In a weird twist of fate, while working on my current project, I started writing a development/production tool which is just a few days away from being submitted to the Asset Store. I never really thought that I would ever write something to put into the Asset Store, but I think it’s something that other people will find useful for their projects.
I’m selling two main scripts, with more to be added based on community feedback. The package comes with a fully configured sample scene.
The folders are well-structured, such that when imported, the package contents reside in its own folder, with the sample scene (scene, models, mats and scripts) separated from the actual tool folders
All source code is included and documented, C# only
There are no DLL files or editor add-ins
There is a readme.txt file, which explains everything included in the package, how to use the scripts and what to plug into the inspector fields.
There is a Web player demo based off of the sample scene
There is only one base model, which I created myself
In addition to the two main scripts, there are two scripts that I pulled off the of Internet that were freely available. Both are Javascript and were posted in a tutorial package downloadable through a link posted on the person’s YouTube Channel. I modified one for the sample scene, and rewrote the other one in C#. These are not major scripts - just simple scripts to do very simple things.
I use a handful of images from someone’s freely available GUISkin for a GUISkin that I use to deal with overlaying window transparency issues.
I have no idea where these guys got their scripts or images from, because they didn’t indicated that in their download packages. The script rewritten into C# is just a supporting script for my two main scripts. The GUISkin is not what I’m primarily selling.
The interesting thing about this package, is that it fits into two Asset Store categories. It’s a script that works like an editor extension, but it only works in-game. Confused? Yeah, it’s a development tool with the flexibility to modify it and include it into your final product. That’s why the source is included.
How much? I’m thinking $10.00 US. Is that too low? I’m trying to help people out and make some money at the same time to put towards buying Pro - or perhaps some other things from the Asset Store.
I already watched this tutorial on how to submit a package to the Asset Store.
This should go smoothly, but I was wondering if anybody had anything to share about their experience relative to what I posted above - either as a seller or buyer.
I have a leaderboard in the asset store (dreamlo). It’s really easy to use.
My experience:
I had a very short code example. But people didn’t know what to do with it. They want a prefab they can drop into their scene and it works.
I had the scores displaying from high to low. But people wanted me to make it so they can change the request to the server to get it in reverse order.
I figured it people wanted that, they could just reverse the for loop. Or use Linq or generic lists sorting etc… I think a lot of people cut and paste code. So I just added extra functions to sort things different ways.
People will use your asset in ways you never planned/imagined. See what they do, maybe you can add that to your app to make it worth more.
Respond to support requests QUICKLY. If something doesn’t work… BUT you respond quickly to emails, people will respect that and hold off from writing bad reviews.
I never hesitate if an asset is $5 or less. Once it’s $20 or more… I start to think about it and question if I need it. $5 or less will get you the impulse buy.
There’s no way to say if $10 is a good price without saying what it is. If it’s a perlin noise generator, then no, I’m not paying $10. But if it’s a complete procedural level generator designed to use any 3d pieces you throw at it, then $10 seems like quite a bargain.
@wccrawford - It’s not a perlin noise generator. lol. Thanks for your input on the price. I could go higher, but will definitely not go lower once I set a price.
It depends on the scope of what your product does and how useful it is, what problems it solves, the perceived pain reduction it brings etc and also the apparent amount of time you put into it and how polished it is. From what you said so far it sounds like your $10 is too low, but I don’t really know the extent of what it does or how beneficial it is. You might want to put it in the 15-20 range.
I have an asset, Shader Wizard, which is a custom inspector for generating cg shader sourcecode without any programming… and initially I was also confused where to categorize it because on the one hand it’s almost kind of a visual programming tool, but at the same time people looking for such a thing are probably looking for shaders. Or more to the point, they may be looking for shaders and not know that any such tool exists. So what I did was put it in the shaders category - it generates thousands of variations of shaders so in a way it is a self-extracting shader bundle archive. That seemed to go fairly well. Then I tried moving it to the Visual Programming category (you can move it as much as you want after you’re live), and found that sales were much poorer. In general the kind of people looking for visual programming probably are seeking game scripts and not shaders. So I moved it back to shaders and sales picked up again. So categorization is important but you need to do it based on what it is people are looking for, which may not necessarily exactly match what your thing does… ask yourself what problem they have that they’re trying to solve, e.g. someone is looking for a shader, they go to the shader section, but they don’t know your product exists so by positioning myself there I get the attention of the kind of people who would consider my tool as a solution to their problem. I don’t know what categories are relevant to your product but choose carefully based on the problem you’re trying to solve and where the people with that problem are likely to frequent. You can’t get sales without traffic.
If a person has a problem and can’t figure it out, it’s definitely useful. I already used it twice this week. But a person can also use it if he isn’t having a problem and wants to use its features for something else. If a person knows what he’s doing, it’s kind of Swiss Army knife. If he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he can probably solve the problem, but not necessarily take advantage of its other features for other things.
Some things in the Asset Store require expertise that people don’t have and never will, while other things are time savers with some great ideas built into them.
A lot of people could write the tool if they took the time to do it - and that is part of the reason I’m being so vague about this. IMO, first to market gets the lion’s share until other people come up with a similar or better mouse trap. I’m starting to see this in the Store and the forums. I can’t say what type of issues I’ll have with getting this approved and up in the store. They could send it back for whatever reason and I’d have to spend more time on it.
