Why not have pay for the Mission Editor

[IckyATLAS]

We pay for IL2 Campaigns. So all effort goes to new planes, maps, mission,s etc.

Why not have the Mission Editor as a full product that those who want to use would pay. In this way maybe some effort would be devoted to finish what is today a an unfinished and buggy product. We have it for free anyway so no complaints accepted. But if we pay then it would make things look different. 

How big would be that market frankly no idea. I have no market analysis to back this but as I said it is a Why not?

[Feathered_IV]

I think I would pay for an in-game Mission Editor if it had a frontend that was as user friendly as the one in 1946.  The contribution that the FMB made to the success and longevity of the original Il-2 is immeasurable.

[Leon_Portier]

Why should I pay extra to make free content for the game?

 

Edit: Lets just go all the way. Do the Adobe route, ask 30 bucks a month just to use the mission editor.

Edit 2: Hey I could make a job out of that. I could make a coop server with new missions every month, but you´ll have to pay a subscription to play on it. Gotta cover the Mission editor expenses after all. (I`m kidding)

Edited January 8, 2020 by Leon_Portier

[No601_Prangster]

The 1946 mission builder was very basic compared to what we have now. Yes you could build a simple mission a little quicker but anything complex was impossible without triggers and timers. I've built hundreds of missions in both and the BoS version is vastly superior.

[Hanu]

Don't give up your day job.

[Goffik]

3 hours ago, Leon_Portier said:

Why should I pay extra to make free content for the game?

 

^^This. Why would anyone want to pay to create free content for other people? Why would anyone want to pay to do part of the devs job for them? How much of the free content currently being produced would be lost because the creators don't feel like paying for the privilege of creating it for us?

 

Your logic is also flawed. Being a paid product does not automatically mean it would be of higher quality or more user-friendly, because it doesn't automatically mean that the devs have more time to work on it. I highly doubt the tiny income would pay the wage of a devoted dev who works on nothing else. And even if the devs did feel pressured into spending more time working on it because it was a paid product, that would take time and effort away from the main sim... the only part 95% of their fan-base actually uses.

 

So yeah... not a good idea. Those who are interested in producing quality content for the rest of the community will get around any issues the current editor has, I'm sure.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Goffik

[IckyATLAS]

Maybe I should add a point here. I did not mean pay and work for free. The logic of having a paid ME with all the obligations that come with it, mean also that there should be also a better incentive for people to develop and sell campaigns and/or missions on IL2 website. IL2 would have its share and one can also have a rating system for the people to rate the quality of what they buy. This may create a very dynamic community with an incentive to develop content, and it would let the community (and not Jason only) judge what is worth buying. 

[=621=Samikatz]

Well outside of mission editors being good for the health of the game, we already have the thing, they're not going to take it away and sell it back, there would be outrage

[AndyJWest]

1 hour ago, IckyATLAS said:

Maybe I should add a point here. I did not mean pay and work for free. The logic of having a paid ME with all the obligations that come with it, mean also that there should be also a better incentive for people to develop and sell campaigns and/or missions on IL2 website. IL2 would have its share and one can also have a rating system for the people to rate the quality of what they buy. This may create a very dynamic community with an incentive to develop content, and it would let the community (and not Jason only) judge what is worth buying. 

 

If you don't mean 'pay and work for free' then presumably this new proposal is targeted at the very few people who develop paid-for content. An even smaller potential market you have to convince investors about. A non-starter.

 

 

[JG1_Butzzell]

6 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

Why not have the Mission Editor as a full product that those who want to use would pay. In this way maybe some effort would be devoted to finish what is today a an unfinished and buggy product.

 

 

Sorry but your basic premise is flawed.   The Mission Editor is a very complete product that is constantly updated as new features are developed.

 

The mission editor has what is known as a "steep learning curve".  That means it takes some effort to learn. There are manuals and video tutorials out there to help.

 

Much of the mission editor is direct but some things require imagination, like a child playing with a set of blocks. Will you build a wall?, a house?, a pyramid? or will you stack the blocks to hold open a window?. or put them in front of a door to keep the wind from closing it?

