Pay2Play - Care to Test? It's Free :)

The eXigo Live Framework is taking shape, comms are not secure yet but it is possible now for games to query the servers for available credit. Think of an arcade where you need to feed coins to play.

eXigo is a web based transactional application built around igLoader to facilitate session based play. By simply wrapping and delivering games with igLoader developers will be able to take full advantage of existing and emerging revenue streams.

http://www.exigolive.com/exigo
U: test_user
P: test_user

*Please run the application called exigo_test to check out the transactional system. (you'll have to wait about 15 seconds before the application starts)

The site is basic, very basic.

Please just let me know if it works...

Doesn't work on a mac...

Just get "Check Credit" and "Use 1 credit"

@tuamel, no not yet
@boiled, yes just clickem and see what happens please

Judging by how quickly the credit is going down it must be working.

i see a little top corner part of an advert then i click the buttons - message box say credit ok

Worked ok from what I could see (in IE not Opera)

Ok looking good.

Yeah Opera is broken at the moment and will remain broken until I find a better way of enumerating the Opera registry entries at install time.

@Indiepath
Okay, i just was wondering as it wasn't announced as win only...

Back up, now uses encrypted comms but I'm having some problems on some machines, seems like buffers are not being emptied properly.

Worked a treat - played enough to (just) beat your Asteroids score... then discovered while I was putting my name in the high score table that I had a shield button! :oP

Can this system used to let user click the AD to get play buck? This should be useful on some countries that ppl not willing to pay real money.

Games will eventually be supported by adverts/sponsors. Think "Happy Hour" sponsored by "XYZ".

Back online again. Fixed the encrypted buffers - everything appears to work 100% on all test machines. Looks like it might be time for some content.

Surely you should be doing this a different way. What happens if a user is plaing and then perhaps the browser crashes, or XYZ happens. Shouldn't the user pay per "go" rather then pay page load. A good example is if the user cant figure out the plugin download. They pay for a credit, mess up the plugin install, dont get their game, feal ripped off, never try it again.

The site does not represent the finished article:) If you launch the test application then you will get a better idea of how the system *WILL* work.

Here is the proposed workflow (assume the plugin is already installed) :-

1) Game downloads and launches.
2) Game checks server for available credit. Gives option for free play (demo) if credit is not available and "Play" button if credit is available.
3) When player clicks "Play" the game notifies the server that credits have been used.
4) Play finishes - Scores are uploaded.
5) Goto 2

I will modify the Asteroids code shortly to show it working in-game.

it seems to work, although some of the adverts did not fit inside the play window.

Can I have a copy of the compiler for the above code? That would save me months of work.

Dang, I forgot Blitz Intercepts all Windows Messages and clears them from the queue! Damn you!! Getting Asteroids to work was only supposed to take 5 mins. Looks like we need to do some hooking and a bit of magic!!

@JP, This forms part of a larger commercial project. If you are looking for a solution for your new game then please drop me a line with your requirements and we can go from there.

asteroids worked fine for me.

Asteroids is not properly integrated yet, I've just implemented the windows hooks so it should be soon.

I've decided to make it much easier for higher level languages like Blitz to integrate into this system. The main problem is access to the windows messages for cross application comms. So far I've created a helper dll that creates application hooks and wraps the message sending and recieving commands, just got to add the decryption and we should be ready (famous last words).

Ah that sounds good then. Asteroids wont work on my pc unfortunatly. I tried some of the games on cloverleafgames and they worked fine. Asteroids just stays on the "loading" screen.


[edit]
Actualy it works now, it seems it was only stuck in internet explorer. I use firefox by default.

--..--

yup, still works

Is the site still up? I'm not getting through...

Tim,

I congradulate you on your vision to see the potential Pay2Play Gaming. I've been pursuing Pay2Play Game Development for over 2 years with TournamentBlitz.com. This type gaming has yet to be truly exploited.

There are quite a few security challenges. Perhaps we can discuss.

Frankie, sent you an email.

It sounds like you have a solid grip on the direction of development. I'm seriously considering using igLoader technolgy to compete with the major online browser based tournament providers (although this was not the original intent for TournamentBlitz.com I would like to make it an optional capability).

TournamentBlitz was originally intended to support a variety of turn-based and realtime tournaments outside a webbrowser. Over the years I found my self adding a variety of Credit/Cash/Free services to include Free Web-based Scoreboards and Server Locator, Credit/Cash Tournaments, Credit/Cash CointOp & Rental, In-game Credit/Cash But/Sell Transactions, and Paid Advertisement Program.

The SDK is open and written for a variety of Programming/Scripting Languages and Platforms (Ie: Torque Game Engine, Python, C++, Blitz3D, others). Any game with basic telnet/http and scoring capabilities can be turned into a Cash Tournament Game. Any Application with basic telnet/http can be turned Paid Rental.

To encourage the use of SDK's all are provided free of charge to Developers. Developers are also offered a very liberal licensing agreement in which the retain full rights and also earn profits from tournaments, coinop, advertisments, and in-game transactions. This distribution model may hender my adoptation for igLoader due to licensing contraints.

I'm working with one of those guys currently to integrate igLoader into their existing tech.

Sounds like my SDK, which is really a comms layer to igLoader, and your backend stuff could fit quite well. The great thing about eXigo is your application/game does not need to have any http/telnet capabilities - eXigo and igLoader handle all comms in a secure manner.

Each and every customer has different licensing requirements, as such we tend to craft an agreement according to needs. For example, in this instance it would make sense to approach this as an OEM deal. igLoader would effectively be part of your solution and you should only be required to license when you transact revenues from that solution. Anyway, talk to me if you want to persue this.

Tim.