The Asset Flip (The Jimquisition)

Haha! The names of those games That's beyond ridiculous. "Don't Hungry" sounds like a parody. Seems the notion of starving to death and being hungry (expression : starving) did not translate correctly. Did this person try too hard to english? Usually they misinterpret expressions the other way, and then don't starve would be called "don't die".

 

What is funny (and perhaps not so funny and perhaps a bit worrisome ) is that if that is truely him in the photo and he is just some kid it does not look all that good for steam greenlight process. Worse he has about half dozen of these either already released or in the work and when it does melt down and come tumbling down he will have no means to give the people who bought his stuff their money back, well unless Steam goes after his parents and who knows what they can afford and it will end up coming out of Steam's pocket and a black eye for Steam Greenlight. Most likely he will not be able to create a real game and it will be little more than fraudulent Early Access and most members will just move on and never get a game or their money back. So this is not your old mans Steam or Brave new world at Steam and the inmates are overrunning the place.

 

Thats a good point about the early access, some people could buy a game in good faith in the hope that eventually the game will be good and by the time they realize it wont then it will be too late (to get a refund). Maybe they should say you can get a refund of an early access game as long as it stays in early access (so people wont just F*** around forever or not even release it). And of course the games that do not even have 2 hours of gameplay. Maybe steams 1 size fits all solution is no good.

 

I agree with most of what is being said here but I feel one thing is forgotten. People who buy games also have a responsibility. When you buy a game that is early access, you take the risk that the game will never improve or that it will never be released. That is obvious in the word "early access."

I have never purchased an early access game but have browsed them and read the reviews. Since I don't have time to "test" a game at the moment, I skip over them. But if I found one that really sounded good, I would certainly spend the money ($5-$20) to support the game. If it failed, I would not expect to get my money back. My reason for purchasing the early access would be not to get a "discount" on the future price of the game but to support the development of the game.

I will betcha that a lot of people are like me. In fact, in a past game I worked on we had a lot of fans request that we allow them to contribute to the development. This was before Early Access and Kickstarter so we had no easy way to do this but it goes to show that people who love the concept of a game have no problem throwing a few bucks in to help out with the development or, in the case of limited testing spots, to even test the game. On the other hand, it IS the developer's responsibility to do the best they can to get the game fixed and released if they ask for money from the players. Sometimes, though..things happen as I am sure we all know. Lack of funding, failed Kickstarter, personal issues, or lack of interest on the part of the audience....and games fail.

Making people who willingly use their credit card to buy crappy games or early access games that fail the victim really labels those folks as "naive patsies who just couldn't help spending money." Instead, they are people who are paying for the chance to play a game early, maybe save money on a future hike in the cost of the game, or who want to support the developers.

Also, I doubt most developers really want to cheat people. Some do, but most have good intentions. If the game is horrible, the players will warn others. If it is good, they will continue to help development by spreading the word.

I agree the use of assets directly from the store with little to no change is ridiculous. But it is not against the asset store rules and the developers of said assets are not entitled to a credit in the game. Too bad it works that way but unless Unity changes its license, that is how it works. I do think that as time goes by these "game template" assets will become well known and players will be aware. In the meantime, I notice that some of these assets actually say on the store that "you can use my entire level in your game" or as the Unity guy said at the recent roadshow I attended, "go ahead and take our stuff and publish it. We don't care!"

 

Maybe early access games that go too long without patches should be added to the refund policy. I know I'd like my money back from starforge (abandoned), and I totally wouldn't mind the refund causing those devs to go homeless. They abandoned their baby! They abandoned their dream! And they replaced it with a joke.

Let's make this market vicious :3 Do well or die!

 

Well the two big ones im thinking of are starbound (whoops not starcitizen) and towns where the devs made millions off the games and then abandonded them in a broken unfinished state

 

I see your point in this case. However, if the developer abandoned the project, where would the refund come from? Unless they are still making money that is added to their account, I can't see how Steam will collect the refund money. I mean, they could bill the developers, but if the project is abandoned, the company they used to make the game is probably bankrupt or closed.

Trying to collect could be a nightmare for Steam.

I still argue that you, as a developer yourself especially, knew the risk when you bought early access. Lots of folks paid for SWG and then it closed or numerous other games. You can argue that they at least had a finished game to play for years, but some people may have purchased a game shortly before it closed.

 

Jim Sterling is on a roll!

 

@im I'm sure this is only the beginning. To the right crowd, this is more like a PSA that you can scam idiots on steam and valve won't do anything about it.

 

looks like he continues to create more greenlights
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=460094946&searchtext=dew

sadly at this point its completely on steam. they are the ones who approve of him for steam store not one but twice now and they are the ones that continue to allow even to this day people to buy the stuff on steam store and for him to continue to create new greenlights

it's hard enough to do one game at a time, but a handful which if you go to his websites is what it looks like he's doing is just not possible. it like he buys / rips an asset and does a build and calls it game that he goes to then sell.

anyways did you guys see that recently someone created greenlight with a demo game which was little more than malware and stolen assets and it was there for like day where kids were downloading and running it only to find out that is did nothing and thinking nothing of it, sadly they were running malware that sole their logins and a number of them soon started to complain that their accounts in this and that place were being hijacked and strange transactions and purchases being made, ect. finally steam got around to remove it after what i remember to be hours went by. its like steam is not prepare to grow up and just wants to do its thing and the rest, oh well.

 

Nice in theory, but bad in practice because of malefactors. Too bad, so sad. We can't just go out and eliminate those individuals. I mean, how would we obtain their addresses? And yes, that is the primary concern with that course of action. My new shoes are white so I'd have to decline anyway.

I wonder if I'll live to see law catch up with the internet. I can't imagine how many future laws I've broken just tonight, streaming the content I did off my phone to my grandparents TV so 5 people could see a movie & a tv show. I sometimes feel I'd give that up if it meant people uploading malware to the internet could receive capital punishment.

 

Give me as much detail as you can get, and I'll deliver the rest. I've helped in quite some reddit and 4chan investigations.

 

Then you should use your talent to cleanse omegle of pedophiles. Use those resources to track them down and turn them in

On topic: I hope someone makes a proper jim sterling simulator soon.

 

Someone already uploaded jim sterling simulator. And its gone...
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=465502992

 

That's why I said 'proper'. I watched him play a very boring 'jim sterling simulator'. There should be a game where he goes around wielding his reviews in the form of a weapon and takes down monsters in the form of crappy greenlight games.

 

Get on it then

 

Lol I would but I've been really uninspired lately. I don't think I could do it justice.

 

good news for change!

someone filed DMCA takedown notice on serial asset flipper Kotach!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=460094946

 

As an asset developer I would be very happy for my customer if they were able to take one of my assets a 'flip' it to create something profitable. Good for them.

 

! ! ! THREE VERY LOUD CHEERS FOR QUANTUM THEORY ! ! !

looks like it was QT himself who sent the DMCA takedown notice

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/...94946/594821545177878380/#c594821545178419435

 

Wow it goes on and on...

This video that they did that is on Youtube also appears to be inappropriately using content from Quantum Theory's web demo!

 

found another one

The Rebel: New Beginning
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=449279888

and it maybe that they are not just using assets but also perhaps in violation of license for one of the assets

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/449279888/613958868375531740/

here is part of what @BeDaGame posted

 

What if you sold a $5 starter kit for making a side scrolling shooter game, someone bought it, and then put it on steam for $10 with no modifications? The issue with the 'flip' is that no work is being done and people are being ripped off, because they could spend half the money to get your asset directly. That would be more money for you and no money for scum.

Oh my goodness, the framerate! My eyes!

 

I am thrilled that QT did this, because it helps remind everybody that the demo videos and screenshots for an asset are not typically included in the asset license. There have been plenty of Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter projects where the so called "game developer" simply posted a copy of a pre-existing demo video. At a bare minimum, those kids need to purchase the asset(s) and create their own videos instead of posting somebody else's video and calling it their own.

It is fantastic that QT took the time to clarify this. There is nothing wrong with using properly licensed assets in a game. There is a huge problem with copying somebody else's videos without their permission, though.

 

Well if they're met with a measure of success I guess that says something about the quality of the Assets at least.

Kind of hilarious that people are stupid enough to shovel out game trailers with no effort and expect to be successful.

 

actually they are successful. it now takes very little to go from steam greenlight to steam store.

and it takes very little sales to make the money back. think about it if the asset sells for $50 on the unity asset store and the game selling on steam for like $5 or even $10 how many sales from people who know little does it take to make a profit with steam taking 30%.

you can guess not many sales. even selling these games at $0.19 it does not take many when you consider that steam has easily over 80M active accounts and that most will not go to the discussion areas, come here, read any reviews, ect before pressing purchase using their parents credit cards.

the thing is steam becoming giant money making place for scammers. from people making money farming stuff like cards, backgrounds, emoticons, ingame marketplace items ect..

this is the new scam now since it takes so little effort and u can make more money on it than pennies profit on marketplace stuff.

so u see its very easy to make money on steam, just needs like of people who do not know better and steam has lots of those people on steam buying all the time, especially dirt cheap games, like these...

hey most of these members dont even look at the minimum hardware requirements before buying. so its like almost 100% easy to get something though greenlight nowadays and its amost like 100% sure that you will turn profit if you only spent like $50 on a single asset and did very little work...

worse most members dont refund, they keep believing the so called developers will do something and since its released early access will hold on to them hoping that they will get a game well beyond the 2 weeks refund time and will actually play the games well beyond the 2 hours and will end up forgetting about it and moving on and the fake developers making keeping their money and never delivering a game. hey when u have real game comanies like bis with 1-2 years and their stuff forever in early access and steam not giving people refunds cause it exceeds the time limits, these scammers can easily hide. worse as the unity asset store developers of the asset make releases these people release those pataches with release notes as their own

so these people even with dmca takedown notice still have very good chance of getting the votes because steam does not look at the no votes only on you getting enough yes votes and i think from what has been recently reported it takes much less to get out on steam store. i guess steam thinking people will curate it. but the thing is people are getting outright perm banned from the games discussion areas on steam when by the developer appointed moderators when they try to curate it.

here is a member that created thread that linked to reviews for the game and the developer forum moderator perm banned them fro the games discussion area for it and removed the thread with link to reviews.

http://i.imgur.com/eOCEBNQ.jpg

but i have very good news, ive been thinking hard on this, the thing is its also very easy to end this charade. the thing is to drain the swamp, to take the profit out of it. so that people cant simply go buy an asset and put it the included demo on steam as their own and start selling it after a few weeks on greenlight and little after that be turning a profit on it. you see these so called developers are in it only for a quick buck off the tons of mostly kids who are on steam with parent credit cards and dont know better. so if they cant make a quick buck, if they cant make any money at all at it they will go do some other scamming else were.these asset flippers if they had to do some real work, they really cant since it does not look like they have the ability (not the skills) or the inclination other than to flip the asset as is and make a quick buck. so the solution is easy to take the ability to make money on it, to force them to do real work before they are able to make money and that is extremely easy. and i will post details later , well as soon as i have it worked out how to turn the lemons into lemonade! turn what is now a negative, disadvantage to a positive, advantage.

 

Are you okay? I mean, really, this issue doesn't matter that much.

 

Seriously.

 

i'm ok just bored...

 

hey looks like author (or someone) removed Grass in dew

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=460094946

unfortunately same author still has two games in steam store that are little more than selling the demos that comes with the assets as his own.

 

I have no problem with that, silly me for not realising I could have made more money (if that was my goal).

There's no rule saying that the value of items must be tied to the amount of "work done". But even then... these guys have created a page, have published an app as a demo, have created videos, etc. This is work. Hell, they have even added some (slight) value: convenience.

I believe in free and open markets, which means people are allowed to put up crap if they want, and people are allowed to buy crap if they want. If the seller/store front decides to set a low barrier to entry that is their right too.

If people are breaking the terms of use, infringing copyrights, etc, then absolutely they should be shut down. But people who are using the asset in a legal way have every right to do so. This thread seems to make no distinction between the two.

Finally it seems some of these people are legitimately trying to create a game (based on the asset) and are using these asset 'flips' as a way to test the market and gather interest. This just sounds like good business sense. I do wonder how many people are so incensed by this practice simply because their own projects have not been successful...

 

Agreed.
I am not sure I see the problem here. The environment and market has gotten to the place where this kind of activity is possible. Every industry sees this kind of stuff on some level. There will always be people who will this stuff. As a developer, it is nothing more than a minor amusement, those folks will come out in the wash. They aren't making enough money to have any impact. They are fighting it out with the other bottom feeders over scraps.

Sure folks like Sterling are talking about it, they are journalists, that's what they do. But all the other "developers" on steam whining about it seems like wasted energy. Maybe if they spent less time worrying about developers are doing and focused in their own game, it wouldn't even be an issue.

Yes, the straight up ripping someone else's game/content is different. But the flipping is pretty much a non-issue really.

 

I know it's not violating any terms of service, it's just sad that they're charging 200% to sell a built version of your asset. They're paying more for less. America doesn't need more of that right now, we've already got a republican majority in office ;_;

 

But Steam operates not only in US... Other countries may need it

 

Wow that thread was worth a good read!

I remember seeing that UnitZ game on Steam, I was wondering if the game was made (as in copied) from a wannabe dev or it was the actual UnitZ Author that was perhaps also selling a template of his game on the Asset Store.. I guess it was a wannabe dev...

Unfortunately scammers, as I like to call them, are everywhere...

 

They're getting screwed even harder because Valve pretends that 1USD = 1 other country dollar. Now they're not just paying $5 which is already wrong for their currency, they're paying twice as much! Though I doubt there are as many suckers in other countries, so I'm not concerned about them either way ^-^

Also, steam refunds. It'd be fun to buy those games just to take the money back from those... people.

 

Now, let's hunt all the games that will be 95% made from this asset: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/37531 !!

 

So sad to watch this. People should really stop this bulls**t!
That's why I'm making all the assets on my own. Using most of other's assets is the worst thing you can do to earn money as a game developer. I mean why do you even call yourself a developer then?
You should call yourself a "Rip off Publisher" .

 

Thanks for posting, that one looks fantastic! Similar price to UnitZ, no doubt Kotach will go after this one.

 

In general the best thing to do is to use the resources you already have instead of seeking out new resources. That's called being resourceful. If you do it well, it shouldn't matter at all. If you do it badly, shame on you! But you did nothing wrong for using the resources you already have.

I don't see the problem with marketing an asset as a game because:

1. You bought the asset and have all legal authority use it.
2. Players won't care as long as you deliver them an enjoyable experience.

What I do see as a problem is asset flippers often violating point #2. Assets are, most of the time, tools. Sometimes, one of those assets comes along that can't be used as a tool, but instead as a complete game (i.e. UnitZ). So with someone else's code, someone else's scenes, and someone else's animations, using UnitZ as a foundation for your game would be pretty annoying if not difficult.

If UnitZ were a perfectly complete game with more content than walking around, shooting zombies, and some other features, flipping it would be 100% okay. Unfortunately, it's not and making it a complete game would be pretty difficult so the only person benefitting here is not the player or the developer, but the guy selling the shovels.

Edit: UnitZ is actually pretty awesome and complete so that's a bad example. Selling Polyworld as a game would be a better one.

 

speaking of asset flip... next up... blacksmith game

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/06/24/releasing-the-blacksmith/

 

I'm still waiting for that Viking game though!
Maybe we will get a blacksmith viking one!

 

UE4 has the rock-face guy from samaritan. Unity has the blacksmith from whatever that title was. Bring on the crappy games featuring them as the protagonists!

 

Well it seems like the steam users aren't liking asset flips

Read the comments
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=468069170

 

My point still stands. Read my post.

 

not to mention using music in video that they dont have rights to

and misusing numerous logos without following guidelines for their proper use.

and possible more, check the rating 18 which is bs since it has not been submitted as far as anyone knows to any rating agency...

 

Wouldn't see this before steam refunds

 

yeah looks like steam refund and people asking for them in large numbers maybe forcing some publishers/developers to change their ways in the past i think we all know how it most likely have ended.

refunds is a good thing so far ive gotten two refunds in little over an hour i got my refund and in a couple days my money back and that made me quite happy since the games both which i got during summer sale turned out to be both little more than crapware.

 

Hahahaha! Oh my goodness The reign of not-giving-a-poop-about-your-broken-games is over! That said, it was probably unnecessary for them because Ark survived the same issue and fixed it within a week of release.

Best day ever <3 other things are going on to contribute to that, but this was certainly the cherry on top.

@im I've got $59.99 in my wallet waiting to be spent on either several indie games or 1 AAA game. I wonder when I'll spend it

 

My PayPal info is ..... thanks a bunch tomnnn.