CopperCube 5 and the Race to the Bottom of the 3D Engines
Posted on:October 02 2014
After quite a lot of work, finally, I uploaded CopperCube 5. It includes a lot of new features, such as terrain support, physics, video playback, network communication, iOS 8 support via WebGL, shader programming, animation blending, and much more.
I also created a list with screenshots with detailed descriptions of the changes in this new update. People seem to really like this release, and I received a lot of overwhelming feedback for this release of my small and apparently quite useful 3D game engine. However, there are also voices like these getting louder each release:
I already once wrote about the new race to the bottom of the 3D engines, where the most popular 3D engines currently seem to be in a battle, making their software packages cheaper and cheaper. App developers know this phenomenon from the app store, which resulted in the current state, where mostly only developers of very, very popular apps can make a living from their work anymore.
I have no plans to participate in this race to the bottom. CopperCube has a set of quite unique features, and isn't a direct competitor to those products, fortunately. And my users seem to understand that it won't be possible to get the same amount of support, dozens of free updates and this set of features if I made CopperCube a free product.
But I'm curious about how this will end. For a short time, when Crytek payed its employees late a few months ago, I thought maybe this would be the first visible victim, but for now, it looks like they will go on.
But it's true: All this has made me thinking about the pricing scheme of CopperCube more than once. The Basic edition now is 99 euro, but since someone actually still complained about this price point, I thought about adding a monthly subscription option. Not sure if anyone might be interested in this, but 5 euro / month for example really looks a lot lower than 99 euro. Hm.
I also created a list with screenshots with detailed descriptions of the changes in this new update. People seem to really like this release, and I received a lot of overwhelming feedback for this release of my small and apparently quite useful 3D game engine. However, there are also voices like these getting louder each release:
"WTF, 99 euro for this? $OTHER_ENGINE$ is free!"
I already once wrote about the new race to the bottom of the 3D engines, where the most popular 3D engines currently seem to be in a battle, making their software packages cheaper and cheaper. App developers know this phenomenon from the app store, which resulted in the current state, where mostly only developers of very, very popular apps can make a living from their work anymore.
I have no plans to participate in this race to the bottom. CopperCube has a set of quite unique features, and isn't a direct competitor to those products, fortunately. And my users seem to understand that it won't be possible to get the same amount of support, dozens of free updates and this set of features if I made CopperCube a free product.
But I'm curious about how this will end. For a short time, when Crytek payed its employees late a few months ago, I thought maybe this would be the first visible victim, but for now, it looks like they will go on.
But it's true: All this has made me thinking about the pricing scheme of CopperCube more than once. The Basic edition now is 99 euro, but since someone actually still complained about this price point, I thought about adding a monthly subscription option. Not sure if anyone might be interested in this, but 5 euro / month for example really looks a lot lower than 99 euro. Hm.
Comments:
Edward
Quote2014-10-02 09:46:00
You are probably right. An asset store would probably also be an idea, btw.
niko
Quote2014-10-02 10:09:00
Nice work!
I just checked out your Edition Comparison page and I think I found a mistake. The headline says "Demo, Light and Professional" but the table says "Demo, Basic, Professional"
I just checked out your Edition Comparison page and I think I found a mistake. The headline says "Demo, Light and Professional" but the table says "Demo, Basic, Professional"
tim
Quote2014-10-03 07:53:00
Oh, thanks, corrected
niko
Quote2014-10-03 11:23:00
The long term costs seem to get neglected by many developers. The costs for engines or other 3rd-party software isn't just the package price. Plugins, support, bug fix durations, extensibility, community, etc. often are left out of consideration.
I would appreciate proper comparisons for engines with all these "additional" qualities. Could this be useful for CopperCube?
I would appreciate proper comparisons for engines with all these "additional" qualities. Could this be useful for CopperCube?
hermitC
Quote2014-10-07 23:06:00
Probably, depends on if other engines are not as good as CopperCube in such a comparison :D
niko
Quote2014-10-09 05:26:00
So, I understand why Niko has to put the price of his product to where they are. I just wish there was a team of 5 guys to help him turn updates out faster or bigger version out. I chose this engine because of the no coding ability. If we did some crowd funding would that help?????
I am open to there being a asset store and a portion of the profit going to niko. I am still working on a game where all proceeds would go to the development of the Copper Cube engine.
I am open to there being a asset store and a portion of the profit going to niko. I am still working on a game where all proceeds would go to the development of the Copper Cube engine.
john/ 54newstar
Quote2015-03-04 04:40:00
Also thought about that. Let's see. :)
niko
Quote2015-03-04 05:18:00
I think your price for Coppercube is perfect and there is no need to change it. Coppercube is the best engine you can get and not have to know any coding experience to make a game.
Please do not go with a monthly it might sound good but it is the death of a engine.
Also putting in a store is a great Ideal.
Please do not go with a monthly it might sound good but it is the death of a engine.
Also putting in a store is a great Ideal.
TheElk
Quote2015-03-04 07:53:00
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Other engines may seem cheaper on face value but they tend to make more money by selling exportes and addons, scripts, plugins etc and earning a percentage from 3rd party developers that sell their assets in their asset stors etc.
you're always going to get people complaining about your prices however you setup your pricing.