What a hostile attitude even if we dont know what kind of system it will be.
I think it will be along the lines:
DLC is allowed to sell to maps, cause like squad TD it becomes useless if not enough players play the game (like extra races in squadTD case, naturally blizzard will have to see if the content is actually worth anything before they allow it)
Single player maps can be sold as their own (campaigns or some tds or something)
And with this we should get secure banks or something to make this system possible.
Do you think Valve, Microsoft and Apple don't take a cut out of Steam, XBLA and Itunes? And as for going full indie, marketting is a huge part of why these venues are used. People get exposure to the products when there's a place for them to be displayed.
So far it seems you are the only guy who gets it. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SELL THE MAP OUTRIGHT.
The same freemium or free with item shop concept that many games are going towards can also work here... Paying outright for a video game on an engine like SC2 can and will fail. Allowing people to pay for "extra content" has already been proven to work. Case is point: Mafia.
On top of it battle.net provides one of the biggest video game playerbases out there. And being able to download straight off bnet is just a bonus.
Simply: Free download, Free to play, You have the option to pay for EXTRA CONTENT...
Quality Control will not be an issue because reposting content that isn't yours will result in a perma ban from battlenet, identities will have to be verified via a bank account or verified paypal account, and there will be a $100+ market place members fee that will include hosting services for data banks, Exclusive SDK content for the galaxy editor amongst other things. Apple app developers have to pay a little more then that on a yearly basis. I pretty sure popularity may determine the maximum amount you content could be sold for. For example you can set the price for your game to $20.00 but if it doesn't have enough purchases or plays the maximum price point is reduced by 50% on a bi-weekly basis. Maps should honestly be no more then $99 to $1.99. If you maps are popular and a hit... with the millions of sc2 players you would be able to turn a tidy profit if blizzard gave you 40% of the revenue generated.
I believe the paying for a data hosting service would have its benefits because you can tie game statistics for your map into your personal web sites as well as Iphone/android applications and turn a nice little profit through those avenues.
You will also be required to create a demo version of you map... which mean that in the galaxy editor there would be tools that would allow you to lock content or set a particular map to demo mode.
I am pretty sure this system will not be in effect until Legacy of the void.
Hahaha a $100+ members fee? We're college students we don't have that kind of money lying around for something that is uncertain.
And if they are in any way modeling this after the Apple App market then they shouldn't even bother. No one is going to buy a map outright when they already payed $60 for the origional game.
I hope that wasn't a Blizzard guy because that was about as stupid as it gets.
Does it seems a blizzard guy to you? :D
I really don't believe they can ask for money in advance, we mappers are so few that blizzard would not earn any money from that.
BTW I don't see any game going over 10$, the max will probably be 5$.
Does it seems a blizzard guy to you? :D
I really don't believe they can ask for money in advance, we mappers are so few that blizzard would not earn any money from that.
BTW I don't see any game going over 10$, the max will probably be 5$.
Nah I kinda figured it was a troll but just to cover all bases. I've been burned before :)
I think a lot of people are underestimating the market. Sure most maps would never sell but the premium map market is for high quality stuff that 99.9% of the map market currently doesn't achieve (though will grow in time). If hundreds of thousands of people are spending money for junk items in Diablo 3, a mediocre game, then what do you expect these people will do in HoTS? They will buy some of the popular maps that are for sale. Especially when a 5 dollar purchase could mean potentially hundreds of hours of entertainment. Even if a tiny percentage pay for an occasional map that would mean hundreds of thousands of buyers and with the lack of mapmakers who will put in the effort into making a premium map it will be a decent market. Sure you probably won't become a millionaire selling maps, but you could make decent side money off of a hobby. Seems like a win-win to me.
Hahaha a $100+ members fee? We're college students we don't have that kind of money lying around for something that is uncertain.
And if they are in any way modeling this after the Apple App market then they shouldn't even bother. No one is going to buy a map outright when they already payed $60 for the origional game.
I hope that wasn't a Blizzard guy because that was about as stupid as it gets.
$100 yearly hosting fee for custom map developers to have secure data banks etc. To develop new games etc with the sc2 engine isn't all that bad. That's roughly the yearly cost to run and host a legitimate basic website/community forums. It would basically be like licensing and then selling and marketing a product. It would guarantee more support, custom features and updates. I mean if you have the intent to create a legit high quality map to sell for 99 cents or blizzard credit you will honestly recieve $100 in like a day if your paid per download on battlenet. Paying a developers fee to essentially profit from using tools this company has created isn't that unreasonable... It will also guarantee that only serious developers will apply and cut back on the bullshyt content created by individuals whom want to simply exploit the system. If you have a development team and your serious about your mod then surely you can split the initial cost or create a development blog and ask for the donations.
The last thing we would want is a bunch of boobs banging out subpar maps in a day and pricing them at $2.00.
