After the recent anger against Asset Store I thought we could collate some well-worded and clear views in public. Asset Store for Unity is a relatively young thing, and evolving to meet challenges. To help asset authors, customers and the team better I propose:
Asset Store rule changes are retroactive - rule changes must be applied to older assets. Therefore, if a new asset cannot have Unity in the title, older assets cannot have Unity in the title. This is very reasonable.
Be specific for example is “Unity Game Thing” not ok and is “Game Thing for Unity” ok?
All people signing up to asset store are emailed regular rule changes a set time in advance.
All assets on asset store can only have a specific Unity license (EULA). Where a custom license is used (if even allowed), this must be clear to the buyer in the forum of a clear license icon or text so customers know they are dealing with a custom license. This is more important than say, retail, because one would expect one license when paying one company. Customers pay Unity.
A private forum area for Asset Authors where they can discuss the marketplace in a non secret unfettered way with the goal of improving relations and improving the store. Currently I understand there is a lot more work involved for the store team in trying to keep everyone up to date and in the loop with various issues.
Hopefully a few asset store authors can weigh in and make it a productive issue rather than an issue of complaints. Asset store is important, but it is also not a right. Nobody has a god given right to be on the Asset Store, so this privilege must work for: Unity, Authors and Customers. All are equally important voices.
If Unity forced each Asset Store member to create a support, email, forum for their Unity Asset Storefront that Unity hosted, then it would be easy to know which asset store sellers intended to support their assets vs. creating and misrepresenting an asset to make a quick bit of money.
each Asset Store author should have a support email address and a forum page
i also think that each asset should have minimal documentation which includes brief description, which version(s) of unity they work with, how to install, setup, configure, use, ect
and each asset should have a change log with list of version numbers version number and details of any changes and/or additions and/or deletions
and each asset version number should always be incremented with each release (update to the version store)
so no more authors being able to update their asset and not change the version number. sort of silent / hidden updates… i mean how long can you have 1.0 initial release.
also all assets should import and run with the version(s) of unity they prop-port to work work without throwing exceptions and refusing to run cause of the exceptions. i mean no more of these assets that you cant even import / run cause they throw exceptions that dont allow the asset to run.
asset functionality / features should match the asset store / forum description
no asset should have hidden / after sale embedded / secret license. no surprises…
basically its about establishing a minimal standards / quality / expectation / value for assets.
so we need some basic checklist that all asset reviewers at unity can blindly follow to ensure that asset meat minimal standards. a soft of check list
also would be nice if in addition to being able to rate an asset we can rate an author. sort of like amazon allow us to rate a seller. not just products. that way we can see who the good authors are and who are the not so good.
also be nice to be able to filter products / authors by rating so we can say give me only 5 stars.
we also need more filtering/sorting in asset store. look at newegg.com they have very nice way to filter on just about everything imaginable.
anyways those are my thoughts. its about establishing norms, value, certainty, utility, expectations, minimal standards.
Unity needs to publish the assets and seller personal info of people caught selling pirated, ripped, or stolen content. Right now it silently disappears…(and you could buy another asset from the same scammer again)
They should email people who have paid money for those assets…with personal info on who ripped them off.
Right now unity is a buffer that protects crooks. Why?
When I get ripped off at work how do I explain to my boss that the asset store ate his money because the asset was worthless? (4 ongui buttons and an empty jar file for $50 sold as a native android plugin).
Yeah I agree with the idea that new rules in the asset store should be emailed to developers before they actually send you an email saying you are now violating one of there new policies that they pulled out of there ass.
I would like to thank everyone who is supporting the UNITY3D Asset Store. It may not be want you want right now, but it will eventually eliminate all those people who are trying to destroy this site with their unethical practices, and that means that the serious people will be able to get work done without dealing with dead end job seeking post. With time I feel you will be able to trust prices that you see here on this website. With time I feel that you will see real opportunities, not people trying to be devious and just in the way. I wish that every script that I needed was already there - but for now I depend on hiring through the community postings - hopefully you hardworking lovers of the gaming industry will flood the Asset Store with more game features and not just the “eye candy” stuff - the hardcore features of game play. In truth most of us need the basics - the advanced finishing touches are far off from where we actually are. Things like plans and structures is where we begin - getting the basic ideas down. Some people will be well pleased to have something they can actually work with. So do not think of how “BAD” the Asset Store is - Think of how “GOOD” it could be.
