Daikon Forge no longer being sold in the Asset Store

great!

 

Thanks for the more detailed reply Caitlyn, glad to see you guys are on top of things!

 

Excellent Caitlin. Customers rights (your #4) is probably the most important. I believe there has a been a sharp decline in total Asset Store purchases about the time paging and top 3 reviews were added. Not sure if that's a coincidence or people were losing faith in their rights due to refund policy changes and the like.

 

Thanks for the link to their site, but their link for becoming verified is broken.

 

As well as his "Contact Us" page's Captcha system.

As it appears now, just devious and underhanded.

 

OK...

Customers who purchased DFGUI can now find and download it from within the Download Manager

Thanks for your patience everyone!

 

Strange, wasn't the case yesterday. I wonder why they removed that thread.

Is this also broken now?

http://www.daikonforge.com/forums/asinvoice/ (use when logged in to their forum)
http://www.daikonforge.com/forums/resources/daikon-forge-user-interface-library.9/

 

A bit of shameless self promotion? I like it!

 

Glad you found a way to make the asset available again to all who bought it. Thx, caitlyn!

 

Nope, not if my sales are any indication. July was one of the best months ever, even without anything on sale. (And for the record, if my stuff ever disappears from the asset store it's because the planet was hit by an asteroid or something and we all have more pressing issues to deal with. )

--Eric

 

The asset store really needs a way to download assets in the background so you always have the latest copy of the assets, or at least a web interface we can do it easily, then we can just script it. The asset store is painfully slow, especially when going to it inside Unity.

They specifically removed the directions on how to become a verified customer a while ago, in fact they went so far to modify their robots.txt to disallow wayback archive to store copies of the directions. They knew they were going to do this for a long time as they were preparing for it for a while.

 

Don't care if the asset is available again for me to download. What's happened is enough for me to un-blacklist the Unity Asset Store because of the proactive approach that Caitlyn has taken in helping customers and the fact that she got the job done.

The blacklist shifts over to Daikon Forge. Not even when it is cold in hell would I ever buy or consider buying anything from this group of cowboy businessmen. What they did was more than just a bad business decision. Their behavior and the methods they used leading up to this puts them in contempt of every customer they have and now probably have lost.

I don't want the asset even though I paid for it. They can shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I've been blasting ahead replacing their GUI with NGUI. The work to switch to NGUI this far in my project is so tedious and morale draining I'm barely able to gather the mental energy to continue.

Luckily for me there is a turbo boost thought that keeps me going. The thought is of reaching the finish line and giving Daikon Forge the middle finger and also letting them know that their stupid incompetent decisions did not spell the end for my project.

Daikon Forge = BLACKLISTED.

Ta!

 

I actually bought DF as well a long time ago when doing a concept, I've been lurking on this thread waiting to see the result.

This is one of many reasons why we want you guys and gals at Unity to do the tools, asset store is great for slapping together a concept or buying some shaders if you don't have time. But it's not in anyway a replacement for engine tools, take it as flattery we obviously trust Unity enough to do the right thing (even if we don't always agree with the method).

 

It seems that a major refactoring would have been required to make it usable for mobiles. As uGUI is around the corner, it would likely have been a huge time waster. From my point of view, it is understandable, even if the way in which it happened was clearly not optimal.

I don't understand why that single example should be a reason to avoid the asset store.

 

I never said it is a reason to avoid the asset store, just because UGUI is about doesn't mean people don't want to or won't use DF. Neither is this a single example..

Also engine core components are always best served by the engine developer.

 

Even though I can actually download DFGUI's latest version, because they've removed the steps you need to take to become a verified customer, I can't actually use it for the reason I bought it. Namely, to integrate with playmaker to make my GUI management easier.

 

There are many examples where the core components haven't worked for years or were never properly implemented. It is not just black and white.

 

As someone who once took a break from using Unity and then returned to find packages I had paid for were no longer available for download, and where I had no clue if I had the most current version, I rather dislike the current Asset Store policy. I do hope it changes soon.

As others have pointed out, there are many reasons why the package vanishing from the store may make a paying customer lose their asset: A buyer may not download a package right away. The Asset Store runs very slowly within Unity and sometimes just won't download. Keeping up with asset updates can be a full time job, both from the slow downloads and because some sellers seem to update regularly with no apparent changes (perhaps to keep near the top of the asset list).

There is also the problem that you cannot download a package if they seller posts it up in a later version of Unity than you are currently running. I do not like updating Unity mid-project as you never know what problems that could cause. In order to keep my projects up to date, I am forced to install two versions of Unity and use the most recent one only to get updates. (Which also requires me to regularly open that version of Unity and check for updates "just in case" so I do not lose anything.)


