What should we sell at the Mod DB digital store? Thread

Now that the Mod DB Digital Store has launched with a core set of games and a few strategy guides, we'd like to know what _you_ want to see for sale, to make this an important shop for modders. Keep in mind that we maybe able to negotiate massive discounts, so this is a great time to suggest what you want.

Some ideas I have had which I think would be awesome are:

• Key software (i.e. adobe photoshop, 3DS Max, Sound tools etc)
• Books on modding and game development. Like the book released by hourence recently
• DVDs / videos with modding tutorials. Like the Noesis stuff
• Advanced software development kits for games
• Pre-built model / map packs for mod teams to use and incorporate in their games
• Indie custom game titles
• More moddable game titles

What would you like to see the most? Try to be specific as possible and say _exactly_ what you want to see available to buy, and we will attempt to make it happen. Thanks for helping!

Edited by: INtense!

Any pre-built models, model packs, texture packs, sound libraries etc would be fantastic I think.
There is a big potential industry out there for selling CONTENT for games/mods, and it makes 'solo' development a hell of alot easier, even if its only for prototyping purposes or getting stuff together for a simple showcase in order to be able to recruit team members.
There are alot of websites (Renderosity and Turbosquid come to mind) that have alot of suitable content for games that are nice and cheap to purchase (I know of an indie dev using alot of this content to make a game practically by himself).
Giving MODDERS the chance to sell work they do through a place like ModDB could have some real potential.

Moddable games! Preferably as much games that are on the Games list as possible. That way you could link them to the store directly

Edit: ohh thought this was in staff discussion

Edited by: Chunky

i really like wraiyth's idea, although i feel the mod community shouldnt be about money, the acess to all the pre-made extras would help so many mods.

@ Wraiyth -- I don't think that's legal, selling modded content from another game for profit.

Definitely have the Standalone Games group an outlet to see their games.

Edited by: Karuto

Karuto, I think what Wraith is talking about isn the 3rd party model packs, like the pre-made stuff for the Torque engine. They aren't exclusive to mods, but they can help out a new mod quite a lot. There's a ton of stuff out there in terms of this, and most prices are pretty reasonable. You can get a HL2 quality character model, textured, normalled and rigged, for about 50$.

Technically, this could be translated to mods, although I think it would be a pretty downward spiral for the community.

Imagine, instead of having a dedicated weapon modeller on your team, they all make models and sell them to whoever pitches over the cash. Not my bag, but, it would be a way to actually make some money from the hard-earned work that goes into mods. I can think of a couple of models I've seen on moddb that I may slap down cash for, hehe. But, as I said, I think that sets a bad precedent for modding in general.

Edited by (in order): Capital88, Capital88, Capital88

I didn't mean from another game, I meant a place that allowed modders to sell stuff they've made themselves, like Capital said.
I disagree that it would be a downward spiral; in fact, licensing CONTENT for games could potentially be something big. Its done with engines, so why not do it with content? Its not like I'd want it to become a staple of the modding community, but it could merely be a method of people getting some sort of return for the hard work they've done. Lets face it; very, VERY few mods GPL their content and its not overly hard to 'steal' content per se, so why not give modders a chance to make a return on it?

If its good enough for an indie dev, its good enough for me

Edited by: Wraiyth

Sell shirts, every self respecting nerd wants Moddb shirts, or packages of games + shirts. Or even whole combos with shirts, games and added bonuses.

Edited by: Epi7aph

Agreed, Wraiyth, but I do see the downside as well.

If you were a modeller, would you rather work for free on a mod, of just make a bunch of high-quality prop or character models and sell them? Most people would go for the latter. And perhaps you could do both, for example make a G36 weapon for some mod that needed it, then sell the model to other who wanted it. However, as a mod leader, I would have a serious problem with that model being used in other mods if it was made expressly for mine.

As for t-shirts, it'd be cool to get mod merchandise as well, an outlet for mods to sell t-shirts of their mods for example, through moddb.

Yeah, shirts please

I'm kind of in both camps on the selling prefab content argument... while it would be awesome (and very fitting) for modders to make something back for their hard work, are we going to see those with the most money making the best and most detailed mods? Modding has always been a very egalitarian hobby, anyone with the will to learn can do it, and even make fantastic mods. I love the idea of content packs (great for placeholder art!) but I worry about the consequences. Having money shouldn't be a prerequisite for a good mod, is probably what I'm trying to say here.

