Pyro Particle Editor: Particles for your Games!

[mad_rain]

Dear All.

I would like to present our new product - Pyro Particle Editor.

Features:

Advanced and powerfull editor
Easy to use SDK
Sample emitters
Demos with source code for OpenGL and DirectX 8
Stable release (more than 3 years of development and testing!)
Easy integration with any graphics engine you use!


Here are some projects that were done using Pyro:


Cradle of Rome (Awem)
Star Defender 2-3-4 (Awem)
Brix Quest (Fenomen Games)
Alien Stars (Awem)
Blade Master (Awem)
...


Screenshot:

http://pyro.fenomen-games.com/images/pyro-scr1-small.jpg

Download link:

http://pyro.fenomen-games.com/files/pyro.1.1.4.exe

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

-----
Licensing:

$99.99 - Professional License
$49.99 - Indie License (you must put Pyro's logo into your splash screen)
-----

Thanks,
Andrew.
Fenomen Games
http://www.fenomen-games.com

[~LK~]

Downloaded and played with it some. I must say, this is one of the most easy to use programs of it's type I think I ever tried. Nice job guys!

I think I'd like to use it with the engine we are working with lol.

~LK~

[adamw]

Giving it a go right now!

[filharvey]

Looks good. what is the cost of licensing it?

Thanks

Phil

[Josh1billion]

I don't know much about particle engines yet, but can this be used in 2D games as well? Particularly in the Allegro library?

[Reactor]

Easy integration with any graphics engine you use!

I'm using Blitz3D at the moment... so I'm curious as to how easy it'll be.

[mad_rain]

Looks good. what is the cost of licensing it?

Thanks

Phil

It costs $99.99. Please, contact me if you need full version.

[mad_rain]

Hi All!

Thanks for your feedback.

Some words about integration.

Look at the OpenGL and DirectX8 demos (PyroD3D8.*, PyroOpenGL.* files). You will see classes that implement vertex buffer interface, index buffer interface and texture interface. You may use your own implementation of these interfaces to intergate Pyro with any graphics engine you want.

Please, keep in mind. This version is limited. 'Save' will produce empty files. We have problems with ASProtect. That's why we have to disable save.

We will post link here to trial version of Pyro very soon.

[mad_rain]

I don't know much about particle engines yet, but can this be used in 2D games as well? Particularly in the Allegro library?

Sure. Pyro is 2D/3D editor. Just look at projects made using Pyro - all of them are 2D.

Please, read above about integration.

[mad_rain]

I'm using Blitz3D at the moment... so I'm curious as to how easy it'll be.

It was easy to implement OpenGL and Direct3D renderers - you can find both in 'Samples' folder. I think it will be easy to implement Blitz3D renderer.

[Kneehat]

How is it for doing 3d effects? All the samples seem 2d.

[mad_rain]

How is it for doing 3d effects? All the samples seem 2d.

Yes. You can switch them in 3D - click '3D' checkbox in the 'Emitter' tab and play with 'theta' and 'phi' parameters.

We are doing effects in 2D because we are going to sell Pyro in casual game market.

But many more 3D features will be available soon like export from
3DSMax ASE format, collisions and 3d samples of course :)

[Reactor]

But many more 3D features will be available soon like export from
3DSMax ASE format, collisions and 3d samples of course

Is that for the current version, or are you talking about future versions?

[mad_rain]

Is that for the current version, or are you talking about future versions?

It's about future version. It will be released in 3-4 weeks.

[Applewood]

Lemme get this straight. A 2D particle editor for 99 bucks ? Good luck...

[soniCron]

I believe it's the editor and the source framework.

[Applewood]

Not much use without it. I guess the price is reasonable enough in the grand scheme of things, I just can't see many indies forking out 100 bucks instead of writing their own, especially when they know they need to munge their pipeline to get this one working.

Let's face it, most indies claim to earn about 100 bucks for each game.

I've often thought of making some tools - I think there's a definite space for something between Max and Blender for example, but the crap projected sales vs endless support always put me off. I think the author will soon feel like he's the personal programmer of his 4 customers, but I hope I'm wrong for his sake.

[esmelon]

A 2D particle editor for 99 bucks ? Good luck...

And what is you price? Just interesting...

[Applewood]

My price? What, to write a custom one? With no royalties on offer, my charge out is 5-6000 UKP PCM, but we try to avoid working that way as there's no real profit in it.

Did you mean what do I think this program is worth ? I already said that 99$ seems reasonable for what you get, I just can't see many people wanting it. Maybe if it was a tenner, everyone would buy it as an impulse thing.

[mad_rain]

Lemme get this straight. A 2D particle editor for 99 bucks ? Good luck...

OK. Sure, we can make some particle editor in a week. And it will be cheap. Will you buy this one? I think no.

[Applewood]

No need to take offence. I hope you have great sales. I just hope you've not bet the farm on it.

My own editor took about 30 random days off and on over about 6 months, and it's integrated into my general purpose post-processing tool. I'm quite proud of mine too, but I wouldn't expect anyone else to want to buy it.

The point you seem to be missing, as most do that offer things for sale, is that it doesn't matter a toss how hard you've worked on it. It matters how many people are going to want it. Like I said, good luck - I hope you find lots.

[WaveRider]

Lemme get this straight. A 2D particle editor for 99 bucks ? Good luck...

