Homo Sapiens. All information panels are very basic and once started you have to move through each panel via a right pointing arrow until you reach the last panel, which then allows you to return to the main menu.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The 'About' button takes you to a panel that lists the two developers and the name of their development house. clicking on each of these will take you to their respective web sites, though Fabio Ferrara's web site has exceeded it's bandwidth, so you can't visit that one.</blockquote>

Other Reviews:
<blockquote>I couldn't find any</blockquote>

Video's:
<blockquote>You can see a video of the The Deer game play <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HSsRE2fRTw" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. It basically shows you the entire game in 10 minutes, though in reality, the game can easily be completed in less than five minutes.</blockquote>

Conclusion:
<blockquote>This is one of the shortest games I've ever played. It took me just over three minutes to discover and read all of the information panels and complete the three activities that this game comprises. This is not a game for adults, but an adult may be required to help the toddler that will enjoy this game. anyone over the age of about 5 years old will find this game far too short and boring. It also gives very little information about the Ice Age. There could have been much more information included especially about the actual ice age, i.e. glaciers, mammoths and other animals such as the sabre tooth tiger as well as early man. Lots of different offshoots could have made this game much more interesting, not only to the children it is aimed at, but the adults that will undoubtedly accompany them on their voyage of discovery.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developers 'Chubby Pixel' for giving away a key for The Deer (I'd already purchased this game before the free keys became available) and to the game giveaway team for giving the community the opportunity to check out this game. You can also still get a free key for this game over on Failmids (Ashraf's) site, but both require a Steam account to play the game. Even the developer links the game to Steam.</blockquote>

Useful Information:
<blockquote>The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>
 <blockquote> I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/458939#post-569898" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The latest free game over on Origin has changed to Nox. Nox is an action role-playing game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It details the story of Jack, a young man from Earth who is pulled into a high fantasy parallel universe and has to defeat the evil sorceress Hecubah and her army of Necromancers to return home. Depending on the player's choice of character class at the beginning of the game (warrior, conjurer, or wizard), the game follows three largely different linear story lines, each leading to its unique ending. If you've ever played the early RPG's such as Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale or the early Fallout series and liked them, you'll probably like this game as well. It's 16 year sold now, but still looks pretty good for it's age. This type of game has held it's appeal and looks far more than the early first person games. I highly recommend it..</blockquote>
<blockquote>You can get it <a href="https://www.origin.com/en-gb/store/free-games/on-the-house" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.</blockquote>
<blockquote>If you are having problems installing the game check the thread I've linked to above. If you can't find any fixes check the comments made by the community below and over the last few weeks for suggestions. Thank you.</blockquote>

<blockquote>If today's game wasn't to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/458939" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I've still to send out some Steam keys to those that commented on previous weeks games. I decided to take a break from virtually everything for the last few weeks partly to recharge my batteries. I am not going to run the free keys again this week as I'm still behind with everything at the moment, it would just confuse my morphine addled brain even more than it is already. :) I will resume giving more keys away once I've sent out all of those I owe to community members. To those that have qualified for keys so far , please be patient. Also, remember I need to see what you want via the thread I've linked too above that can be found in the game discussion forums. If you've had problems signing into your forum account, let me know what your forum name is and I'll resend you a new password. I have posted lots more games in the list over in the game discussion forums. To those that haven't received a key and who think they should, check out the new games as you may find something more to your liking. also to help me all community members who still think they are owed a key I'd really appreciate it if you re-posted a comment listing the games you wish for in the thread I created specifically for this. It will save me loads of time and maybe even speed up getting the game to you. thank you.</blockquote>

Save | Cancel

Reply | Comment by Whiterabbit-uk – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#14

why can I download any games ? I was directed to this https://game.giveawayoftheday.com/the-deer/get-steam-key/
What is Steam and why do I need it ? Most of all, why can't I download any games from here ??? thx

Reply | Comment by Colleen – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#13

The drawings and information is very good, and there are sections with which a child can interact, and most children will like that part. I think that it is too short. If the developer is going to make a series with all the other animals of the Pleistocene period, I think children will enjoy that very much.

...................Moderator Comment........................

I agree, though I think all of the Ice Age should be covered in one game. They could create a whole series of these games covering all of the geological ages and even expand into biomes in the present day e.g. desert, aquatic , savannas and jungle habitats etc..

Reply | Comment by Katbnimble – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

#12

Each week I look at the games and download the ones I like. I do not have steam and why should I get it? Since the changes I can get any game I wont thru Myplaycity. It downloads much faster. Like a most recent one that took ppl 7 to 9 hrs. It took me 20 minutes in Myplaycity. I am just careful I do not let them change my homepage. The only reason I come now to game giveaway is to see reviews from our moderator etc. I do not need or have to get certain keys and go thru hoops to play games.
I believe a lot here feel the same. Thanks white rabbit for all your times and patience here especially with the snarky ones or the ones we do not even see who badger and use bad language here. We tend to forget some of us it is free. So hey you do not like a game so be it. Wait until next week. Or give positive feed back. When we need help our rabbit is there.
I might not be here too much longer knowing I can get games free elsewhere.

...................Moderator Comment........................