 

Many of the complex functions have been done and are in the group sharing corner.  This is not only a good resource but shows a supportive community.

 

Start learning the editor. Watch the tutorials. Do the tutorials.   People will help you.

[IckyATLAS]

Okay. It seems it is not a good idea, or at least does not have much support. ☹️

[Jaegermeister]

12 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

 

If you don't mean 'pay and work for free' then presumably this new proposal is targeted at the very few people who develop paid-for content. An even smaller potential market you have to convince investors about. A non-starter.

 

 

 

As you probably already know, it takes way more time to make missions or a scripted campaign than you could make from selling it. How many copies of a 25 mission campaign would it take at $5 per copy to pay for 6 months of work? Let’s not forget taxes ... so for me, that would require selling at least 10,000 copies of a campaign to make it worth doing monetarily. Not gonna happen. Do that many people even own this product?

 

i guess there must be some other reason for using the ME.

[IckyATLAS]

On 1/9/2020 at 5:23 AM, Jaegermeister said:

 

As you probably already know, it takes way more time to make missions or a scripted campaign than you could make from selling it. How many copies of a 25 mission campaign would it take at $5 per copy to pay for 6 months of work? Let’s not forget taxes ... so for me, that would require selling at least 10,000 copies of a campaign to make it worth doing monetarily. Not gonna happen. Do that many people even own this product?

 

i guess there must be some other reason for using the ME.

You are very right. It is probably not lucrative enough. I did not make any guess but now that you have put numbers the picture looks different. 

In any case I agree with you, we do not build missions and spend countless hours for money, it is more of a personal "satisfaction". But having someone ready to pay even 5 US$ for what you have done, is rewarding (not lucrative) in a more tangible way than when it is just given for free. And if you pay for something there is a chance you will try to get most out of it, and this is a much better test. Maybe finally is the number of download that counts.

 

Gambit21 who already sold a campaign could help us with some realistic numbers. But this could be "confidential" information or he is maybe even not allowed by Jason to give any information of this type to the public. 

[Jaegermeister]

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get paid for the Campaigns I have made or am making. I just don't think I could afford to do it for a living and having to pay for the ME would just add another expense to the flight simulator addiction.

 

If you sell the campaign, you are also by inference committing to updating and troubleshooting it, as well as answering every inquiry about why it is made the way it is. If it's 100% out of the gate, that's awesome, but I have never done one like that.  

 

What really gets me is not the people who enjoy your campaign and appreciate the work that went into it., It's the people who download a free campaign that you spent countless hours on, have no vested interest in it, and then complain about it! You know that guy.... Hey, can you make that mission without the X-000 plane in it, I don't like flying that one... Hey, can you remake that mission without half the AAA, my computer can't run that...  Hey can you remake that mission number 3, I can't figure out how to follow the waypoints.... Hey, your campaign is broken, I didn't get credit for the mission when I crash landed in enemy territory....

 

I would speculate that the number of campaigns sold is directly related to the type of plane it is written for and the language it is written in. Those who know the sales numbers of this title could tell you how many potential buyers you have based on sales of certain modules. A P-38 campaign in English and German... How many copies of the P-38 have we sold on English and German websites? A P-47 Campaign in English and Russian... How many copies of BoBP have we sold in English and Russian versions? That's not how many you would actually sell, because how many people just fly online and don't buy scripted campaigns? I don't have any of those numbers, so I just write campaigns I want to fly and then I fly them for free... lots of times. So far, that's been enough for me. I get the material I want, I just have to work for it instead of buy it or complain about someone else's work that isn't exactly what I wanted in the first place. If other people like it, good for them... I guess they win. At least I get to fly the missions I want to instead of complaining about what is not done for me. 

 

OK, rant over. back to real life again.

[Legioneod]

I’d never pay for a mission editor, imo it’s something that should be included for free.

 

I would pay for the ability to develop aircraft and vehicles that the devs team doesn’t have time/money or desire to develop. Something like unreal engine or unity but paid would be nice.