I just want to suggest that a monthly subscription for Houdini should be considered by Side FX for indies.

A few considerations:

Game devs need to export, apprentice makes this hard and thus you sort of dont bother diving deep. Solution monthly sub.

Covid has made folks less busy while projects are in limbo. Its a good time to learn Houdini but the unknowns of schedules makes yearly sub a big commitment. Monthly sub all good.

Some game devs only need Houdini for a few critical tasks. I personally desire to export models a handful of times a year thus i find myself using other tools to avoid costs and never really mastering houdini.

Indie Game dev overheads are high, we are all mostly poor until the game is selling, if ever!

Please consider a montly or quartely sub.I want to pay for a service that i use for the time I pay. I want to give you some money just not all of it in one shot!

Thanks

I'm literally at the checkout but was looking if i missed something. I agree with this soo much, come on Houdini, just give us a monthly subscription!!

rekestudios
I'm literally at the checkout but was looking if i missed something. I agree with this soo much, come on Houdini, just give us a monthly subscription!!

Thanks for the backup! It would likely make them more money in the long term.

Thanks for the backup! It would likely make them more money in the long term.

Or it makes them lose money, or at least just not worth it for the little extra they might get.

They yearly price on Indie is already a bargain. Take that price and divide by 12.

Now consider how many people would purchase an Indie rental here and there for only one month at a time.

And consider those users having a support question and they only have a month rental.

Seems like the possibility their support/account management teams will have to increase and the cost vs. those one month Indie rentals here and there - to me doesn't seem like a good business decision. But that's just my opinion. It could work.

BabaJ

Thanks for the backup! It would likely make them more money in the long term.

They yearly price on Indie is already a bargain. Take that price and divide by 12.

Exactly my point, but direct debit every month, all other companies seem to do ok from this model. I just don't have large chunks of money at hand. By the time I save for it 6-12 months pass where they missed money from me.

Personally I've gone to pay several times and my bank balance says no. You lost my money, I'm sure this applies to many others. It's possible to use other free tools when you can't afford.

To me it's a no brainer, quarterly or monthly payments. Add an extra 10% for the hassle.

Also if SideFx loses money due to bad retention then that's a product issue… I'm sure it won't be the case as more indies adopt due to access to use.

Sorry to tell, But the indie deal is extremely generous already. Sidefx needs a 1-2 year commitment to have a good forecast of the financial situation. With a “peanuts based” revenue stream they would have no security at all…

@Beloudest can you elaborate on why you can't put the purchase on Credit Card or finance it in some manner? That is the normal process for capital expenditure. A CC will be ~20% PA and a secured loan should be 10%, the same as you need.

@Sygnum as previously mentioned, before Indie, those exact same sentiments were expressed, a $4.5K product going for $0.25K today.

I appreciate the replies, is SideFx ran by squirrels. Lots of talk of peanuts

I could chuck it on the credit card i suppose. Ive just spent several dark years of my life paying off a debt of 26k on cards from risks i took in the past. Not in a rush to go back there. I could afford a monthly rolling sub and why I'm here. I was very close to installing a cracked copy but thought id voice my opinions here rather than pirate. I will eventually buy a license when work is up after covid, Houdini is a nice to have item.

I think cost isnt the only concern, its the time required to master Houdini and the tasks I would need it for, I'll have to invest countless hours with it as well as pay. Its a complex software and i know thats going to require many hours to learn and build into my pipeline in Unity.The real cost before ROI is much higher in reality.

Like others I'm used to monthly subs as a consumer also (aws, substance, adobe, etc etc), when times get tough a break in payments is good for the user.

Its quite frustrating to test Houdini as well with a game engine. I cant export any complex setups and even get to know if its right for my pipeline longterm. Im then asked to part with with roughly £250 to find out. It makes you reconsider at the checkout.

Possibly the export limit is damaging to houdini adoption rates for game devs. VFX guys can just work in Houdini and test for their needs.

Maybe a Peanut license would be really marketable right now.

Are you sidefx checking bounce rates on the check out? Forecasting is a fair point on the other hand you might have alot of untapped revenue.

Thanks all

@Beloudest

there are each year a game jam where you can get 2 months for free houdini indie for testing.
the last one was in january: https://globalgamejam.org/news/houdini-indie-global-game-jam [globalgamejam.org]

currently there is one now coming: https://www.sidefx.com/community-main-menu/houdini-game-jam-2020/ [www.sidefx.com]
so get your license. :-)

Beloudest
Its quite frustrating to test Houdini as well with a game engine. I cant export any complex setups and even get to know if its right for my pipeline longterm. Im then asked to part with with roughly £250 to find out. It makes you reconsider at the checkout.

Oh cry me a f—ing river! Seriously dude, my guess is that you probably blew twice that at Starbucks last year without giving it a second thought.

SideFX is one of the most generous companies out there when it comes to facilitating getting your hands on their software. Apprentice is free and incredibly usable not just for learning. Indie is dirt cheap, particularly if you buy the two year plan which brings the price down to $16/month.

I'm not even a professional CG artist, I have yet to make a penny on anything that I've created in Houdini, and yet that money is the best I've ever spent on anything, and far less than I've blown on crappy PS4 games.

If you're that broke, or that unwilling to make such a small investment in yourself, just download Blender and get over it.

I've seen some bad threads, but this one takes the cake as being the most ridiculous one.

mandrake0
@Beloudest

there are each year a game jam where you can get 2 months for free houdini indie for testing.
the last one was in january: https://globalgamejam.org/news/houdini-indie-global-game-jam [globalgamejam.org]

currently there is one now coming: https://www.sidefx.com/community-main-menu/houdini-game-jam-2020/ [www.sidefx.com]
so get your license. :-)

thank you this sounds interesting

And that's a lock. Thanks for playing.
Please keep it civil in here everyone.