Would hosting for 6 Months on BYONDPanel be a good enough incentive for people to start creating original games?
Or even a year?
What are your thoughts on why we have so many rips?
I put it down to lazy people and kids not wanting to learn just modify games.
ID:616696
 Apr 1 2012, 5:39 pm
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I have done a 2 X 1 month hosting contest before with no requirements what so ever.
Which you won one of those :) What I would like to do is encourage people to rise up and create something different something new something original something great... If anyone would like to help with coming up with suggestions requirements and the etc. I would gladly take them into consideration. I was thinking of a card game with MYSQL & DMCGI/PHP capabilities ... But this may not hit everyone's skill level. | |
Yes :)
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It might work for people who are creative, and skilled enough, but the problem is that is the minority in BYOND. Honestly, I think we have so many more anime games because of anime being so popular and people finding them more appealing because they're already well established, they like the anime, and it's the easy way out. The full out rips are a further result of the easy way out issue.
As much as I believe most people hate it, the truth is that most people are not going to step up without a source to build off. What I think we need is a collection of free 'starter games' and/or just plenty of free to use icons and code of fair quality. Even more than that, whenever someone downloads BYOND, they need to be directed to a very brief but informative guide on how to find what they need. Basically where the resources are, what the best articles and resources are, how to search the site for resources or DM help posts, etc, and most of all a guide to how to get into designing a original game and why they should. A guide like that might sound impossible, but all it needs to do is inspire them to think. It may not work on everyone, but it should help in my opinion. Everyone who comes here seems to go straight to the free source codes, and DM Help for the simplest thing. Clearly they need more direction upon download, though some will still likely be lazy; hopefully this would reduce the problem at least a little. | |
The fact that this post isn't grabbing much attention is a concern.
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A.T.H.K wrote:
The fact that this post isn't grabbing much attention is a concern. So what do you propose is done to get my hands on this free server, I'm running on $10 in the bank right now, I think I should win by default. :D | |
A.T.H.K wrote:
The fact that this post isn't grabbing much attention is a concern. I agree. I disliked making the semi-long, almost off topic reply but I figured it would be better to have as much attention drawn to this as possible. This is something that needs to be discussed, and figured out. Free hosting is definitely appealing, though. Just only to a certain crowd. I really expected to see more replies. | |
Toddab503 wrote:
Just only to a certain crowd. Just only to a certain crowd. Just only to a certain crowd. Just only to a certain crowd. Just only to a certain crowd. Agreed. Not many people want to pay for this service as they can do it themselves .. I have had a lot of clients, they don't last long 1 - 6 months. | |
A.T.H.K wrote:
Agreed. Not many people want to pay for this service as they can do it themselves .. I have had a lot of clients, they don't last long 1 - 6 months. I just took a look so I could try and figure out why, and the first thing I thought was that it looks well managed but the first server does not seem very good in comparison to Virpus. I know virpus is far from the best, and I would understand a small price increase to cover your work and such, but your listings make some of your servers look inferior. http://virpus.com/budget-vps/ If you look there, you'll notice even the $4 is listed as better than your $5. Maybe that is an inaccurate comparison somehow, I'm not that technical, but for someone who is capable of doing it their self it really stands out. Even if I didn't know how, I would feel iffy about it. I do, however, remember though that if it costed like $8 and had equal quality listed then I would purchase BYONDPanel if I did not know how to work with shells. It's worth a few dollars to have hosting that easy, though. Especially since you seem to include what people need to run webpages on their shells, too. Edit: Just noticed the higher up servers for BYONDPanel look better than Virpus, but the problem there is that most people probably just go for the minimal, and that one doesn't compare well. People don't usually have a lot of money for hosting. | |
Not to mention that BYONDPanel comes with an easy to use web based control panel with no need for shell knowledge.
The BYONDPanel suite has taken me a long time to create - and I am still creating things for it. Really you pay $5 get everything set up, the servers managed and around the clock support. If you have clue how to use the system I offer training for free... And if they still don't get it, I do it for them everytime they need help. | |
Huh... I don't understand the problem then. Do you allow users to connect via FTP? or does the control panel allow for handling files the way you would normally use FTP for? Also, how are your payments handled? I'm guessing you use a secure method through paypal, just like any professional would.
