The Steam summer contest has now ended, and I have apparently not won a grand prize. I did have fun (and earn prizes) earning 50 tickets over the course of the contest, though. I'll be writing a series of 5 posts going through the tickets I earned, mostly talking about the achievements/tickets themselves. Some achievements were great, some were terrible, some were hard, and some were easy, and in these posts you'll find out which achievements I thought were which adjective.

Update: The series is currently indefinitely on hold as the achievement/ticket list (shown below) is no longer being shown on profiles.

The order in which the tickets appear below is the order they exist in Steam, on the SteamCommunity pages and the original listings (I think). I did not earn the tickets in this order.


BIT.TRIP BEAT (#1)
Sunbathing - Be perfect in Transition up to the first intermission

I already owned this game from an indie pack. Transition is the first level/world in the game, and the intermission only takes about 90 seconds. I screwed up my first attempt but had no issues on the second attempt. The Sunbathing ticket is a good example of what I feel is the ideal ticket. The achievement encourages you to play the game in a mostly normal way, isn't annoyingly difficult or stupidly easy, and can be feasibly achieved by brand new players. The achievement does dip a little towards the "too easy" side, but not enough to bother me.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2: Retribution (#2)
Promethium Summer - Kill 50 enemies while using a flamer


I bought the games in the Dawn of War 2 series in a previous sale. Killing 50 enemies with a flamer required nothing than tediously completing the first mission (which functions as a tutorial) of the Imperial Guard campaign. Once I had access to squads, I built nothing but guardsmen, upgraded them with flamethrowers, and burnt things until the achievement popped up. I wasn't a fan of this ticket; the achievement was uninteresting, generic, and overly simple.

AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity (#3)
Air. Wind. Sun. Pain. I Am All of This, and Your Mom Makes a Fine Pasta Dinner - Complete the Summer Sun level from the main menu with full points


I originally bought this game in an indie pack, then later acquired another copy (since gifted) from the Potato Sack. AaAaAA is a very strange free-falling game; the name of the achievement offers some good insight on the level of craziness. This ticket was another good one, though. The level can be accessed immediately, so new players can try it right away. "Full points" is a bit misleading; you actually only need an A+ rating, but that is hard enough. I think it took me around 10 attempts to get the achievement, and that's with plenty of former experience from normal play and working on the Potato Sack achievements. The game itself has a good "just one more try!" feeling to it that works well for achievements like this one.

Toki Tori (#4)
Get a Tan - Stand in all sun beams


I bought Toki Tori as part of the Potato Sack, and I've never particularly enjoyed it. It's a solid, well-designed game, but I just don't like the style or the gameplay very much. For the ticket, sun beams were added to 10 levels of varying difficulty (normal, hard, bonus). Getting to the sun beams requires different tactics than finishing the level normally, but you don't actually have to finish the level for the achievement. I did have to complete some levels normally to unlock later levels with sun beams, though. Despite not really liking the game, I didn't mind this ticket. The sunbeams took some thought to get to, but none of the solutions were annoyingly difficult or obtuse. I think Toki Tori actually grew on me a little over the course of earning the achievement.

Steam (#5)
Join the Summer Camp - Join The Summer Camp Official Group


Obviously, this ticket isn't from a game. Earning it simply required joining the official summer camp/sale group, which didn't bother me at all. This first freebie ticket was a good start.

SpaceChem (#6)
Science is an Indoor Activity - Beat 3 published ResearchNet assignments


I bought SpaceChem during the Steam sale after reading a lot of positive reviews. I wasn't sure I would enjoy a game based around chemistry, but somehow I do. ResearchNet is a user-created level portal. I had some difficulty with this achievement as I only played a few of the basic levels then tried to move right into ResearchNet. The available published levels are all a bit more advanced, and the levels I attempted made use of new (to me) gameplay mechanics. Eventually I managed to finish what were likely the 3 easiest levels (1-1, 1-2, and 2-1) after much trial and error. I think I only needed about an hour but it felt much longer than that. Given my experience, this ticket seems well designed; I imagine it was trivial for experienced players, but did a good job of getting new players into the game.

Team Fortress 2 (#7)
Escape the Heat - Jump into a pool of refreshing water while on fire


I've owned Team Fortress 2 since The Orange Box, and have played hundreds of hours. I've enjoyed earning the game's many achievements. This summer achievement is horrible. The achievement is simple, easy, and obvious (who wouldn't jump in water while on fire?). Even worse, most maps don't actually have water, adding a level of tediousness for players who don't know the maps yet. For me, though, it took around 15 seconds after joining a 2Fort server to get hit by a flare and jump in the central pool. Valve could have done much better on this ticket.

Steam (#8)
Find your friends - Link your Facebook Profile in Steam


Another freebie ticket. I barely even update my Facebook page anymore so this achievement didn't bother me. Steam is restricted from doing anything on Facebook without permission, so I don't care about it much. That being said, if the link bothers you (which is reasonable), you can just unlink your profiles now that the contest is over.

Magicka (#9)
Swedish Summer - Experience Rain and/or Blizzard 20 times during one Versus match to unlock a much needed treat


I bought Magicka some time ago when it was on sale, and it's pure crazy fun. This achievement is the opposite: dull, monotonous boredom. Propugnator and I made a Versus match, got the Rain spell(book), and cast it 20 times. Exciting, right? It wasn't really feasible to earn this achievement in normal matches, which makes it a bad ticket for me.

Jolly Rover (#10)
Bon Voyage - Send a shipmate on a trip to remember


I bought Jolly Rover as part of an indie pack in a previous sale but had never really played more than a few minutes of it. The game is a rather simplistic point-and-click adventure, and at the beginning at least is quite linear. The opportunity that triggers this achievement comes only a few rooms into the ship, so it only took me a few minutes to earn. Just for clarity, the "trip" involves the shipmate flying out a window. I have no problems with this ticket; it's simple enough to earn, appropriate for new players, and encourages people to play through the game.