Coolest thread evah

[Argh]

Well, it's going to be for P.U.R.E. at first, sure. And meh, I've been talking about it theoretically for some time now, but now that the first sales figures are in, I know that I can support it for awhile.

The intent is to put it out for people downloading the next Demo and the new version of the game. Then I'll let people here know the address, etc.

But I am certainly open to non-infringing projects wanting to use it as well. That's part of the whole premise behind what I'm doing, after all. Since it's never getting done around here, and I finally have the resources, I see no reason not to help those who want to try something different, and get out of the Spring OTA ghetto.

There's no guarantee it'll be a good idea, mind you, but I suppose that if they don't like me, they can use Sefi's server instead, or set up their own. They certainly don't need to trust me or like me or whatever. I'm just saying that there will be options soon.

Spring's OTA ghetto was always a bad idea and a fundamental flaw in the server / client design, and we've been saying it for years. No commercial game on Earth puts multiple games together in the same environment. It's just plain awful design, and creates a lot of social tension that's not healthy imo.

Unlike some of the people here who could have easily afforded a dedicated hosting arrangement for a server, though, I haven't been able to afford it. Now I can, so I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Nothing really complicated about it, tbh. I believe in the things I've said, and I intend to act upon those ideas when I can. I suppose this makes me evil, as usual

It's nice to finally have the choice, and not have to worry about offending the Powers That Be around here by rocking the boat, frankly.

At any rate, this is pretty much a derail... suggest it's moved, if this is something people want to talk about.

[smoth]

*in anticipation of a split*

I like the idea that we are all on the same public server, I laugh at the *a kiddies in main a lot! I like the idea of seeing gundam and starwars people on the same servers. I really want to see the idiots on both sides argue over who's imaginary person is superior, so I can laugh at them... for the record amuro can whoop darth vader....

the gundam players, what few they are do fine. I think the main issue with pure is that you made it and it will receive flak because it is made by you. I can understand wanting to isolate yourself from all the trolls but they are in all gaming places so meh. even if it is competing with real games just because they are on different servers does not mean that people will not come in the pure server and say it is dick.

just sayin'

[lurker]

A server capable of hosting a lobby is a matter of $10 a month or less.

[smoth]

it is really that cheap? lol

[Argh]

Eh, you need an actual dedicated host, if you're going to deal with much traffic. Plus we needed dedicated bandwidth for direct sales to Linux users and things. Not quite that cheap

[lurker]

Traffic on a lobby server? My $10 vps has a 20mbit+ link and 256MB ram; it can handle that just fine, and is probably overqualified. I understand your need for direct downloading bandwidth, but that's a different issue. (And my vps has enough bandwidth to handle a few hundred downloads a month of a game the size of PURE.)

[Argh]

We're expecting something on the order of a thousand to two thousand downloads a month, when we start pointing more people at our bandwidth (to get them to look at our website and hopefully buy the game).

The Demo's been downloaded at least 3000 times since we launched, and the downloads are distributed all over the place (I have no honest answer as to how many websites host P.U.R.E., it's well over 20 majors, and most of them are doing anywhere from 100 copies to a thousand or more, per release cycle)

Even if we pick up only a portion of the known traffic... it's a fair amount of traffic.

My current website costs about $10 / month, and is a virtual-host arrangement, so we can't even keep downloads from timing out, unless the downstream people get really good flow. It sucks in other ways, too, so we're just going to use it for front-end, which it can handle OK.

The server we're putting that stuff onto will be dedicated to that job, along with handling server traffic. I'm not entirely sure that will not cause interruptions in service, but we decided to try it, and if it doesn't work, we'll use whatever's slow and cheap on the rack for the game server, probably.

Ok, now we're really, really derailed here. At any rate... meh, that's what's up. Nothing scary, we're just going to get serious about all of the website stuff people like to rib me about, and we're going to sell directly to people, not just rely on Stardock (as much as we like them- they've been really great, btw and I warmly recommend them to any game designers reading this).

[lurker]

And that's what you need to do for reliable large file distribution. I was just saying that a *lobby* server is cheap to set up.

If you just want mediocre large file distribution you can use a $5 web host.

[Argh]

Righto. We just needed to solve both problems at once. I was admittedly ill-equipped for commercial distribution at launch, and had a joke of a front-end that I built in day, no way to sell to Linux users, and no way to sell to people directly. Best I could manage, given the timeline from RC6 to release, but definitely one of those things.

The new website's really going to be nice, though, and should help promote the game as well as the ideas behind some of our other efforts. We'll see how it all turns out, of course. Maybe in a few years I'll look back, and be amazed at what a tiny shoestring I used. All I know is that we're nowhere near done yet, and I'm really tired all the time from having to juggle so many chainsaws.

[el_matarife]

Spring's OTA ghetto was always a bad idea and a fundamental flaw in the server / client design, and we've been saying it for years. No commercial game on Earth puts multiple games together in the same environment. It's just plain awful design, and creates a lot of social tension that's not healthy imo.

This is a terrible idea. The last thing Spring's community needs is MORE fragmentation, not less. The clear trend of the 21st century is combining services and breaking down walls. The internet destroyed all the old "Walled garden" online services like AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve, and Genie. I suspect all the different proprietary, walled garden game match making systems are next. We're already seeing Games for Windows Live and Steam aggregate matchmaking for tons of titles, and if you need other older examples what about Battle.net, WON, HEAT.NET, Microsoft Gaming Zone, and all the other early internet matchmaking systems that generally did multiple titles at once.

[smoth]

if he wants to go let him, i think it won't do him any good to leave here, he cannot leave here no matter how he tries. For what it is worth, I support the idea of us all being on the same server, I think it is really awesome.

[bobthedinosaur]

OK? How the hell did this thread get hijacked to "PURE"? Split, and kill. Seriously.

[lurker]

Lock thread plz

Split

Lock and split? What's the point? And imo you should just try to release what you have as a half-mod.

[Regret]

I thought mods close threads on OP request?

[Argh]

I thought mods close threads on OP request?

Not when the mod in question thinks it'd be more fun to let a derail keep going, apparently.

I asked for a split twice.

[lurker]

You don't get points for asking for a split, and I don't see a great need for one when there is only one conversation running.

Lock requests are usually granted if the OP has a good degree of ownership over the thread, but the subject of conversation has changed here...

This metaconversation, on the other hand, might be in need of a nice split/delete.

[AF]

You can run a lobby server off of a personal machine at home if you have broadband and dont download pron 24/7 just keep in mind your ISP is likely to disconenct yoru connection once every 24 hours to prevent you using a home broadband setup for a business