It cost money to run blizzard services. The initial 60 is for the game blizzard created... The $100+ developers license fee is for the thousands of dollars in profit you can potentially make if you and your team produces a high quality mod.
I believe I heard that blizzard is releasing a .m3 editor... So the modding scene is only going to get better.
-_- paying a minor licensing fee for serious mod development and support really isn't that dumb. Do you really think blizzard will let you profit hundreds of dollars after only paying $60... That would be dumb... Paying said fee will yield you a high profit percentage per download... Also if they make a market place I guarantee it is going to be for all of their games....
The max I would pay for a map is $1.99. And that is only if it comes with cool custom assets that I can use for my maps. It would be cool if galaxy editor 2.0 has scripts where you can make item shop where players could purchase different skins with in game credits that can be purchased with real money
Nobody says that the map marketplace would be the best moneymaker, however IT GIVES YOU A CHANCE TO GET SOME PROFIT OUT OF YOUR HOBBY!
"If I would want to sell games id just make a standalone game"
Seems like alot of people have no idea how complex it is to code a game from scratch. It has absolutly nothing to do with mapping at all. Try to code a simple Pong game in C ++ and you will see.
Alot of the other stuff in this thread isnt even worth an answer. =/
When you start making money, it is no longer a hobby.
If I made RC Boats, and then sold them, that wouldnt be a hobby any more.
And if you really dont think that if you make a map and it gets Popular, that Blizzard and your teammates wont URGE you to start selling it... you have to be out of your mind...
and FOR all the modelers, what are you waiting for... you can already sell your models... Just go make something original and sell it on one of the other marketplaces in a more common format.
This could be the end of the map making community once it comes out... So Imma finish up my projects, and prepare to remove them when the time comes...
When you start making money, it is no longer a hobby.
Then I guess we have different interpretations of "hobby". A hobby is smth i enjoy and im doing in my free time, and thats exactly what mapping is for me personally, no matter if I make money or not.
Quote:
And if you really dont think that if you make a map and it gets Popular, that Blizzard and your teammates wont URGE you to start selling it... you have to be out of your mind...
Sure id try to sell it. Why not?
Quote:
and FOR all the modelers, what are you waiting for... you can already sell your models... Just go make something original and sell it on one of the other marketplaces in a more common format.
Exactly. The marketplace wont change anything about that, what means that we will still have modelers.
Quote:
This could be the end of the map making community once it comes out... So Imma finish up my projects, and prepare to remove them when the time comes...
and FOR all the modelers, what are you waiting for... you can already sell your models... Just go make something original and sell it on one of the other marketplaces in a more common format.
Who is making this argument? You're assuming the only goal of all modellers is to make money, which is not and never has been the case.
I don't understand why people are so opposed to the idea? You can just... not sell maps if you don't like the idea? What is the worst you think will happen? Some people will be able to try and make money of their maps? BLASPHEMY! It'd literally be the same as if I were an avid rock collector and then put a sign out my window that says "VIEW AWESOME ROCK COLLECTION - 5 BUCKS". Again - what's the worst that could happen? Aside from a rock-hater burning down my house, that is.
Quality Control will not be an issue because reposting content that isn't yours will result in a perma ban from battlenet, identities will have to be verified via a bank account or verified paypal account, and there will be a $100+ market place members fee that will include hosting services for data banks, Exclusive SDK content for the galaxy editor amongst other things. Apple app developers have to pay a little more then that on a yearly basis. I pretty sure popularity may determine the maximum amount you content could be sold for. For example you can set the price for your game to $20.00 but if it doesn't have enough purchases or plays the maximum price point is reduced by 50% on a bi-weekly basis. Maps should honestly be no more then $99 to $1.99. If you maps are popular and a hit... with the millions of sc2 players you would be able to turn a tidy profit if blizzard gave you 40% of the revenue generated.
I believe the paying for a data hosting service would have its benefits because you can tie game statistics for your map into your personal web sites as well as Iphone/android applications and turn a nice little profit through those avenues.
You will also be required to create a demo version of you map... which mean that in the galaxy editor there would be tools that would allow you to lock content or set a particular map to demo mode.
I am pretty sure this system will not be in effect until Legacy of the void.
I actually hope it will turn out like this. Would be awesome :)
Very far away right now though, but I'm fine with that. Better something real than a half-assed Marketplace that gets released too soon and creates no interest for high quality map makers to get into SC2 mapping. I hope it will get released at some point, but right now there is no information at all about how it will look like and if it will get released at all, so I don't see the point in waiting for it.
@Mozared: Go Are you a rock collector? Does one need to be a rock collector to create good terrain? I suppose so, there's always need for more rocks ;-) And at least a collection of rocks wouldn't burn, so you would only loose the house.
