Hey Guys, Can some of you head over to my youtube video here.
It explains the pricing schemes for EGGEngine. Leave a comment here or on youtube and tell us what you think of it.


Alot of it is up for debate and might we are taking your feedback into heavy consideration. We want to build something that helps everybody in the community. Tell us what you think and do forget to follow the intructions in the sidebar to sign up for the EGGEngine beta!!!

A few comments.

Your engine is probably sandwiched between all the free engines on one end, and the Blade3D engine on the other end. Blade3D is $15/month, and you can easily try it for a month or two and then give it up if you don't like it, so the risk (to the customer) is limited to $15-$30. However, if you like it, you're in for $180 per year, minimum.

How competetive are you to Blade3D? Do you have the same slick editor? If so, figure out how the user can try your engine at a risk of $30 or less, and then charge something like $200 if they like it. Do you not have the same slick editor? If so, figure out how a user can try the engine at a minimal risk, and then charge whatever fraction you think the market will bear -- say, $70.

I think more than two tiers -- how to try it (including the support and whatnot -- you gotta try the whole thing!), and how to buy it -- is not really justified IMO.

Thanks man, I was trying to stay away from SunBurn's scheme (which is really, really high to me) but, maye higher prices will be better. 5 Customers at 500 bucks is better than 10 at 20. I will tincker with the numbers some more. I don't think surveys are useful, because I lie on them my self. For instance:
Microsoft sent me survey for some product they were designing, I thought about each price point for awhile until I found one that I thought: Wouldn't discorage them from making the software, but wouldn't hurt my wallet too much. I wish I could see how much those SunBurn people are making. But, thanks for the advice man ;)

- Hobbiest level: get rid of it. It's worthless. No Xbox, non-commercial, watermarked, and only runs on 7 machines (do you mean you can only install the end result on 7 machines or you can only have 7 machines using the engine to build the product? If the latter, never mind that point)? If it's going to be that limited you might as well just give it away if you're even going to have it in hopes that people upgrade to a real license.

- Indie Games level: also get rid of it. Price difference to your top tier is practically nothing (and the upgrade is more expensive for some reason). The editor doesn't work with it and it's still non-commercial on Xbox.

Personally I say just sell the engine at one tier. Having these multiple tiers is just confusing and silly given the restrictions on them when the top tier is only $70. Compared to pretty much any other engine, that's nothing. Assuming your engine is worth using at all, it's likely worth $70.

Such a mix of information. Although Nick's suggetion has enlightened me a bit. I will replace the Hobbiest Level with something meant for people just looking to try the software out. Furthermore, I will have two versions of the Indie that both work on the Xbox. Except one will include the major version upgrades and the EGGEditor upgrade once we get that where we want it to be. So two major price points. With a trial system.

I would value my engine over what SunBurn has provided, because we support the same features with better performance from what I can see. Although Blade3D does have more artist tools, those are comming along nicely and will be wraped into the EGGEditor package. From my estimates people can get their levels up and running lights placed and your standard FPS elements in place in less than a day (if they already have the artwork). We will prob. throw in some placeholder artwork and sounds so people can get going. I will brew over this information that has proved very valuable. I hope some of you all signed up for the BETA which should drop in two-three months time. We are looking for 10-15 dedicated people.

Also, review our current scheme if you haven't already (speaking to people just reading through the thread), watch the video on my first post and tell me what you think.

One thinks that it is too cheap, another thinks it is about good, but with too many price points.

Although Blade3D does have more artist tools, those are comming along nicely and will be wraped into the EGGEditor package.

Be careful that you are pricing what you sell, not pricing some vaporware that you wish you will one day sell!
You can easily raise the price when you have more features, if you want.

Yea. That is one consideration to keep in mind. I think I might hold off on the free upgrade to EGGEditor. Because we are still fleshing out its design and its value hasn't really been seen.

Right now the Blade engine while appearing very cool, cannot seem to deliver very easily on the Xbox. They are missing the very basic stuff that the evil checklist will catch. I don't see it as viable. Torque is there but is also haveing problems. Mostly in support. Go to the Torque X forums and check it out. We do have a few games here that were made with Torque. They charge $250 for the 3D engine with the source code. The source is just for their framework, not their editor, which needs work. I would say you could easily charge in the $100-$250 range or a subscription. If you can deliver I will be one of your first customers.