Private forum

[svero]

We've added a private forum. The idea is to provide a place for people to discuss things they wouldnt in public. This is not meant to be elitest or exclusionary, but private and limited to established authors so we can discuss things that we wouldn't on an open forum.

The basic criteria for entry is..

1) you have your own site and domain name
2) You have a game either self published or published and selling already
3) The main focus of your business and site is game development/sales of your own title/titles

If you meet that basic criteria you may already be added. If you don't have access and you meet the criteria and you want to be added then post to this thread.

[Sid Egg]

That feels sorta elitest too me, what about the people such as my self who come here to LEARN about selling games simply from listening to peoples experiences, it just doesn't seem fair...

I don't know....

[Reanimated]

We had this conversation back in the dexterity forums. Its not about us selling or anything, so its not elitist at all. Its for talk on warez and other things that random people of the public could use, which they shouldnt.

[Addictive 247]

I think it's a great idea - well done to the moderators!
Oh yeh, can you please add me :)

[papillon]

... what about those of us who feel really childish if they have to jump up and wave their hands and say "Oh Please let me join your club!" ? :)

[ggambett]

Please let me in!

That feels sorta elitest too me, what about the people such as my self who come here to LEARN
The 5 forums which are already open will continue to be open. As other post explains, there is a need to discuss certain delicate topics that shouldn't be done publicly.

[Scorpio]

I don't see the new forum so please add me, thanks.
-Scorpio

[Linusson]

Please add me too, thanks.

[Chris Evans]

Heh... It's one of those things where if you meet the criteria, you love the idea and if you don't meet the criteria, you're bummed... C'est La Vie

Just as long as Dan MacDonald is out here with the rest of us commoners until his product is released, then you have no objection from me. ;)

[luggage]

I think it's a good idea. May also give people something to aim for with getting their own game out of the door.

By the way, can you add myself and Escotia please? :)

Thanks

scott

[Curiosoft]

Sign me up...

-- Curiosoft

--
http://www.curiosoft.com
Inspire-ware for Children

http://www.ibeonlife.com
Self-Actualization Blog

[Lerc]

Boing Boing.

[lakibuk]

Please add me!

[Fish-Guy]

I would like to be added.

[Reactor]

1) you have your own site and domain name
Don't have this yet, because we decided to save money and launch it when we actually had a game to show.

2) You have a game either self published or published and selling already.
Not this either.

3) The main focus of your business and site is game development/sales of your own title/titles
Not yet, no.

Well, I guess that means I'm out. I'd be interested to know what these "delicate topics" are, but since I have no idea, I won't be pushing to join.

[Rainer Deyke]

Sign me up.

My website: http://eldwood.com (aka http://rainerdeyke.com).

[Diodor Bitan]

Me too (the game is Pax Solaris :)).

[gmcbay]

I would like to be added as well.

http://www.mischief.com is my website, and it is dedicated to selling my game.

I'm not sure the private forum will really fill the need it is looking to fill since "semi-private" just might not be private enough to discuss some things people don't want to discuss in the open.... but I'd love to partake in the experiment if its going to happen.

[Reactor]

If you want to talk about super 'hush hush' things with a couple of people, try email.

[DragonsIOA]

I'm pretty new here (just found the site yesterday) but I'd like to participate. My first game is Scream Machines, and my website is in my sig :)

[svero]

Well you know what they say. You can please some of the people some of the time!

[svero]

Ok. Well if you've asked to be added in this forum then you should already be added. If you ask and don't get added, then just give it a day or so. It's actually time consuming to set the permissions. Has to be done on a one by one basis.

[Mark Currie]

This gives me more motivation to finish my game!

I like the idea of a private forum that a causal web surfer (such as someone from a big publisher) can’t see, and that is not indexed by google.

[robleong]

I can't view the private forum too, so please add me in. Thanks!

[alfie]

Please add me to the private forum - cheers.

Alfie

[svero]

Everyone up to here added.

