Google Hangout this Saturday

[deadlinegrunt]

You are aware that for that price you can just buy a brand new laptop and run steam on it? You can carry the laptop with you to work.

 

No one, unless they're a professional studio, would be willing to pay for the $500 price tag. It's silly that you would even entertain the idea.

 

I would like to point out specifically that I went out of my way to qualify my entire input that I am not Josh's target demographic. On this note I would like to point out my intent is not to hijack the thread either. What I can do is influence the next generation of tools for the places I work if they make sense. Right now the tech is there but the business model and the product design to support the business model is not anything I can pitch in my circles. So it is just a toy for me at home.

 

I already have five gaming laptops, three gaming rigs, and every console available right now, including the dev kits. I would pay the money just to not have to carry around yet another piece of hardware as it is. Again, I am NOT the target audience and tried to qualify as such without sounding arrogant or pompous.

 

Sticking/Picking on Unity since it is the biggest Indie tool on the block right now...My point was that LE can display in scene rendering that will bring Unity to its knees in its editor, even with the Enterprise edition. This is not how Indies or professional use these tools. They use them as deployment platforms, e.g. The engine is target and everything is done as a framework over the underlying API of the engine and the the number of platforms the engine supports may influence which choice you make. If I am not clear then consider Unity is deployed as a C# platform with 2D/3D library and a virtual machine often times with a single game object in the editor in much the same way one would use Java or C# has the "platform" since they are VM's under the hood.

 

Josh never mentioned selling it at a $500 price point for stand-alone, I did. That being said, for the demographic I am referring too, Josh can charge A LOT more than $500 and he knows this. Fortunately though he is not catering to my demographic which is why I tend to shy away from these threads in general.

 

I was simply saying I am interested in where LE moves going forward as an engine and a business. I was about to write it off myself as nothing more than a toy for personal use until hearing some of the things I have heard in this thread. While I will not hold my breath I will not write off either. When you consider money vs. technology and how these are used professionally, LE is forever relegated as a stepping stone to other engines unless his business model changes. How Josh overcomes these issues is exactly why I will read his articles on Gamasutra or GDC conferences when they happen.

 

I mean no disrespect to anybody nor introduce any noise so feel free to IM me if someone has an opinion or wishes to hear mine regarding any input I submitted.

[Josh]

It's interesting that one thing I said specifically in the hangout was that Leadwerks tends to attract beginners and experts. People in the middle, not so much, but the extremes on both ends really like it.

 

This may seem like a contradiction, but I don't think it has to be. It's just a new way of thinking we should explore further. The ease of use is a big plus for both groups.

[Rick]

The beginners are looking for something easier than Unity which seems daunting from the outside and the experts are tired of Unity's issues so they are looking around. The middle is still putting up with Unity's issues.

[tumira]

I think people in the middle loves C# very much. Lua is great but I would loves to catch my error at compile time rather at runtime and you cant really beat Visual Studio Intellisense and autocomplete. C++ might be a bit daunting but if you want to go to hardcore game programming that is the route.

[deadlinegrunt]

@jen @Rick @Josh - Exactly my thoughts from my humble standpoint.

 

I really wished I hadn't missed the hangout now without question. I could NOT agree more with all three viewpoints. Precisely why I have very high hopes for this product. It is so extremely capable and even though I can't gain mind share with my circles currently, I keep coming back to it on my own time...which is way more valuable than what I get paid professionally...and I am not hurting and living a life long dream; getting paid to make games, middle-ware, and platforms.

 

My contribution is going to do what @aggror does (and why I am making a Patreon contributions to him monthly - hint hint if you are not): He makes tutorials. I am going to make games in rapid succession if for no other reason to contribute back to this community. Having the beginners and the experts build the bridge so that the people in the middle make that "keystone" happen. Unfortunately I am late to the game but I have seen what @Roland and @Rick (and a lot of others...@Shadmar etc) do and I will be doing the same.

 

@Jen - You even inspired me to start going on-line making records of the journey. I only started last Sunday though. Go you trail blazer you! You make a very expert observation of which I could not agree more.

 

Family calls so I will get off my soap box and just say this product, the community, and the intelligence of all is very refreshing and we are all on the same team of wanting something that works without limiting nor inhibiting accessibility. I am relieved to hear Josh is being objective even though other decisions he has made I did not particularly agree with...he listens to his customers and he runs analytics. He is being objective which I was not entirely sure of being this is a "one man show" if you will.

 

Apologies if I offended anyone - been very busy today. I really do respect everyone that contributes. Period.

[Josh]

Thanks for the honest feedback guys, it is really useful. I am very optimistic about our future.