The sudden death of interactive licenses

RenderDictator

Still disturbing to see how Daz really buries interactive licenses (and thus also all purchases of potential game items). A short time ago, it was commonplace to have them regularly on sale für $5. Now, Daz seems to experiement around the line of $20, which is daring.

I'd like to point out a few things

• At least the unity bridge is in no way reliable in bringing over anything to unity as expected. Most assets turn up below (educated) expectations and some are completely useless.
• Most items are totally not game ready need serious work to be used in a game (shaders, LODs, etc.)
• Item granularity per licensense is essentially random ... one license gets you single dagger, while the other gets you a mega bundle with tons of figures, clothes and environments. The difference in content is actually reflected in the item price, but the interactive licenses cost are basically all the same.
• There is no acceptable way of tracking purchased licenses and relating them to items. It is almost impossible to produce a list of individual items, that are licensend in consequence of the purchased licenses.

That being said, I was okay typically paying 5$-10%=4,50$ per license in addition to the actual item. But anything beyond the 5$ is not interesting, also when comparing to the prices of actual game ready assets from other stores.

The current sales (buy stuff to be allowed to get a few interactive licenses for as "low" as $20) communicate to me, that the usual 5$ are gone. At this point, I wont even purchase the original items anymore, let alone the licenses. Before, I was actually buying a lot of stuff I didnt need, which I considered clever marketing.

To make this very clear: Unless Daz provides quality game-ready assets, the interactive licenses are essentially just a money-printing machine for Daz fooling unexperienced users into thinking, this could be a way of getting their Daz assets into a game. However, this works only as long as the license prices are low enough that quality doesnt matter that much! It was ok for me at $5 to spend hours trying to get some asset over to unity and look/work reasonably ... But I won't do that after paying asset prices+20$+whateverbuyinThe20$require

FSMCDesigns

hence, why users wanting to create a game should look elsewhere, like places that actually cater to game design or even consider making their own 3d assets like it used to be. I have always viewed the interactive licenses as just a way to help compensate for users trying to use DAZ assets in games already, despite them not being developed for that use.

nonesuch00

For the most part it's not cheaper and the quality not better elsewhere. The catalogues are also not as varied as DAZ's.

However, more then the higher polygons, the massive texture material sets mean you'll have some editing to do for newer iRay products to get them to work reliably in Unity. e.g. I used DAZ to Unity to transfer a boat load of dog props and accessories to Unity. It worked like a charm but the material sets were apparently much more than Unity could handle so if I'm going to make the game I want I'm going to have to manually edit those models as exported to Unity. I'd like DAZ to Unity to allow an option for use to adjust the maximuim resolution of material sets that get exported from DAZ Studio to Unity! 

I too miss the $5 Interactive License sales and have yet to buy one at the higher prices. I guess I should be thankful because it's saving my a lot of money spend on Interactive Licenses I likely will never use. I have more than a half dozen interactive licenses I have yet to buy the actual models for from past interactive license sales but not even 1 interactive license purchased in any circumstance at the higher prices. That's not saying I won't buy one eventually at these higher prices, but it almost guarentees if it's needed it won't happen unless a game is getting published right now and the license is needed right now. Businesses have always paid more for products and services in those circumstances.

 

Spacious

I'm not a game developer at all, but as I understand it you only need to buy the interactive license when you actually publish the game.  Am I missing something?

TriCounter

RenderDictator said:

Still disturbing to see how Daz really buries interactive licenses (and thus also all purchases of potential game items). A short time ago, it was commonplace to have them regularly on sale für $5. Now, Daz seems to experiement around the line of $20, which is daring.

I'd like to point out a few things

• At least the unity bridge is in no way reliable in bringing over anything to unity as expected. Most assets turn up below (educated) expectations and some are completely useless.
• Most items are totally not game ready need serious work to be used in a game (shaders, LODs, etc.)
• Item granularity per licensense is essentially random ... one license gets you single dagger, while the other gets you a mega bundle with tons of figures, clothes and environments. The difference in content is actually reflected in the item price, but the interactive licenses cost are basically all the same.
• There is no acceptable way of tracking purchased licenses and relating them to items. It is almost impossible to produce a list of individual items, that are licensend in consequence of the purchased licenses.

That being said, I was okay typically paying 5$-10%=4,50$ per license in addition to the actual item. But anything beyond the 5$ is not interesting, also when comparing to the prices of actual game ready assets from other stores.

The current sales (buy stuff to be allowed to get a few interactive licenses for as "low" as $20) communicate to me, that the usual 5$ are gone. At this point, I wont even purchase the original items anymore, let alone the licenses. Before, I was actually buying a lot of stuff I didnt need, which I considered clever marketing.

To make this very clear: Unless Daz provides quality game-ready assets, the interactive licenses are essentially just a money-printing machine for Daz fooling unexperienced users into thinking, this could be a way of getting their Daz assets into a game. However, this works only as long as the license prices are low enough that quality doesnt matter that much! It was ok for me at $5 to spend hours trying to get some asset over to unity and look/work reasonably ... But I won't do that after paying asset prices+20$+whateverbuyinThe20$require

When I first arrived here in 2018 it was very rare for them to go on sale at all.  This site isn't at all friendly to game development anyway.

How many games have you seen use Daz Content other than for Visual Novel Pron?  I can only think of Together VR but now that developer is going Mature with Together BnB.

