Valve Begins Beta Testing Steam Achievement Sets

Valve has begun beta testing Steam Achievement Sets, a feature that lets game developers organize achievements into separate collections and track progress in each. The system is designed to preserve a player’s completion status when games receive new content, while making additional goals easier to find. Developers can decide how many sets a game has and what each covers. Categories could include base-game, downloadable content (DLC), single-player, multiplayer, character classes or seasonal events. Each set has its own progress bar, and completing one adds a trophy to the player’s profile, Valve said. If developers later add achievements to a completed set, its earlier completion status remains intact until the player plays again. Developers can also create new sets as a game grows, giving returning players a way to see newly available goals without immediately losing their previous completion status. Valve says DLC achievements will not count toward overall game progress until a player has access to the content. Developers may also archive individual achievements or whole sets, including goals tied to limited-time events. Players who earned archived achievements will...