Blam! Developer Communities Network

Everything about HD, MD, and their mods.

Moderator: Halo Moderators

Sparky
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Sparky » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:58 pm

Back working on the BDCN site.
The INCY will be be restricted in access to those who know the password. This is to limit access to those in the community. When you use Zeus, you will be able to specify the INCY password in Zeus' preferences window, which will allow you to access the INCY.

Again, the INCY is a collection of resources, tags, maps and projects used and shared by the Blam! Developer Communities, including members of HaloMaps.org and MacGamingMods.com, for example.

Those who use the web site will be given the password. But those who do not use it will be denied access. It's as simple as that.

Why limit access with a password? This requirement will make access more private and lighten the burden on the server. For example, each time you load a forum like MGM, you query the server for information. Since the INCY will include a large amount of information displayed all at once, we cannot have bots or anonymous users using bandwidth and server resources to such an extent.

You will be able to search the INCY and streamline your queries so that you get only the kind of information you desire. You can search and limit results to specific types of items, such as filtering your search results to display only tag files. By default, all the files in the INCY are displayed, which will result in quite a large page size. But information for each entry is limited to text, not images like the HDM Mod Database included. Information stored in each INCY entry includes what was mentioned in the previous post: the file name, the project name, the user who uploaded that file, the team name, the type of file it is, the description of the file, the time it was added, and the time it was most recently modified. You will be able to alphabetically sort the display of most of this information, or revise your search results.
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

Excend
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Excend » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:39 am

This thread is a bombshell of tl;dr, so sorry if I missed something important, but did I get it right that BDCN actually got legal conformation from Microsoft to mod Halo and then even sell it (shareware)?
TaxiService wrote:Roses are red
Violets are blue
What a shitty thread
Fuck all of you.

Sparky
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Sparky » Tue Jul 23, 2013 6:43 am

BDCN did not get legal confirmation (nor was there conformation) from Microsoft about anything, although modding Halo does not need legal confirmation or conformation, and selling anything as shareware was never the idea.

I honestly want nothing to do with Microsoft. I would rather keep this an activity confined to the Halo communities and not dealing at all with Microsoft. That does not mean that BDCN will refuse or cease any plans dealing with Microsoft. That means that the business plan can stand alone between BDCN and the community members who develop resources, tags, maps and projects for Halo. The donations to support those projects still go to team members, but instead of Microsoft taking a cut of that, since the source code to Halo is not involved, it would only be BDCN taking a cut of the donations to support the site. I would say something like 10% of the donations would go to support the site, and 90% would go to the individual or team to whom it was being donated money to support their Halo mod development or whatever.

BDCN could also sell a one-time web site access "ticket" which gives you access to the site and its resources, like the INCY and Zeus and whatever. So instead of buying a license for whatever software, you can think of it as like $5 to use the site, the INCY, Zeus, and whatever else I would bundle with it. That would go 100% to support the server hosting costs and business expenses. It would be legal because it would not be making money "off of Halo" or any Microsoft products, but rather, donations would go to fellow community members and also help a little to support the hosting costs, and the web site access fee would be a one-time thing to also support the web site hosting costs. It's just as legal as making a topical blog and some complementary software and charging for people to access it --- it doesn't even matter what the blog is about or what the software does. In this case, the BDCN has server hosting costs and a simple business cost and I would rather it be self-sustainable in this regard. Some web sites spam advertisements on their pages (which is lame because of nice donationware like AdBlock), but ads are not an option for my purposes. I figure, if the communities that use the BDCN want it to continue, then they should support it if they want to use it. It would not even be buying software, it would be buying the ability to use the site (some people call this a subscription fee) for like $5 so that I can pay the hosting company without digging into my otherwise leaking pocket.

I would like to be able to have a nice dedicated server for us to use, but that is far more expensive than the current $180 per year and would only be reasonable through this approach of having the community members support each other and also directly support the web site. Since individuals are working together apart from a business -- and the community members are not being paid by the BDCN or hired or subcontracted by the BDCN to mod -- then the money that goes to the community members and modding teams can only be called donations. But since the BDCN is intended to operate as an LLC, it must sell something or otherwise claim gained revenue as something besides donations. So it would sell access to the web site, where you would pay one time and be able to use the site and all its related features and whatnot henceforth, and it would also take an "operating" percentage from the donations given to the community members in the form of 10% of the donation.

Say you like the mod Crossing and want to see another version of it or want to say how much you enjoy playing that particular mod by sending Moxus some money, maybe even encourage him to do another mod like it or to extend it somehow. You would do this through the BDCN web site, BDCN would take off 10%, and the remaining 90% would get mailed to Moxus as a check, or if he specifies that he prefers receiving donations via PayPal, then he would receive the 90% via PayPal. This is completely legit; you are not paying for the mod, but donating money to a friend for the work he does, whatever it may be (in this case, it's modding).

