Our Amiga Office (Photos)

[Ral-Clan]

I'm very impressed, Cammy.  Really a very inspiring thing to see such an honest, grassroots effort.  Nice to see all those Amigas set up and getting use.

[brownb2]

Our intention is to open-source all our code, but the graphics and sound will be copyrighted or protected since they're our own intellectual property.

Open source or not all work is copyrighted to the creator unless you sell the copyright, so you may be confusing things a little here. A copyright basically says I own everything about this legally and as such can re-issue different/new licences on it and so forth. Open source licences do not give away copyright but give away rights to code ownership, but not the ability to change the licence or anything not mentioned in it. Open sourcing is commendable but graphics and sounds also have "open source" licences so I'm surprised that you've not thought to use a Creative Commons licence except on things such as company logos and unique characters (latter debateable remember Codemaster's Dizzy?) to prevent plagiarism and so forth, but perhaps this is what you meant?

Some of our projects will be collaborative efforts with completely royalty-free graphics and sound too, so anyone would be welcome to modify them and contribute back. .

Cf. above, all the more reason for your company to give back those royalty free graphics and sounds.

The games will generally be free downloads, but with the option to donate back to our developers, and we'd like to set up a system where people who donate over a certain amount receive a boxed, printed copy of the game in the mail, giving collectors more incentive to donate a little extra.

Excellent approach IMHO - build up a user base, fans and content then  gradually phase in a part paid for system. Me, I'm still stuck in the give stuff away phase Best of luck

[dreamcast270mhz]

Royalty free Graphics? Meaning original?(i.e. not using a Mario Sprite?)

[orange]

how sweet.
but, tbh, I doubt it will be profitable. there are less and less 'Amigists' in world.
and Australia is far for most of us so postage is high.

[walkero]

@Cammy
Great news. I wish you all the best...

[brownb2]

how sweet.
but, tbh, I doubt it will be profitable. there are less and less 'Amigists' in world.
and Australia is far for most of us so postage is high.

Don't spoil the dream. If Cammy's Company™ can tread water long enough as hobbyist it's on good foundations for when (if?) the Amiga makes it's X1000 comeback (I'm assuming just "true" lineage, mass market here).

[Cammy]

Open source or not all work is copyrighted to the creator unless you sell the copyright, so you may be confusing things a little here. A copyright basically says I own everything about this legally and as such can re-issue different/new licences on it and so forth. Open source licences do not give away copyright but give away rights to code ownership, but not the ability to change the licence or anything not mentioned in it. Open sourcing is commendable but graphics and sounds also have "open source" licences so I'm surprised that you've not thought to use a Creative Commons licence except on things such as company logos and unique characters (latter debateable remember Codemaster's Dizzy?) to prevent plagiarism and so forth, but perhaps this is what you meant?


Cf. above, all the more reason for your company to give back those royalty free graphics and sounds.


Excellent approach IMHO - build up a user base, fans and content then  gradually phase in a part paid for system. Me, I'm still stuck in the give stuff away phase Best of luck

You're right, I might as well just give up.

[Cammy]

how sweet.
but, tbh, I doubt it will be profitable. there are less and less 'Amigists' in world.
and Australia is far for most of us so postage is high.

You're right too. I am now giving up on it all. I was only in it for the money, obviously.

[Gilthanaz]

You can't give up.

Because i already made space on the shelves for my collectors editions of your companies games. It would be a shame if that one hour of hard work building those shelves was wasted, eh?

- Gil

P.S.: Oh, and just wrap up the games in an Emulator and sell them in packs on steam for that steady cashflow to keep everything running. Independent games are 'the thing' at the moment, and its not hard delivering preconfigured UAE profiles. Dont know how much the licenses cost to use UAE and the kick roms, tho. Just an idea. I mean, I buy pretty much everything that is >10$ and says "indy game" ...

[Cammy]

Heya Gil, thanks for the encouragement, don't worry I was kind of being sarcastic, I'll never give up and I am happy to keep working for free. The donation system would really just be to reimburse any freelance artists and musicians we need to pay for their work, and to help cover server and publishing costs. I don't intend on trying to rip anyone off or ever get ahead in life, I'm happy being stuck at the bottom earning nothing.