But anyway, the only problem for people selling models/artwork/whatever right now is that there's always a way to steal said content and use it for free without even giving credit, so at least if Blizzard comes with the marketplace there will be a safe way to do it.
i actually dont see blizzard adding a map market place as a downfall or the end of anything. All that will happen is that some maps that charge will see their player bases cut by over 80% unless they are really worth the price.
I think the best policy blizzard could do is, Anymap can charge , but its up to the map maker to decide . I dont think blizzard should make any rules into what maps can be sold or what criteria a map needs to reach to be able to sold. As that will open a big can of worms as to whats actually profitable. Because if only map that have custom models can make profit, Then what is going to happen to the actual mappers who put in the time to make such maps? It would seem to me the only people that actually stand to make any money of this are the modelers /art/asset makers.
So as i said, the best policy blizzard could do , is to be like , Okay you want to charge? how much?. If its a chargeable map a demo will have to be released along side it . And then let the community determine if its worth paying for.
I dont think any map that isnt truely worth the money will be successful under a pay for system .
And thats all i really have to say about this. Blizzard should go for it, but preaching doom and the end of custom games? thats going a little to far, the majority of maps that charge to play will actually die as a result unless its actually worth the money.
@Taintedwisp: Go
What a hostile attitude even if we dont know what kind of system it will be.
I think it will be along the lines:
And with this we should get secure banks or something to make this system possible.
So far it seems you are the only guy who gets it. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SELL THE MAP OUTRIGHT.
The same freemium or free with item shop concept that many games are going towards can also work here... Paying outright for a video game on an engine like SC2 can and will fail. Allowing people to pay for "extra content" has already been proven to work. Case is point: Mafia.
On top of it battle.net provides one of the biggest video game playerbases out there. And being able to download straight off bnet is just a bonus.
Simply: Free download, Free to play, You have the option to pay for EXTRA CONTENT...
@FockeWulf: Go
That's literally the only way they could work. But that'd be harder for blizzard to implement and profit from.
Quality Control will not be an issue because reposting content that isn't yours will result in a perma ban from battlenet, identities will have to be verified via a bank account or verified paypal account, and there will be a $100+ market place members fee that will include hosting services for data banks, Exclusive SDK content for the galaxy editor amongst other things. Apple app developers have to pay a little more then that on a yearly basis. I pretty sure popularity may determine the maximum amount you content could be sold for. For example you can set the price for your game to $20.00 but if it doesn't have enough purchases or plays the maximum price point is reduced by 50% on a bi-weekly basis. Maps should honestly be no more then $99 to $1.99. If you maps are popular and a hit... with the millions of sc2 players you would be able to turn a tidy profit if blizzard gave you 40% of the revenue generated.
I believe the paying for a data hosting service would have its benefits because you can tie game statistics for your map into your personal web sites as well as Iphone/android applications and turn a nice little profit through those avenues.
You will also be required to create a demo version of you map... which mean that in the galaxy editor there would be tools that would allow you to lock content or set a particular map to demo mode.
I am pretty sure this system will not be in effect until Legacy of the void.
@michaelknives: Go
Hahaha a $100+ members fee? We're college students we don't have that kind of money lying around for something that is uncertain.
And if they are in any way modeling this after the Apple App market then they shouldn't even bother. No one is going to buy a map outright when they already payed $60 for the origional game.
I hope that wasn't a Blizzard guy because that was about as stupid as it gets.
@FockeWulf: Go
Does it seems a blizzard guy to you? :D
I really don't believe they can ask for money in advance, we mappers are so few that blizzard would not earn any money from that.
BTW I don't see any game going over 10$, the max will probably be 5$.
Nah I kinda figured it was a troll but just to cover all bases. I've been burned before :)
I think a lot of people are underestimating the market. Sure most maps would never sell but the premium map market is for high quality stuff that 99.9% of the map market currently doesn't achieve (though will grow in time). If hundreds of thousands of people are spending money for junk items in Diablo 3, a mediocre game, then what do you expect these people will do in HoTS? They will buy some of the popular maps that are for sale. Especially when a 5 dollar purchase could mean potentially hundreds of hours of entertainment. Even if a tiny percentage pay for an occasional map that would mean hundreds of thousands of buyers and with the lack of mapmakers who will put in the effort into making a premium map it will be a decent market. Sure you probably won't become a millionaire selling maps, but you could make decent side money off of a hobby. Seems like a win-win to me.
$100 yearly hosting fee for custom map developers to have secure data banks etc. To develop new games etc with the sc2 engine isn't all that bad. That's roughly the yearly cost to run and host a legitimate basic website/community forums. It would basically be like licensing and then selling and marketing a product. It would guarantee more support, custom features and updates. I mean if you have the intent to create a legit high quality map to sell for 99 cents or blizzard credit you will honestly recieve $100 in like a day if your paid per download on battlenet. Paying a developers fee to essentially profit from using tools this company has created isn't that unreasonable... It will also guarantee that only serious developers will apply and cut back on the bullshyt content created by individuals whom want to simply exploit the system. If you have a development team and your serious about your mod then surely you can split the initial cost or create a development blog and ask for the donations.