Hi Myrna, even with the changes, this is still one of the safest places to get free games. The game giveaway and giveaway teams have a reputation to uphold that sees them with a very high standing with all of the major search engines. If you post some thing on the giveaway site then do a search with some of the key words you used, I bet you'll see it referenced in the first five or so posts when you do a search. this is why they make sure all downloads are safe. Not all sites that offer free games are so careful. I will have a review site where you can also go for help. It's still being built, but you can see it HERE

. The reviews that have been posted are not finished (only two, and there's a lot of work to be done with respect to the overall look of the site. I want to theme the background so that it reflects the latest game being reviewed. Whether this can be accomplished I'm not sure.

Maybe save it to your favorites. As I said, it's no where near ready to go fully live, but it may be useful to get feedback from the community as I'm always open to suggestions.

Each week I look at the games and download the ones I like. I do not have steam and why should I get it? Since the changes I can get any game I wont thru Myplaycity. It downloads much faster. Like a most recent one that took ppl 7 to 9 hrs. It took me 20 minutes in Myplaycity. I am just careful I do not let them change my homepage. The only reason I come now to game giveaway is to see reviews from our moderator etc. I do not need or have to get certain keys and go thru hoops to play games.
 I believe a lot here feel the same. Thanks white rabbit for all your times and patience here especially with the snarky ones or the ones we do not even see who badger and use bad language here. We tend to forget some of us it is free. So hey you do not like a game so be it. Wait until next week. Or give positive feed back. When we need help our rabbit is there. 
I might not be here too much longer knowing I can get games free elsewhere.

<blockquote>...................Moderator Comment........................</blockquote>

<blockquote>Hi Myrna, even with the changes, this is still one of the safest places to get free games. The game giveaway and giveaway teams have a reputation to uphold that sees them with a very high standing with all of the major search engines. If you post some thing on the giveaway site then do a search with some of the key words you used, I bet you'll see it referenced in the first five or so posts when you do a search. this is why they make sure all downloads are safe. Not all sites that offer free games are so careful. I will have a review site where you can also go for help. It's still being built, but you can see it <a href="http://wrr.wolfdenmedia.nl/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a></blockquote>. The reviews that have been posted are not finished (only two, and there's a lot of work to be done with respect to the overall look of the site. I want to theme the background so that it reflects the latest game being reviewed. Whether this can be accomplished I'm not sure.

Maybe save it to your favorites. As I said, it's no where near ready to go fully live, but it may be useful to get feedback from the community as I'm always open to suggestions.</blockquote>

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Reply | Comment by Myrna – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#11

Wondering if the site will essential become a Steam game giveaway site. It might have to, I realize. Haven't decided yet if I will remain a patron if it does. Yes, I know Steam is supposedly wonderful, but I never had to have any platform beside Windows installed before. Sigh

Reply | Comment by watcher13 – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

watcher13, Windows is an operating system, not a platform. Steam is a gaming platform in the way that iTunes is a music platform. No one seems to have a problem downloading iTunes or Kindle reading for PC. It's the same thing. It's a program that shows you a store, allows you to buy games, allows you to move them from one computer to the next without having to figure out what game it was, what code you had, etc.

I have had Steam for almost 6 years. My husband has had it for just over 12 and my kids have had it somewhere in between. I was the last nut to crack. I didn't think I would want it. I have had the BigFishGames platform for 10+ years and Origin too, why would I need Steam? Because not only do I get to buy games in the platform (you can't in BFG or Origin, it takes you to their website) but Steam is safe. I have let it hold my card info for years. I have never once been scammed or spammed from them. When I download a game I get only that game. No ads and I certainly don't get 3+ extra shortcuts to things I didn't give permission to, like with MyPlayCity. I won't be downloading any of their stuff here anymore. The last one, the big one, I wouldn't play because it had a shield on the shortcut, meaning it wanted FULL ADMIN CONTROL. Nope, sorry game. I downloaded for 12 hours and refused to play it. I've never had that with Steam. Ever. Being that hubbs and both kids are on Steam I can see what they are playing and how long they played. I can see their friends lists and make sure the kids aren't adding people I don't know and if we share the same games in our list I can join them in the game. Long after they've moved out, I'll still be in games with them because Steam allows me to do that. We also have messaging in game and out of game. You can choose not to have Steam in your start up and only run it when you want to play something. I buy games for the kids during the sales (that they have put in their wish lists, which I can also see) and send them on birthdays or xmas.

I have never regretted downloading Steam. It's outlasted probably 4 of my hard drives and I have never lost my games. I'm not upset that we're getting more steam games, I trust them. All for of us has it, my MIL, my sister and now one of her kids. My son's friends from when we lived out of state moved across the country, literally, and they still play games together and chat through Steam. You don't have to be afraid of something new. There are security hoops in the beginning to get through. Getting game codes from here is harder than when you just purchase through steam because you click to buy, click to download and install and click to play. 3 clicks, that's it. No codes, not typing, it's built in and does it itself. Plus Steam offers games all day everyday that are just free to play. And right now during the summer sale hundreds of games are under $1. I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell ya'll on Steam but I'm baffled why everyone is so upset about it. I literally have 76 games and hubs has 131. Many are free to play.

