Last month, Valve announced that it would require developers submitting games for consideration on Steam Greenlight to make a $100 donation to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity to discourage frivolous submissions. Developer reaction to Valve's policy was decidedly mixed. In response, Valve has unveiled a new "Concepts" section that gives developers a way to gauge community interest in their project through Greenlight.

Developers don't have to pay a cent to put their early work up in the newly launched Concepts section, where Steam users can view, comment and vote on their favorites, just like the rest of Greenlight. Games posted as Concepts won't be considered for distribution on Steam itself, though; for that, developers will still have to pay to get a standard Greenlight listing.

This seems like a good compromise between accessibility and curation for the fledgling Greenlight service. Chances are, if you have a game concept that's really ready to go up on Steam, you can afford the $100 to get it that serious consideration. But now, with the Concepts section, smaller developers can try to get attention for rougher ideas that might still have merit, while not stealing focus from more developed ideas actively competing for distribution.

In another expansion, Greenlight is also accepting submissions for general productivity software in addition to games.

Earlier this week, Valve announced a second set of 20 Greenlight games that will see a full-fledged Steam release in the coming months (following 10 titles approved last month). The newly approved games include indie darlings like Octodad: Dadliest Catch and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, a standalone release for popular mod The Stanley Parable: HD Remix, and even a rerelease for 2003's controversial Postal 2.