Webstore Development has begun
by Ed Farias · 02/17/2006 (10:18 pm) · 5 comments
For those of you that say my last blog you know that I am reaching out to a few communities about making some slight changes to their already great games to make them more arcade cabinet friendly.
Backend development has begun on my site to implement a store that will be a bit unique. (And this is not the current website you are seeing, that site is old looking and a new one is being designed by a professional as we speak).
Remember, this will be setup specifically for games designed to run on arcade style setups. I'll link a tech sheet to the bottom of this blog that you can download. It will give you a lot of information about what the system can and can't do.
The plan right now is as follows.
Developers will be able to create an account. From their admin page they can upload games, set pricing, and manage their tech support inquiries. The admin page will also include stat tracking so they know exactly how many times their games were viewed and purchased.
When you upload your game there will be some options like Game Type, Controllers used, 1p or 2p etc. Plus a little section for you to write a nice summary about your game.
Your games will not be available right after uploading them. They will be briefly tested on a working arcade cabinet, and setup with a custom install that is compatible with the system.
The site owner (me) will then send payments via paypal at the end of each Month to each individual developer. I can mail checks as well.
I chose to do it this way for a few reasons. 1. You know exactly how well your game is doing, sales wise. and 2. You know I didn't just buy copy from you and installing on every arcade box I sell. 3. Having the money sent directly from paypal was a good idea, except if more that one game was purchased from seperate developers it gets pretty messy.
I want to support the indie community as much as I can. I am not looking to make money off your hard work. With that said, a small fee (probably a dollar or two) per sale will go to me for server maintenance and bandwidth. If that fee turns out to be more than needed, then we will do stuff to get more people to the site via advertising, contests, etc.
I have a few thoughts and questions though, as I am sure all of you do.
Are you comfortable with a plan like this? If not, why not?
How do you currently restrict piracy with your games? I have a few options I am thinking of, but just
wanted to get your thoughts first as some of you might have a great way of doing it already.
Is there any other feature you would like to see?
Thanks again, and here is the above mentioned tech sheet.
www.arcadeinabox.com/games/aiabtechsheet.doc
One side note, I am not looking for exclusive rights to games. Just creating another vehicle to help them sell.
Backend development has begun on my site to implement a store that will be a bit unique. (And this is not the current website you are seeing, that site is old looking and a new one is being designed by a professional as we speak).
Remember, this will be setup specifically for games designed to run on arcade style setups. I'll link a tech sheet to the bottom of this blog that you can download. It will give you a lot of information about what the system can and can't do.
The plan right now is as follows.
Developers will be able to create an account. From their admin page they can upload games, set pricing, and manage their tech support inquiries. The admin page will also include stat tracking so they know exactly how many times their games were viewed and purchased.
When you upload your game there will be some options like Game Type, Controllers used, 1p or 2p etc. Plus a little section for you to write a nice summary about your game.
Your games will not be available right after uploading them. They will be briefly tested on a working arcade cabinet, and setup with a custom install that is compatible with the system.
The site owner (me) will then send payments via paypal at the end of each Month to each individual developer. I can mail checks as well.
I chose to do it this way for a few reasons. 1. You know exactly how well your game is doing, sales wise. and 2. You know I didn't just buy copy from you and installing on every arcade box I sell. 3. Having the money sent directly from paypal was a good idea, except if more that one game was purchased from seperate developers it gets pretty messy.
I want to support the indie community as much as I can. I am not looking to make money off your hard work. With that said, a small fee (probably a dollar or two) per sale will go to me for server maintenance and bandwidth. If that fee turns out to be more than needed, then we will do stuff to get more people to the site via advertising, contests, etc.
I have a few thoughts and questions though, as I am sure all of you do.
Are you comfortable with a plan like this? If not, why not?
How do you currently restrict piracy with your games? I have a few options I am thinking of, but just
wanted to get your thoughts first as some of you might have a great way of doing it already.
Is there any other feature you would like to see?
Thanks again, and here is the above mentioned tech sheet.
www.arcadeinabox.com/games/aiabtechsheet.doc
One side note, I am not looking for exclusive rights to games. Just creating another vehicle to help them sell.
About the author
#2
Although my way would have hard numbers as well. Eitherway, you have to trust someone along the lines that they are not fiddling with the numbers somehow :).
I also have no problem writing checks either.
But I'll have my web guy research that site and see what he thinks.
02/17/2006 (10:45 pm)
Thanks Jay, I am going to check that out right now.Although my way would have hard numbers as well. Eitherway, you have to trust someone along the lines that they are not fiddling with the numbers somehow :).
I also have no problem writing checks either.
But I'll have my web guy research that site and see what he thinks.
#3
I'm thinking of something more along the lines of just games specific for arcade cabinets. With screenshots, customer reviews, summary and much more.
Unless they have some kind of back end system I can use through my site, but I didn't see anything like that. What is someone wants to order an arcade system and some games at the same time? They would need to go to two different sites to do it.
I would really like to avoid keeping account information and that type of stuff on my site. But to pay you with paypal all I need is your paypal userID and nothing more. Plus, if other cabinet manufacturers want to follow our lead on this, it might be a good thing to figure out a way to get one setup, if it is at all possible.
Is there a way you can get your bank account setup through paypal? I have mine setup that way, that way I can transfer money back and forth as need be.
I will look into other options though :).
02/17/2006 (11:01 pm)
I took at look at the site, and they don't do a whole lot in terms of really showing off your product do they?I'm thinking of something more along the lines of just games specific for arcade cabinets. With screenshots, customer reviews, summary and much more.
Unless they have some kind of back end system I can use through my site, but I didn't see anything like that. What is someone wants to order an arcade system and some games at the same time? They would need to go to two different sites to do it.
I would really like to avoid keeping account information and that type of stuff on my site. But to pay you with paypal all I need is your paypal userID and nothing more. Plus, if other cabinet manufacturers want to follow our lead on this, it might be a good thing to figure out a way to get one setup, if it is at all possible.
Is there a way you can get your bank account setup through paypal? I have mine setup that way, that way I can transfer money back and forth as need be.
I will look into other options though :).
#4
02/18/2006 (2:22 am)
Ed - Everytime you transfer money to a developer they get hit with a fee. It would be much better to transfer funds once a month.
Torque Owner Jay Barnson
Another option is going through PLIMUS or something along those lines (especially for those of us already using PLIMUS) - money on sales of the game will automatically go to you and the developer via whichever split you determine in advance. There's practically no work on your end, nobody has to take anybody's word for it, and both you and the developers get the hard numbers.