Questions

I have a few questions about MovieStorm that others might also find useful.

1. I stopped making machinima movies and started using Virtual Stage and Moho because whatever I make I own. So my question: is this going to be like other game engines and the movies we create are not owned by us?

2. I read that MovieStorm is going to be Moddable, just how easy will modding be.

more questions to come.

cyber_faust69 wrote:

I have a few questions about MovieStorm that others might also find useful.

1. I stopped making machinima movies and started using Virtual Stage and Moho because whatever I make I own. So my question: is this going to be like other game engines and the movies we create are not owned by us?

2. I read that MovieStorm is going to be Moddable, just how easy will modding be.

Our intention 100% is that whatever you make with Moviestorm, you will own. We're negotiating with the rights owners of all the third party software we're using to make sure that we can do this; all the assets supplied with Moviestorm (models, animations, sounds etc) are owned by us, and we will let you use those free of any restrictions. We do not intend to have ANY ownership of the movies you make.

We're intending Moviestorm to be as moddable as possible. How easy it is depends on what you want to do. We will publish details of how to create textures, models and animations for Moviestorm, and we are including a set of mod tools that will enable you to import them or to modify the way the existing assets are used. We will also be publishing a set of APIs to allow serious coders to make drastic changes to the way Moviestorm works. If all you want to do is, say, add a badge to a security guard's uniform, or create a road sign, that should be easy enough for most people. If you're creating a set of unique dance animations, that's a much more complex process, but we're trying to make it as straightforward as possible for those who have the requisite skill and tools.

Hope that helps,

Matt, I like that answer ! Can't be too restrictive can you?

Thanks Matt I am liking what you have to say, and looking forward to using Moviestorm when it comes out.

Good deal, Matt. I think that this is the right approach and will only attrack more people to your program.

A great deal indeed...and I'm sure gToon is right, it will be a big attraction to the program.

Hi gToon, good ta see you again

ginger (aka Shygirl)

hi gtoon and shy - good to see familiar faces

ginger wrote:

A great deal indeed...and I'm sure gToon is right, it will be a big attraction to the program.

Hi gToon, good ta see you again

ginger (aka Shygirl)

What a pleasant suprise!

Glad to see you both again, ginder and aknzrdude. Should be fun going over this program together.

That was me, Mr. Anonymous. Forgot to sign in. Jeesh..

I am glad to see you both here.

Moho? not used it. Pros and cons?

I was wondering if you will be setting up your marketplace to allow modelers and modders to sell through the site? It would be nice to be able to recoup a little for time spent... plus it would help you build up content- and nothing will help you grow faster than a large (and growing) selection of characters, locations and objects.

Since there will be a lot of people wanting to create machinima who don't have an affinity for creating the models, a catalog of thousands of items would be invaluable. The fastest way to get that large catalog is to let the community build a good portion of it... and you would take a (reasonable) cut of the transaction of course.

Clint wrote:

I was wondering if you will be setting up your marketplace to allow modelers and modders to sell through the site? It would be nice to be able to recoup a little for time spent... plus it would help you build up content- and nothing will help you grow faster than a large (and growing) selection of characters, locations and objects.

Since there will be a lot of people wanting to create machinima who don't have an affinity for creating the models, a catalog of thousands of items would be invaluable. The fastest way to get that large catalog is to let the community build a good portion of it... and you would take a (reasonable) cut of the transaction of course.

Hi Clint,

This is something we're planning for post-launch; we're very keen on allowing our users to interact with others, and feel this is a great way for machinimators to capitalise on their interest.

We're always open to ideas, however.

What would you like to see from this feature? What would you like to get out of it? What would you like the upload/download process to be like? How would you like to accept/recieve payments? Etc, etc.

Feel free to send me a PM if you'd rather not discuss it openly

Hi Eddz,

Good to hear that it is your plans, capitalism at his best is win win all around.

If you don't have a problem with open discussions I think it would be of benefit to everyone if it was carried out here where all and sundry can get some questions answered... even if they never knew they would be asking them until they are answered.

It would be nice if there were a few options in the asset creation and distribution arena.

The first level could be Creative Commons licensed so that the objects are given up freely to the community at large. A near neighbor to this would be the items that are kept inside the standard Copyright but freely downloadable... but remain completely owned by the original creator with the normal restrictions applying. It is always nice to give back to the community and there should be an easy way to do that.

One the commercial side of things, it gets tricky. I'd suggest trying to keep the minimum transaction down as low as possible so as to allow for simple little objects like a cellphone not to cost as much as a fully customized, textured and bumpmapped arm and leg. Whatever transaction fulfillment service you contract with will dictate how small the transaction can be before it becomes economically infeasible. An option to get around this is to allow the buyer to build up a credit balance with you by putting say $20 into their account with you and whittling away on that with $1 transactions?

It would also be nice to allow the creator to bundle objects into packages for special prices. They could build and bundle props from a fifties era and sell the lot of them for $75 rather than having 100 items for sale at $1 each.

Paypal would would probably be the most accepted medium of exchange and probably the easiest for you to get into. The merchant account for credit card transactions would probably be substantially different (read that as more expensive) than the one you will be getting for your own sales... but if you build up to where you hope to be then this will start to make more sense. Then again, if you kept the transactions simple, you might be able to use your merchant account and simply treat the creators the same way that Amazon treats their affiliates- where they dole out the accumulated money every month as long as it is above a certain amount. This could be as straight forward as cutting a check and mailing it via snail mail.

This does open that whole taxation can-o-worms but that is just the cost of doing business.

That was just some things off the top of my head and you've probably looked into each of those in greater depth already but that is my first $0.02.

Clint

Not bad for $0.02

We are looking into the area in depth. It has clear benefits for all, so long as we do not lose sight of the core idea of "freedom to create"

A few of the big issues are being mauled to death by the "big brains" here:

1 - which DRM systems actually enable this, and where do they have to be put?

2 - can we take payments much smaller than $9.99 efficiently as the credit charge "charge backs" for any errors are so large?

3 - can we securely identify creators so they can be paid (yes, but what are the costs and requirements)?

4 - what if someone creates an asset for use in Moviestorm, but wants to collaborate with "friends" as well as sell the asset to "customers"?

5 - are we better off (or equally well off) looking at "premium members" who get advantages like regular downloads and advance / preview releases of assets and features?

All this, and more, on this channel. As soon as I have had more coffee and the next beta build is good and steady!

Thank you, cyber_faust69 for asking the question I had when I came here. And, Matt, thank you for giving me the answer I was looking for.

Owning one's own work is paramount. I'm seriously considering putting a hold on all of my major projects now being done in GTA:SA until I see what Moviestorm can do!