After almost a decade of a wonderful partnership, as of January 1, 2012, UGO and HeroMachine are parting ways. My contract with them is up and will not be renewed, which means it's time for me to move on into the next great adventure.
We're still talking about what to do with the program and this site, and while I'm hopeful you'll continue being able to enjoy the use of the program as you always have, we have yet to finalize anything.
As of this writing, UGO still owns all of the HeroMachine intellectual property. Since I am no longer employed by them, I don't feel comfortable, legally, posting new content here. Until we get things squared away, therefore, I won't be updating this site.
For now the HeroMachine 3 Alpha will remain freely available here, and all of the existing HeroMachine content on UGO.com (including the forums) will stay up as well. I can't guarantee how long that will be the case, however, so I urge you (as always ) to create both text and image backups of all of your creations.
Whatever happens in the future, I want to thank everyone who's either used the program in one of its many incarnations, or who has participated in this blog site. You're a funny, creative, awesome group of folks and you are a large part of what has helped make this the best experience of my life.
I am also extremely grateful to UGO, a fantastic company and a great group of people who truly made all of this possible. I remain optimistic that we'll be able to come to a long-term solution that results in the continued ability to bring your imagination to life with this set of tools. Regardless, I have nothing but good will towards them and will remain eternally and sincerely thankful for their support and partnership.
Sad to hear that. Hopefully everything will be sorted out to your satisfaction. And we still can continue using this wonderful tool you have given us. All the best to you, Jeff!
oh no! i just got good at this! argh!
Ugh. I can’t even put into words how much this sucks. Jeff, are you going to keep the facebook page up, so we can still keep in contact with you and everyone else? I really hope everything works out for you.
I hope it doesn’t stay alpha…
Dear jeff:
WHAAAAT?!
If there was an earlier announcement or foreshadowing, I aologize for having missed it. As it is, I must say that I am stunned.
I sincerely hope that you are able to keep HM and its attendant fan community on-line in some form, not only for my own purposes, but precisely because it *is* a community now. This is part of my social life now, and I’d be diminished to lose it.
Am now making (slowly) text backups of my most important/unfinished creations, as per your advice. I’m not letting any kind of “Crash” get the better of me this time!
This is truly a sad day for the Heromachine community. I believe I speak if not for everyone, than at least for most of us here when I say, that Jeff you are far more then just the creator of a great program, but are someone we would all gladly call friend. Good luck in all your future endeavorer and may Heromachine live forever!
That Sucks!
Will there be any more contest. I love to look at contestes.
Major bummer! I have a habit of hastily redesigning everything I create if I look at it for too long, so I’m frantically going through the archives and updating looks as it suits me. I hope this site doesn’t go away. It’s been such a nice creative respite from the monotonous labor of my seven day work weeks 🙁 In any case: Thanks for building this community, Jeff, and for supporting all of our artistic endeavors through your own ingenuity. This is an amazing place, and the HeroMachine is a remarkably enjoyable program. I’ll be sad to see it go if that’s what it comes to.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There goes our hero.
One way or the other, it’s been a true pleasure Jeff. I’ve had a blast with the program and wish to continue to use it, but if for what ever reason that isn’t in the cards, I appreciate all the ideas and characters that came from it. I just want to say thanks Jeff and wish you all the best.
Same to the community, if for what ever reason we must part ways, it’s truly been a pleasure getting to know you and the sharing of Hm works from those new techniques to the tips and tricks and so forth, I’ve learnt alot from you all.
To UGO, I appreciate your support of Jeff and his program as well, thanks for making it possible.
We’re working on a possible arrangement where I would re-acquire rights to the HeroMachine IP, from the Facebook page to the program itself. But we haven’t sealed it yet, so I can’t say for sure it’s going to happen. Obviously that would be ideal since it would ensure that the community can endure and the project can continue.
I’ve just been around long enough to know that lots of things can change along the way and no deal’s final till you sign the bottom line.
As far as the Facebook page, at this point that too, like anything with the HeroMachine name on it, belongs to UGO, and I don’t technically work for them any more. So it’s in limbo till we work something definitive out.
My main concern at this point is to protect both them and me from any kind of legal complications resulting from that ambiguous status, so it’s best to just keep things on hiatus till it’s all ironed out.
that’s a real shame i just recently joined! well, jeff, when something’s worked out,please tell me at my wiki discussion box.
http://frmartworks.wikispaces.com/
wait, if HM itself will stay, why not use Wikispaces for the blog? Or, before something’s worked out with contracts, you peeps can just use my wiki’s discussion box as a temporary HM blog!