The only person who has mentioned tools here has been Intense (I think), so I'd like to say YES I'd love to see important tools sold in the store. I'm not an artist so I have no idea what should be sold for that purpose (Maya, Max, I'm clueless about these things), but I can recommend some sound tools:

Cubase LE/SX/4/whatever, but LE is probably more suitable for modders, and in the right price range
Wavelab Essentials
Soundforge (Audio Studio)
ACID
FL Studio

And in any sound tool section, links to Audacity and Goldwave are essential, along with the myriad of freeware VST and DX plugins around, of which I can't remember the URL's right now.

Capital: Thats very true, but theres plenty of models that get re-created, plenty of animations that get re-done, plenty of textures that don't make a final build, plenty of sounds that get recorded but not used etc etc. If I was creating assets, I'd much rather put these to use, offering them for free in a store (or offering them for a price, if the model was quality enough) and see my hard work put to use rather than have it sit on my hard drive.
Alternatively there could be an intiative to develop content/code packs for free/selling to give people a kick-start into modding if they lack a specific type of content, as Jam said.

I don't believe it will make money a pre-req for making a good mod. You can't buy an entire mod's code and theres no gurantee that you'll be able to buy everything that you require for the mod anyway. Regardless, my above points stand

Edited by (in order): Wraiyth, Wraiyth

Dear sweet mother of pearl, I want Mod DB merchandise. I want, when I finally make it to GDC for the first time over, to barge into the room wearing a Mod DB logo on every single article of clothing I'm wearing.

Good points Wraiyth. I think if this were to happen, the people monitoring the store would have to monitor what was being sold in that regard, and make sure things weren't getting out of hand.

I'm not totally against it, I just see that if it is unbridled, things could go pear-shaped fast.

Lol @ Joe.

JoeX111 wrote: Dear sweet mother of pearl, I want Mod DB merchandise. I want, when I finally make it to GDC for the first time over, to barge into the room wearing a Mod DB logo on every single article of clothing I'm wearing.

Get some of those badges that you can iron/sew onto clothing made up, and just stick em everywhere

You could probably sell badges in the store aswell, to save people making their own.

Badges! Yes to badges!

On a side note, a way to transfer Moddb users to Digitalstore users would be useful, so you can log in for both on one site. Possibly putting a second password on credit card information for security.

Any pre-built models, model packs, texture packs, sound libraries etc would be fantastic I think.

i disagree then you will get mods with all the same models and content

I think all of the suggested ideas sound very appealing.

I'd like to have something physical sold as well, like moddb shirts, apparel and other things I can't think of.

I think you should sell ice cream.

It is a digital store so only downloadable content will be considered.

In future we may have a store which sells "physical merchandise" however all shops i've seen selling stuff like that only have boring lame quality goods. If you can show me some awesome brandable goods i'll consider it.

Also is there any interest in us adding game development books, dvds, tools (specific software) you'd like to see available?

Photoshop CS2 (and CS3 when released)

INtense! wrote: Some ideas I have had which I think would be awesome are:

• Key software (i.e. adobe photoshop, 3DS Max, Sound tools etc)
• Books on modding and game development. Like the book released by hourence recently
• DVDs / videos with modding tutorials. Like the Noesis stuff
• Advanced software development kits for games
• Pre-built model / map packs for mod teams to use and incorporate in their games
• Indie custom game titles
• More moddable game titles

I agree with all of those. But I want Moddb merch, like shirts and mouse pads and stuff like that.

Photoshop CS3 SUCKS! I wouldn't bother selling it. (they've basically screwed up the entire interface in this version) I've used the beta.. not good. and CS2 works better. (cs3 seems to just be an attempt to jump on the Vista bandwagon)

Also it'd be cool if you could sell Commercial Game Engines via this site. (eg. Torque)

Edited by: formerlyknownasMrCP

INtense! wrote: It is a digital store so only downloadable content will be considered.

In future we may have a store which sells "physical merchandise" however all shops i've seen selling stuff like that only have boring lame quality goods. If you can show me some awesome brandable goods i'll consider it.

Also is there any interest in us adding game development books, dvds, tools (specific software) you'd like to see available?

I'd definitely be interested. I have an addiction to buying lots of books and dvds on modding and computing. The software tools would be cool to, as it would save me having to look around for them.

Maybe you could add a feature like amazon where you can match up items that work best when bought together.