GarageGames Gold Membership
by Prairie Games · in Torque Game Engine · 11/18/2003 (1:00 pm) · 44 replies
This spawned in Melv's particle thread... that thread has 2 conversations running in it, so I thought I would split this idea out:
The discussion is about making a little scratch from TGE improvement efforts and tools...
A 2nd tier resource flag for members here might be an idea... You pay an additional fee for access/legal license to gold level resources. Contributors to the gold level resources are paid per (total income-gg split)/accepted gold level resources, or some other arrangement... perhaps a vote ranking?
If this existed, I would polish up some of my past work... and submit major things (like some stuff I am currently working on) as gold level resources. Gold level access is a flat fee, CVS oriented (so the resources are under version control and can be tagged/updated.. this also makes distribution cake... you get a access to the repository, zing!), and expectations are spread across all resources, not just one :)
It should be noted that MOST resources wouldn't be gold level... and that the decision whether something went in the gold repository would be GG's alone.
It's also a way to add some status around here as a contributor... "Contributor" or "Gold Member" instead of "Member" etc... There could also be a Gold Level Forum for support/talk... hey watch some PBS fund raisers to get the idea!
I would pay $200 annually and depending on what was in the Gold Respository considerably more.
-J
The discussion is about making a little scratch from TGE improvement efforts and tools...
A 2nd tier resource flag for members here might be an idea... You pay an additional fee for access/legal license to gold level resources. Contributors to the gold level resources are paid per (total income-gg split)/accepted gold level resources, or some other arrangement... perhaps a vote ranking?
If this existed, I would polish up some of my past work... and submit major things (like some stuff I am currently working on) as gold level resources. Gold level access is a flat fee, CVS oriented (so the resources are under version control and can be tagged/updated.. this also makes distribution cake... you get a access to the repository, zing!), and expectations are spread across all resources, not just one :)
It should be noted that MOST resources wouldn't be gold level... and that the decision whether something went in the gold repository would be GG's alone.
It's also a way to add some status around here as a contributor... "Contributor" or "Gold Member" instead of "Member" etc... There could also be a Gold Level Forum for support/talk... hey watch some PBS fund raisers to get the idea!
I would pay $200 annually and depending on what was in the Gold Respository considerably more.
-J
#42
I think this addresses Joshua's very fears.
The "percentage of the cost of the Torque Engine ($100)" is pretty silly. People have bought 3D software for a whole heck of a lot more than $100. I'd venture to say that if I came up with a Torque-specific 3DSMax killer, people would be quite happy to pay more than $100.
Even Jeff T. and GG has said the $100 is not something to base extension prices on.
Bottom line: If you want all that you list, odds are you're going to have to pay for them. If you want something inexpensive, sacrifices will have to be made.
-Eric
11/25/2003 (2:04 pm)
Holy crap, Matt--you're not asking for anything, are you? I think this addresses Joshua's very fears.
The "percentage of the cost of the Torque Engine ($100)" is pretty silly. People have bought 3D software for a whole heck of a lot more than $100. I'd venture to say that if I came up with a Torque-specific 3DSMax killer, people would be quite happy to pay more than $100.
Even Jeff T. and GG has said the $100 is not something to base extension prices on.
Bottom line: If you want all that you list, odds are you're going to have to pay for them. If you want something inexpensive, sacrifices will have to be made.
-Eric
#43
11/25/2003 (2:10 pm)
Quote: I want to make games, and anything that saves me time and gets me closer to finishing a project is worth some remuneration.Amen, brother.
#44
I understand what you mean, and it is certainly not my place to set a price on the work of another. I guess what I mean is that this would be a case of perceived value. If I (not me per se but a kind of theoretical customer) pays $100 for the engine but then see an add-on for $200, my expectations will be raised significantly. That may not be fair, but I think it is a good prediction.
Personally, I feel that this is such a good engine at such a good price that I would gladly pay a fair price for something really helpful, even if it did cost more than the engine, but it would have to meet the 4 requirements I listed above. If you want to get professional prices you need to turn out quality product.
Nothing would burn me up more than to pay a few hundred bucks only to discover that the product was buggy or poorly supported, and I do no think that is an unfair attitude. I think it would be important for anyone thinking about releasing a code pack to realize that there would be a lot of work both before and after release.
It is still a great idea. Code packs would broaden the appeal of the engine itself, attracting more customers to TGE which would in turn sell more code packs. If I had a game idea and saw that it was both inexpensive and (relatively) easily extensible via code and art packs I would feel much more certain that my project would meet deadlines and get on the market.
When you think of how much more costly it would be to hire programmers to reinvent the wheel it's a no-brainer. Still, you'll still need to find a a price that is fair but not too intimidating to indie game devs. Maybe some market research in the form of a simple poll would be a good start, just ask the community how much they would pay for a code pack.
Thanks,
Matt Baucco
11/26/2003 (6:46 am)
@Eric:I understand what you mean, and it is certainly not my place to set a price on the work of another. I guess what I mean is that this would be a case of perceived value. If I (not me per se but a kind of theoretical customer) pays $100 for the engine but then see an add-on for $200, my expectations will be raised significantly. That may not be fair, but I think it is a good prediction.
Personally, I feel that this is such a good engine at such a good price that I would gladly pay a fair price for something really helpful, even if it did cost more than the engine, but it would have to meet the 4 requirements I listed above. If you want to get professional prices you need to turn out quality product.
Nothing would burn me up more than to pay a few hundred bucks only to discover that the product was buggy or poorly supported, and I do no think that is an unfair attitude. I think it would be important for anyone thinking about releasing a code pack to realize that there would be a lot of work both before and after release.
It is still a great idea. Code packs would broaden the appeal of the engine itself, attracting more customers to TGE which would in turn sell more code packs. If I had a game idea and saw that it was both inexpensive and (relatively) easily extensible via code and art packs I would feel much more certain that my project would meet deadlines and get on the market.
When you think of how much more costly it would be to hire programmers to reinvent the wheel it's a no-brainer. Still, you'll still need to find a a price that is fair but not too intimidating to indie game devs. Maybe some market research in the form of a simple poll would be a good start, just ask the community how much they would pay for a code pack.
Thanks,
Matt Baucco
Matthew Baucco
1) Stringent QA: any code packs should be tested thoroughly with the most recent TGE build at the very least, and preferably with each other. I would suggest a community beta program, the tester get a free code pack and you get cheap QA.
2) Broad Appeal: I would not pay $30 for a code pack unless it would save me a lot of time or grief. "Neat" stuff is ok, but most people can make that, hard or high end stuff is a different story.
3) Price: If the engine is $100 and you charge more than half what the engine costs, I wouldn't buy it unless it was exactly the thing I needed and could not figure out how to do myself. The art packs have the right idea, $35-ish seems pretty fair to me.
4) Documentation: It needs to be clear and accurate, otherwise supporting your product will be tough. The more questions you anticipate the better off you'll be later.
That being said, if I asked on the forum, "Hey, how do I do x?" and someone said "You don't have to, you can buy this thing y that does it for you", I'd be happy as a clam. I want to make games, and anything that saves me time and gets me closer to finishing a project is worth some remuneration.
I would also definitely like to see the "game templates" come out, I would pay $50 to $100 easy for a good RPG-TGE template.
Thanks,
Matt Baucco