Kajika's site

The Money Problem

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:19:24 +0000

This started as a response to the yearly blog post but didn't want to derail the topic. The purpose is only to get people smarter than me thinking.

I believe our energy would be better spent defining the problems then focusing everything into solutions.

The big problem
Lack of money?

Here's a rant to help get some ideas flowing.

Solution #1: Sell Memberships

Membership is obviously aimed solely at developers, I would assume makes up a small percentage of the 4,600 players currently online(less than 500?). There's a largely untapped market within the standard players.

How does BYOND leverage this majority?
What would these potential customers be willing to pay for, and how much? Making hub entries and file hosting may not be much of an incentive.

Perhaps a lower priced membership option that is more suited for players? (Pager, avatars, game perks etc)

Solution #2: Help Developers

As a 'developer', I want to make games. My job is harder than it should be a lot of the time. Example: Most people have to build their own 'chat system' then spend time fixing bugs, exploits and oversights.

While you should be expected to do everything yourself, it's great to not have to reinvent the wheel sometimes.

I believe the community could be the solution here; a group of developers who collaborate to provide resources that most games need. Almost every game needs a good communication system, administration, debugging and various other things.

Solution #3: Game Hosting

What else can you sell or up-sell to your customers?
Many games requiring hosting and many are paying for this.

One potential method is for there to be an 'official' BYOND server hosting. This, of course, should be outsourced to another company with BYOND merely acting as the middleman/reseller.

The provider would obviously have some deal worked out and somehow be able to keep the installation up-to-date. (MySQL databases would be necessary too, with phpadmin or something similar)

Yes, we can just get our own VPS, spend however long figuring out how to install BYOND and solve the potential issues, learning enough linux commands to get it running and then get back to what we're supposed to be doing; making the game. Again wasting developer energy.

There are numerous benefits, especially if it had integration into the BYOND accounts.

Solution #4: Game Subscriptions

How can we help developers make money(and take a small cut of the pie)?

The % of the cut isn't the problem, it's the size of the pie that matters.

If BYOND helps to get 100 subscriptions; their 20-30% is justified; but if the developer could have gotten 80 subscriptions without BYOND then there is an issue.

Anything BYOND does here should be about making the pie bigger, not about taking larger slices.

Solution #5: BYONDimes

Easy method to buy game subscriptions, memberships and such. I understand it had it's pros and cons but it should be listed anyway.

Microtransactions are also becoming widely accepted by gamers.

Having the money sitting in an investment account is always useful too. Which also brings up the idea of a simple "for every $5 in your account at the end of the month you go in the draw to win one of 3 free one-year membership".

If a player has money sitting in their account, they'd be more inclined to pay for a service than having to make many individual credit card payments.

Solution #6: Game Ads

While I'm not a big fan of this, it should be mentioned.

Flash games have MochiAds and various other things. They're not too intrusive if done right.

If developers get a share of this revenue, I'm sure many would be happy to have it available in their game.

My opinion is if this is done, it should be done tastefully and with developer consent.

Disabling ads could also be an incentive to subscribe to that individual game.

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I better stop here or I'll be late. Haven't had time to proof-read, sorry.

If you disagree with something, be brief and then get back onto the solutions. Don't waste too much energy on the bad idea.

Thanks in advance for keeping this topic constructive and solution-focused.

Catching Up

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:07:13 +0000

DMO has been progressing well, there's been a couple major updates and releases in the past few weeks. Over a hundred new cards have been added as well as various systems built and future framework in place.

Of course, there's still so much to do without even counting the hundreds of cards that need to be designed, tested and built.

Brought a new keyboard: "Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000". Feels weird, but strangely comfortable somehow, going to take some time to learn to hit "B" with my left instead of right. The downward slope is also really weird, but doesn't feel bad.

Unsure about the future of MegaMan, I had planned to make it into a fully playable game, haven't worked with it in a long time. Somewhat eager to make something new and original using the engine though.

The future is looking good though, I'm pleased to see the BYOND updates, hoping for a few features and improvements.

I'll post again when I can think of some actual content to post, there is plenty but I'm drawing blank tonight.

