Quote: "I have used C++ in the past to develop games so may end up going back to that in he end if there is no clarification on the whole issue."
Yes I feel like if you want to avoid royalties and make sure you are always up to date, you have to use a lower level language like C++. Every single API being either BASIC, Lua, Python, JavaScript, C# or a custom language even if open-source has to be maintained by someone else for you and you have to wait for the maintenance.
If it's just a hobby, you are having fun it is fine but if you want to get serious about it, start a business, C++ and the ability to build everything from scratch is a must have.
Of course there are some good and actively developed C#, JavaScript and Lua alternatives out there but there is a chance they end up just like AppGameKit or Unity so the ability to build from source with a permissive license is a must have.
I feel so sorry for the many Unity developers dived in to Unity up to their neck and now they can't get out of it because all their tools, resources are heavily integrated in to Unity, in some cases it could require years to port their games and tools over to any other engine or language. The idea to pay millions of $$$ to Unity because you have published a game 5 years ago and it was downloaded thousands of times is insane. I find it very suspicious Epic is not commenting on this. I am certain Epic is also thinking about it to force developers to publish in the Epic Store only.
Quote: "I don't know anything about all the "subscription" talk that was mentioned above, so I'm not sure which various business models were floated. As a customer I'd much prefer something along the lines of a one-time purchase ($99 seems reasonable), and you get any new versions that come out for the next 365 days.
So maybe end up paying $99 per year to always stay current, but can stop at any time and keep using what you've got."
It was discussed when Studio was released. Years ago. TGC was straight about it. Rick did come to the forum and announced TGC can no longer afford to release free updates. I was proposing many different models including a Tier system where the core SDK would be free but the editors, mobile platforms and AGKPlayer would cost a monthly fee and yes if you stop paying you get to keep the version you have, essentially you pay for updates only. But the way some people reacted was straight disgusting, personal insults was flying all over the place, many people had to be banned and TGC never mentioned subscription ever again. TGC just stopped communicating about AppGameKit completely.
I don't blame them and I'm so sorry about it. The community did force TGC in to a corner with no way out. TGC have tried everything but the community was extremely closed minden. I'm afraid this train is gone and TGC given up on AGK. No subscription model is coming, not for AppGameKit anyway. Maybe they consider it for Max.
