View Poll Results: What is the biggest acceptable demo for a casual visitor? | |||
under 5 MB | 0 | 0% | |
5-10 MB | 0 | 0% | |
10-20 MB | 2 | 4.55% | |
20-50 MB | 7 | 15.91% | |
50-200 MB | 8 | 18.18% | |
over 200 MB | 27 | 61.36% | |
Voters: 44. You may not vote on this poll |
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10-07-2006, 09:03 AM | #21 |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
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Good point. I will probably have the main game up to the first major puzzle, then a slideshow to illustrate the non-Les Mis parts of the universe.
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10-21-2006, 11:53 AM | #22 |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
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Just a little update...
I've been looking for a new ISP and comparing the prices of getting the bandwidth I need. After getting up off the floor, looking at the prices and falling down again, I have just one question: HOW DO YOU DEVELOPERS AFFORD THE BANDWIDTH?? A fairly typical price (And the one I will probably go for) is FileBurst, at a buck per gigabyte. It is possible to pay less for an unreliable service, or pay a LOT more because most providers charge for bandwidth whether you use it or not. Until about ten minutes ago I was planning on a 200MB demo, since that would be the easiest to make, and most people say that's a good size. So I would be paying 20c for each person who downloads a demo! If I'm lucky and 1 in 10 go ahead to buy the full game, that costs me $2 per game just for the demo. If I'm really unlucky and it takes 100 downloads for each sale, it costs me $20 per game to get a single sale! And that's ignoring general web and eCommerce costs. In other words, I calculate that if it takes more than 50 demos to get a sale then I would lose money on every game I sell! Needless to say, my number one priority for the demo will be to get the file size down. Definitely below 100 MB, and probably below 50MB. If I squeeze it much below that, the user won't get much idea of the final game. I suppose I was naive, and seduced by all the "free hosting" offers that work on different business models (either low usage or high advertising). So thanks to all who voted, but real world costs have made the final decision.
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Enter The Story: Classic novels as games Last edited by Enter the Story; 10-21-2006 at 11:55 AM. Reason: typos |
10-21-2006, 12:13 PM | #23 |
Senior Member
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What about http://uploadhosted.filefront.com/ ?
Completely free. Large files allowed. Reputable site. |
10-21-2006, 12:44 PM | #24 | |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
|
Quote:
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10-21-2006, 12:53 PM | #25 | |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
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Quote:
Wow! And wow again! Thanks!! If I hadn't seen your recommendation I would have dismissed this as "definitely too good to be true - to be avoided." Can anyone else confirm that it is reputable? Reliable? As good as it seems?
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10-21-2006, 12:59 PM | #26 |
Senior Member
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I don't think that's something you would need to worry about with such a large and well known site such as File Front. The site is run by Ziff Davis Media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziff_Davis |
10-21-2006, 02:11 PM | #27 | |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
|
Quote:
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10-28-2006, 05:08 PM | #28 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 16
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Filefront is cool but consider that putting your potential customers through a load of agressive advertising is going to lose you sales (sometimes on these free download sites I have trouble finding the REAL download). Consider Dreamhost with FileFront as a backup, currently I think you get over 2 TB / month and with coupons it will only cost about $5 per month (search for dreamhost coupon).
However they are obviously over subscribing their servers so the chances of you actually getting 2TB is not good. I currently Xfer about 100gb / month with them and no problems. |
10-28-2006, 10:48 PM | #29 |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
|
LOL! That's exactly what I decided to do! I moved the website to Dreamhost a week ago and have been very happy with it so far. But I had to check with them first - some hosts (Parcom for example) specifically ban large downloads from websites, but Dreamhost actually replied to my emails and seemed more reasonable.
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10-28-2006, 10:54 PM | #30 |
Unreliable Narrator
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I've been happily married to Dreamhost since 2003. They're great.
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Squinky is always right, but only for certain values of "always" and "right". |
11-23-2006, 06:09 PM | #31 |
Senior Member
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A lite version withoud videos is a good idea, like MI3 demo.
Still Life demo, for example is "only" 250Mb with about 120Mb of videos and DirectX installer; a lite version could have 130Mb. I don't like to download demos over 350Mb. |
11-23-2006, 11:59 PM | #32 |
I turn novels into games
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 307
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I agree. For file size purposes this is good. But on the subject of videos, I plan to release a separate teaser video first, maybe a month or two before the game and demo are released, containing the prettiest parts of the game. Any comments?
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