I think it’s really a question of if someone wants to take the time to write it or just buy something that meets 90% of their needs. Plus with the source, they can tweak it anyway they want. I wrote it because I had a need and couldn’t find something like it. It could be that there is something very similar, and like you point out, perhaps I was looking in the wrong place or using the wrong keywords. I’ve tried to find something like it through Google and didn’t have much luck either.
For sure. Once people find out what it can do, I’m hoping they’ll think of other things to do with it like caramine suggested.
I took what you guys said to heart yesterday and started thinking about how to anticipate people’s needs (carmine) - and what additional problems I can solve (imaginaryhuman), and wrote two more scripts, one minor - which I had planned to add later, and one major, which is definitely pushing it into the $15-20 range. I have plans for two more major scripts, which will significantly increase it’s capabilities. But I’m thinking $15 is going to be the right price.
What’s REALLY awesome, is that I’m learning how to do some things in Unity that I’ve never done before, even with the standard interface, which is pushing me to research and better understand how Unity works. I’m just having sooo much fun! It’s too bad I can’t give up my day job and just do this full-time. lol
This is going to push things back a bit, but it looks like I’m going to have a better version 1.0 than expected. Thanks for giving me that extra motivation I needed to push myself.
Now if only i had the time to finish the scripts!! Grrr!!
The weekend is coming up and I should be 99% done by Monday. A few more days of testing after that and it should be g2g. If everything goes well, I should be able to submit it on Jan 31.
I am also working on something that I could potentially make available on the Asset Store but wasn’t sure if it might be worth it.
What kind of volume of transactions are people seeing there? Assuming a good product with a price range of $10.00 ~ $45.00, are we talking less than 10 transactions per week, per month or much more.
What are the more popular Asset Store product generating? What is the volume and revenue range? Basically what should my expectations be?
Well I think the better your product is the more its going to sell the more niche it is the less its going to sell, the more general the better it will sell.
Exactly. Before I decided to make my tool available in the asset store, I gave a lot of thought as to how many people can use it versus need it, and could build it themselves versus buy it; how many other people were selling the same thing, and if people could use other non-Unity tools to do the same thing.
For my product, it’s really a matter of build versus buy. If you try the demo and say, “Hey, I could build something like that!” It really comes down to how much time you want to spend building it yourself versus working on your game.
There a a lot of things in the Asset store that I don’t know how to build, - or model well, - or animate well. But if it’s something I need to have and I know how to do or am willing to try, I will definitely try to do it first before buying. That’s just me.
Hi,
I believe that high priced quality assets are the most profitable ones. You can make and support 1-2 of them e.g. NGUI, RAget Tools, EZGui, because they take much time to deploy and support.
Having many mid priced, mid quality assets, like most models, is another way to go. It takes much time to deploy though.
Low quality assets is a no go.
Before deploying an asset, it is important to give some thought on how much time it will demand for support.
Also, it is important to think twice before announcing new features, they complicate things. Maybe it is better to create them first and announce them just before you deploy, not while you are working-testing them out.
Unity updates will probably need updating your code, so plan updates in parallel with them.
Low priced quality assets will eventually sell well, but you are not exploit their potential fully.
Asset store gives you an opportunity to create some income from your hobby, it worth trying it.
I’m a bit concerned about this one, especially with those new to programming and Unity. It’s not like I don’t want to help people, it’s more my ability so support so many people at once remotely.
Yes, this is very good advice. I’ve been sooo tempted to leak out details about this tool, but I realize that I’ll just be putting unnecessary stress on myself to get it out the door. It’s better to take your time, properly test it and release when ready.
I put in 28 hours this weekend, six hours yesterday after work and I’m taking a half-day off from work because I have to pick up someone at noon, so I can probably squeeze in another 8-10 hours today with a nap squeezed in somewhere before midnight. Things are going well, I just need to take care of a few odds and ends here and there. Details, details, and more details!
It’s amazing how time flies. Before I know it, it’s 2am and it’s time to catch some zzz’s. It’s a good thing I don’t do this all the time.
Total hours from concept to submission is going to come in at around 225-250 hours - and then I have to start working on the YouTube videos! lol
Are you going to post a ‘Coming Soon’ thread to start getting potential customers interested so they are ready for the release day of your mystery tool, every other asset does a little coming soon post. If you are only a matter of days away from release then it surely the time to start drumming up some interest.
I don’t do much pre-marketing with things that I put out. IMO, when people see something for the first time, they should be able to buy it right then and there. If they’re not going to buy it, then they’ll have it in the back of their mind that it’s available when they need it - or it comes to mind when they think about a future project. Like you said, what’s another few days?
I don’t know anything about Asset Store marketing dynamics. How much do “Coming Soon” threads impact sales on day one versus sales over time? It’s not like it’s a game. You want people standing in line for your game, so they can tell their friends about your game, so you have that buzz momentum going for your game before the roar dies down to a simple m-e-o-w. Does that happen with stuff in the Asset Store? Do developers get all excited and tell their developer friends about upcoming Asset Store releases? IDK. Other than posting something in the Asset Store section, how do people promote their wares?
