Just wondering.
And griping like hell about that.
ID:182128
 Dec 12 2008, 1:39 pm
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It's mostly an audience thing, I suspect. A lot of people on BYOND probably have the hardware for it, but either can't leave their PC up long enough (a lot of people demand 24/7 servers) or don't have the upload bandwidth. The advent of DSL and cable services has graced us with download bandwidth, at the cost of upload bandwidth.
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Developous wrote:
o_O Aye, speaking of a SINGLE player game, Have you tried your luck in Zaganitus? Now that's a plug! But at least you officially acknowledge what playing that 'game' amounts to. | |
A lot of people on BYOND probably have the hardware for it Some people, like me, don't know how to portforward more than one router correctly, though (I either messed up somewhere, or I forwarded the wrong ports on one of the routers)! | |
There are plenty of hosts on BYOND which have connections beefy enough for RPG's an casual games.
You're really in trouble when you need a stable host for an action game! | |
If people are determined about seeing their game hosted 24/7, a short time after digitalBYOND closed its gates, two new such services came into existence.
So, with farawayhost and ZEN Enterprises around, completed by services like slicehost, I'd say that it's more a problem of people not willing to spend a bit of money, rather than of lacking alternatives. | |
I was about to say this.
farawayhost from my experience is fairly good, and for $7 a month (cheaper if you buy for a long period of time) you cannot really complain about not being able to afford it. I'd much rather pay a few bucks a month on one of these services, than get some snot nosed kid host it. Mainly due to the fact that these services are just that. Hosting services and nothing else. They will in no way interfere with the game or how it is run. | |
Developous wrote:
:P I can complain about how I am not allowed to spend money at all. Well then its not a lack of hosts, its just your inability to spend money. That pretty much answers the question. Serious problem? No, just you. So if you don't have a way to pay for hosts, then once again I suggest working on projects that don't require you to have one. | |
Make a good game with original concepts, and hosts will appear as if by magic for free to help you. That has been my experience with BYOND in the last 5 or so years, I dont see why it should be different with you. The problem often is that people create an unpopular concept or a concept that has been done to the point where no viable market exists. If you dont get free hosts through the power of goodwill generated from the good qualities of your game then be prepared to find a way to pay for it, the way things are right now is pretty good in my opinion. Hosts work like a free market and supply games they have faith in with the means to exist, so make a convincing game alpha and host it locally for a few weeks.. that's the way i have always done it.
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Masterdan wrote:
Make a good game with original concepts, and hosts will appear as if by magic for free to help you. :P Where I stand, I've been trying for years and still fail. I've tried everything in and out of the book countless times as well. Not even manuals and guidelines have helped that situation either. *sigh*... yet it's all I have. First impressions? That's often the killer for me. Where I stand, it makes no difference at all what a game first apppears like. What matters is the POTENTIAL for it. If only more people could see what really matters in judging a game... Then perhaps I could finally bring the next age foreward... | |
the potential for any game is severly good, you need to demonstrate that your serious about the game before anybody gives you a free server, this is done by getting public alpha builds temporarily hosted to round up support from icon artists, hosts and website/forum people.
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Not to say these people who offer to host games for free are bad or anything, but to anyone who thinks about taking someone up on this offer, be wary.
They usually become involved in the game, personalities can clash, they can become abusive (in game), arguments can ensure and so on. At worst you could end up losing your host, or losing control of your host (enjoy being pager banned from your own game). Hence the reason why I would suggest using a hosting service, as they will got get involved or interfere like this. Chances are they also have a machine and internet connection that is much, much more suitable for hosting a game too (among other advantages, with farawayhost I had access to the DreamDaemon that was being used to host the game, I could reboot, shut down, update the game and so on at anytime I wanted, I did not need to wait for the host of the game to get online to do any of this, I also got free webspace). | |
absolutely, ive seen that happen on a few occasions. Sometimes hosts lose interest or get angry at the community and delete the entire savefile index. In my case what happened was people offered to pay and manage the 6 dollar or whatever a month shells and give me access to them via SSH with my own independant account, thats the way to go for sure.
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What, you people don't have high speed internet?
~Kujila | |
Potential means nothing unless it is used. If the game has a poor first impression, it is reasonable to assume it is not using any of it's potential.
That and potential is different from actual. Every game has the potential to be the best game ever, in actuality no game is the best ever. If a game is not good then people are going to judge the game on that. It is unreasonable to expect anyone to judge a game on what it could be in the future, but not what it nescessarily will be in the future. Also, while I was hosting Generiquest I got a ton of people offering to host the game for me. But I never asked for a host, or made any suggestion that I was even looking for a host (I actually stated I was not looking for anyone to host the game). It is fairly safe to assume that if you make a game of good enough quality, someone will come and offer to host the game before long. | |
If you're really desperate and your game is worth it, you might offer to compensate the host for the time and expense involved in maintaining the server.
Personally though, this is why I make Single Player Games. Or at least games that people can host themselves. MORPGS are way more trouble than they're worth unless you're making money.