I don’t know how this is getting funded.
I don’t know how much developers appart from Lubos are working on this.
I don’t know how munch time will we need for our next needed feature be implemented. ( proper character animation in my case)
What I know is that developing needs time, and time is achieved with money. Money can not be earned with only a single payment at the moment of purchasing the engine. A developer needs constants funds. A subscription model, who makes developers achieve money constantly, can make them focus in develop, by not having to have other jobs to get the money to live.
Blender, has his Blender Cloud. Krita has 1 kikcstarter per year. Hell, even gamers have constant donations for playing games throught their twitch channels, throught a subscription model.
Have you thought in opening a patreon, to maybe speed things up a little?
What do you think, people? Maybe there is some people who are willing to give, say, 1 dollar per month. If we collect a few people with this, maybe more developers can be hired…Just my opinion.
I heard “Viddyoze” is supporting Armorys Developement somehow. But yes, opening a Patreon-account would be a good idea, cant think of anything that could go wrong.
I agree, using a platform like Patreon could definitely help to push the project forward. For example Godot Engine just got the financial support they needed to continue with the operations using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/godotengine).
I think the best way would be to place a goal to release Armory3D to the community if it reaches the goal (I think it was intended to be released down the road anyway). I see Armory3D in a very tricky spot, there’s a very small community in general and pretty much no one knows about this engine. These kind of scenarios killed several engines in the past and these days the competition is very high. In my opinion is time to move Armory3D forward somehow or else it might die in a short future and that would be a shame.
Hey, I totally second this motion!
I’ve grown too fat, anyway, so need to slim down. Will save on food and would use some of the savings on supporting a good cause - to help make Armory rock even more! @lubos: just make sure Armory doesn’t grow too fat, instead…
Alright, looks like now is the time to take the next step! I have been thinking a lot on how to make Armory fully free along the road - and my thoughts were summarized in this topic.
I think it’s a great plan! It feels like a good way to support an engine that I feel has got an immense amount of potential, plus it’s something I can not only feel is growing, but also help grow (at least I hope to make a few Git pulls with various useful shaders, already expanding my GLSL capabilities thanks to the custom shader material function, plus I’ve been spending my spare-time learning the existing python code) - So, all in all, with that being said, even being an itch pledger, you got your first $12.5/month already
Edit: Not to actually make a request or anything, as I prefer the focus being on all the nice new features you usually make, but would it be potentially possible (as a mean to help contributing to the development), to open an IRC node in case of questions regarding the engine architecture, etc.?
I think all that sounds good. My only suggestion would be to mark a target goal to release Armory3D as free on Patreon, for example a 2000$ mark or something like that. That way people who pledges on Patreon will know that their money is going to help pushing Armory3D into a free release and they will feel motivate to achieve the goal.
I hope once free you wont abandon Armory. Urho3d, atomicgame engine owner or core developer actually abandon the projects after lack of funds and time…
What is your plan for funding after Armory is free ?
I will certainly support Armory on Patreon. A modern game engine with a good logic node system and HTML build targets is what will make Blender and Armory the perfect tool for my work.
I am wondering… Is there any support / interest / involvement from the Blender development community or the Blender foundation? Could they maybe support with Google summer of code for example? I feel it would be very helpful to have more developers involved (they need to be familiar with Blender of course).
At the moment, the biggest problem with Armory for my needs, is just the shear number of bugs (or incomplete implementations of Blender features).
Nevertheless, Armory is on a good way I think. I hope you continue your great work, Lubos!
Hi Lubos, I pledged on Patreon and I got access to the downloads once but then I don’t know how to access the download page anymore. I look into Patreon and in Itch.io and I can’t find the download page anymore. I think it should be a little bit more clear.
Hello @lubos,
when you are ready to announce Patreon officially i suggest to follow the rewards similar to Godot Engine (quoted by @keyacid too) :
I was thinking about this type of rewards for example:
Silver Sponsor_______10$ Access to the beta, your Name in the Credits, Vote for tutorials.
Gold Sponsor________25$ Vote on the Roadmap ( + all previous)
Platinum Sponsor____100$ Double Roadmap Vote, Priority support ( + all previous)
Titanium Sponsor____500$ Name and Logo in the website and credits ( + all previous)
Goal 1 $$$$? = Allow @lubos to work full time on Armory development ! ( similar to first Godot Engine Goal )
Goal 2 $$$$? = Support another platform or special feature
Maybe who is paying 10$ now could became Silver Sponsor.
Who paid on itch will receive all future updates but not all Patreon rewards ( suggestion).
I think it could be an effective way for continuous funding ( of course rewards and price are just examples).
Finally i think that the first Goal “work full time on Armory” would work better than “make Armory fully free” because Armory is already free and open source ( but not free as free beer/gratis/no cost).
In this way everyone interested in Armory would be involved to reach the first goal that is more related to the nature of continuous funding.
Of course you could also release Armory stable build for free ( no cost) after you reach Goal 1 while patreons will retain beta build access and the other rewards.
I have been thinking a lot on how to make Armory fully free along the road - and my thoughts were summarized in this topic.
The (jail-break!) plan: