ID:1357576
 
So, I've been a lurker for years, I first started with playing Byond probably in early 2002.

(Warning, this is kind of ranty, and I didn't know if it should be in off-topic or in developers corner since well, this is aimed at fellow developers.

I've seen it in some pretty decent times and harsh times as I'm sure many of you have. I feel Byond has a future, but is currently in a severe rut, as to the reasons why there are many.

However, the main reason that I'd like to focus on has to do with the developers of games on Byond.

The reason why I'm taking aim at developers is because I myself have been one in projects outside of Byond before, and largely I feel for Byond to survive, the projects on Byond have to be successful.

Issues I feel that many developers on Byond have and could improve upon:

1) Collaborate in development.
A lot of projects in Byond are developed by a single individual instead of by a small team of developers. What often happens in the long run is the developer becomes worn out, and loses interest in the project. The project then quickly fades off into nothingness.

Developing a game as a team isn't a bad thing and I often wonder why there aren't more games on Byond developed by more than one individual.
Yes, there are issues when developing with others, fights occur, and in commercial products contracts can be necessary but these can often be worked out relatively easily. I would really love to see developers on the Byond platform form development teams, or small game studios and take their projects to the next level

2) Originality

There's always been such a large push to have 'fan games' and 'anime-like RPG games' on the platform. It's not surprising as well, considering they were always popular before they were banned due to copyright infringement. We still have a large amount of 'RPGlookalike' While I have nothing really against the concept of a RPG, I feel that many are simply hack n slash grinding clones. Byond itself is already in a niche situation, and I feel that games on the platform need to be more original in order to appeal and better market themselves considering the graphical limitations that Byond has.

Space Station 13, Nestalgia are two prime living examples of mostly original content. Yes, Nestalgia parodies and mimics late 80s / early 90s console rpgs, however it's a game in itself and was handled very well in my view on Byond.
Space Station 13 is simply amazing to me, at how well it has evolved over time on the platform and it's no surprise to me that it's as successful as it is.

There are many other games that have had pretty original content and concepts, but are no longer actively developed or promoted, a few for example:
Lode Wars
http://www.byond.com/games/Leftley/LodeWars
Fate
http://www.byond.com/games/Kunark/Fate
A Miner's Adventure
http://www.byond.com/games/Forum_account/AMinerAdventure
Dungeon Master
http://www.byond.com/games/Ginseng/DungeonMaster?tab=index

3) Design specifications, long term goals.

Laying out a game design is very important for the success of a project, many developers on Byond, and in general I've found often do not write design documents as they should. Writing out a document detailing the aim of the project, features, game systems and long term mile stones in detail helps immensely for yourself, and your team. It keeps you on track and helps you explore a potential design and iterate on it before commencing work.

A good example is the design doc sample here: http://www.runawaystudios.com/articles/chris_taylor_gdd.asp


4) A business approach.

If you're looking to make money from your game and pursue it with a commercial goal in mind there are important things that really should be considered if you're very serious about your project.


First off:

Marketing is something that is often neglected on the Byond platform, most developers that I've met have rarely gone outside of the Byond community and joined with the mainstream indie scene to market their product. Nestalgia for example tried their best to get on Steam Greenlight and there were / are still many avenues for them to pursue besides that. The Byond player base will never grow, nor will you be successful if you only cater to the existing player base.

Second:

Be very mindful of the product you offer and the prices you charge for it. I really have a great laugh when I log into a Byond game, and I hear about the subscription price. Sometimes I hear of something along the lines of $7 or $8 a month. You won't get many subscribers, and F2P players will sometimes be turned off by a subscription option, let alone one that comes close to a actual MMO sub.

Third:
Hosting, many for example run a subscription option, and then players host their own games, or they let a few specific players host in return for 'a subscription' of their own. This in my view is a terrible thing to do because you end up with sub par end user experience as many hosts are not well suited for hosting a game. As a customer, why would I pay for a subscription when I can't even join the game half the time, or the host's hardware or connection can't handle the user quantity? Ideally you need to at least get your hands on a decent VPS to host your game and you can also host your website with this and look more professional than a random wordpress page which I've often seen. Quite a few places out there offer various VPS promotions as well so it's very easy to get a nice discount if you shop around.


5) Tool Set (backups mainly)

Use a backup system, SVN, Dropbox, GIT, something else. Don't ever just have your one local backup, there's been so many great games that have been lost simply because there was only one developer, and only one copy on their hard drive. Lode Wars for example had a lot of future potential and was lost due to this issue.


6) End of life

So you're at the end of your wits, you've completely lost interest in the project, you're wanting to move onto bigger things or different things entirely. Don't fall into the line of thinking that you should never give your source code out. The players that have been enjoying your product all of this time, likely wish to continue playing it, now or in the future. If a project is open source, even in a restrictive license, it can be updated, expanded and bugs fixed, simply put, it will live on.

New developers, who you were like once, can also learn from the code you wrote as more than likely you've gone over someone else's code sometime in your learning experience.