I missed this game yesterday as one of my boys had friends over for his birthday for a sleepover. sigh, teenagers. I didn't even realize I'd not been to the site until this morning. It just occurred to me that while I'm typing this I'm even stopping to look at games on the steam sale on my other monitor. Agatha Christie games are on sale too so yeah, I gotta go. :p

watcher13, Windows is an operating system, not a platform.  Steam is a gaming platform in the way that iTunes is a music platform.  No one seems to have a problem downloading iTunes or Kindle reading for PC.  It's the same thing.  It's a program that shows you a store, allows you to buy games, allows you to move them from one computer to the next without having to figure out what game it was, what code you had, etc.

I have had Steam for almost 6 years.  My husband has had it for just over 12 and my kids have had it somewhere in between.  I was the last nut to crack.  I didn't think I would want it.  I have had the BigFishGames platform for 10+ years and Origin too, why would I need Steam?  Because not only do I get to buy games in the platform (you can't in BFG or Origin, it takes you to their website) but Steam is safe.  I have let it hold my card info for years.  I have never once been scammed or spammed from them.  When I download a game I get only that game.  No ads and I certainly don't get 3+ extra shortcuts to things I didn't give permission to, like with MyPlayCity.  I won't be downloading any of their stuff here anymore.  The last one, the big one, I wouldn't play because it had a shield on the shortcut, meaning it wanted FULL ADMIN CONTROL.  Nope, sorry game.  I downloaded for 12 hours and refused to play it.  I've never had that with Steam. Ever.  Being that hubbs and both kids are on Steam I can see what they are playing and how long they played.  I can see their friends lists and make sure the kids aren't adding people I don't know and if we share the same games in our list I can join them in the game.  Long after they've moved out, I'll still be in games with them because Steam allows me to do that.  We also have messaging in game and out of game.  You can choose not to have Steam in your start up and only run it when you want to play something.  I buy games for the kids during the sales (that they have put in their wish lists, which I can also see) and send them on birthdays or xmas.

I have never regretted downloading Steam.  It's outlasted probably 4 of my hard drives and I have never lost my games.  I'm not upset that we're getting more steam games, I trust them.  All for of us has it, my MIL, my sister and now one of her kids.  My son's friends from when we lived out of state moved across the country, literally, and they still play games together and chat through Steam.  You don't have to be afraid of something new.  There are security hoops in the beginning to get through.  Getting game codes from here is harder than when you just purchase through steam because you click to buy, click to download and install and click to play.  3 clicks, that's it.  No codes, not typing, it's built in and does it itself.  Plus Steam offers games all day everyday that are just free to play.  And right now during the summer sale hundreds of games are under $1.  I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell ya'll on Steam but I'm baffled why everyone is so upset about it.  I literally have 76 games and hubs has 131.  Many are free to play.

I missed this game yesterday as one of my boys had friends over for his birthday for a sleepover.  sigh, teenagers.  I didn't even realize I'd not been to the site until this morning.  It just occurred to me that while I'm typing this I'm even stopping to look at games on the steam sale on my other monitor.  Agatha Christie games are on sale too so yeah, I gotta go. :p

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Reply | Comment by Keisha – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

Keisha, I also was with Big Fish many years and also on Steam. My biggest complaint with Steam is that many of the games offered there (especially Artifex Mundi games) store game progress in Steam rather than in the developer's normal folder wherever it may be and often previously demoed game progress cannot be transfered to Steam. Some SE game progess can be copied to CE and then unlock the bonus content if the SE version was finished; no need to replay the standard game to get the bonus content. I have yet to find a game in Steam that allows that. I purchased quite a few games on Steam but am limiting them now because of this issue.

Reply | Comment by TM – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

Keisha, I know what Windows is and I know what Steam is. You COMPLETELY missed my point, which was that no platform was needed in the past. And, there are still many ways to get games without a platform. Sites like MyPlayCity, for example. Whether anyone likes those or not is irrelevant. Just like your commercial for Steam. If I want Steam, I'll download it. I don't need it sold to me. And I don't need a key contest site for it. And, as I've tried to point out before, if you Google, you will see that there are scores of bootleggers that make pirated Steam keys available for free. No contest necessary. How effective or safe this is, I don't know. But I know the web is full of sites that do giveaway pirated stuff, and I DON'T mean torrents, with no strings attached. Be that good or bad. So I'm not sure how useful a Steam key contest site is. Which is what you can now find at this address.
I could use a game giveaway site, and there used to be one at this address. Whether Steam is good, great, or not, has nothing to do with my point and the point of so many others. I know you were only trying to enlighten me, but maybe the next Steam game you get would be one that helps you develop the ability to read between the lines. Sorry.

Reply | Comment by watcher13 – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#10

This isn't so much a game as an slightly interactive story book. There isn't much to do and I can't imagine a even a small (5 -) child getting much interest out of this. The graphics are cute and geared towards the very young but the subject and language is far too complex for a small child to grasp or appreciate. The games may be more enjoyable but I see the need for an adult to explain and help a child understand this to a point where it will be useful.

