Proposed licensing model (take 2)

The magazine analogy is just wrong. Once your magazine is out of date, you can't put it on the shelf and go grab a newer copy at no cost, with the only drawback being that the new magazine politely asks you to pay for it every time you open it.

It's not unusual for developers to include a limited amount of updates when you buy a license, that's all this is. Imagine that the next version of C2 (30) is a major realease. Now, if Ashley and co can manage a new release once a month, that makes 24 updates over 2 years- easily more than one major version upgrade in a traditional model. If you wanted to buy a licence to own the software under a traditional model, you would stop receiving updates halfway through that process.

Oh, and gamemaker is �25, not $25, last time I checked.

EDIT: Seems that YYG practice a bit of regional pricing.$25 or �25 depending on your location.

I paid 25 pounds for game maker 8 pro.It does have a steep learning curve though.I have created some very interesting 3d games with it using the GMOgre addon.The shader and lighting teqniques for GMOgre are fantastic.Oh and there's absolutely no slowdown even on a lowspec 1.6Ghz comp.

So if C2 can match this or even better this then i would buy it.I still think a once off price is better than this whole licence thing.Id pay for upgrades anytime.

I paid 25 pounds for game maker 8 pro

I just checked the website, because I thought it was 25USD... and it is.

I wanted to like GM, but the UI is just ...too weird.

What happens when your commercial license ran out and you still earn >20k with the games your created?

What happens when your commercial license ran out and you still earn >20k with the games your created?

You still own it. You just can't get upgrades.

maybe this is a better analogy than the magazine...

You buy a stamp-collecting book that comes with a free stamp every month for a year. When the year runs out, you still have a stampbook, and the stamps you got by mail, but you don't continue to get new stamps.

The magazine analogy is just wrong. Once your magazine is out of date, you can't put it on the shelf and go grab a newer copy at no cost, with the only drawback being that the new magazine politely asks you to pay for it every time you open it.

That analogy works quite well, 2 years of updates is in a way like getting 2 years of magazines. A new magazine is like a point release of software. Once you have updated your software it's not like you go back to older point releases to have less features and more bugs again either.

With both you want to keep updating and getting the latest thing, if you use a subscription with both that happens. That is not the comparison i wanted to make though, just the point that just like a magazine it still falls into a subscription model.

Construct would have a lot more value than magazines though because it lets you create games or anything you can think of and is a amazing program. I was comparing the business model and if you take the basic concept in a way it is very much the same way a magazine company does it.

I think it's a fair enough deal, especially with the early adopter license thrown in. �19 for three years of updates is extremely nice.

I bought MMF2 when it was new. I jumped to Construct not because it was free, but because it was better! Don't get me started on Game Maker...

I think this licensing model sounds fine.

I'd like to mirror Zeno's question. When do you expect to start selling it?

I'm not sure how Construct credibly proves its worth against Game Maker. GM is mature, stable, actively developed, has an HTML5 exporter (among others) and costs ?25 and also has future proofing in terms of upgrades - usually just to the next version. Game Maker has already survived 12 years; Construct is going on 4 with limited success.

100% my thoughts.

We aim to open early adopter licenses ASAP.

If you think Game Maker is better than Construct, I don't really have anything to say. You're welcome to use it. We think Construct 2 is better, that's all. Each to their own. GM also appears to be primarily a scripting tool, it doesn't appear many people use the event system. Construct 2 is entirely an event based system.

[quote:mqv5v7qx]I just checked the website, because I thought it was 25USD... and it is.

I wanted to like GM, but the UI is just ...too weird.

Ah man sorry i meant $25 Im so used to working with pounds lol.But like i said earlier if CS2 proves to be better than the other competitors in every aspect then id consider buying the $500 licence.

Won't lie about being a little conflicted. On the one hand, I came upon Construct looking for a free game maker just to tinker around with and then I got way more than I expected in it. On the other hand, as a musician, I completely understand the mentality of wanting to do something that you're good at, that you love and get paid for it, and the generally common consensus that your hard work should be free just because it falls under the realm of entertainment and not necessity. So all in all, I do want to add that I do support your decision to go commercial.

As far as your proposed licensing model goes, I personally think it looks good but I think you should make more distinction between the fact that people are paying for a license rather than continued use of the editor, so that they don't panic like I saw in the other thread before it got locked with worries about their editor locking up on them.

I saw one person on here propose limited features in the free trial a la many other pieces of software. I think what you might be able to do is lock exporting functionality, so that you need to use Construct to run the games on the trial or expired versions, but leave all the actual game creation ability open. That way it'll be more of an inconvenience than a nag screen but not so much that they can't continue work on their game and continue to test it. They just can't make it convenient for others to play, as other folks will have to download Construct in order to play trial games. I think it'd end up win/win.

As for piracy, I've heard it said pirates will be a problem no matter what you do. Which is true. However, the numbers aren't as bad as most people seem to think (I've done some studying). People are willing to pay depending on not only price points they find fair but also if they believe in and appreciate the faces behind the work.

You seem to already have the fair price point, which you can make even more readily apparent by just adding something along the lines that "this translates to only $x.xx a month" or "help support the development of Construct! buy a license!" or some such thing that would be written far better than my 5 second attempt right there.

The other thing you need to worry about is keeping an active and appreciated position in the community, whether it be frequent news/blog posts, getting people's opinions on proposed additions or changes, things like you're already doing. Only thing I can think to suggest you do in addition is to make sure it's readily apparent to new users/members from the get-go who you are (I had no clue as to how important Ashley was to Construct development until probably the beginning of this year, and I started playing with Construct probably second quarter last year ).

I know folks may disagree with the exporter functionality thing on expired licenses, but from what folks have been mostly complaining about (at least before) was that they wouldn't be able to keep working on their games with expired licenses, but if you can devise a way to test games without exporting I think it could be a simple but somewhat significant way to either A) get folks to pay, or B) get more users downloading Construct = more potential licenses or at least word of mouth.

TL22 has a good point. Disabling the exporter allows for someone to fully create a game without paying a single cent, but requires a license when he/she wants to publish it. It's only fair to pay for the software you use..

Also would it be a nice idea to have a hidden part on the forum for people with licenses?

I think it's important to differentiate the 30-day trial from an "expired" license. You keep functionality of the product once purchased, even after your upgrade cycle has finished.

the limited functionality is only in the 30-day trial, which is the newer version of the software. you can continue to use your old version of the software without limitations.

All great points and posts. We do read all of them, and are considering everything.

The special forum for license holders, and possibly other online benefits (if we can think of them) are all things we want to do. The website is going to have a massive overhaul, to become a more exciting and interactive place for everyone.