There are three things that I would really like to see the Asset Store do in order to improve their value to us, their customers:

1) When an asset is pulled from the Asset Store, allow for the user to download the latest version at least once more. This could be as simple as e-mailing every purchaser and giving them a 30 day time window, or better yet providing them with a link to download outside of Unity.

2) Provide information as to why an asset was removed from the Asset Store so that we know we are not using a package that has copyright or other issues.

3) Give us a way to remove assets from our list ourselves. I have numerous free assets I grabbed to try or play with, but which I do not want to have updated or even show up in my list. When I go to update any packages I do want, I end up having to sift through all these unwanted packages that have gotten an update somewhere along the line. Even a "Depreciated" category so that I wouldn't see them anymore would be great.


What I'd really like to see is a way to download my assets outside of Unity itself. Using the Asset Store through Unity is extremely slow and having to sometimes close Unity entirely and start over in order to get downloads working is a major drain on time I'd rather spend elsewhere.

I would also really like it if when I download a package from the Asset Store, it has the version number in the file name.

 

Caitlyn, you guys also have the power to approve / disapprove assets and publishers. As this is the second time this has been done by the same vendor I would suggest you deny them the ability to publish to the asset store any further.

 

mmkai.

If everyone did this that had a problem, nothing would get done.

There we go , thank you.

Is there any chance you will be doing this for further removals or at least are considering it?

The speed problem has been fixed in Unity 5 IIRC.

 

Thank you. That is the kind of support we like!!!! +1 to you.

 

Prime reason I want Unity to step up and implement needed features into the core. I am so sick an tired of depending on 3rd party assets. My project depends on 3 pretty critically right now and if any of them stopped being supported my project is done for without a major rewrite. The new UI coming in 4.6 is absolutely a step in the right direction and will allow me to replace CoherentUI (going to be a major rewrite, I know) so I have 1 less dependency on a good UI solution (hated NGUI, too slow, too clunky, too awful!).

 

Excellent response-time, Caitlyn and gang

Turns out I didn't have the latest version, but now I do. If I feel like using it!

I've been having trouble with the asset list going blank. White squares covering parts or all of the list of assets I've bought, making it very hard to even click the download buttons. I've seen one mention of the problem, but I don't even know if that one bug report has been seen by UT. Where and how do I send bug reports about the asset list?

 

I am not under the impression that you need to "import the asset into a project or it didn't exist on your computer", I understand that once you download the asset it is on your computer. However, wherever it is is under Unity's control and they could delete it at any time. It could be at risk of being deleted by UT. My point was that you should copy the asset to another location not under the control of Unity. Without that you are at the mercy of Unity's lawyers. One way to do that is to import the the asset into any empty project and export it as a package, another way is to find where the assets are stored and copy the package files to a safe location.

Your last comment "Or how about skipping all that and just have it available for download if you've bought it, even if it gets pulled from the store...." is the way it should be, but apparently is not the way the Unity lawyers have set things up, so you should protect yourself.

 

Thanks Caitlyn! Is Unity going to try to sort this out so that it can continue to offer downloads for paid products for all assets, or does this only get done on a case by case basis with the really popular assets that get removed? I would feel much better about the asset store if I knew it was more like MSDN or Steam and I could rely on my purchases being downloadable whenever I need them rather than having to manually back everything up.

 

Yeah I'm very thankful for the quick solution. Now I'm curious what are the future plans to prevent further problems like this? Anything you guys are willing to share? There's been a lot of devs sharing thoughts in the Unity blogs, regarding upcoming changes in the Unity engine, I was hoping the same for the Asset Store.

 

lol I will make that same claim with our assets, not about the sales, but about it disappearing (never). I can say that Asset Store sales are down overall for the following reason. Master Audio was pretty much always in the top 10 of Editor Extensions category, including the last 2 months. However we're seeing about 60% of the sales we saw before 2 months ago. Since our rank hasn't really changed, that means that pretty much sales are down overall, at least in the Editor Extensions category.

I also read a popular recent thread on Reddit where most authors had the exact same thoughts (20+ authors). So I'm pretty sure it's more true than not.

I'm glad your sales are up, good for you

 

Or those who are stuck with a previous version? As long as it's the same product they should have the right to download the latest version in my opinion.

 

Thank you Caitlyn for listening to the community and making that happen. Great job.

