Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411283 Posts in 69325 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: bob1029

March 29, 2024, 04:00:27 AM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsDeveloperBusinessThe Humble Store
Pages: 1 [2] 3
Print
Author Topic: The Humble Store  (Read 15311 times)
Klaim
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #20 on: February 12, 2012, 11:05:50 AM »

It's not worth. You'll have to communicate with banking systems, make sure you have to way of hacking your system, etc. Really, that's not your job. Don't do it.
Logged

PompiPompi
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #21 on: February 12, 2012, 11:15:13 AM »

It's not worth. You'll have to communicate with banking systems, make sure you have to way of hacking your system, etc. Really, that's not your job. Don't do it.
What does Notch do? What does the Humble Bundle do?
Logged

Master of all trades.
saint11
Level 2
**


11


View Profile WWW
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2012, 11:41:54 AM »

I agree with Klaim, I think that our job is to mainly design a develop games, and try to worry minimum you can about that stuff. In the case of Notch or the Humble bundle I'm pretty sure that they hire someone to take care of that Grin
Logged

Klaim
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2012, 12:24:00 PM »

It's not worth. You'll have to communicate with banking systems, make sure you have to way of hacking your system, etc. Really, that's not your job. Don't do it.
What does Notch do? What does the Humble Bundle do?

You just have to try to buy to know it :  they use paypal and an external payment system for credit cards (www.moneybookers.com apparently).

Humble Bundle do the same: Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon, and other payment systems.

You should check what is required to make those payment systems, even for just one shop, it's not easy task at all and should be done by experts only.

Don't even think about it.

Also, that's why such payment system companies does exists: they do only that because it's a daunting and really critical system (as in "can kill someone's business if done wrong") you just have to get right.


As a game developer you shouldn't question this. Making a website yourself is not a problem. Even making a complex user account system should be possible for games that are worth it. Payment systems just aren't in your field and even if you did work on some before, then you should know how hard it is to make sure it's just safe.


Also, known, recognizable, branded payment systems are the best way to make sure your client will not think twice before paying if they begin thinking that your website don't look very secure... (whatever the reason) and will refuse to give "you" their credit card number.
That's also one reason to keep using paypal even if there is a lot of trouble with them: buyers trust paypal. They shouldn't trust "you" with this kind of information.
Logged

TeeGee
Level 10
*****


Huh?


View Profile WWW
« Reply #24 on: February 12, 2012, 12:36:37 PM »

AFAIK, Notch just used PayPal initially. Now he can do whatever he wants. Humble Bundle is a different case, as they are a distribution-focused company with large external funding and lots of income, so they obviously want to develop their own solution to make money of it.

For the average Joe Indie, payment processors are the way to go. The 8-10% they charge is actually cheaper than if you would spend your time doing it yourself. Generally, outsourcing a service to a specialized company isn't only a matter of laziness. Often it's just a more cost-effective solution. If all they do is process tons of payments, taxes, and credit cards, economy of scale starts to apply and they can do it much faster and cheaper than you could.
Logged

Tom Grochowiak
MoaCube | Twitter | Facebook
Oddball
Level 10
*****


David Williamson


View Profile WWW
« Reply #25 on: February 12, 2012, 02:48:34 PM »

I chose FastSpring mainly due to recommendations, but also as they were able to pay your balance using PayPal for free. Unfortunately they now charge to pay your balance using PayPal. Other than that they've been an excellent partner, and I have no quibbles with them.
Logged

Terry
TIGSource Editor
Level 10
******



View Profile WWW
« Reply #26 on: February 13, 2012, 04:49:56 AM »

When people recommend BMT or Plimus over other stores, they always say it's due to affiliates - which is something I don't know the first thing about. Could someone fill me in on what they are, and why they're worth bothering with?

Personally, I went with Fastspring because I checked out a bunch of different store fronts when I initially set things up, and theirs was the only one that didn't look like it was optimised for Internet Explorer 6. It came down to which storefront I personally would have been more comfortable buying something from.
Logged

saint11
Level 2
**


11


View Profile WWW
« Reply #27 on: February 13, 2012, 04:58:09 AM »

I just started to use Fastspring, and everything is going well for now. Also, their support is very fast.
But the buyer having to put his whole address in a pain :/ Theoretically they can remove it a month after the store is online.
Logged

TeeGee
Level 10
*****


Huh?


View Profile WWW
« Reply #28 on: February 13, 2012, 05:23:03 AM »

When people recommend BMT or Plimus over other stores, they always say it's due to affiliates - which is something I don't know the first thing about. Could someone fill me in on what they are, and why they're worth bothering with?

Personally, I went with Fastspring because I checked out a bunch of different store fronts when I initially set things up, and theirs was the only one that didn't look like it was optimised for Internet Explorer 6. It came down to which storefront I personally would have been more comfortable buying something from.