Whenever people discuss these ancient times, random facts are usually thrown out there. For those who are wholly unfamiliar with this line of study, it tends to cause confusion and little retention. When I was looking at this, all I saw was a deer, a rhino, a squirrel, etc. and it didn't look any different from what we see today. I'm going to say that most kids who look at this are going to think today's animals were wandering around in their present form during this time. They are going to presume that these animals lived near each other. This may not seem important, but kids tend to remember what they learned early in life. It's a real PITA having to unlearn something. I like that they chose animals that are familiar to kids, but it may be more helpful to also include cartoon versions of today's animals as a comparison.

The other issue that is never addressed is pronunciation/understanding of the new terms. These are large complex words, much larger than what the target audience's age bracket would be expected to even remotely understand. Now I'm not in any way against introducing complex words and ideas to young children, but when you do, you need to give them an anchor to something familiar to retain/understand the new idea/word. A simple pronunciation key in brackets after the word would go a long ways. A hyperlink to additional information about the word roots would help retain the word-picture association. As we all know, most of these scientific names are descriptive in nature using Latin. Becoming familiar with the roots and meanings of these words really helps in quickly understanding what you are looking at and locking in the name for an item. For example, saying "mega fauna" means nothing to a kid. Saying it refers to large animals is better, but I can guarantee they'll get confused when confronted with "mega flora". Telling the kid that "mega" means "big" (over so many pounds), "fauna" means "animal", and "flora" means "plants" in Latin will help a child understand that most of these names actually mean something logical that can be applied again when they see the root words. It also helps the adults grasp what is going on so they don't feel so helpless in the subject.

The game should be longer and have more interaction. Other people have covered ways to make this more substantial, which it definitely needs. The only other thing I'll touch on is the inclusion of "controversial theories". Don't do that. These are young kids, they don't have the critical thinking skills or ability to understand what "controversial" means & that they shouldn't even bother to retain that bit of nonsense. The fact is most of these controversial theories are either so far out in left field they are considered fantasy by the majority of serious scientist or they have already been thoroughly debunked but there is a small cadre of dedicated fans of the theory to keep pumping it out there. Including that particular nugget of nonsense is like including the Young Earth Theory; you lose respect and trust points with those.

Kudos for taking on a scientific subject and trying to be educational. As with all these developers trying to make educational games, there seems to be a severe lack of someone with early childhood education theory experience on the team resulting in a game that doesn't seem to be made for the age bracket for which it is intended.

...................Moderator Comment........................

Thank you for your excellent feedback Melika and I agree about the use of scientific words such as the Pleistocene Mega Fauna etc, they need to be dumbed down so that the children can pick up and remember those facts in a fun way.

This isn't so much a game as an slightly interactive story book. There isn't much to do and I can't imagine a even a small (5 -) child getting much interest out of this. The graphics are cute and geared towards the very young but the subject and language is far too complex for a small child to grasp or appreciate. The games may be more enjoyable but I see the need for an adult to explain and help a child understand this to a point where it will be useful.

Whenever people discuss these ancient times, random facts are usually thrown out there. For those who are wholly unfamiliar with this line of study, it tends to cause confusion and little retention. When I was looking at this, all I saw was a deer, a rhino, a squirrel, etc. and it didn't look any different from what we see today. I'm going to say that most kids who look at this are going to think today's animals were wandering around in their present form during this time. They are going to presume that these animals lived near each other. This may not seem important, but kids tend to remember what they learned early in life. It's a real PITA having to unlearn something. I like that they chose animals that are familiar to kids, but it may be more helpful to also include cartoon versions of today's animals as a comparison.

The other issue that is never addressed is pronunciation/understanding of the new terms. These are large complex words, much larger than what the target audience's age bracket would be expected to even remotely understand. Now I'm not in any way against introducing complex words and ideas to young children, but when you do, you need to give them an anchor to something familiar to retain/understand the new idea/word. A simple pronunciation key in brackets after the word would go a long ways. A hyperlink to additional information about the word roots would help retain the word-picture association. As we all know, most of these scientific names are descriptive in nature using Latin. Becoming familiar with the roots and meanings of these words really helps in quickly understanding what you are looking at and locking in the name for an item. For example, saying "mega fauna" means nothing to a kid. Saying it refers to large animals is better, but I can guarantee they'll get confused when confronted with "mega flora". Telling the kid that "mega" means "big" (over so many pounds), "fauna" means "animal", and "flora" means "plants" in Latin will help a child understand that most of these names actually mean something logical that can be applied again when they see the root words. It also helps the adults grasp what is going on so they don't feel so helpless in the subject.

The game should be longer and have more interaction. Other people have covered ways to make this more substantial, which it definitely needs. The only other thing I'll touch on is the inclusion of "controversial theories". Don't do that. These are young kids, they don't have the critical thinking skills or ability to understand what "controversial" means & that they shouldn't even bother to retain that bit of nonsense. The fact is most of these controversial theories are either so far out in left field they are considered fantasy by the majority of serious scientist or they have already been thoroughly debunked but there is a small cadre of dedicated fans of the theory to keep pumping it out there. Including that particular nugget of nonsense is like including the Young Earth Theory; you lose respect and trust points with those.

