I'm sure the answer to this must be somewhere already but I couldn't find it

[Akninshar]

First, thank you for making this tool available to aspiring game developers. It’s awesome that you took it upon yourself to solve the issue of easily creating games which can be ported to mobile devices at the click of a button. Now, as an potential user, I was wondering how (if at all) we are restricted regarding what we do with the games we create using this tool. Are we allowed to sell them? Which (if any) assets can we use for free for commercial purposes? What should we display in the credits regarding our use of this platform?

Thanks!
A.

[deWiTTERS]

Hey,

As of yet, there is no export option, so it’s also impossible to sell your game. So the question is probably what will be possible in the future?

All assets can be used commercially. Some need credit, but that will be part of the export function. There are no detailed plans yet on how I will support commercial projects, but let me give you my ideal solution.

For game development studios, it will be possible to license the source code of the game. This means that ‘anything goes’ for releasing your own game based on RPG Playground.

If you don’t have any programmers (or can’t program yourself), it will be possible to export an RPG Playground game to various platforms, and sell it.

But remark that these are things for the far future, first I need to add functionality for my existing users (combat, etc.).

Also remark that what will be available for game dev studios, will highly depend on what the needs will be for them. I listen to my users now, and I will definitely listen to people that approach me for commercial releases. Then we can see how we can help each other out. But making commercial games is definitely in the back of my mind.

Hope this answers your question.

[Akninshar]

Have you thought of offering users the possibility of either buying a license and then being able to do whatever they want or to host the games they want to offer to the public on your own sales platform where you could deduct a percentage of whatever sales are until your share equals the value of the license? This would encourage people who might not have the means to buy a license at the moment to still do their best to make their game as good as possible as to make it attractive two potential buyers and thus put more high quality products on your site leading to more traffic.

Meanwhile, do you have any idea of a time frame for Android exports?

Kind regards,
A.

[deWiTTERS]

No time frame on Android exports, sorry.

A commercial license would be at least 250 euros. My guess is that this would be for established studios that want to quickly get a game out there. Or the studios that are using RPG Maker right now.

Hosting the games on my own site is another possibility, and can be some sort of revenue sharing such as YouTube is offering. It’s very hard these days to get noticed as a new game developer. So I could offer something for those people.

But like I say, all options are still open, and will highly depend on what people are asking for.

[Akninshar]

Well consider this a request for the revenue-sharing-up-to-the-value-of-the-license option 😉

[deWiTTERS]

I will consider it, but I think it’s a strange proposition.

I don’t know how much experience you have in the game development industry, but getting your game noticed is really difficult. As a starting game developer, it’s really hell to market your game. I can tell you by my own experience, when I released my earlier game Mystic Mine. But don’t take my word for it, see ‘Good’ isn’t good enough for example.

I thought about the commercial options some more, and I’m currently thinking about offering 3 things (in the far far future ;)):

1. A commercial license for established studios. At least 250 euros per game license. Theses are studios with an existing customer base, and are looking for a better/easier/faster tool to make their game. They will have full customization options for their game, and are independent on how and where they release it.

2. A publishing deal with me. This is for game designers that make a really awesome game in RPG Playground, but are new to the business and have no connections. I have connections with studios that sell RPG games. And since I will be marketing RPG games a lot, I can build up a customer base. I can take a smaller cut than traditional publishers because getting a game out there also promotes my own RPG Playground. But remark that you could also go with your own publisher with point 1.

3. Revenue sharing for those who don’t fit the above 2 categories. Basically risk free evaluation of the market. But your game will only be available on the RPG Playground platform itself (also available on mobile and consoles at that point, if we get that far ;)). Since there will be no contract or license at this point, you can always go to option 1. or 2. at any time. So I guess that covers your use case :).

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