That was a cute billboard. Honest too. The art is perfect for it. I like how it refers to bird games, bee games, etc. Exactly how a kid would think.

Quick question about the slogan, was "Build your imagination..." taken?

Hey, that could be a fun thread. Ask people what kind of slogans they can come up with for C3. Here's a few:

1. Construct 3 - Drag and drop your imagination into a game.

2. Construct 3 - 3 times the game making fun!

3. Construct 3 - The trifecta of game making

4. Construct 3 - Build the game of your dreams

A lot of software companies drip-feed their features up until the beta release or actual release. It's nothing new. The biggest problem I believe for some people was the pricing first, features later thing. But it seems to be rounding itself out pretty okay here lately I think, for some, definitely not for others, anyway.

That's a good point. People didn't know what they were paying for. I still think if they announced they were considering switching to subscription model, it wouldn't have been such a shock to people.

wmsgva

I have a similar background and I don't think releasing details of features on a weekly basis is childish at all. They're just giving people what they want. People in the forum have been begging for clues and information about C3 for over a year. I don't see anything wrong with that. And the blog posts are detailed. They take a lot of time explaining things, and I can appreciate that.

- I only only noticed a few problems with their marketing:

1. I think they've been marketing to the wrong group. Both professionals and hobbyists want to use the best tools for their work. If it's good enough for professionals, it should be marketed to professionals.

2. The subscription model should have been announced much, much sooner to give people time to deal with it and accept it. People had certain expectations based on what they knew about C2 and they had those same expectations for C3 for a very long time. It was a shock to most of us when they switched payment methods.

3. It think they should have released information about their best features first, but also saved they most important feature for the last week just before release. You want a rollercoaster effect of excitement for your new product.

4. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, but their advertising seems nonexistent, other than social media.

- They got a lot of things right though too:

1. Their websites are very well designed, and looks fun and professional.

2. Their product looks professional.

3. Teasing is a good thing (all popular media does this, movies, games, etc.). I don't think they released too much information too early. It's not to uncommon to start teasing 6 months out, just to keep the product fresh on people's mind.

4. They have a lot of contact with their user base. I don't get the feeling this is some soulless company. They are also very knowledgeable about their niche in the game industry.

5. Good customer service. When I had a problem, they didn't agree with it, but they eventually addressed it.

6. They are active on social media.

I think if they ever hire a marketing team, it's going to be a breeze for them because Scirra is already doing so much, so well. The most important thing to a marketing team is to have a good product.

AFAIK the limitations of the free version have not been published yet, so we can just wait and see, and possibly be pleasantly surprised. Or complain all over again when there is something specific to complain about.

I'm probably going to subscribe, at least for the first year, but I think you are right. We'll probably hear about it if people have issues with the free version.

I have heard from some educators similar stories RE iPads. The device existing en-masse in US educational institutes is now the Chromebook which there is very limited supply of software that can run on it... Hopefully Construct 3 can fill some of that void.

That's seems more reasonable. Chromebooks are cheaper, so I can see it replacing iPads in schools with smaller budgets, but I doubt they are as durable as iPads. I've seen plenty of iPads with cracked screens that still work. I haven't seen any Android or laptops with broken screens continue to work correctly. Chromebooks and Android devices are cheaper, but they are also made cheaper. I think children need a durable device to learn on.

And I agree, if Chrome has limited software, even better for C3!

PS: our town passed a referendum that granted the public school corporation millions of additional dollars in property tax revenue. They used around $2 million of it to buy each student in each of the public high schools in the area iPads for use in the classroom and at home. After a couple years of unanimous animosity from the teachers and the students, they discarded all the iPads at a catastrophic loss. They then switched to paying huge amounts of money to buy each student 2-in-1 Windows laptops. I haven't heard how that is going.

Seriously? Well that's just crazy. I have 3 children in school, different age groups, and they all use iPads successfully in class. I also teach classes with iPads sometimes. There are some very professional programming and learning apps that can not be found on any other platform. Apple's own Swift Playground is a great example of this. It's simple, engaging, and interactive. Apple has supported education and provided discounted hardware to schools since the 80s. The fact that your school is switching to more expensive windows computers is just crazy, imo.

I never got the impression that you would lose access to your project as your subscription expires, as there will be still be a free version available from my understanding. You might just lose the ability to export, although that is just a guess at this point. Having a monthly option would be nice though.

I don't know. I just heard it being mentioned. I assume if you were working on a game that surpasses the limitations of the free version, you wouldn't be able to do much with it.

Ashley, Tom

I'm concerned you guys are still targeting hobbyists after viewing the C3 splash page. "Make games easier and faster than ever before?" That's a feature, that's not what C3 is. That has "hobbyist" written all over it. When I read that I think, "Wow, I can make games with this and I don't have to do a lot of work." That's pretty much the opposite of how professionals think. They expect to put a lot of work into their games.

It should read something like:

C3 is the most professional HTML5 game making tool for the Professional game maker. You need to stress that it's a "professional" tool. You want to attract more than just hobbyists? Making games easier and faster should be mentioned much lower down on the page.

First 3 questions should be answered in this order:

1. What is C3

2. What can it do?

3. Who is it for?

(Optional) How much?

Unless you guys disagree. It's just a suggestion.

Btw, Whoever you have designing these websites is doing a great job. Very clean and very easy to follow.

Why not consider a monthly rate for personal users too? The two biggest complaints against subscriptions is that people are afraid to lose access to C3 if they can't afford the yearly subscription and they are afraid they'll lose access to their game files when they fail to renew their subscription.

A monthly rate addresses both of those concerns. Pay for the months you can afford and if you need access to your game files, pay for just that month to regain access to them. Currently, it's only $99 a year for a personal license, which amounts to about $8.25 a month. That's a really affordable price, but maybe some people might have a hard time coming up with $100 lump sum. Maybe boost that price up a little for the convenience of being able to unsubscribe at any time, and providing a little cushion to Scirra for the times those people aren't subscribed. Maybe $15 month?

I think one of the fears indie developers might have is that if they lose everything by some tragic act, and by not being able to afford to pay for C3, they will also lose any way to make any money back. This kind of solves that in a way that it's not too difficult to scrounge up $15 to regain access back for C3 and finish a game they've been working on. It works for Netflix and other subscription based companies. The reason Photoshop has a $10/month plan is because Adobe got a lot of love from it.

But then again... $99 a year is super cheap already.

I wonder if a lack of innovation is the real driving force behind Scirra switching to a subscription model? There was a short discussion about this in another thread. Most of what's change from C2 to C3 are bells and whistles. Maybe they don't really have a better choice to earn money, because the web isn't changing all that quickly and maybe they already built the best product possible?

Sorry but that old mail to yourself does nothing to prove copyright.

Remember, you are not proving copyright, because that is granted the moment the art is created. There's a date on the envelope and the only thing the court cares about is when the art is created to decide who created it first. When you provide documents in court, the burden of proof shifts to the other side. If they don't have any proof, you win.

Another way to time stamp your art is to publish your work online. If someone comments on your art, now you have a witness.

As mentioned here already, your artwork is protected by copyright the moment it's created. I think the main reason people register their art is to prove WHEN they created it if a dispute goes to court. You can save yourself a lot of money by mailing your designs to yourself and leave it unopened, and let a judge open it.