Kudos for taking on a scientific subject and trying to be educational. As with all these developers trying to make educational games, there seems to be a severe lack of someone with early childhood education theory experience on the team resulting in a game that doesn't seem to be made for the age bracket for which it is intended.

<blockquote>...................Moderator Comment........................</blockquote>

<blockquote>Thank you for your excellent feedback Melika and I agree about the use of scientific words such as the Pleistocene Mega Fauna etc, they need to be dumbed down so that the children can pick up and remember those facts in a fun way.</blockquote>

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Reply | Comment by Melika – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#9

First of all people will need to remember that this is a kids game, aimed at and designed for children, and the length of the game and style reflect that. Downloaded and installed correctly and fairly quickly.
Had thought this might be a bit to easy for my child, but as she and I like memory games, and puzzles thought I would check it out ;)
It's really based on 3 main mini games which are actually quite well designed and fun, and certainly educational, which is the games main intent.
Has some decent if somewhat simple graphics(remember, designed for children), and plays through very nice. Quite fun, and will keep around to pull out in colder weather when it comes (hot summer here now, 32c today ;) .
Only suggestions I would have are to add a optional puzzle or two, maybe another simple memory quest to extend the game a bit if the player wanted to, but a fun nicely designed game for kids.

Reply | Comment by JBurt – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#8

Thank you!! I work with foster children, This will be perfect for the car laptop the kids use. I like to give them educational stuff we can talk about. This could be a ice breaker to conversation with some of them, especially boys.

Have a great day,
Debbie

Reply | Comment by kiteflyingal – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)

#7

I already gave my review but I would like for one time to give my serious feelings about how the game giveaways have changed and the addition of Steam Games.

I think I am one of the people that found this site close after it was started, I have been downloading games for years and have first seen the change of packaging to Themida and now the change to the new Download system. At first I as many others was not happy with those changes, AV's went off all around and some still do and it was a "not so smart managed" transfer imo. However in the end not much changed really and most of us have gotten used to deal with the new package.

Then the facebook button came in play and Steam was added.
As far as facebook? At first I thought "Why" but quickly realised that I still would be able to get the game for free and if it was something I didn't feel like sharing I made suer it comes in my email, the option is there. But if you have Facebook? Why bother sharing, are you ashamed you like playing games? Will you get fired for doing so? Will people point and laugh at you for getting a freebie? We get them for free .... what is two clicks costing you? You don't want to click? get the email :)

As far as Settam goes? I don't get the hostility against Steam. Yes, you will have a secondary "download manager" which I think is a totally wrong way of calling it. You haave a fully functioning game manager with inbuild Store. You can use that store but you can also completely ignore it. It will manage your steam games by default and you can add all your non steam games as well. Unlike others (that say never to get Steam) mention, Steam has no addware, it doesn't download viruses to your pc and there is no forced "social networking" involved You can be completely anonymus on Steam if you so desire. Meanwhile you have a central place to find all your games and for those that are on Steam access to support and user forums where you can ask all the questions you might have.

If you give it a chance you might see the changes to GOTD and GGOTD might not be so bad for us. Steam has just been added, if the games that are offered now get good attention and feedback other developers on Steam mihgt notice ad also offer games. Game Giveaway would become truly a giveaway as a Steam game is and remains yours. No more... shit my pc crashed.. bye bbye games. Just reinstall steam and poof there they are (off course that does not count for non steam games)

I already gave my review but I would like for one time to give my serious feelings about how the game giveaways have changed and the addition of Steam Games.

I think I am one of the people that found this site close after it was started, I have been downloading games for years and have first seen the change of packaging to Themida and now the change to the new Download system. At first I as many others was not happy with those changes, AV's went off all around and some still do and it was a "not so smart managed" transfer imo. However in the end not much changed really and most of us have gotten used to deal with the new package.

Then the facebook button came in play and Steam was added. 
As far as facebook? At first I thought "Why" but quickly realised that I still would be able to get the game for free and if it was something I didn't feel like sharing I made suer it comes in my email, the option is there. But if you have Facebook? Why bother sharing, are you ashamed you like playing games? Will you get fired for doing so? Will people point and laugh at you for getting a freebie? We get them for free .... what is two clicks costing you? You don't want to click? get the email :)

As far as Settam goes? I don't get the hostility against Steam. Yes, you will have a secondary "download manager" which I think is a totally wrong way of calling it. You haave a fully functioning game manager with inbuild Store. You can use that store but you can also completely ignore it. It will manage your steam games by default and you can add all your non steam games as well. Unlike others (that say never to get Steam)  mention, Steam has no addware, it doesn't download viruses to your pc and there is no forced "social networking" involved You can be completely anonymus on Steam if you so desire. Meanwhile you have a central place to find all your games and for those that are on Steam access to support and user forums where you can ask all the questions you might have.

If you give it a chance you might see the changes to GOTD and GGOTD might not be so bad for us. Steam has just been added, if the games that are offered now get good attention and feedback other developers on Steam mihgt notice ad also offer games. Game Giveaway would become truly a giveaway as a Steam game is and remains yours. No more... shit my pc crashed.. bye bbye games. Just reinstall steam and poof there they are (off course that does not count for non steam games)

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Reply | Comment by Mavadelo – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

Mavadelo, EXACTLY! Those that are on Facebook don't have a problem sharing 1000 things that infect their computers, hack their account or invite/annoy friends and family. GGOTD just shares a link that says "come join us" and people get angry. It's not even mandatory, they just need to get more users to the site to stay open. And I can't possibly agree more about Steam. Adding Steam here can only be a good thing. Both sites get more users and more traffic and they'll both get bigger and better. Win Win.

Reply | Comment by Keisha – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#6

Well, after jumping through hoops for the last hour with 'steam' I never did get the download. All I got for my troubles was Steam trying to charge me and frustration.

...................Moderator Comment........................

Hi Karen, I don't understand how Steam could be attempting to charge you? If you follow the instructions I posted in my review above, you should get a Steam key for the game. Once you have it you input the code and the game is automatically added to your Steam profile. If Steam was trying to charge you for the game you couldn't have been doing things right. When you say you were jumping through hoops and never got the download, did you get the Steam key? You can;t download a game via steam unless it's a demo until you've activated the game using the key you should have got when logging into Steam via the browser that was opened when you clicked on the Green buttons (see my instructions below)

The following is how you get the Steam code for today's game and basic instructions for adding it to your Steam account:

To get today's game you need to link to steam via the game giveaway page. Click on the small green button labelled 'Proceed to Download Page' then click on the larger green button labelled 'Download Now The deer'. This takes you to a new page where it says 'To get game key, please authorize through Steam.' Click on the orange colored 'Steam'. This opens up yet another browser to Steams log in page. Complete the login details. If you've not used the browser to log in before, or if your security wipes cookies you'll have to re verify this via your Steam email. Once you've logged in a new gamegiveaway page will open that says 'Thank you for authorization' Fill in the requested details (these may already be filled in if you've done it previously and not cleared out the cookie cache). Basically you are asked for a name and an email. Once filled in check the Captcha. A large green button should appear that says 'Get the key'. Once you've clicked that you should get a message saying 'Successfully submitted - The key was sent to the given email address, check your inbox and spam folders. Once you've found your Steam code, you can activate the game on Steam by inputting the code via the Game button that is located along the top of the Steam client. Clicking on 'Game' then selecting 'Activate a Product on Steam' from the drop down menu, follow the prompts and you'll have 'The Deer' tied to your Steam account permanently.

Well, after jumping through hoops for the last hour with 'steam' I never did get the download.  All I got for my troubles was Steam trying to charge me and frustration.

<blockquote>...................Moderator Comment........................</blockquote>

<blockquote>Hi Karen, I don't understand how Steam could be attempting to charge you? If you follow the instructions I posted in my review above, you should get a Steam key for the game. Once you have it you input the code and the game is automatically added to your Steam profile. If Steam was trying to charge you for the game you couldn't have been doing things right. When you say you were jumping through hoops and never got the download, did you get the Steam key? You can;t download a game via steam unless it's a demo until you've activated the game using the key you should have got when logging into Steam via the browser that was opened when you clicked on the Green buttons (see my instructions below)</blockquote>

<blockquote>The following is how you get the Steam code for today's game and basic instructions for adding it to your Steam account:</blockquote>

<blockquote>To get today's game you need to link to steam via the game giveaway page. Click on the small green button labelled 'Proceed to Download Page' then click on the larger green button labelled 'Download Now The deer'. This takes you to a new page where it says 'To get game key, please authorize through Steam.' Click on the orange colored 'Steam'. This opens up yet another browser to Steams log in page. Complete the login details. If you've not used the browser to log in before, or if your security wipes cookies you'll have to re verify this via your Steam email. Once you've logged in a new gamegiveaway page will open that says 'Thank you for authorization' Fill in the requested details (these may already be filled in if you've done it previously and not cleared out the cookie cache). Basically you are asked for a name and an email. Once filled in check the Captcha. A large green button should appear that says 'Get the key'. Once you've clicked that you should get a message saying 'Successfully submitted - The key was sent to the given email address, check your inbox and spam folders. Once you've found your Steam code, you can activate the game on Steam by inputting the code via the Game button that is located along the top of the Steam client. Clicking on 'Game' then selecting 'Activate a Product on Steam' from the drop down menu, follow the prompts and you'll have 'The Deer' tied to your Steam account permanently.</blockquote>

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Reply | Comment by Karen – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

I finally got it. I did the same thing as I did earlier but this time a different interface came up when I signed into Steam. Thanks for your help.

Reply | Comment by Karen – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

#5

WHY HAVE YOU GUYS SWITCHED UP? SHARE N DNLOAD, THEN JOIN N WIN, & NOW GAMES THROUGH STEAM... WHY CAN'T U GO BAC TO YOUR ORIGINAL WAY.. DIDN'T NEED FIXING IT WASNT BROKE.. GEEZZZ PLEAZZZE

...................Moderator Comment........................