Vacation over

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:28:17 +0000

Now I think about it, I believe I may have spent more time driving than actually vacationing this time around. Anyway, a break is a break. Although thinking about it now it seems the vacation was more tiring than normal daily life.

DMO

forum.lufika.com
New forums for DMO, as it becomes more active I'll post more information there.

I spent a few hours today building some much needed admin systems into DMO, not exactly newsworthy but necessary and progressing. Continued work on the Deck Editor, it will be a copy of the previous one for now; later it will be updated to be more polished(Player feedback will be collected before this happens).

There's a few minor things I'd like to finish before I put it back up for testing. Unfortunately Deck Editing won't be complete, which is really working against me as players are increasingly upset over the lack of customization. Keep in mind it's just alpha and going to take time.

(Low Resolution Image)

A few new cards are added, more will be added gradually until the actual game mechanics are fully complete then I'll move into adding several cards at a sitting.

Unfortunately BYOND still doesn't allow an easy way to rotate objects/images/anything so the resource size is getting large very fast. Currently each card graphic has four rotations so it can be displayed properly. Obviously making the resources much larger than it needs to be.

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BYOND Changes

A couple of people have asked for my opinions so I said I'd just throw it in the post for convenience.

I'm pleased to see the staff letting us know where it's going. It's tricky for developers if we have no idea where the engine is heading.

Overall I like the new plans. Moderating the hub, approving games, member-only submission and such is a good idea. I don't want to get involved in the "RIP" debate as long as people realize if the staff continue to do what they've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always got.

Some clear distinctions should be made for "originality" and "fan game". It would be useful to have clear definitions for these terms and whether games like Last Robot Standing, Feval, Monopoly, Chess, and Uno fall under fan games or not and where the line is drawn.

The flash client looks promising, I'm looking forward to it. Still hoping for some improvements in the engine though.

Vacation

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 02:11:50 +0000

Not too much tangible progress on DMO lately. Deck Editing has been started but not finished yet. I have yet to make some decisions about the course of the project which is holding things up. Which is why I had wanted to leave the Deck Editor out until near beta.

A lot of ground work for future features has been worked on lately, a few new cards added too. Magical Citadel of Endymion and Polymerization(Fusions) for example.

Anyway, I will be on vacation for a couple of weeks so there will be no news for a while. When I get back I'll continue work on the deck editor and general system polish. Although I want to start focusing on adding a few hundred cards as soon as possible.

Part of the reason for the slow progress is each card I add requires something completely new, Polymerization has a lot of complications as did Magical Citadel. But by adding these tricky cards first, other cards will be much easier and just build off established systems.

Happy holidays.

DMO Release

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:48:26 +0000

Still having problems getting MySQL working on the server, so I've just disabled the necessary code.

As far as game releases go it was very anti-climatic. It just popped up very late and around 80 players logged in played over a 4 hour period.

The reaction was as expected, panic and awe. Half were impressed with how dueling works, the other half was freaking out over a few bugs and lack of a map to walk around on.

Unfortunately due to the players freaking out, I decided to close the game until I could update.

Things are progressing well, players have found bugs and minor issues that I wouldn't have found by myself. Fortunately the core is solid.

Once I get the dueling working well and bug free, I'm going to look into finding artists to build the character template, interface and maps. As DMO is a free game and won't make money, I won't be investing too much money into the art but I do want it to look nice.

I've opened forums for this member page:
http://www.byond.com/members/Kajika/forum

DMO Roadmap

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:50:18 +0000

I promised to be more active on the updates, I decided to throw together a summary of my expected progress to answer the common questions I've been receiving. I'll scan over my progress log and give you a run down on what the project started from and then get to where DMO is going.

Phase 1 - Build a working foundation

Timeframe: 3 months

Create the foundation for the game. Plan appropriately with a solid system that will support many complex cards, various features and avoiding the original games pitfalls.

June
9th - Officially started project from scratch

~19th - Had duels basically working(card data, card generation, deck handling, hand, graveyard, card placement, win/lose/draw, lifepoints)
During this time I had to make a lot of decisions and lots of boring stuff such as datum interaction, interface, card sizes/graphics. Many of which some new Yu-Gi-Oh! game will just blindly copy without wondering why I did it that way.

21st - Revealed project and progress to Lufia for the first time.

