There are countless dream cars and areas around the world we would love to see in a simulator, yet not enough people to give the effort and time to make it all happen. So, I had a basic, yet potentially useful idea that already technically exists, yet not for this fashion. In a nutshell, I'd put it as a "first class" series of content creation. It's basically kickstarter for beamng, except the ones working the project get paid. Let's say, for example, I wanted "rainbow road" from Mario kart 64 to be created in beamng. I would then initiate a request for this map, along with an initial donation, and like-minded beam ng-ers that wanted this map would upvote and donate a specific amount as well. The "goal" is based on an estimate of the amount of work that the project requires. It can be readjusted at the end if the estimate deviates more than expected. These donations would be split up and distributed to the exclusive paid volunteer(s) of said map/vehicle. The method of authorizing one or more paid volunteers to be eligible to work on a project would be a contest of submissions of a sample version, leading to a poll of the top X submissions. The best X of them make the cut. This provides initiative, experience and profit for them. This provides us gamers our dream maps and vehicles. It should also accelerate and stimulate the rate of content creation. It also gives free advertising and promotion of your skills and works.
You don't have to be a developer to create content. BeamNG is very accessible and ready gives people all the things they need to create something. It just requires some experiencing and patience. Paying someone for content is something that already happened. The DeSol is one of them I believe. It was made under commission. But I see your point, making a quality car requires people that are experienced, and they are not going to make something that will make them work for several hours/days just because somebody asked for it. It may be a good idea to have a sort of 'paid work' section maybe, where people can put their announces for some under commission jobs. The minimum price would be 200-300€ for a complete car, due the amount of work required to make a good one, in my opinion
Thanks for the feedback. I guess I used "developers" too loosely. I revised it accordingly. But yes, basically an exclusive, "premium" section of content creation. Edit: And to even further promote and increase support, upon purchase of a steam key, the buyer can be provided an option to pay a small, additional amount along with a selection of which project to support. Specifically for this, I believe it should be a smaller amount, given this section of the idea would mainly be for promotional purposes, plus you just made a sale anyway..
It would definitely allow people to spend more time on mods. A donation system would be awesome, it would allow the pros to come in and create some amazing content .
That's not a good idea, at least for an unfinished game like this. If BeamNG would be 100% complete, bug free and with the proper tools to make mods, then yeah, it'll work. What will happen, as it is right now, is that it'll create a series of complains that the 3D artist / developer / modder won't be able to comply with because of the lack of tools and documentation, not to mention the current bugs the game has. To make it worst, each update changes or breaks something new, and we hardly get any details about it other than one line on the update page (e.g. the new reinforced something on the pressure wheels). In my professional opinion, it's an excellent idea for a finished game, but not for an Alpha or Beta software.
"lack of tools and documentation" Tools : http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ Documentation : http://wiki.beamng.com/Main_Page It just takes a certain type of person to understand the way beam physics work. Some can't grip it as easy as others.
So I commission a kickass vehicle for $500 and then flaunt it in everyone's face because I sure as shit ain't gonna give it away.
Yeah I know. I was trying to convey uhm...something there. Anyway, it's a noble idea for sure but I forsee problems bringing money into the equation no matter what the scheme is. Money always screws up good intentioned ideas. It's human nature.
Add to that equation that this is an unfinished product, and the result is even worse than that. The wiki is borderline useless in my experience. Using a notepad is for programmers, I'm a 3D artist. I could figure out most of the jbeam stuff out by experiencing, wich took a lot of time, but there's also a lot of parameters that I have no clue what they do exactly. Having a proper editor, not one done halfway like the one that's included in the release, would cut that time in half or less, for people who are just starting in this jbeam thing. Not to mention that with a more complete documentation (actual examples of how things work, not just a three word description) would make things easier for modders. Sorry if I went a bit off topic there.
Instead of blaming it on the tools, etc you could actually help the editor guy with constructive criticism, because he has not received that at all from any side. If he does not get feedback on what to improve or what would help for you guys, this is not going to work by magic. Also, the wiki is a community effort. If you feel things are missing in there, please improve them for the rest. We do not have the manpower and time to work on that 24/7.
You should work on the documentation, not wait until someone from the community does it, I mean, you guys are the creators of this. Who knows better how things work? Of course I understand it all takes time and you're busy working on other aspects of the game, I just think that at some point you guys will have to improve that part. I don't even have time to work on my own projects, less I could spend improving the documentation (I'm not a jbeam genius either). Don't get me wrong, is not like I'm blaming anyone, I'm just stating my points in why it's too early to talk about exchanging money for mods.
Its great to see these replies. I never really said, or thought about when to launch it, but waiting until the game is finished makes sense. I also see where this might not work as well. One issue being that the ones who donated should somehow recieve something extra for chipping in. Perhaps, a "delay" in the release of content for those who didnt donate. All in all was just ultimately an idea i wanted to share and see what others thought, and provide feedback I couldn't think of. I never really thought or anticipated it would become anything.
The whole idea of a wiki is that it is a collaborative community creation... Not something the dev team spends months of valuable time doing instead of actually developing.
Let's get back to topic please, this is an interesting subject to debate. It wasn't my intention to derail this thread.
They're not right now because everyone is demanding updates. So they work on the game first, then how to mod the game. Priorities. They're important.
Why don't you keep reading what I've wrote and pay attention before replying? and please, no more off topic. Go bother somewhere else.
Hey just saying, you are the one who brought it up. lol btw. I did read the whole thread. And I understand it fully. My argument still stands. OT/OP: I think paying for mods are kinda, I don't know, sketchy. Haha It's just that what if they finish making it and you're not satisfied with it? I don't know. Just my opinion.
That's what I'm talking about. Take for example my Prelude thread, I'll get a shit storm just because some dude can't read and had problems with the textures. Then I'll get more complains about the suspension not working properly and some other guy want's his money back.
I agree with cbrider to the fullest. It's still a little bit early...as the game expands the mod may not be working later on, which may cause trouble...Also, people could get screwed over, unless the mod maker and the payer are trustworthy etc...As someone who actually got paid for doing a mod...it's not really worth it. I would rather do this for fun than getting paid for it next time. Luckily I like the DelSol and still have a lot of fun hacking at it...that is why I was satisfied with the price of 45$ as soon as JDM couldn't afford to spend more. I would probably have given up if I had to model a Fiat Multipla in my free time