The last thing we would want is a bunch of boobs banging out subpar maps in a day and pricing them at $2.00.
It cost money to run blizzard services. The initial 60 is for the game blizzard created... The $100+ developers license fee is for the thousands of dollars in profit you can potentially make if you and your team produces a high quality mod.
I believe I heard that blizzard is releasing a .m3 editor... So the modding scene is only going to get better.
-_- paying a minor licensing fee for serious mod development and support really isn't that dumb. Do you really think blizzard will let you profit hundreds of dollars after only paying $60... That would be dumb... Paying said fee will yield you a high profit percentage per download... Also if they make a market place I guarantee it is going to be for all of their games....
The max I would pay for a map is $1.99. And that is only if it comes with cool custom assets that I can use for my maps. It would be cool if galaxy editor 2.0 has scripts where you can make item shop where players could purchase different skins with in game credits that can be purchased with real money
Lots of crap in this thread.
"There are better ways to make money"
Nobody says that the map marketplace would be the best moneymaker, however IT GIVES YOU A CHANCE TO GET SOME PROFIT OUT OF YOUR HOBBY!
"If I would want to sell games id just make a standalone game"
Seems like alot of people have no idea how complex it is to code a game from scratch. It has absolutly nothing to do with mapping at all. Try to code a simple Pong game in C ++ and you will see.
Alot of the other stuff in this thread isnt even worth an answer. =/
@Mille25: Go
When you start making money, it is no longer a hobby.
If I made RC Boats, and then sold them, that wouldnt be a hobby any more.
And if you really dont think that if you make a map and it gets Popular, that Blizzard and your teammates wont URGE you to start selling it... you have to be out of your mind...
and FOR all the modelers, what are you waiting for... you can already sell your models... Just go make something original and sell it on one of the other marketplaces in a more common format.
This could be the end of the map making community once it comes out... So Imma finish up my projects, and prepare to remove them when the time comes...
Then I guess we have different interpretations of "hobby". A hobby is smth i enjoy and im doing in my free time, and thats exactly what mapping is for me personally, no matter if I make money or not.
Sure id try to sell it. Why not?
Exactly. The marketplace wont change anything about that, what means that we will still have modelers.
Alright, bye.
Who is making this argument? You're assuming the only goal of all modellers is to make money, which is not and never has been the case.
I don't understand why people are so opposed to the idea? You can just... not sell maps if you don't like the idea? What is the worst you think will happen? Some people will be able to try and make money of their maps? BLASPHEMY! It'd literally be the same as if I were an avid rock collector and then put a sign out my window that says "VIEW AWESOME ROCK COLLECTION - 5 BUCKS". Again - what's the worst that could happen? Aside from a rock-hater burning down my house, that is.
I actually hope it will turn out like this. Would be awesome :)
Very far away right now though, but I'm fine with that. Better something real than a half-assed Marketplace that gets released too soon and creates no interest for high quality map makers to get into SC2 mapping. I hope it will get released at some point, but right now there is no information at all about how it will look like and if it will get released at all, so I don't see the point in waiting for it.
@Mozared: Go Are you a rock collector? Does one need to be a rock collector to create good terrain? I suppose so, there's always need for more rocks ;-) And at least a collection of rocks wouldn't burn, so you would only loose the house.
But anyway, the only problem for people selling models/artwork/whatever right now is that there's always a way to steal said content and use it for free without even giving credit, so at least if Blizzard comes with the marketplace there will be a safe way to do it.
my cents
i actually dont see blizzard adding a map market place as a downfall or the end of anything. All that will happen is that some maps that charge will see their player bases cut by over 80% unless they are really worth the price.
I think the best policy blizzard could do is, Anymap can charge , but its up to the map maker to decide . I dont think blizzard should make any rules into what maps can be sold or what criteria a map needs to reach to be able to sold. As that will open a big can of worms as to whats actually profitable. Because if only map that have custom models can make profit, Then what is going to happen to the actual mappers who put in the time to make such maps? It would seem to me the only people that actually stand to make any money of this are the modelers /art/asset makers.
So as i said, the best policy blizzard could do , is to be like , Okay you want to charge? how much?. If its a chargeable map a demo will have to be released along side it . And then let the community determine if its worth paying for.
I dont think any map that isnt truely worth the money will be successful under a pay for system .
And thats all i really have to say about this. Blizzard should go for it, but preaching doom and the end of custom games? thats going a little to far, the majority of maps that charge to play will actually die as a result unless its actually worth the money.