Valve is currently working on a new design for Steam Library UI, and though the company hasn"t made it possible for users to test it yet, that could be set to change soon. Today, Valve launched a new Steam Labs tab on its website (via CNET), and it lets users experiment with potential new features for the platform.
Currently, the new page has three experiments that users can try out. One is called Micro Trailers, which basically just makes it so that games can present a short six-second trailer when users hover the mouse over their thumbnail, which should make it easier to know more about a game without having to open the full page.
A second experiment is an interactive recommender for new games, which takes data from your Steam library, including which games you"ve played and for how long, and recommends new games for you to get. The tool uses machine learning for its recommendations, and it also provides filters such as whether you"re looking for more popular or niche titles, or if you prefer games that are newer or older.
Lastly, there"s an experiment for an automatically-generated show about the latest popular games. As of right now, the process of generating a new show episode has to be kicked off by a human, and the show is also voiced by a real person, but Valve hopes to automate the entire process eventually. It could also eventually come up with shows focused on different kinds of games.
None of these experiments relates directly to the new Steam Library, but this new hub does seem like the most obvious place for users to sign up to try the new UI as well. There could be other interesting experiments in the future as well.