I love this idea, but wouldn’t that put the Asset Store staff in the position of having to review every product on the store whenever there was a rule change?
Any idea how Asset Authors are invited or apply to this group Eric (or anyone else)? There seems to be a number of us that have not been invited.
Thanks!
I am aware of that and to me it is quite frustrating. I filled it twice so far without success. No reply or additional information at all. Should we fill the form again after a certain amount of time? Basically the same experience as writing an email to assetstore@unity3d.com. If you are not in the inner circle you just feel left alone, because there is no working communication channel.
I feel your frustration. Let me tell you, you’re not the only one with that issue.
They told me they notified one of my packages for a sale back in June last year. After writing them several times, and lot’s of pulled out hair, I learned that my sale slipped through the cracks and I have to fill out that said form…again. This was at the beginning of January. Since then nothing.
I always hear, this is based on a first come, first serve basis. But the whole thing is completely obscure.
The rules are incredibly simple and easy to follow. I’ve never understood why a few people decide that the name of their assets is SOOOOO IMPORTANT. Just change the name to whatever they want. Easy, done.
I used to request that people only contact me through these forums. I wanted to organize any comments/requests in one place and let everyone see what other people were requesting. I found that a large percentage of Unity customers do not use the forums. I had people track me down on Youtube rather than sign up for these forums.
E-mail is the universal contact method and we are now required to publish it under our profile on the asset store.
Dantus, nipoco: That’s kind of worrying. If established guys like you are having problems getting on the 24hr sales, and access to the private google Asset Author group, then I’m not sure what chance I have. Also I am pretty sure I have seen the same assets on sale a number of times… Does this really reflect the reality of the asset store?
I’m less inclined to believe it’s an “inner circle” issue and more inclined to believe that they are simply inundated with requests. I’m sure they get these requests from thousands of publishers and get them over and over again. Hexagon, don’t be discouraged… I started publishing in September last year and I’ve had great luck with the asset store. I have had a couple of questions which I sent via email and I did get responses. It took a little time and there was no way to track the progress (more on that in a minute) but my questions did get answered.
On the sale front, I just filled the form out a few days ago. My asset probably won’t make the sale rotation simply because I am probably pretty far down the request chain and lots of people have submitted before me but that’s ok. Last December I did a charity drive and donated profits from sales to charity. I won’t mention any names, but the folks from the asset store (without me having to ask), added my asset to the winter sale list as an additional sale item and helped me drive sales which allowed me to write a huge check ($3,000) to a local homeless and women’s and children’s shelter in time for Christmas. This alone tells me that they are responsive, even to a publisher like myself who had only been on the store for a couple of months, so I’m inclined to believe it just has to do with the sheer volume of requests they get.
Now, there are a couple of things that I think could be improved. This is just my opinion and there may be good reason that it’s implemented the way it is, but:
Price Updates shouldn’t need to go through the approval process again. Description updates really shouldn’t either, but maybe go into a “review” queue where they are still reviewed but so asset authors can change their prices and descriptions on-demand. They should limit the price changes through (like 2 changes per 30 days, allowing authors to mark an item on sale and take it back off sale but not constantly change). They could also send an email to the publisher requiring a link click to confirm the change (at their registered email address for the user account).
Updated Content (version upgrades) should probably be in a priority queue so they can get approved more quickly. This may already happen actually, or it may not be feasible but it’s just an idea.
Support Tickets! If you’re an asset store publisher, there should be a support ticket system in place. When you ask a question, a ticket is generated (kind of like bug tracker) where you can track the status of your ticket. Some systems will show who the ticket is assigned to… personally I don’t care who is handling the request, I just like to see the progress and whether or not it’s been reviewed. Expectations could be set and remain the same as to how long replies take… but at least we could see if a ticket is closed and know not to expect a response.
