Question for the Dev team (about money)

[breeze]

What do you think about a paid skinning system? You could pay say $20-50 (price of a normal video game), and customize the textures with an in-game menu. They could range from minimal (to improve FPS) to fancy and shiny. Provided it would take a little work upfront and the textures would have to be good quality for it to be worth the money. Of course anyone could still be free to use moviepacks and such, but they wouldn't have the in-game menu, which appeals to newer players who wouldn't know how to use moviepacks. Plus, all the nice textures that would come with it.

[compguygene]

Check out http://forums3.armagetronad.net/viewtop ... =4&t=23178. This is the kind of thing we need to get a good Kickstarter going.

[Lucifer]

What do you think about a paid skinning system? You could pay say $20-50 (price of a normal video game), and customize the textures with an in-game menu. They could range from minimal (to improve FPS) to fancy and shiny. Provided it would take a little work upfront and the textures would have to be good quality for it to be worth the money. Of course anyone could still be free to use moviepacks and such, but they wouldn't have the in-game menu, which appeals to newer players who wouldn't know how to use moviepacks. Plus, all the nice textures that would come with it.

Um, are you actually proposing having people pay to enable features in an open source game? You see where that idea falls apart quickly, right?

[Thump]

Hey, I keep hearing about: 'the sty+ct extensions' ... What exactly is this? What does it mean for Arma?

EDIT:

Also, if i may ask: How much (ball park number) money has Armagetron generated since it's establishment?

[Z-Man]

Hey, I keep hearing about: 'the sty+ct extensions' ... What exactly is this? What does it mean for Arma?

The server side changes like CTF are in there.

Also, if i may ask: How much (ball park number) money has Armagetron generated since it's establishment?

That depends on your definition and also on "generated for whom". For us, money that we can keep and do not use to cover running costs? Pretty close to zero, if that much. For server hosting companies, spent by clans who wanted to rent their own? Maybe 10k.

[Phytotron]

Anybody ever order anything from these guys? They're reputedly way better than CafePress...

But CafePress supports my local economy!

...and they're definitely cheaper...

How do they achieve that? China, et al?

this is a game that is about 7-9 years old

More like 12.

[Lucifer]

...and they're definitely cheaper...

How do they achieve that? China, et al?

No, they do the all-american thing, too. The difference is that CafePress charges more to content creators.

I was looking into it for my web comic and have definitely made the decision to go to zazzle, just need time to work on that. See, CafePress is publicly traded and have been pushed by shareholders to make more money, but they're business model is "99.999999% crap nobody wants". So they raise wholesale prices to cover it.

Zazzle has the same business model, but is determined to be better than cafepress. So they offer services that in many ways are far superior, and they offer everything cheaper. So the products are better quality, don't carry the stigma that CafePress's iron-on t-shirts carry, and that helps a lot. A poor content creator can make a good product with Zazzle that they couldn't make with CafePress.

Or so the reviews go. I've only ever ordered from CafePress, and I'm genuinely curious how Zazzle compares.

[Phytotron]

Wikipedia says Zazzle has Disney, Hallmark, and Google involvement as well, so perhaps that lowers costs.

What is the "stigma that CafePress's iron-on t-shirts carry?"

Still, CafePress is providing some good jobs since moving here, so I personally gotta side with them in this economy.

[Lucifer]

Wikipedia says Zazzle has Disney, Hallmark, and Google involvement as well, so perhaps that lowers costs.

What is the "stigma that CafePress's iron-on t-shirts carry?"

That they're iron-on T-shirts.

Still, CafePress is providing some good jobs since moving here, so I personally gotta side with them in this economy.

I don't blame you. It's worth looking into the truth of the matter for Zazzle. For us, the price difference could very well be "make money or not make money".

An article I read (which I'll try to dig up) shows CafePress's difficulties making shareholders happy and puts their situation in the market in a bad way. Those good jobs they've given you may not last, no matter what we do about it.

Or they'll continue to grow. No way to tell.