Is there room for another Arcade Script?

[lfhost]

Do you have a list of features/options that you want to have by default?

Ive had a look over at newsgrounds, but havent seen anything on there I wouldnt be able to build.

Yes, the script would support, games, videos (both embed and FLV upload (not encode)), music, even pictures if wanted.
Already on the list is an integrated forum,
User submit with approval, easy enough,
There would be a template system and an easy integration of features.
All HTML etc would be in the templates, so you can output things as the theme predicts instead of how the script predicts.

Im teaching myself Ajax and JQuery to, to add some bells and whistles to the output.

A list of most wanted features would help, as I could overlook them while look at newsgrounds etc.
But thats open to everyone to help generate a feature list.

This is your chance to put your mark on a script before its even been built :P

I would want it to be easy to use from a newbie to the most advanced, from modders to designers.

[brendgard]

I think there is always room for another runner in any competition.

That being said, the question you are really asking is would it be economically worth it to you. Short answer probably not. Long answer is it could be, if you really differentiate yourself from the pack in some key areas. The first area is customer service. There are a couple out there that really cover this real good, including at least one free one. The second area being features. Again, a number of them cover this area or are at least working on it hard, including at least one free one. Third thing needed would be ease of adaptability. This one is harder, but there are some good ones out there, both premium and free.

The big potential problem I see in this is the sheer numbers of arcades out there. I'm firmly in the camp that thinks that the world economy is not finished tanking. I think revenues from almost any type site will drop. And I think that people could start giving up the idea of making money online and numbers will drop rather than grow. This could make it a bit hard to sell any script, let alone an arcade script. This could work to your advantage though. By riding it out, you could show your commitment to the long haul, and use the time wisely to tweak your script. But I do think that it will be a rough road to start down.

[lfhost]

Thanks for the input brendgard,

Im looking to put my time into something on a full time basis, instead of working on my custom script and arcade mods. I want to focus my time in one place and go full steam ahead. I know its touch and go if it would be a huge success, even if its a few sales a month to start it would be worth it as with any new script, it would have to build a name before it gets regular custom.

Key areas you mention, customer support, thats a priority, the last company I worked for, I was the first line support on the forum. I would solve most bugs/issues for the members. Write custom mods etc for free. So im very experienced at that area, it would just be a matter of balancing that with development. Once you build your own following, it helps as customers help each other, but I dont think that should be the main line of support, it should be a 2nd line support but the author to take the priority of support and overlook what the 2nd line recommends. Alot let the customers do most of the helping and fill in the rest by the author.

Feature wise, getting the basics of what common scripts have is easy, making something unique is where it is at. Thats where things like tournaments, competitions, achievements, medals, full profiles, challenges, forums etc etc help.

I understand we are still in economic crisis, but people are turning more for ways to earn online. If you focus soley on onsite ads, then it can be limiting, but if there are ways to integrate payment systems like paypal etc, then you have an extra residual income to subsidise things. I think there are points, other than advertisng to integrate such features. As well as trying to integrate micropayments etc.

If I start it, I would be in it for the long haul, I have an idea of how to keep things ticking, with just a small customerbase.

What if an author offered a set price for the core script, then a membership fee for support, free mods (not basic mods, I mean advanced ad ons) and other specials.
Most authors offer a one time fee and in the future offer a major build/upgrade fee to cover costs.

Theres alot of pros and cons to think about, it just depends which one weighs heaviest,
Theres also the issue of protecting the script, licensing, what encoder to use that wont put off potential customers i.e. ioncube.

It all depends whats cost effective and if it would prevent the nullers.

[gubugnet]

lfhost I love the ideals and I see what you are saying but TBH and based on my experience first hand. The work you put in Vs Reward in revenue is far far did I mention far off ballance. Now I am not knocking the consumer here or the developers of scripts IMO this paradign is best answered by the great philosophers known as " The rolling stones ".

You cant always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find U get what you need.

I have seen maybe 100 guys shell out for designs but features keep guys coming to a site not designs. Design will not get one person to your site because they have to visit first in order to see the design LOL. Now a tell a friend FEATURE could get you someone and other FEATURES as you mentioned could get you residual traffic. This IMO is what more arcades should focus on marketing their site in the right order not in reverse.

Even with features at first they will be overloaded until you build the site but as Stephan mentioned if you could start off with a few key features and build up as the site grows a following I think that would work. Market demand from webmasters right now is out of sync in arcades as most webmasters believe that arcades kind of work different fundamentally than other sites but at this point I say treat an arcadxe like any other site and get back to basics with monetization( ads + premium content when the time is right ), features ( gradually over time ) and design ( gradually over time ).

I would say do a script tomorrow if consumer demand were ordered like above but it is not instead it is the oposite. However if you ever do some things outside of the arcade niche I might be interested in JV with you because we have some sites that we will be working on going forward selling some scripts just not necessarily arcade related and I know you do GREAT work. I liked what you done with the trading script on arcadem and stephan was able to get a good bit of action on one of his arcadem sites with the help of that trading script and a GI Joe game with an EXCELLENT PERFORMER lol.