Developers have found other ways to make money. One of the reasons developers gave us games in the first place was to hopefully entice us to their sites to purchase other games. now they can get more money by putting their games in indie bundles, for example one of the more popular ones can earn millions of dollars for the developers who have contributed to their bundles earning each developer a generous amount of money from the total amount. When contributing money to some bundles like the Humble Bundle you can apportion percentages of the money you give to the developer, the Humble bundle owners and often a charity as well. i usually apportion at least 90% to the developer and the other 10% is divided between the charity and the Humble bundle owners. . They can also earn a decent amount of money by putting their games up on one of the free game sites such as MyPlayCity. They get income every time a game is downloaded from those sites and whenever you play the game becasue each time you are redirected to the site it earns the free game site cash, part of which goes to the developer of the game. On top of that many indie and arcade developers have gone out of business because of the slump in game prices, so there are fewer sites available to get games from. We used to have to pay almost $20 for one arcade game eight years ago, now for the same price eight years later you can get up to forty arcade games by buying four indie bundles that cost $5 or less.

As mentioned recently I've asked the community repeatedly for help by posting constructive comments about the games we get. They don't need to be positive, nor lengthy, but they should at least give the developer i some ideas as to how they could make their games better. I believe this site had so much potential (still has I hope), but when only a very insignificant percentage of the community bothers to post feedback (i.e on average, when looking at the numbers of games downloaded only 0.001% or less of the community bothers to post feedback - that's one (or less) in every thousand games downloaded), most of the rest of the posts are nothing to do with the game being given away. In all honesty, would you be willing to give a game you'd put your heart and soul into away to a community that shows very little gratitude? I certainly wouldn't

The giveaway team have managed to find other sources of games. They may not all be available to the whole community, but at least there are still games available. Also the games we have been getting recently are from indie developers and tend to be a lot different to the usual arcade fare we've seen here for years, which in my opinion is a good thing. I hope the above answers your questions you posted above. I'm sorry if I've come over a little 'rantish', I don't mean anything by it i'm just a little jaded of repeating myself again over why we are not getting the games we used to..

WHY HAVE YOU GUYS SWITCHED UP? SHARE N DNLOAD, THEN  JOIN N WIN, & NOW GAMES THROUGH STEAM... WHY CAN'T U GO BAC TO YOUR ORIGINAL WAY.. DIDN'T NEED FIXING IT WASNT BROKE.. GEEZZZ PLEAZZZE

<blockquote>...................Moderator Comment........................</blockquote>

<blockquote>Developers have found other ways to make money. One of the reasons developers gave us games in the first place was to hopefully entice us to their sites to purchase other games. now they can get more money by putting their games in indie bundles, for example one of the more popular ones can earn millions of dollars for the developers who have contributed to their bundles earning each developer a generous amount of money from the total amount. When contributing money to some bundles like the Humble Bundle you can apportion percentages of the money you give to the developer, the Humble bundle owners and often a charity as well. i usually apportion at least 90% to the developer and the other 10% is divided between the charity and the Humble bundle owners. . They can also earn a decent amount of money by putting their games up on one of the free game sites such as MyPlayCity. They get income every time a game is downloaded from those sites and whenever you play the game becasue each time you are redirected to the site it earns the free game site cash, part of which goes to the developer of the game. On top of that many indie and arcade developers have gone out of business because of the slump in game prices, so there are fewer sites available to get games from. We used to have to pay almost $20 for one arcade game eight years ago, now for the same price eight years later you can get up to forty arcade games by buying four indie bundles that cost $5 or less.

As mentioned recently I've asked the community repeatedly for help by posting constructive comments about the games we get. They don't need to be positive, nor lengthy, but they should at least give the developer i some ideas as to how they could make their games better. I believe this site had so much potential (still has I hope), but when only a very insignificant percentage of the community bothers to post feedback (i.e on average, when looking at the numbers of games downloaded only 0.001% or less of the community bothers to post feedback - that's one (or less) in every thousand games downloaded), most of the rest of the posts are nothing to do with the game being given away. In all honesty, would you be willing to give a game you'd put your heart and soul into away to a community that shows very little gratitude? I certainly wouldn't</blockquote>

<blockquote>The giveaway team have managed to find other sources of games. They may not all be available to the whole community, but at least there are still games available. Also the games we have been getting recently are from indie developers and tend to be a lot different to the usual arcade fare we've seen here for years, which in my opinion is a good thing. I hope the above answers your questions you posted above. I'm sorry if I've come over a little 'rantish', I don't mean anything by it i'm just a little jaded of repeating myself again over why we are not getting the games we used to.. </blockquote>

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Reply | Comment by URSULA – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

URSULA, your explanation would be fine if the offerings here weren't for games that have already been given away for free in mass quantities on other websites weeks before you offer them here. There's a reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeGamesOnSteam) that lists giveaways almost daily and games given away here are always at the least a few weeks after everyone pretty much has already received a copy from one of the many other sites that have been giving it away. When thousands and thousands of copies of a game with no purchasable DLC are given away how do developers make money anyway? People say that they do but no one ever explains how that works.
Most everyone with a Steam account that is a regular active user already has these games and most new people who don't already know about Steam will find the interface too confusing for just one game - especially for one with maybe about 10 minutes actual playtime and made for small children. I would suggest seeing if the game is even worth it and if it's already been given away in mass quantities elsewhere before considering them as a giveaway here.

Reply | Comment by Brian H. – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#4

I hate steam and anything else that requires installing some sort of download manager so I'll pass on today's offer...