You are very right about bundling the games with UAE for Windows users, it's certainly our intention. Thankfully there is no need to pay any licensing costs anymore because WinUAE comes with a working Kickstart replacement now.

This means anyone can use an Amiga to program or create a game, and they can sell it as a Windows-executable package. And emulated Amiga games tend to run smoother than Flash games on the same hardware. I think it's a great opportunity to fund Amiga game development, and we will simply be marketing them as indy games for Windows, not mentioning Amiga everywhere in case it turns some kids off.

[Gilthanaz]

Let me know if I can help you with anything. I've worked on such projects myself a few years ago and know that it is hard to get all the pieces together I can offer you support in the audio department (I have a micro studio in my basement, and we have a big studio in the company i work for) - however, I guess for Amiga games, it will be MOD or MIDI rather than "real instruments" Also, I can deliver some 3D models. Wait, 3D models?? For Amiga? Well, I'am thinking prerendered backgrounds, and other still images, like title or intro/extro screens. I might have the time to help out with something small every now and then.

Also, if you need Webspace or Voice Chat Servers for meetings, FTP, SVN, .. I host a lot of stuff for projects like yours, for free. Also, no advertisement banners or any blargh like that...

Let me know if I can help out with something

KR,
- Gil

[José Manuel]

Follow your dream Cammy.
A good office but missed the photos of workers, including yours.
Regards
Jose

[orange]

You're right too. I am now giving up on it all. I was only in it for the money, obviously.

"although I really should not have impulse-bought this with my part of the rent money. I just hope I can sell something on eBay by the end of the month to get it back, but it was such a good deal for only $249."

I just hope you don't one day regret the time and money spent on it.
good luck.

[Cammy]

Thanks Gil, thanks Jose.

Gil, any help at all is appreciated. We still have a lot of things to organise with the forum and site, after the forum is up we can start discussing which projects need help.

Jose, I think people are sick of seeing photos of me by now, so I make sure I'm not in them anymore.

orange, this was an extremely good deal for a monitor this size, and an opportunity I couldn't miss. I'm sure I can recoup the money I spent on it, and then I'll be back in the clear. I would have regretted letting the offer pass me by more than I regret temporarily putting myself in debt.

[Gilthanaz]

Gil, any help at all is appreciated. We still have a lot of things to organise with the forum and site, after the forum is up we can start discussing which projects need help.

Do you mean you already are working on the forums, or you still need forums? I'am hosting a lot of Forums already, setting up another one probably takes me a few minutes and some brain power to set up the automatic backups and give Administrative rights to the correct people

Let me know if you want me to host something for you. All you'd have to bring yourself is the domain name, I got enough servers.

Please be aware that, since I host on a non-profit-just-because-I-like-hosting-stuff policy, I will not guarantee anything, like 100% uptime or no data loss ever. I provide a service, I do that for 15 years already without any problems, but it's more a hobby and good-will thing. I guess that is understandable

If you wish you can give me more information (or ask if you have questions) per PM. If you do not have a domain name so far, I got some reserved that I can let you use some subdomains of.

- Gil

[brownb2]

I'm confused.

How did this:

Excellent approach IMHO - build up a user base, fans and content then   gradually phase in a part paid for system. Me, I'm still stuck in the  give stuff away phase Best of luck

and this:

Don't spoil the dream. If Cammy's Company™  can tread water long enough as hobbyist it's on good foundations for  when (if?) the Amiga makes it's X1000 comeback (I'm assuming just "true"  lineage, mass market here).

Equal:

You're right, I might as well just give up.

?

As you've acknowledged it is a company not an organisation that would suggest you need a cashflow long run? Others and me have suggested it is good to start off hobbyist, a business with +ve cash flow can come out of it in the long run. I don't see what is wrong with that? If it's actual a hobby short term you have nothing to lose (but then you know this) so again I'm not sure where the sarcastic self-doubt came in.