[lfhost]

Hey gubugnet,

Thanks for the feedback, my focus isnt really on the revenue side of things, its more of filling a gap in the market, but that gap could be there as theres no demand for it.

Designs, should be seen as a branding tool more than anything else, yes it helps to look good, but can also distract people.

The system I had in mind would have all sections setup like plugins, so you can switch them on/off in the admin.
So the admin can put as much or as little as they want on the site and easily activate things when the site takes off.

Im not the best at marketing/monetizing sites and do alot of things wrong lol, but I prefer to build things for others so they can make money from it.

Im not restricted to the arcade niche, I just dabble in that niche as I love playing games lol. I used to work in the ecommerce sector and building general CMS's.
So feel free to send me a PM with what you need help with, (dont wanna sound silly but what does "I might be interested in JV with you"

Thanks for the compliments on my past work with arcadeM :P

[vamp6x6x6x]

In stead of just scripts we need better arcade plugins for wordpress and more wp arcade themes I think.

[lfhost]

I cant really help with themes (im no developer)
but put as much info and features you want in an arcade plugin in my other thread :P
You will have more chance of it coming to reality the more info I have.

Im currently giving myself a crash course in plugin development.

[Jason C]

I dont see why not? Yes there are 13 scripts but I believe the Internet market is in a sense pure form of capitalism in that if you can beat out one guy you have a chance to work hard and beat out the next. Honestly if you build a CMS that is user friendly, plug-in system (like you talked about), template system where you can drag and drop elements, change colors on the fly, well mirror Google's "Blogger" backend cms, provide good tech support and you'll have a winner. It seems like you know what features a good script should have so incorporate these them into the script.

Your major hurdle is marketing, getting your script out there and convincing the likes of "us" why we should buy your script. Honestly though I dont think that should be too hard for you as Im sure most of us would buy after demoing the script.

Brendgard and other's was talking about how the economy isnt finished tanking and that people may not want to invest money they have (like before) into an online venture. While this is a very valid point, the whole reason I got into online arcades and websites is because I lost my full time job and it's a bitch to find anything more than temporary contracts out here. If you sell it as a means of making extra, passive income to guys like me (post in craigslist job forums, etc) you'll get sales.

So, all said in done I do think there is room and you could make money off it and if you so happen to be a marketing whiz, you'll get sales. You never know.

How much of the script would you say is completed % wise?

[lfhost]

Thanks for the response Jason C,

In theory I could out do alot of general arcade scripts (I wont name names as im not big headed lol)
But ive looked through a few and think, well there good, but they have limited functionality, poor coding practises, possible security concerns etc etc.
I typically go a bit overboard compared to most security wise, as every bit of data possible is cleaned in one way or another.

User friendlyness would be key, having alot of features, the ability to turn most things on/off or via a plugin system would help to make an arcade unique as they are not limited to what the core provides, they can expand heavily and not have to worry about core files (like when you upgrade wordpress etc, you only have to really worry about template mods)

drag and drop can be done via JQuery, ive bought books etc on it, but havent learned it in depth enough yet. But its on the todo list.

Can you PM or post screenshots of what googles "blogger" does? Would be interested to see how you would see a user friendly CMS being.

Tech support, I have a vast experience in this area, just ask any of the members on the agares forum from when I was around, or look through there forums, youll find alot of my stuff there. I used to go over and above board and do direct fixes via FTP etc etc.

Marketing is not my strong point, but it wouldnt be to hard to get a small crowd interested depending on the way it is promoted through here/ta and general script sites. Then getting sites to review it etc. Another way to drum up business is referrals etc.

Yes, people have different views and backgrounds as to why they would start an arcade, some for fun, some as a business and some just to test the waters.

Well, I have my own CMS written, but for the general public, its not at a place that would be open for the functionality I list above. Its more hardcoded in places so the settings admin would need updating and a members section written. Atm, its just a general trade site, as wanted to see if I could write a fast, reliable script that handled the stats processing and keep up with trades etc etc.

The other things I mention, i.e. highscores/tournaments etc, I have written in the facebook version based on an old codeset of the same script.

I currently have it already setup where I split off core files and have most things run through the templates.

But I think I would still overhaul it to be more expansive and probably convert alot to OOP (I write currently function based code, so doesnt follow any frameworks like MVC etc)
I would also probably add in smarty or a custom templating system so its easier to manage.

I would say on a whole I would have 25% ready, the rest to be converted with things mentioned above.

Atm though, im digging about with wordpress and trying to develop a plugin for that to test the waters.
For the basics of what I want to do for the plugin as a start, I could get done over the next month or so.

But I might start with just releasing an FGD mod which would work as an addon to arcadeblogpro.

So things are still up in the air.

Thanks

[fcm]

Well, if you are still working on it you have some big competition ( with me ) as I am developing a social arcade script I'm not going to any details as it is to juicy to talk about into heavy details.