[Matthew]

I'd love to be added as well. Recently we've been working on a game for Cartoon Network (info here (http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6092226.html)), but our primary focus is still on developing our own casual games. Our next round of self-funded projects is due out of this fall, which is when we'll launch a wider comprehensive storefront (as opposed to the more stand-alone Buzzwords info page).

[BitBoy]

Oh, the excitement is killing me! I wanna be in the secret club too! :)

Btw, this finally made me create an account and post on this "new" indie board. I was posting sporadically on the Dexterity boards. For those of you who don't recognize me, I was BitBoy on that board..... Duh!

[Kai Backman]

Steve, could you add me as well. Thanks. :)

[mrfun]

Me too! ;)

[lexaloffle]

ok - thanks Steve.

[Bluecat]

I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring. No game, or website yet, but I wouldn't mind being added.

[Norbyte]

Please add me too.

[serg3d]

Can you let me in too ?

www.cellagames.com -under development

[svero]

Everyone up to here who meets the basic criteria has been added.

If you've asked and you don't have a published game yet then I didn't add you. I'm sorry, but I can't really know who everyone is, so it's best that I just stick to the basic rules I layed out in the first post to keep it as fair as possible and retain the semi-private nature of the forum.

To answer the basic question. What might someone post in a more private forum and not a completely public one? Just one example might be details of their anti-piracy technique or how they generate codes. Something that they don't mind sharing with other authors to learn, but would rather not share with a random player who could google it and use it to pirate their game.

[Chris00]

I guess I don't qualify since I'm currently self publishing a utility and my game is still in development.

[Reactor]

"Just one example might be details of their anti-piracy technique or how they generate codes."

Okay, but wouldn't that kind of info be an aid to people developing their first game, who don't have a website up yet? It sounds like there a fair few who are in that position, but won't be privy to that information until they release a game. I don't always mean to be the guy with the glass half empty kind of attitude, but... keeping people out of that loop just doesn't make any sense to me. I would have thought that kind of info would have been discussed through email, since (as someone mentioned) it is the kind of info you wouldn't want some dodgy guy with a website (and/or fake game) reading up on.

But hey, it's your forum, and that's just my two cents.

[svero]

"Just one example might be details of their anti-piracy technique or how they generate codes."

Okay, but wouldn't that kind of info be an aid to people developing their first game, who don't have a website up yet? It sounds like there a fair few who are...

Since the forum is presumably for info people would normally not have posted on the public forum for whatever reservations they might have, adding this extra group just adds information for established authors. So nobody is losing anything from this.

While the info might be useful to a new author, it wouldnt have been posted on the public forums anyway.

[Sillysoft]

I would like to be added. Thanks.

[FlySim]

Me too please.

J.R. Gloudemans
www.flysim.com

[dogbert]

Please add me too - I meet the criteria. HomebrewSoftware for the domain/company, Arrow Antics for the released game.

[Reactor]

Svero, the problem still stands that any old bum could find his way into the forum you're creating. I mean, it isn't hard to have a 'game' and good ol' fake website, and you're taking down the latest notes on piracy protection. I'd personally have to have rocks in my head, to think it wise to share topics like that with anyone who fronts up a game and website, and asks to come into a forum.

As long as people are happy, I guess.

[svero]

Svero, the problem still stands that any old bum could find his way into the forum you're creating. I mean, it isn't hard to have a 'game' and good ol' fake website...

I'm pretty sure the number of hackers out there creating fake game companies to sneak their way into the private discussion forum on this board is reasonably low. I won't lose any sleep over it.

[Quest Engine]

Sign me up please

[MiCo Games]

I think the private forum is an excellent idea. And I suspect that the signal to noise ratio will be a lot better in the private forum than in the public.

So now I can't wait to have our first game finished, so I can request to join :-)

[svero]

I didn't really want to get into a discussion about the merits of having the board or not. It was already discussed at length for various reasons and it was decided it would be worthwhile. I'm going to close this thread now. If you still want to be added then PM me.