Particle Illusion (another 2D particle editor) currently retails for $389 (US). They seem to be doing pretty well at that price.

[mad_rain]

Particle Illusion (another 2D particle editor) currently retails for $389 (US). They seem to be doing pretty well at that price.

Yes. We made Pyro similar to Particle Illusion, but better and cheaper :)

[Grey Alien]

Can you export a png animation with Alpha Channel?

[Reactor]

They seem to be doing pretty well at that price.

That's because they know how to make it look like the greatest thing on earth, and because it has great exporting options (for the market it's targeted to). The basic edition of Particle Illusion is $99, and from I've seen it's as good as Pyro. I could be wrong though, not having played much with it.

I'm in the market for a particle editor, but I can't see myself picking Pyro up because $99, while a good price for a decent bit of software, is just too much for someone who could make the same effects with free software. Sure, the effects would take a bit longer to do, but doable. For me, $99 is a lot of money, so I can certainly see where Applewood is coming from... and it might not be a good idea to ignore his comments mad_rain, since right now you have a bad webpage, limited exporting options and seemingly no upgrade pricing for people who buy today, yet want the new version which is apparently arriving in a few weeks. Compared to something like Particle Illusion, Pyro looks like a cheap knock-together. In other words, it's a hard sell targeting people who lack cash, with a fairly costly app, that doesn't exactly scream, "Buy me now!"

[Nikster]

I think the only similarities with pyro and pe is that they're both particle editors and pyro has the same timeline and treeview as pe, I don't know if this is intentional or not, pe is already established and is mainly targeted toward the aftereffects folk tv/film/fmv etc, whereas I guess pyro is mainly to be embedded real time into products, I must admit though I was also going to write my own particle engine/editor but I decided on writing a parser for the pe libraries which only took a week and due to the large library that pe has made more sense.

[luggage]

So long as it's straight forward to interface with your code I don't see $99 as unreasonable. That's about £50 uk pounds. Now, for me to sit there and write one of those would cost me way more than £50 of my own time.

[mad_rain]

We are open for discussion about pricing. We can make it even $49, but we will ask you to place a little logo saying that your game is using Pyro.

What do you think guys?

[mad_rain]

Can you export a png animation with Alpha Channel?

No. I was thinking about this. You will see this feature in next version. If you can't want you may modify Direct3D sample.

[mad_rain]

I'm in the market for a particle editor, but I can't see myself picking Pyro up because $99, while a good price for a decent bit of software, is just too much for someone who could make the same effects with free software. Sure, the effects would take a bit longer to do, but doable. For me, $99 is a lot of money, so I can certainly see where Applewood is coming from... and it might not be a good idea to ignore his comments mad_rain, since right now you have a bad webpage, limited exporting options and seemingly no upgrade pricing for people who buy today, yet want the new version which is apparently arriving in a few weeks. Compared to something like Particle Illusion, Pyro looks like a cheap knock-together. In other words, it's a hard sell targeting people who lack cash, with a fairly costly app, that doesn't exactly scream, "Buy me now!"

Your are talking about Particle Illusion. But have you seen Particle Illustion when first version was released? I'm not sure it was bugless and the wondertouch's site was cool.

I agree - pyro is not 100% ready for selling - we are still working on site and documentation, but we really need your feedback.

[Reactor]

I agree - pyro is not 100% ready for selling - we are still working on site and documentation, but we really need your feedback.

Yep, I wasn't picking before... I'm not expecting it to be a ninja version right away. I was just adding a reminder that if it's feedback you're after, accept it humbly whether it's reasonable or not.

Hopefully I'll find time to offer some feedback soon. In the meantime, for people who purchase the program now... how do upgrades work? (ie: how much will they cost, and when will they need to be paid?)

On a side note, I like the $49 pricing model. I think you'd see a great deal more sales having that available to people. If it doesn't work, you can always scrap the idea and stick to marketing the $99 version to a non-indie crowd.

[mad_rain]

Upgrades for Pyro 1.X.X will be free. The second version (major upgrade) will be released next year.

[Reactor]

Thanks mad-rain... I look forward to seeing how things progress with it.

[Grey Alien]

ok thanks for your reply. Please post again if you add that feature.

[mad_rain]

Hi.

Pyro Particle Editor has been updated to version 1.1.4

Changes:
1) Added 'Infinite life' checkbox
2) Added 'Bidirectional spin' checkbox
3) Now you can scale and shift an emitter from application
4) Site has been improved
5) Nag screens were added and Buy now links work well :)

Download link:
http://pyro.fenomen-games.com/files/pyro.1.1.4.exe

[devronious]

My own editor took about 30 random days off and on over about 6 months, and it's integrated into my general purpose post-processing tool. I'm quite proud of mine too, but I wouldn't expect anyone else to want to buy it.


AppleWood, For that much time on a particle engine, I'd guess it'll make you're coffee in the moring and serve breakfast. Oh wait, 30 days! Should prob polish your shoes on the way out too.

-:)

[mad_rain]

Hi All!

Here is updated version of Pyro Particle Editor:

http://pyro.fenomen-games.com/files/pyro.1.1.8.exe

1) Direct3D9 sample has been added
2) New sample emitters have been added
3) SDK now is able to limit max number of particles
4) Incompatible file versions checking has been added
5) Minor bug fixing