Maybe you need to look into further advertisement. I know that I would of loved to have this around sooner, and if I weren't so familiar with shells and already using a couple I may of gone with your service. Even with knowing how, that kind of support is valuable, and hard to find. | |
We have an inbuilt file manager on the control panel, it allows for everything including zipping.
Paypal. Advertising is a good point I have not done much (I have a reason for not doing so for now ;) . ) That's good to know, I do go out of my way for my clients .. but hey if you treat someone with respect then you will receive that in return. | |
It has got to be the advertising, or something I am missing, because this sounds excellent. Very valuable to BYOND if it is as good as it looks, and sticks around. I didn't even notice it existed until this topic, though I don't browse around all that much, so it really is likely that it's the lack of people knowing.
I know at least one person for sure that I think could make use of this in the future, and I'll be recommending this to anyone else who I know that ends up needing it. Anyways. I would recommend setting some good guidelines for the game someone would need to make to earn this, like how big of a game and such, and then set the reward to be a 3-6 month use of the $8 BYONDPanel. That's about as enticing as hosting can get, in my opinion. | |
It would be great if original games in the making were "supported" by free hosting services. One of the biggest problems is that when you're making a game you have to make sure that the bugs that you can't see in "single player mode" aren't either seen in "multiplayer mode".
In my case I have a VPS (Bought in virpus (I don't recommend the site, it has too many downtimes!)), and it's helping me to test the new updates on Eternal World, anyway, it'd be really nice if you helped people with the hosting if they were making original games. Well, the "great" original games -in the making- I've seen in BYOND normally have a hoster / shell server because they've already experienced with more games, and that probably gives them more experience, but there are some others that are up to give a try to BYOND and are still worried about not having a hoster. So... It'd be a great idea (: Btw! When I said "great" original games, I didn't include my game, I like the way it's going, but it's not by far anything compared to Spirit Age, Epic, or any of those amazing games! | |
Epic is Epic. (:
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Just because you think your game isn't great doesn't mean the someone else won't .
I'll give it a go write up some requirements and see what of attention it grabs. | |
A.T.H.K wrote:
Would hosting for 6 Months on BYONDPanel be a good enough incentive for people to start creating original games? Exactly what is the correlation between extended hosting time and 'original' games? Learning DM takes time, learning game design takes time, creating art takes time, making a game takes time. To top it off programmers are lazy people. It's a known fact. I admit I would like to see more original games but honestly my life will be no more complete the day everyone makes 'original' games compared to the day they're all on rips. I think if you want to see more original games then try creating a framework for people to make their game. I find the hardest part is adding all the features that make an online RPG what it is. The chat, the friends list, party list, online list, trading, inventory, stats, etc etc etc. I reckon just make an environment with the basics and see what people can come up with. Include tutorials on how to use it as well and it could become somewhat like an engine and greatly appreciated. Nowadays it's about using a touchy search bar to sift through a disjointed bunch of typically ugly resources that seem as if they were made to put you off because the first thing you want to do is the delete the useless comments. | |
I agree entirely. That's kind of what I was trying to say earlier in my first reply. We also need better guidelines for new developers when they first download BYOND, though. I mean they aren't really directed to anything, they're just suppose to find it their selves, and a lot of people either won't know how or won't bother.
I'd really like to see a good framework come out. Perhaps even one for each major game type, to make it a little more well directed; sort of like ZBT's tutorials if I remember the name correctly. I would tackle some of that myself, but I don't think it would be as good coming from someone who hasn't released a game yet, and whom could also be a lot better at programming. Sure, I have projects, but they aren't worth anything to anyone till they're released, lol. Oh, also audio tutorials. I haven't seen many good video or audio tutorials, not sure if there are any, but we should really have some of that. I know some people must just not want to go through the hassle of reading so much so often to learn about the DM language. That's the biggest downside to the DM guide, too. Maybe even an audio summary of the DM guide would be useful. I would of loved that back when I was new to BYOND. Edit: Just to stay on topic, I think deciding the guidelines for the contest will be a bit tricky. Can't be too general or too specific. It definitely can't be an anime game with all the races renamed or something, though. I'm getting a bit sick of that little workaround. | |
Nah, IDK. I like the idea of free hosting for a certain amount of time. Make a contest for like a month or so and give the winner free hosting?