~24th - Went back to improve, bug fix and polish. Built various systems and notes to ensure future tag team support.

25th - Begun chain research, sadly it's far more complicated than I would have liked. Rebuilt the system over and over, made pages of notes and printed pages of rulings. After about 3 days of free time I had the working activation and chain systems worked out.

Took some time to build debug features and created the ability to play as both players in the duel. This helped with testing, not requiring me to use multiple keys.

(Lots of boring entries about various mechanics...)

July
13th - Built negation cards like Jinzo/Imperial Order/Skill Drain. Updated trigger systems to be more sensible and easier for me to work with.

14th - Counter traps that negate working. Solemn Judgement, Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit etc

(Around here I wanted to get Mega Man out as some pixel projects were starting to be announced)

18th - Battle system and cards like Hayabusa Knight, Swords of Revealing Light, Magic Cylinder added to test battle stuff.

21st - Cardlist created(it's a nice way of selecting cards, replaces the old input boxes DMO used to use)

24th - About 200 cards databased, most of them working partially. New Deck Code system complete, uses 2 digits per card instead of 4.

(Lots of important things done up to here but I'm getting boring now)

August
7th - First public test. 1 person showed up. Didn't find any problems.

8th - Second public test. 4 people. They spent most of the time complaining about things that weren't relevant.

11th - Trap Monsters added. This was a major achievement due to the complexity of these cards and the huge page of rulings. Also added Fake Trap, which is a milestone for me due to it being totally impossible to add in the original DMO and also it being the first card I "dropped".

13th - Decided to take a month long break.

September
13th - Resumed work.

(Didn't make too much major progress after this point due to work commitments but managed to get a lot of small things done)

October
7th - Had a small celebration for DMO's 7th birthday. Had planned to have DMO released today but due to our server sucking, it was degraded to a small private hosting session and anti-climatic "release".

~Now - Various polish and graphical improvements, gone through and tested a lot myself to make sure players can actually play fine.

Phase 2 - Release

Timeframe: Within the next few days

Start hosting the game to the public. At this point the game doesn't have much, but does have the foundation that can be built quickly upon. I decided to get it out now to keep my momentum up and get things tested while it's still familiar.

Phase 3 - Alpha

Timeframe: 3-4 months

With player input and graphic submissions establish most of the game. Cards will be added a couple of times per week, perhaps 5-10. This will allow for players to test these cards well and keep the game low on bugs as it expands.

Phase 4 - Beta

Timeframe: Unknown

Add to the systems already in place. More cards, more player stuff and so on. Possibly rankings and major tournaments in the works(Duelist Kingdom).

Hopefully by this stage we've been able to hire some graphic artists to build some nice maps.

So that's a quick outline of progress and my expectations. Obviously not too in depth.

This screen shot shows dueling mats, eventually there will be more and players will be able to select from a range of them.

(Screenshot size and quality reduced for speed)

DMO Delay Updates

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:31:21 +0000

I'll skip right past the boring excuses and jump to what you're interested in.

I've contacted ATP Hosting but currently waiting on a reply. In the meantime we've been trying to get the lufika.com server working again; you may have noticed it came online for a few minutes yesterday.

As far as we know the server is ready to go, I would have liked to started testing today but unfortunately I'm away this weekend. It probably isn't a good idea to release something I'm not there for. When I get back I'll be looking to get it up immediately.

Unless something goes horribly wrong we should see DMO up for testing next week. Please don't get your hopes up too much, very little of the game is done but having player feedback will keep me motivated and pushing forward instead of tweaking unimportant things.

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Here's a couple of screenshots showing basic interface. Obviously it's unfinished and still in alpha phases.

Lobby: Duelists will create a "room" with specific options. Other duelists can join this room, when the host is ready they can start the duel.

Currently just plain text but will eventually have a more appealing interface.

Dueling: Most of the game will use this same interface. Messages along the bottom, controls on the left and map on the right.

I haven't finalized anything because I want player feedback and ideas before I invest too much time finishing the interface.

A taskbar along the bottom will have buttons and notifications, probably some messages and whatever else players can come up with that fits well. Essentially I want a nice clean way to display information.

Most of the interface is adjustable. Keeping everyone happy.