Again, most other e-commerce providers will customize their store to look however you want it to look, or allow yourself to do it. Here's how it worked for me: link. Customization took them one day and few email exchanges with me. It didn't cost a penny.

Affiliate system allows others to sell your game (and you to sell games made by others) for some commission (usually 30%). Taking us as an example: we have a nice visual novel in the works, but it's our first game in this genre, and we don't have a big audience of VN fans yet. Meanwhile, there are other developers who specialize in this genre (or games for women in general) and have huge fan bases, mailing lists and so on. I can have them sell my game to their audience as my affiliates and get many more players that way, while they get 30% out of every customer they pointed to my game. All it takes is marking the game as "available for affiliates". You can also hand the rights to affiliate your stuff manually, if you want to have control over who is selling your titles and how.
At the same time, if I would ever want to expand my website to feature similar games made by other indies, I could make some money out of it.

This a pretty important part of business, especially if you are making something niche, and need help from other indies who are more established than you are. And once you've become an established indie yourself, it's a nice way to help others, while giving you some additional passive income.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2012, 05:39:45 AM by TeeGee » Logged

Tom Grochowiak
MoaCube | Twitter | Facebook
Vino
Level 3
***


View Profile
« Reply #29 on: February 15, 2012, 12:33:10 PM »

I recommend BMT and that has nothing to do with their affiliates. Their customer service is superb, their features are much better than Plimus or FastSpring, everything is just much more oiled. FastSpring may look a little slicker on the customer side but it's really not worth it just for a pretty UI.

When I ran the 5 for 5 "socks" bundle we used FastSpring and people continue to complain that their links expire after a week (FastSpring is unwilling to allow links that never expire) and that they had to enter their phone number when paying with PayPal. I had to wrestle with their customer service department to get paid as well.

Then I ran a PWYW sale with BMT Micro and had great success. BMT insisted in a $1 minimum but other than that I had no problems. The payment comes in the mail every month like clockwork regardless of how many sales I've made.

BMT is the way to go.
Logged
Uykered
Guest
« Reply #30 on: November 23, 2012, 07:27:00 PM »

Has any more news been posted about this since January/Feb? It just looks like a nice simple and efficient way to sell and buy games.

Or is it just going to remain a private thing?
Logged
Klaim
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #31 on: November 24, 2012, 01:45:36 AM »

I scanned no more public news about Humble Store so far (other than their customer service getting better with time, like the page with all your downloadable content).

I did search a few days ago how to be able to use Humble Store selling system. I only found that in the contact page, they say you have to fill a form (see the link), so I guess they will tell you more once you do it.
Logged

moi
Level 10
*****


DILF SANTA


View Profile WWW
« Reply #32 on: November 24, 2012, 12:23:28 PM »

what is your hipsocial score?
 sorry ,you have to have been at least an IGF speaker to  ride on this locomotive
Logged

subsystems   subsystems   subsystems
Christian Knudsen
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #33 on: November 24, 2012, 12:26:30 PM »

That contact page seems to be for the Humble Bundle and not the store.
Logged

Laserbrain Studios
Currently working on Hidden Asset (TIGSource DevLog)
Klaim
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #34 on: November 24, 2012, 04:37:59 PM »

Christian Knudsen> Is it unrelated? I thought any game into the Humble Store that was not before in the Humble Bundle will be in next Humble Bundle.
Logged

Christian Knudsen
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #35 on: November 25, 2012, 02:28:43 AM »

I haven't heard about that. I thought the Humble Store was pretty much a separate thing?
Logged

Laserbrain Studios
Currently working on Hidden Asset (TIGSource DevLog)
Klaim
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #36 on: November 25, 2012, 04:28:17 PM »

It's not completely clear, but I'm basing my assumptions on the fact that any game in the humble bundle OR that is sold by the humble store are gathered in the same way in the user's downloads page.
Logged

Christian Knudsen
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #37 on: November 25, 2012, 05:45:38 PM »

Oh, could be then. But from the Wolfire interviews from around the time the Humble Store was introduced, it certainly sounded like it was meant to be a separate payment service for indie developers in general. Maybe that's just a longterm plan.
Logged

Laserbrain Studios
Currently working on Hidden Asset (TIGSource DevLog)
Oddball
Level 10
*****


David Williamson


View Profile WWW
« Reply #38 on: November 26, 2012, 03:20:27 AM »

When you are accepted into the 'indie elite' the keys to the Humble Store are in the welcome pack along with access to a whole host of secret developer networks.
Logged

PompiPompi
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #39 on: November 26, 2012, 03:21:51 AM »

Humble Billionare Bundle.
Logged

Master of all trades.
Pages: 1 [2] 3
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic