As previously promised, but four weeks later than expected, Steam has now added a collection of non-game programs all of which have a creative bent.

Joining the existing Source Filmmaker are:

• GameMaker: Studio, a 2D game development program. The free version includes Windows, Mac OSX and Steam Workshop export options. You can pay hundreds of units of currency for HTML5, Android and/or iOS licenses.
• CameraBag 2, a photo-manipulation program.
• 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 11, for benchmarking graphics and physics processing for Direct X 10 and 11 respectively.
• ArtRage Studio Pro, a ‘painting and drawing package’. Thankfully, it has a demo.
• 3D-Coat, a clay-style 3D modelling application.

That is a lot of expensive software, even if they are 10% off  for now. Only GameMaker: Studio’s basic program is free and, as mentioned, ArtRage Studio has a demo. They are all Steam-integrated so you can store your work on a steamy cloud if you like and, strangely, some even have achievements.

There is something in this wave of releases for developers of every level, though not solvency. I for one will be experimenting with GameMaker. Are you going to try one of these out, or do you already have experience with some of the programs?