The buttons are just kind of dumped there for now, as I update and gather feedback it will be nicer and easier to use.

Screen resolution will affect card clarity, obviously low resolutions will have to shrink the map while HD monitors will display it larger or actual size. So far it looks good 1024x768 to 1920x1080.

Hopefully I'll see everyone next week.

DMO Progress Updates

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:49:57 +0000

Release Information

Unfortunately the deadline passed by, I had intended to have the game up on the 7th of October, DMO's first release date.

However our server guys decided that was a good day to go down for maintenance and keep it down for a few days...

So we're looking into signing up with ATP host, which we had originally intended but decided to hold off until we actually had something to host.

It may take a few days to a week to get everything signed up and working.

What's done?

Dueling is basically working, players will have access to a pre-made Yugi deck at first. There are more cards available but I'd like to test in stages.

Players can duel alone(where they play as both players and unlocks a bunch of commands to manipulate the duel) which allows for very fast testing.
Player vs Player is also working.

The interface is basically complete, although not polished or very pretty. It's all just multi-coloured and "there", just serving as placeholder graphics for now. I'd like feedback and player suggestions/submissions before finalising certain things.

A very basic lobby system is in place, nothing fancy but it works.

Not really much else, many things behind the scenes are ready to start.

Random Stuff

Two of the biggest mistakes I made with the original DMO was communicating with players and not communicating with players. This time around I'll reveal some future additions or plans and gather feedback before just going ahead.

Another major mistake I had made was releasing too many new features at once, delaying updates until I had a significant new feature list.

This was one of the driving reasons for not polishing too much before release. Each update will slowly improve the game, players can see it develop and have their say. Rather than getting a finished product and taking it for granted.

I'm using this extra time to do a little testing by myself and try to correct anything too confusing.

Sorry for the delays.

DMO Progress Report

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 20:53:23 +0000

Made some decent progress in the last couple of days, I'm going to do my best to post regularly to keep everything on track. The deadline is looming already, set for sometime in October.

I'm not expecting much to be done by that time, most of the functional systems will be in place to be expanded on as necessary and it will lack any kind of map. I'll need to hire some artists to get the map and character stuff done. Honestly, there may not even be deck editing, just pre-made decks initially.

So what's been done lately?
- A lot of prototyping, trying to decide layouts and how players interact with the game in general. I'm terrible at this so it's taken longer than I wanted.
- Have database up and running, just saves player data but should be useful for other things later
- Basic chat system in place
- Removed XML for card loading, reverted back to hard-coding due to XML delaying game start up
- Few duel improvements
- Bunch of future ideas

Not a lot of stuff, but it's beginning to take some shape.

Today I'm going to focus on getting the interface fleshed out, testing player vs player duels, and possibly a few new cards.

Quick Update

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:21:44 +0000

Progress has been pretty much non-existent over the past month due to a couple of excuses:

1) Overwhelmed myself trying to design admin and chat systems. Plans got too big too fast. Had hoped to find some good resources on BYOND due to both of these being common things in games, but much to my dismay there is little.

2) Steam decided to re-download TF2 and L4D2 even though I have them set to only update manually. With my monthly bandwidth consumed on the second day of the month, having less than dial-up speed is rather frustrating.

Regardless, I have set a date to have the game up by. I'll announce it another time, until then I have a huge sheet of paper taped to my wall outlining a progress roadmap.

What to expect from the first version? Not much.
Only 100 or so cards will be available, the game will mostly be still in test phases and many things will be barely in. But to progress, I need to get it out there. Once it's out, players will be able to help out in various ways.

My apologies for the delays, believe me when I say it is much more frustrating for me than anyone.

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One of the biggest blocks right now is the design of the user interface, and how the game generally is laid out for the player. My intention is to make the game a little more menu based, but still having maps. Basically re-thinking everything from the ground up.

I have no talent for this creative user interface stuff so I may end up needing to outsource the work(paying) to someone creative and adept at user interfaces and photoshop.

I'd like to use new graphics for maps/players, so I'll need to find an artist for that too eventually. The kind of style I envision is similar to flash, kind of "anime-ish". http://www.cartoonsolutions.com/ has a characters in a similar style, but not quite on the mark.

I'll do my best to post weekly with updates, reports and requests.