IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

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    • IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

      IPAC, as mentioned in the book, is a proprietary tool owned by Glass Eye Entertainment in Austin, Texas. I'm currently negotiating with the owners of Glass Eye to make IPAC available under a number of different licensing plans.

      • Non-commercial license: this will be an inexpensive license to allow game programming geeks everywhere to have their own professional resource tool.
      • Web-game license: this will be a reasonable license that will support a game under 25Mb that is downloaded from the web.
      • Retail game license: this is a license that will support games over 25Mb or those that are distributed via retail.
      • Source code license: allows the licensor to modify the IPAC tool, and use it at their studio address on any number of projects, as long as they don't redistribute it.


      The details or even existence of these licensing plans may vary as negotiations are finalized - so take the above list as something that may completely change.

      I'm very interested in what people would be willing to pay for this tool - it's described fairly well in detail in Chapter 8.

      Here's what I'm thinking:

      Non-commercial license: Shareware, $25
      Web game license: $750 per project
      Retail game license: $2500 per project
      Source Code license: $15,000 one time fee, $2,500 year for source code updates

      The license would let you give every member of the project team the most recent version of IPAC, and unlock the web-based support forum.

      Some questions to ponder:
      What do you think about those prices?
      One of my favorite companies, RAD Game Tools, has multiple project licenses and studio licenses for their wares. Would you like to see the same kind of licensing structure?
      Mr.Mike
      Author, Programmer, Brewer, Patriot
    • As a game programming geek I can't really comment on the web/retail/source prices as I have no idea what prices people usually pay.

      I reckon you could double the shareware price though. Most hobby game programmers would rather spend their time on the game itself instead of the resource file system, so a tool like IPAC would probably be very welcome as it would make their projects seem so much more professional.
      All my games so far have been simple enough to store resources in seperate files, but as my projects get larger I'd really like to package them into a single file. A tool like IPAC would make my projects look much more professional to potential employers so I'd be willing to pay that for it. I hope Glass Eye Entertainment can see the wisdom of allowing the shareware license: todays game programming geek is tomorrows project manager :)
      pan narrans
    • I agree I hope they can go with the shareware license heck even make it four times the amount would be good. As stated before I would rather focus on the game as opposed to focusing on details that are outside the scope of "main" gameplay. I hope this goes well, i will be checking back often for any updates.
      Sam
    • /*
      Here is where i would like to point out the vast
      majority of game programming geeks that i know
      are also poor college students...

      to me $100us is a @#!@-ton of cash to spend if I am doing things as a hobbyist... even 50usd is pretty expensive.. I think the $25 would be the optimum amount for a shareware version

      What would be interesting is a freeware demo..
      that wont actually allow you to create the files but will allow you to take a look at all of the features..

      Seperate .exe's for each license would be very smart as well.. because what can be cracked will be cracked... and anything can be cracked
      */
      Bakka mitai!!!
    • RE: IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

      Sorry if this is a dumb question but how is this a caching solution? Do they have a resource cache implementation like the ones you refer to in your book?

      If not, are there products available that serve this purpose?
    • RE: IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

      Well I guess you are right - it's not a cacheing solution at all. You implement a resource cache yourself, or you can use the simple one in the book.

      IPAC is a resource packing tool.

      Other products - WinZip is one, but it doesn't have any of the graphics "cut out" features in IPAC.
      Mr.Mike
      Author, Programmer, Brewer, Patriot
    • Wow I guess that makes two of you!

      At this moment, I doubt very much that I'll be able to secure the license for reselling IPac. I guess you'll probably have to write your own.

      It's not as hard as you'd expect - and I'll bet it would make a really good C# project.
      Mr.Mike
      Author, Programmer, Brewer, Patriot
    • I know I started taking on a project to make an iPac clone with C#. I got a very basic one running, but it doesn't have some of the features iPac has (such as graphic cut out or compression). Once I get it a bit more functional I'll try and find a place to host it if anyone's interested.
    • RE: IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

      Know of any good places where tutorials on how to load resources from WINZIP files can be found? I am sure if I look hard enough I can find one or two tuts, but I thought to try my luck and see if you knew of any sites off the top of your head...

      If I don;t get a reply, and I find one I will post it here. I am sure I will eventually create my own packing tool, but for now while I am meddling with other things it would be nice to use someone else's code for the time being.
    • RE: IPAC - Resource Packing and Caching

      Originally posted by Megeddo
      Know of any good places where tutorials on how to load resources from WINZIP files can be found?


      I'm always looking for info on various file formats. There should be one place that stores info on atleast the popular public domain ones. It sure would make life easier.