How many budding game developers do we have here? I've got a little treat for you. Valve, who you may know from their work on such titles as Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, have just announced Steamworks. This is a complete suite of publishing and development tools - and it's being offered free to developers and publishers worldwide.

Whether you're after copy protection, server browsing or even social networking services, Steamworks has it all. It's the same set of tools as is used in Half-Life 2 and The Orange Box, and can now be used for PC games distributed via retail and "leading online platforms" ...that's right - the technology's available, whether you're using Valve's own Steam distribution service or not.

Specifically, Steamworks offers: · Real-time stats on sales, gameplay, and product activation: Know exactly how well your title is selling before the charts are released. Find out how much of your game is being played. Login into your Steamworks account pages and view up to the hour information regarding worldwide product activations and player data. · State of the art encryption system: Stop paying to have your game pirated before it's released. Steamworks takes anti-piracy to a new level with strong encryption that keeps your game locked until the moment it is released. · Territory/version control: The key-based authentication provided in Steamworks also provides territory/version controls to help curb gray market importing and deliver territory-specific content to any given country or region. · Auto updating: Insures all customers are playing the latest and greatest version of your games. · Voice chat: Available for use both in and out of game. · Multiplayer matchmaking: Steamworks offers you all the multiplayer backend and matchmaking services that have been created to support Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, the most played action games in the world. · Social networking services: With support for achievements, leaderboards, and avatars, Steamworks allows you to give your gamers as many rewards as you would like, plus support for tracking the world's best professional and amateur players of your game. · Development tools: Steamworks allows you to administer private betas which can be updated multiple times each day. Also includes data collection tools for QA, play testing, and usability studies.

The service is being promoted as saving time for developers, as Gabe Newell, president of Valve, explains:

"Developers and publishers are spending more and more time and money cobbling together all the tools and backend systems needed to build and launch a successful title in today's market. Steamworks puts all those tools and systems together in one free package, liberating publishers and developers to concentrate on the game instead of the plumbing."

Director of Business Development at Valve, Jason Holtman, continues:

"As more developers and publishers have embraced Steam as a leading digital distribution channel, we've heard a growing number of inquiries regarding the availability of the platform's services and tools. Offering Steamworks is part of our ongoing efforts to support the needs of game developers and our publishing partners."

We'll have more details on Steamworks as they become available - but right now, it seems like an intriguing, and helpful, project. It's nice to see companies giving a little something back to the community, and promoting industry growth.

Are you a games developer, or do you want to be one? What do you think about these tools? Would you use them?