I'm of the mind that Daz can price content the way they want and I will buy if I like the price.   Licenses were $5 late last year and $10 for a large chunk of January too.

It's very much a scatter sales model with prices high and the occasional good sale, you've just got to buy when low and avoid when they go high.

I've bought loads of licenses and published absolutely nothing lol......  :)

Looking at those two points

1) Tafi/Daz have tried to help here with the Morph System and now the TAFI items with Decimation and Atlas creation, it's just always been very poor.

2) License Tracking isn't great but it shouldn't be too difficult to create a script on your Product Library now.  I've been looking at this but I just get very little time to do my Game Dev or programming now. 

I also try to always pay with Paypal as that's the only way you get the actual License product name on an invoice.

NylonGirl

nonesuch00 said:

However, more then the higher polygons, the massive texture material sets mean you'll have some editing to do for newer iRay products to get them to work reliably in Unity. e.g. I used DAZ to Unity to transfer a boat load of dog props and accessories to Unity. It worked like a charm but the material sets were apparently much more than Unity could handle so if I'm going to make the game I want I'm going to have to manually edit those models as exported to Unity. I'd like DAZ to Unity to allow an option for use to adjust the maximuim resolution of material sets that get exported from DAZ Studio to Unity! 

I thought Unity was supposed to have some feature that automatically resampled everything to optimize it for Unity. Or maybe that was Unreal. I don't know why I comment on these things. 

watchdog79

Spacious said:

I'm not a game developer at all, but as I understand it you only need to buy the interactive license when you actually publish the game.  Am I missing something?

The need for the licence depends on the game, really.

 

If it is a visual novel with 2D still renders and 2D animations, one actually does not need the Interactive licence at all.

If it is a game using the 3D models, meshes, textures, etc., one does indeed need the Interactive licence.

nonesuch00

Spacious said:

I'm not a game developer at all, but as I understand it you only need to buy the interactive license when you actually publish the game.  Am I missing something?

That is correct. That is the only reason to buy them.

nonesuch00

NylonGirl said:

nonesuch00 said:

However, more then the higher polygons, the massive texture material sets mean you'll have some editing to do for newer iRay products to get them to work reliably in Unity. e.g. I used DAZ to Unity to transfer a boat load of dog props and accessories to Unity. It worked like a charm but the material sets were apparently much more than Unity could handle so if I'm going to make the game I want I'm going to have to manually edit those models as exported to Unity. I'd like DAZ to Unity to allow an option for use to adjust the maximuim resolution of material sets that get exported from DAZ Studio to Unity! 

I thought Unity was supposed to have some feature that automatically resampled everything to optimize it for Unity. Or maybe that was Unreal. I don't know why I comment on these things. 

Well Unity 2021.2.14 did not or maybe I just didn't add the right Unity module. It's been 7 years since I earnestly messed about in Unity. A couple of weeks ago I finally did again. 

Spacious

watchdog79 Of course an interactive licence is only needed to include the actual 3D assets in a game, and no additional licence is needed to use 2D renders for anything.

My point, as nonesuch00 seems to agree, is that there is no need to purchace an interactive license in the development stage, only at the point of publication and distribution.

I will add that it's safe to assume that an interactive license is needed regardless of whether you want to charge for the game or give it away free.

FSMCDesigns

Spacious said:

watchdog79 Of course an interactive licence is only needed to include the actual 3D assets in a game, and no additional licence is needed to use 2D renders for anything.

My point, as nonesuch00 seems to agree, is that there is no need to purchace an interactive license in the development stage, only at the point of publication and distribution.

I will add that it's safe to assume that an interactive license is needed regardless of whether you want to charge for the game or give it away free.

Actually, I don't believe you can use DAZ assets in a free game, license or not. I believe it has to be a commercial release. Best to contact DAZ for sure if you plan to go that route

Spacious

FSMCDesigns I don't see anything in the EULA  that suggests that you need to charge for your game.

https://www.daz3d.com/eula/

Section 3 covers the interactive license.

nonesuch00

Spacious said:

watchdog79 Of course an interactive licence is only needed to include the actual 3D assets in a game, and no additional licence is needed to use 2D renders for anything.

My point, as nonesuch00 seems to agree, is that there is no need to purchace an interactive license in the development stage, only at the point of publication and distribution.

I will add that it's safe to assume that an interactive license is needed regardless of whether you want to charge for the game or give it away free.

Yes, whether the game is free or charged for you need an interactive license.

DAZ has improved the tracking of interactive licenses for you in your online Product Library section if you have purchased.

nonesuch00

FSMCDesigns said:

Spacious said:

watchdog79 Of course an interactive licence is only needed to include the actual 3D assets in a game, and no additional licence is needed to use 2D renders for anything.

My point, as nonesuch00 seems to agree, is that there is no need to purchace an interactive license in the development stage, only at the point of publication and distribution.

I will add that it's safe to assume that an interactive license is needed regardless of whether you want to charge for the game or give it away free.

Actually, I don't believe you can use DAZ assets in a free game, license or not. I believe it has to be a commercial release. Best to contact DAZ for sure if you plan to go that route

Not true. free is not equal to open source or CC0. They likely mean free commercially on on commercial store kiosk that publishes both free and paid games. Just like the publisher can't give away Unity or UE4 used in those games they can't give away the DAZ models used in those games, whether free or paid.

Eric_hanshaw

hey guys, what about content that we make ourselves in daz, do we still need an interactive lisence?