These donations come from the player and modder communities; anyone can play the mod, and fellow modders can work together on mods. If you donated money to CMT, for example, 90% of your donation would be split among all the team members in CMT. However, if you donate to a particular mod or project, then only the team members who are recorded as publishing that project get a percentage. In the INCY, it records the individuals who worked on a project and keeps track of these details once the files are added to the INCY. In any case, you get to specify exactly who receives a percentage of money that you want to donate to them.

Aside from donations, BDCN might need to charge a one-time registration fee for using the web site. So you can consider it an investment; if you pay $5 to use the site, you can use it for your projects and maybe make a lot more in donations if people like your mods or whatever. Just realize that everything there is free otherwise; the BDCN cannot charge for using the content of its members or using anything that is directly the IP of Bungie, MacSoft, Microsoft, 343 Industries, or whomever else. There are no contracts and no warranties, just the premise of bringing together the Halo Communities more than they are presently. And this is what I've had envisioned for many years now: to unify the Halo Communities, MGM, Halomaps.org, Halo Nation, people over at 343i, and whomever else is interested in Halo, modding it, or developing content for it.

Bungie tried something similar to this, but ended up shutting down its Halo-game-statistics-recording server, and I can say with certainty that Microsoft has no interest in doing something like this, nor would they be able to do it. These businesses are trying to reach out to the Halo communities but lack the vision or logistics to do what only the Halo communities can do.

And I speak as a member of each of these communities. It is up to us, we must do this. Use the Blam! Developer Communities Network.

No more MediaFire or FileFront or DropBox or FileDropper file hosting. No more unsuitable and buggy MediaWiki software for presenting libraries of Halo content. Host your resources, tags, mods, maps, and projects at BDCN.
No more scouring your maps or projects or HaloMaps.org for tags and assets. Use the well-suited Incyclopedia to publish and find any community work.
No more questions like, "how do you import sound tags" or "how do you mod" or anything like that, where you have to know what something does in Eschaton or have to know how to avoid errors in Tool or the HEK programs. Use Zeus instead.
No more scouring the internet for answers to Halo-related questions. No more separate web site forums where each sect of Halo community is working in isolation and barely or never helping each other or working on the same project anymore. The BDCN will be a unification of all the Halo Communities, everyone sharing information, resources, tags, maps, projects, tools, and other things related to Halo.

The unique features and set up of the BDCN means it is the best future for Halo-related web sites and their communities. It is the Blam! Developer Communities Network, a network of Halo communities. It is something that we, the members of these Halo communities, must do for ourselves.
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

sparksplugs

Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by sparksplugs » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:10 pm

INCY demo passwords:

abcd
abcde
abcdef

http://www.blamdevcom.net/incy

Sparky
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Sparky » Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:22 am

I removed some menu items and updated Zeus to include basic support for the INCY. Additional features will be included soon.
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

Sparky
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Sparky » Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:07 am

1. I am no longer using blamdevcom.net for the Blam! Developer Communities Network (BDCN). If you want to get to the BDCN web site, use the URL http://halo.galaxyverge.com .
2. The BDCN web site will be available again once it is ready for use. I'll let you know at the time it is available that it is available.
3. The URL http://www.halodemomods.com/ will take you to the appropriate Halo Demo area of the BDCN web site. The contents of the HDM wiki pages will be used in the reference section of the BDCN web site, but the actual HDM wiki is retired.
4. The BDCN web site will have several main areas, including Reference Pages which form collected research about several topics in the areas of the Blam! game engine and Halo file formats and modding those files, and also including the Incyclopedia (INCY) which is essentially a file sharing area that is integrated into Zeus.
5. Finally, this web site can be referred to in several ways: The Blam! Developer Communities Network (BDCN) [which is the actual name of the network], Halo Galaxy Verge (HGV) [which is the location of the web site], or Halo Demo Mods (HDM) -- the older web site was the "HDM wiki" -- [which now refers specifically to the Halo Demo areas of the network and web site]. So you can call it "BDCN", "HGV" or "HDM". "BDCN" means the community network overall, "HGV" means the web site, and "HDM" is specifically the Halo Demo portion of the network. So you could say, "HDM is a part of the BDCN found at HGV." So when you refer to the network and its community members and projects, that's the BDCN. When you refer to the web site, that's HGV. And when you refer to projects or areas of the BDCN web site (HGV) that deal with Halo Demo, that's HDM. That's the extended clarification of how these things relate.
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

Sparky
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Re: Blam! Developer Communities Network

Post by Sparky » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:51 pm

Links (to be activated when ready):

http://zeus.galaxyverge.com/: Zeus -- web site for this application
http://unsc.galaxyverge.com/: UNSC -- Halo reference headquarters
http://incy.galaxyverge.com/: INCY -- Incyclopedia Halo file manager
http://halo.galaxyverge.com/: BDCN -- web site
Either you are groping for answers, or you are asking God and listening to Jesus.

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