IndieSafe

[Viper]

IndieSafe! A website devoted entirely towards games developed by you, and other small time developers. The team at Indiesafe sets out to establish the newest name in online communities, providing in-depth, weekly articles, varying in topic from game development to interviews with talented indie developers. The site itself, provides a active forum, free blog space for any developer interested, and a easy to use recruitment page for anyone looking or forming a team.

This site isn’t just for indie developers either, if your just a gamer and would like to sit back in a active and up to date community, providing the latest news in gaming, this site is perfect for you as well! We at Indiesafe have set out to put the developers and the players together, in a comfortable and welcoming place.

Join us in the next revolution in Indie gaming!
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Hey everyone, just wanted to kick start the advertising of my new site IndieSafe. We're now recruiting writers, so if your interested, fill out the Hiring page out on the site, or send me an email at viper@indiesafe.com

Other then that, any comments to it are welcome. This is the first place I've published at, its my main community, so i figure i would go to you all first.


Visit us here, www.indiesafe.com

Viper

[Last Known Hero]

Very professional looking, great job.

[meatball]

Thanks man Ive spent a lot of hours designing this project and trying to figure out how I wanna go about its looks. Im quite pleased so far, glad to hear someone else likes it

[hallsofvallhalla]

yes site looks great. Nice work.

[SpiritWebb]

Very nice looking!! Very professional

[Viper]

Thanks everyone.

i have a question for you all, in a community created for the above purpose, do you have any idea on some sort of membership? Or what benefits to provide?

I'm thinking about going about implementing something of the sort but i need some feed back about what would be worth while.

Membership would probably be $15 dollars a year. Or $50 for lifetime.

[jpoisson]

Well, if you are going to have a membership you of course have to offer something. It can be anything from Gaming Beta trials, to more in depth articles that are not so generalized.

At the moment implementing membership fee you should have forums where members can talk to the authors directly, or possible be aloud to write their own submissions for review. Another feature is that you can have those that pay get to receive a separate subscription. where they get like a monthly advance version that is different then the free version.

Lastly members get archive access.

[hallsofvallhalla]

agreed. Its very hard to get people to pay for memberships for actual sites. Not saying it can't be done but there must be a high grade of features. Features that actually make their life easier or give them access to some high demand stuff.

[Jackolantern]

agreed. Its very hard to get people to pay for memberships for actual sites. Not saying it can't be done but there must be a high grade of features. Features that actually make their life easier or give them access to some high demand stuff.

There are, however, a few high-profile exceptions. The MMO strategy and database site Allakhazam, for example, really only gives players recognition in the forums for paying a fairly stiff monthly fee ($10 every 3 months). Getting a subscription with them only gives you a forum avatar, a special forum title, access to a couple of specific database lookups that no one ever uses, and a couple of other very minor forum-related features. However, the site raked in enough money to be bought out by Zam! and keep several workers employed. They have hundreds of paying customers just for the forum features.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I do agree, however. These are exceptions to the rule, and for the vast majority of sites, it will require quite a few perks to get people to open their wallet.

[Viper]

Hmm interesting points everyone.

Personally what would it take for you all to become a paid member say 10-15 dollars a year of a indie game site?

One idea i have is to offer the "Design Vault". Which is a member only design viewing and input wiki. Every month a design topic is listed and all members of the Vault can input on it. Slowly building up the design as much as possible. After the month is over, the design is summarized and without giving to many specifics away, is published to the public, allowing them to voice their opinions, point out design holes, and state if they would ever play such a game. Only vault members can actually view, and utilize designs and ideas present on the wiki. This includes a full archive of all previous designs.

While the Vault is not intended for pure copy and paste designs, i am sure some would try to do so. Because of this i'm trying to think of a way to prevent pure copy and paste's. Maybe in some sort of terms and conditions? Although i do plan to make the purpose of the Vault clear to members interested in joining the system i feel half the protection for these designs is that most games are rarely built unless the members have some sort of attachment to the design, because of this, its unlikely someone would do a complete copy and paste...not to mention, if it would ever be known of a pure copy and paste, the game would suffer greatly.

Now sorry for to ramble, i'm using this thread to half write up my ideas myself

For a summary...

IndieSafe plans to implement the "Design Vault" into its site and feature list. The Vault is a tool, database, and service, meant to help, inspire, and create unique concepts. While i am interested in specifically focusing the vault on MMO's. I do see it possible to use such a system on all games types. For now though i will keep on topic with MMO's. Every 30 days a new design is posted on the main page of the Design Vault Wiki. Members of the Vault (which requires at the minimum of an application and possible discussion with an admin or mod of the system) can openly share, and add to the designs. At the end of each month, the design is closed for additions and then summarized by an admin. This summary, is posted on the actual IndieSafe site, allowing the public to read about these game designs. At this point, the public comments on them, sharing their opinion of each post. For the most part, only summaries will be posted on the main site..as a precaution to prevent complete design stealing that Vault members could possibly invest much time into.

The design topic is chosen randomly, based on the accepted submissions of the Vault Community.

Now for the holes in the system that i personally have...

1. I'm not sure how to grant permission for people to use aspects of said designs, im sure people will want to implement at the minimum, specific game features listed in the designs.
2. Should i make this system based purely on a membership? Or is this system important enough to use as a free tool, that a member must simply apply for?

Personally speaking what you do think about such a system? I understand, that some designers are not willing to discuss their ideas, which is why a random topic is listed instead, one that should not be emotionally attached to a said member. If interested however, a member of the Vault can submit a design doc that he has, which can be grown upon as well.

Sorry for the over typing, its just an important deal for me.

i'll add more here when they cross my mind.

EDIT:

To kill two birds with one stone, i thought of this.

To join the Design Vault you must send in an application. If accepted you can remain a member free forever, however when a free member fails to update, post significant information, or give any input for a full month, he is removed form the Vault network. A paid, subscription member instead however can remain a member of the DesignVault for a full year. No matter the level of inactivity. However after a year, if they fail to come back that next month, they are removed from the system. (To clarify, they have one month after the subscription to resubscribe or they can continue posting each month and stay in the network free of charge.)