Reply | Comment by Trying 2 b Helpful – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)

#3

So people comment that it is given away just a few weeks ago (which actually is the past week and still running) but NOT A WORD on the game?... right. Let me post my Steam review that I wrote with the addition of some extra info for GGOTD viewers to start it off with, steam review starts at the recomendation point

The Deer is a very short game (actually very very short, say about 5 minutes worth of play) aimed at the youngest children that play on the pc. The "protagonist" is a deer that walks though the Pleistocene era. Scattered throughout his route you can find some question marks containing information and 3 minigames. The first minigame is a memory game (turn around 2 of the same pictures) the second minigame is click on the correct foods, the thirdd minigame is combining the correct skeleton parts to rebuild a fossil skeleton. There is no antagonist. on the start menu some extra info can be found under the curiosities item. The game as is is finished but I assume the developer is planing on building further on it as he has an active topic on the Setam forums for this game asking for ideas on what to add to the game and is also responding to suggestions so updates to this game to prolong the playaability might be expected at some time but are not a certainty. The graphics are nice and if the developer indeed builds further on this game there is some potentiol for a nice educational game hidden in this one. As it currently stands however not so much, my Steam review entry therefor reads as following.....
I can simply not recommend this on Steam. Although the concept is nice and kids will actually learn something this game is way to short and simple.. As other mentioned it is about 5 minutes and tbh I think these people "walked very slowly"

That said, I think this WOULD be a great addition to an educational site about natural history for kids like http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
I did receive the product for free and it seems the forums for this game get flooded with free keys, if yu want to buy a little fun present for the kids yor 99 cents will be having the same value as when you would have bought 99 cents worth of chewing gum and much more healthy and fun, for gamers however it is a waste of time

conclusion: nice for the young ones, not suitable for Steam as it stands now

...................Moderator Comment........................

Thank you for your excellent feedback Mavadelo. It only took me just over 3 minutes to complete the game, though I expect a youngster to take much longer. I like the overall idea, but the dev's really need to add much more content tothis game. There is so much more to know about the Ice Age era that they could have incorporated into this game; firstly to give it more substance and secondly to make it more enjoyable. Personally I think this should be a free to play game. Steam have so many free games that are far superior to this. (not the free to play that are basically play to win), but true free games. How on earth did this game get on Steam?

So people comment that it is given away just a few weeks ago (which actually is the past week and still running) but NOT A WORD on the game?... right. Let me post my Steam review that I wrote with the addition of some extra info for GGOTD viewers to start it off with, steam review starts at the recomendation point

The Deer is a very short game (actually very very short, say about 5 minutes worth of play)  aimed at the youngest children that play on the pc. The "protagonist" is a deer that walks though the Pleistocene era. Scattered throughout his route you can find some question marks containing information and 3 minigames. The first minigame is a memory game (turn around 2 of the same pictures)  the second minigame is click on the correct foods, the thirdd minigame is combining the correct skeleton parts to rebuild a fossil skeleton. There is no antagonist. on the start menu some extra info can be found under the curiosities item. The game as is is finished but I assume the developer is planing on building further on it as he has an active topic on the Setam forums for this game asking for ideas on what to add to the game and is also responding to suggestions so updates to this game to prolong the playaability might be expected at some time but are not a certainty. The graphics are nice and if the developer indeed builds further on this game there is some potentiol for a nice educational game hidden in this one. As it currently stands however not so much, my Steam review entry therefor reads as following.....
I can simply not recommend this on Steam. Although the concept is nice and kids will actually learn something this game is way to short and simple.. As other mentioned it is about 5 minutes and tbh I think these people "walked very slowly"

That said, I think this WOULD be a great addition to an educational site about natural history for kids like http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
I did receive the product for free and it seems the forums for this game get flooded with free keys, if yu want to buy a little fun present for the kids yor 99 cents will be having the same value as when you would have bought 99 cents worth of chewing gum and much more healthy and fun, for gamers however it is a waste of time

conclusion: nice for the young ones, not suitable for Steam as it stands now

<blockquote>...................Moderator Comment........................</blockquote>

<blockquote>Thank you for your excellent feedback Mavadelo. It only took me just over 3 minutes to complete the game, though I expect a youngster to take much longer. I like the overall idea, but the dev's really need to add much more content tothis game. There is so much more to know about the Ice Age era that they could have incorporated into this game; firstly to give it more substance and secondly to make it more enjoyable. Personally I think this should be a free to play game. Steam have so many free games that are far superior to this. (not the free to play that are basically play to win), but true free games. How on earth did this game get on Steam?</blockquote>

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Reply | Comment by Mavadelo – 8 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#2

Not to be a downer, this was given away on another site not long ago. Could I get a key and give it away to someone else?

....................................Moderator comment..........................................

Yes, it was given away via the Shareware on Sale for ''The boss/Failmid/Ashraf's'' site a few weeks ago. They are probably giving it away to promote their other games i.e. Suicide Guy, Heaven Island, The Way of Life, Woodle Tree Adventure plus three other., all of which can be seen when you visit their site by clicking on the Chubby Pixel button via the 'About' button on the main menu.