To be honest, that's kind of why I'm here posting about it. I think https://gatew.easel.games is impressive, but I also know the engine is capable of so much more than what people have made with it so far, and I'm trying to find people who have dreams but haven't found the right tool yet so I can build that for them.
The pricing model and how to run Easel sustainably is a huge question. Easel is basically a free product, which is what I want because (a) I would just like people to use it and (b) multiplayer games need lots of players. I made the upfront decision to never run ads on Easel because I want parents and schools to be happy with it being used by their teenagers, and that has greatly changed the business dynamics. I have very delicately managed the cost-efficiency of Easel only expecting about 1% of people to ever subscribe to Easel+. For this reason, I've avoided expensive features so that one dedicated server can run at least 1 million projects and handle thousands of concurrent players at a manageable cost. It's been a real slimming exercise.
I know the catalogue is small, but despite that, there are some people who come back and play one game every single day on Easel. There are also people who come back and make games every day on Easel. And there are some who do both. We have people exceeding 100+ hours a month sometimes. It's these people who Easel+ is for. Easel+ is designed as a package deal with a bunch of different game-playing and game-making perks so that people can decide for themselves what parts of the package they find valuable. But I would honestly be happy to have thousands of people using it and not paying a cent. This is my life's work and I just want it to be used, even if I have to fund it all myself.
The pricing model and how to run Easel sustainably is a huge question. Easel is basically a free product, which is what I want because (a) I would just like people to use it and (b) multiplayer games need lots of players. I made the upfront decision to never run ads on Easel because I want parents and schools to be happy with it being used by their teenagers, and that has greatly changed the business dynamics. I have very delicately managed the cost-efficiency of Easel only expecting about 1% of people to ever subscribe to Easel+. For this reason, I've avoided expensive features so that one dedicated server can run at least 1 million projects and handle thousands of concurrent players at a manageable cost. It's been a real slimming exercise.
I know the catalogue is small, but despite that, there are some people who come back and play one game every single day on Easel. There are also people who come back and make games every day on Easel. And there are some who do both. We have people exceeding 100+ hours a month sometimes. It's these people who Easel+ is for. Easel+ is designed as a package deal with a bunch of different game-playing and game-making perks so that people can decide for themselves what parts of the package they find valuable. But I would honestly be happy to have thousands of people using it and not paying a cent. This is my life's work and I just want it to be used, even if I have to fund it all myself.