New Pricing Plan & Monetization of GS

KnightStar

Ok...so today's GameSalad pricing and structure news is something of a shock to some and an eye-opener to others. But after reading a lot of the posts and letting some of the data sink in, I can't help but think about the fiscal problems GS is facing that would force these types of changes. Hell, just looking at the Staff page on the site shows a highly truncated team.

That said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or MBA grad to identify that the company has some serious fiscal issues, likely bigger than what's being let on. Now the Haters on the forum can likely take what I just said and use it as fuel to rant a bunch more about the scenario and wallow in pity while hinting at jumping to Unity, etc. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M GOING TO DO...

I see this situation two-fold - first, as i just said, the fiscal signs are definitely not looking good...second, as a big fan of GS, I am interested in finding solutions to help the company out while also finding ways to allow users to learn game development and make great games..

So how's this for an idea - internally crowdfunding new features.. If you want Joints, GS can start a campaign with a target goal of $25K, etc. If the target is reached, GS builds the feature..

Another idea is a-la cart feature packs..$50 for a Joints&Fonts pack, etc. Buy and use what you like, pass on stuff you might never use (i.e. Networking, etc.). Feature packs are tied to accounts and only accessible when when users are paying for PRO..

These are just thoughts.. Any other ideas to both help GS out while improving the game development environment for us users?

-- J

jigglybean

There's nothing to suggest that theres 'fiscal issues' at GS. They have stated as of right now, they are missing their revenue target. Like any business, they have targets to meet that have been agreed with investors and other key stakeholders.

The forums are/have been littered with many free users and if you work hard all year round and get very little in return, it can be heart breaking. People are loving the software but aren't prepared to shell out hard cash - for what ever reason.

Most of the other 'drag and drop' tools are paid or extremely expensive (Build Box is $5k and extremely limited).

$29 a month isnt a bad deal if this is something you want to purse as a possible career or do part time.

KnightStar

As a follow up, @valen made a good comment earlier in hinting that it's probably better strategy to get more people using the GS Creator tool, even if they are limited in which platform they can export / publish to.. It really takes more than 15 days to learn the tool, even with the plethora of great tutorials out there..

From a business standpoint, I'd rather have more eyes on the Creator tool and folks seeing how wonderful the tool is vs. other SDKs and encouraging them to pay to publish vs. giving folks a tremendously short exposure to the GS greatness before slamming the paywall into their face. It seems more logical that you can get more marketing traction by continuing to show how wonderful and easy game development is using GS than the new scheme.. (And make no mistake, I'm all for paying for quality software)

-- J

Lovejoy

You bring up interesting ideas, but i highly doubt the crowdfunding one would work. Having to pay extra to reach a goal so the tool you are already paying for can get updated doesn't sound too good. Want joints? 25k, want custom collision? 10k, want autosave? 5k etc. Where would the line be crossed? I am not a fan of crowdfunding, giving someone a free lunch just so they can sell it back to you is not my style.

As for the packs, that sounds interesting. Almost like IAP, but i don't believe it would work either since you can't really buy GS creator, we are just pretty much renting the software.

This whole new pay system is fresh so I'm sure slight changes will be made if it doesn't start performing as expected.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

There are already companies who are invested in Gamesalad. Steamboat Ventures for one. They own GS and doing crowd funding doesn't work in that kind of arrangement.

ant_lad

I have a feeling joints and whatnot are coming to GS, looks to me like some Graphene features will be shoehorned into GS