It’s difficult to convey plans to the general public when they aren’t anything but intentions at this moment in time. I do believe some sort of store is going to be essential at some point, but it’s really not that simple. There are ideas in the air - I’ll say that much - but what those ideas are shall remain unknown until such time somebody decides otherwise.
But - I mean let’s be honest about the whole situation - if jme had importers and exporters for all types of assets - the internet becomes the limit - so if anybody wants to put any effort in - then please do that - because that time will never be wasted and always appreciated.
Yes, I will just go on and do something. Idea will be idea forever if we just sit and wait for all the people to accept and approve something. We need some changes, don’t know if good or bad, but here we go.
I will post next about the layout of the website and update it online with some place holder data. Really appreciate feedbacks if you guy spend sometime play with the test site at http://jmonkey-assetstore.herokuapp.com
Yes for common 3d models (fbx, obj). In fact Sketchfab windows can be embeded and I dont want to reinvent the wheel.
For jME3 model I will use my own implementation with threejs which can read the j3o geometry format. j3o is very specific to java and jme capsule (the export method). It’s kind of hack but its enough for simple usecase.
There is a relationship here I think you might be missing. The j3o format is a jmonkey thing - Specific to jmonkey - and it’s not universal. Stick to a model structure that is universal: fbx, obj, blend, whatver packaging setup unity uses, etc. Those are the formats modellers will be using, and you’ll have a hard time getting them to go through extra steps to convert them to j3o. Realistically it’s unlikely to happen.
So your problem now is converting those known and universal formats to j3o format - and that requires importers - which is what is lacking right now. By doing so, you have halved your workload and increased your demographic by an order of n - defined as the amount of importers that are available.
Also, the problem with using j3o as a transport format is that there is no guarantee that it is backwards compatible from one version to the next. I mean, we try but it’s never a 100% goal. We can and may break the format for some good reason in the future.
It’s meant as a format to use to package your game for distribution… and then we’ve abused it a little beyond that.
I have a scenario where the level is composed in j3o and somehow there is need to display it. Anyway, j3o displaying or use it as transport format is not my primary goal or anything like that. I just want to connect the pieces together.
What method/tools you want to use for payment system ?
Sorry if a noob question, but I have no knowledge regarding payment system integration and asking it of curiosity.
Well we should not distribute j3o directly IMO.
One good reason is that it’s a binary format that can have external dependencies (textures, j3m, J3md, shaders etc…).
So basically putting a j3o in your project and having it to work right away is very unlikely to happen.
However, our asset folder is designed to be in the class path, meaning that if you can export an asset with ALL it’s dependencies in a jar, you could use it by just adding it to your classpath.
But that raises more questions and puts the j3o or JME files in a position that they were never made for: a portable format.
So why not just rely on existing ones? FBX, we have a not that bad loader now. Blender, with all the exportable format it procures (blend, ogre, xbuf) and so on.
One more format that I think is going to be very interesting is gltf https://www.khronos.org/gltf. While it’s not really meant as a portable format it does look promising and starting to get some traction in the industry.
Now my main advice would be : Don’t reinvent the wheel. Try to leverage existing services. An asset store is not just an application to deploy on a server, It’s a product that needs not only developers, but designers, maintainers, advertising, marketing, and above all… content.
We have developers around here… and that’s pretty much it.
Also, if you will charge money then you need a tax ID, lawyers, accountants… if you want to sell in Europe you need to register to pay VAT. (Which fortunately, doesn’t require you to register with every separate country anymore apparently.)
Definitely better to pass that buck (pun intended) on to someone else and leverage an existing store or service if possible.
Don’t get me wrong: We can have a lot of artists gather around here soon if we can sell things Like I said, I did not put efforts into display j3o outside of Java, but I did rewrite the whole engine in javascript. Also, I said I try to do something with my idea, let see if it good or fit. I will spend few weeks with it. After that, I will put CONTENTS into it. I have a small company that sell Unity packages for few years, so of course I have “content” considerable amount of art, sound beside of code. I think other will have “content” too and also want to share.
A side story, after inactive in the forum there are a lot of developers email me asking for help or want to try and use my framework (it’s incompleted due to the lack of time and efforts). I grow up with opensource mindset as you can see me contribute code and tutorials in the past, now I’m still that guy with more dedicated time to push jME towards. If “this” (the store) can be something, let it be. Anyway, share first!
We keep telling you indirectly and you seem to be hell-bent on rolling your own. If you wish, go ahead - nobody will stop you. But ill say it as directly as possible: Make importers. Then you don’t need anything. The stores already exist. The models already exist. The payment systems already exist. I can find a model anywhere and import it. That is the way forward.
Don’t want to make this conversation become awkward or show off. But let consider this is a teaser for upcoming things in the store that I will contribute my self. Packages, game example, document and tutorials. The good stuff, if I can earn something from them, I ll be glad, but I don’t have to do it for the living of course.
