Re: Announcing release of Yellowbonnet from Valiant Galaxy Associates
Jeremy here:
I’m just writing to clarify Aaron’s post a little now that I have had a chance to discuss it with him and Dentin, and can give a clearer explanation of the pros of this system, since people are pointing out cons. Also too, I am not headed out to hay fields.
In the following YB = Yellowbonnet and GDG = GuideDog Games in case that wasn’t obvious.
Plus Sides for the Player Base:
1. Less hassal. If we had marketed YB without GDG we would have had to provide a registration key, which could have been lost, stolen, shared, and otherwise mangled. By using GuideDog we remove that hassal both from us as developers, and from you as players. I know, having read the Audyssey list and forums here, that loss of registration keys is a real hassal, especially for older games that are no longer being actively supported.
2. One of the advantages of using GDG, which you might not be aware of is Dentin’s commitment to the player base. In his developer contract he insists on having access to installers and game files so that if the developer disappears for some reason, current customers will continue to have access to their games. Again, having read about this problem, this was one of the things that convinced us using GDG was a good idea.
3. When GDG gets multiplayer or scoreboard or chat functionality, all things that are possibilities that might be on the table down the road, using a centralized service allows us to moderate and mediate disputes and activities of the few players who would take advantage of bugs or situations and use them to artificially pump their score, or in multiplayer environments make the game less enjoyable for others. If we were running such a thing ourselves, we might not have the tools we would need. With Dentin’s years of doing just this on Alter Aeon, we have a resource that gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of player base management.
4. Making refunds faster and less problematic. By using GDG and its log files, we can hopefully return money faster for problem issues, and address those issues more quickly than we could on our own service.
5. Consistancy of service and quality of service. Dentin’s been running credit card sales through Alter Aeon for years, his interface is extremely accessible, and gives the customer a good experience. Our original system was going to use Paypal, an email system, and a registration key, all three of which could have messed up. Overall, I think the customer experience is not only safer, but more pleasant with GDG.
6. Using GDG and the internet connection allows settings to save to multiple computers. This means not only your voice settings but scores, progress in long games, and other features that might eventually be included in our games. Currently we store high scores locally, but we could eventually store that information online.
Plus Sides for the Developers:
Obviously some of the above make things easier on us as well. However, here’s the main one for us:
1. The game becomes much harder to abuse and/or crack. You cannot run Yellowbonnet on two different systems on the same account at the same time. Because the registration keys are not stored locally they are harder to get at. This provides increased security for our product, and allows us to track player behavior. If someone tells us the game isn’t working for them, but that account logged 24 hours of game play, we can see it. It’s an ugly truth that some people will attempt to get something for nothing, and a smart business person safeguards themselves from that possibility.
As the above demonstrates, current functionality, both of Yellowbonnet and of GuideDog do not clearly demonstrate the full potential of either system. YB was a minigame designed to provide a few minutes of fun, not to be a massive multiplayer online game. GDG is still in its infancy. Many of the hurdles that Dentin and we faced were overcome from very close interaction and a lot of nights on Aaron and Dentin’s parts thrashing out complicated code. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will GDG. That said, when it reaches its fruition, the blind community, and those of you who dislike the term can pillary me if you wish, will have a service that not only guides you to games, but allows you to play against others, compete against others on scoreboards, chat to others about your experiences, and share game information etc over the servers. When we reach that point, many of the doubts and problems with the service may appear less critical to most people.
Take care,
Jeremy
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