Making money from projects

[Xaleph]

You can do whatever you want! It`s your code so you are the owner of it. If you want to sell it as closed source, you can do it, if you want to publish it as open source, you can do it. You can also dual license it and releasing a LITE version if that`s your approach. Honestly, there`s no real argument for any of the before-mentioned approaches as far as pro`s and cons. Each has its pros and cons. If you dual license it, you can sell the "closed source" for xx amounts of money whereas you can offer "specialised" services on top of the open source version. If you sell it only as closed source, you should offer premium support for the code, so be sure ( and able ) to offer that kind of support.

Monetising projects isn`t that hard, you need to find a niche market ( which i`m sure you did ) and sell it. Or not. Your choice. Personally, I`d stick with open source. You`re free of all the hassle and worries of people trying to steal or duplicate your code. Also, you can offer the "specialised" services, creating ( and thuss selling ) modules specifically designed to work with your code. Seems a fair deal and once paid for, you can integrate it into a new Open Source version of it ( if you retain the rights to that code offcourse ).

But that`s just my personal view on how to monetise projects like yours, I`m sure the others will have a slightly different view

[Xaleph]

How to retain the rights to your own code? If you wrote it, it`s yours! You can use open source licenses freely available! There`s plenty to choose from. Like the Open Software License 3.0 (OSL-3.0) or the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0) or either one of the GNU licenses: GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPL-2.0) and the GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPL-3.0).

If you publish your code and you include the license, it`s still yours. If people are decent they respect that license, which most of the time seems to be the case. There`s nothing to gain from it by republishing under a different name, the source code is free of charge. However, if you do find someone who`s using your code and profiting from it, don`t worry just yet, other people are allowed to make money on the products they created, even if it includes your source code.

Most open source projects gain money by donation or by offering specialised services, specifically designed for the source code they ( or you ) already published. Sometimes they make a decent profit, most of the times however, they don`t. It`s to break even, paying the hosting, have a little extra on the side. I`d aim for that.

[vitinho444]

Hey, thats something i bother too

How to make money from my work, and help others at same time.

Well i think you can release Open Source and ask for donations, or you can make Open Source with the protected Links and then earn money if they download, it can help but its not a fortune..

You can also make Closed Source and then to who buys the source code you can do some kind of online support ..
<- I think this is Xaleph idea


Another thing i think that works is you can actually publish a game using your engine and then say that the game is yours! and the engine is yours too!

... Just sayin' xD

[Nexus]

I usually use ads( a small amount of them) on my websites and that usually generates a bit of income. But other than that donations are the way to go.

[vitinho444]

well i have ads too but nobody clicks them

What you do to make income with them ? xD

[Nexus]

Google AdSense pays for just displaying them

[Callan S.]

well i have ads too but nobody clicks them

What you do to make income with them ? xD

If you get user unique user traffic of around 20 a day or preferably more, try project wonderful. It's not based on clicks, people hire out the ad space for a certain mount of time by bidding on it.


OROTON,
If your making a mint at your job I'd suggest banking it in an account that grants 4% interest per annum or more. You'll probably make more money that way, with more assurity.

Other options are trying something like crowd sourcing, looking for funding to make the project, then release it for free. Since your in Australia like myself, you can't use kickstarter, but there is http://www.pozible.com.au/index.php

Or maybe just be pure in your philosophy. If your not looking for big bucks, don't look around for little bucks either. Either go hard or go home! No inbetween.

[vitinho444]

@Nexus

But im 16 and i dont own a credit card so google cant pay me.. So i use Bidvertiser that pays per click on paypal :S

[Nexus]

I just sign up with my parents I'm 15 :p

[vitinho444]

@nexus
yes but my parents are old school, they ask too many questions xD