I have a question though: Is there a time limit on how long the DF GUI download will be available? Or will it be available for customers who purchased it indefinitely?

Just wondering if I urgently need to download the latest version as soon as possible, or if I will be able to access and download it in 5 months -- or a year even?

 

Is this only for DFGUI or for all the removed, but purchased assets?

 

Just download it anyway. Then back it up to another drive. Better to be safe then sorry.

 

Your sales may be down but that doesn't mean all sales are down. I'm not super-familiar with your Master Audio asset but am I wrong in guessing that Unity 5's audio system overhaul will eliminate at least some of the need for this? If so, that would explain the lower sales numbers.

 

Good job UT on handling this situation. I didn't even know DF GUI was discontinued.

 

DF's Verified Customer link works again now, too. Just for the record.

 

What was the first asset they did this with?

 

To kill any hopes they were just going to release 2.x and that was the reason, they removed 2.x section in the forums and on their site. So it is unlikely they have plans on releasing any major replacement or rewrite.

 

uSpeak voice chat

 

Maybe they are about to launch uForge

 

He mentioned that his ranking hasn't changed, yet he's experiencing lower sales by a pretty large margin.

Either Unity is doing those rankings manually or he's still a large margin above in sales than the people below him, so even when he dropped in sales he was still very high up there or it's what he said.

 

if you look at master audio for example it's number one in editor extensions/audio top paid but if you look under editor extensions it's not in the top 10 which just means that category isn't selling as much maybe people are split choosing the other audio manager or something now. So it doesn't really tell us much

 

It would make sense for sales to drop while people wait for Unity 4.6 and 5, since the release dates are so nebulous. Especially for anything GUI or Audio related. People don't want to buy something that may become obsolete or incompatible in a few months.

 

Exactly, I was about to post the same thing. People are waiting to see the new audio improvements in U5 - that's why Master Audio is being impacted.

There may also be hesitancy to invest heavily in Unity assets while waiting to compare U5 against UE4.

 

I am here to stay as well with TextMesh Pro.

BTW: I just committed to be a Bronze Sponsor at Unite 2014 in Seattle, so if your going to be there please stop by to check out TextMesh Pro.

 

Incorrect. You have to look at it with the right perspective. Let me explain. Right now, excluding things in the current madness sale (which automatically rank above everything) Master Audio is ranked #6 in all Editor Extensions (out of 1,075) and our other plugin Core GameKit is ranked #9 in all Editor Extensions

As I said our rank hasn't changed since highly profitable months, which means we're still outselling the other 1,065 assets in the entire category. So there is nothing audio-plugin-specific about this.

Yes Unity 5 has audio stuff coming out but that's not really relevant since we're outselling the other 1,065. And yes there are some audio assets in Scripting/Audio, but they don't rank as high in Scripting and have far less reviews (read: we are not actually losing much market share to the other audio paid audio plugins).

I don't believe there's any angle I haven't considered. Conclusion: Asset Store sales for Editor Extensions are definitely down overall unless people are ONLY buying the 5 assets ranked above ours.

Disagree? How do you explain it then?

 

And there's no way I would allow either of those to happen It will not become obsolete or incompatible.

Maybe BasedOnThePlay is correct and people are holding off buying lots of assets until Unity 5 comes out and/or are already migrating to UE4?

 

I noticed that too. I was thinking it's related to the new forum, because it now displays signatures only, when you're signed in. Everyone who isn't signed into the Unity forum, will not see the links to your products in your signature.

 

I highly doubt that that many sales were coming from the forums.

 

My sales have fluctuated but are averaging only slightly lower. As to the forums.. Sales for me a considerably lower in months where I don't have much time to participate in the forums. Google Analytics also shows a pretty high click through rate from the forums to my other sites.

 

Not so sure about that, I and many others rely on the forums to find good assets.

I found JSON.Net through the forums and purchased it ; was well worth the money.

 

Wow, this whole situation has been crazy. It's good to see that the Asset Store stepped up and is allowing customers access to the files they paid for, as I was always under the impression that's what the policy was to begin with. BUT I'd like to strongly recommend to everybody the following...

If you buy a digital product it is then your responsibility to download it and keep track of it! It costs nothing extra (maybe a couple minutes of your time) to immediately download something, store it on your hard drive in a place you can find in the future, and back it up along with all the other stuff you back up. Being able to download something in perpetuity is great, but is not something I would rely on in this world. You never know when the S%$# is going to hit the fan.

Perhaps the Asset Store sales encourage a mentality of "buy it now and use it later", but it is still your responsibility to make sure you got what you initially paid for.