Even the image posted with this announcement carries a lot of symbolism. The sign is surrounded by roses in front of a locked gate. Behind the gate is a road we can no longer travel. :<
The overwhelming majority of my HM involvement is on the main website. I'll visit and post to the UGO forums more often. Still won't touch Facebook.
@All: I enjoy the creativity and variety that everyone brings. We are an on-line community. Don't quit just yet.
@Jeff: Really hope that UGO reconsiders your employment. At the very least, releases HeroMachine so you can find a new sponsor or run it independently.
*Ugh* Wind.Knocked.Out.Of.Me.
Jeff, is there anyone we can contact at UGO to express our appreciation for your hard work? This being in the hopes that the powers-that-be would reconsider renegotiating another contract with you.
I hope, at the very least, you’re compensated with some kind of severance package (…to your satisfaction) since without your work none of this would be possible. I promise you this, should UGO think they can simply hire another programmer to come in to complete YOUR work, I won’t darken this site. YOU made HeroMachine what it is, it goes beyond code and illustrations.
Atomic Punk (16):
Someone ought to sponsor it, I think; this program has been far too successful to ignore. In fact, my introduction to the program, years ago, came through HM’s licensed versions for stuff like GI Joe and Mucha Lucha, which shows that major segments of the entertainment industry are (or were) aware of HM.
So I wouldn’t read TOO much symbolism into the picture, but simply take the intended joke. And make text backups, of course…….
Sooo. I can’t find the perfect world what i feel. But i’m don’t want to trash talk with hungarian. Jeff i really sorry. I absolutly agree with Kaldath and Joshua. Heromachine not only a program, heromachine is you. You give all some wonderful movents. I.. I.. can’t wrote more.
Good Luck Jeff.
Ugh, legal stuff…I wish both you and UGO best of luck with getting things straightened out, Jeff. Even if they do keep all the creative license and everything, you could always just stay on the UGO boards as a fellow HM’er, rather than the HM admin. Ugh, the boards…guess I’ll have to get used to posting on them for a while, huh? Anyways, I’m crossing my fingers that this’ll all work out for everyone.
Signing off (hopefully not for the last time), Andrew Gero
y’all sound like it’s the end of the world or something. jeff, does HM3 exist anywhere other than UGO.com? on your PC? i’m sure there are sites other than UGO that can work w/ you. and even if not, there are free websites where you could post a downloadable version of HM3.
will the previous HM blogs remain here?
even if something isnt worked out soon, i am open to HM discussion on my wiki.
I sincerely hope things work out well. In the meantime, thanks for giving us a lot of fun and a source for our artistic ideas. You and by extension HM rock!
FRM, either UGO will retain the rights to HM or they will transfer them to me. If the latter, my plan is to keep the program online though I’ll need to move to some sort of payment method, probably like I did with HM2 where there was a limited free version out there and you could pay for full access.
If UGO decides they want to keep it, then they’ll either keep it alive or kill it. If the latter, there’s nothing anyone can do — they own it and can do whatever they want with it. If someone were to then go and try to put it on another site, that would be illegal since they don’t own it. That goes double for me.
@FRM, I thnik what most of us are upset about is not so much the loss of the Heromachine website, as it is the loss of the Heromachine Community. Persoally, as much as I like to make my characters, I’m going to miss everything else so much more. Heromachine became a necessary daily visting site for me, mostly because of Jeff & the communities humor. I love being able to pop on and make my stupid comments on things like Bad Costumes and Random Panels, and the fun of everyone getting to express their opinions on Poll Position. This became a home for alot of us, where you didn’t get trolled and could just have fun. And I am going to miss the crap out of it.
Me too, Dan. Hopefully I can get this worked out with UGO sooner rather than later and we can keep having fun.
NO! NO! NO! NO!
I have that sick lost feeling…like when your a kid, and your local comic shop closes. This sucks so bad.
Heromachine is the entire reason I even bother with the UGO sight.
Who do I contact to express my displeasure?
Displeasure at what? They haven’t killed HM yet….
If I’m not mistaken, HM has been a significant asset to UGO, and they’ve given up a lot of space for this program and its attendant forums. Therefore, I have to say that I see them “killing” the program as the least likely possibility.
And for THAT reason, I would like to urge calm, on everyone’s part: just back up your drawings and wait…..
wait exactly who’s idea was it to create Heromachine?
was it Jeff’s?
or UGO’s?
believe it or not i think that might make a difference
Yep, yep, calm all around. I have the utmost respect for the guys at UGO, I am sure they will come through and all will be well. Even if the worst happens from our perspective and HeroMachine goes away, I still would owe them nothing but thanks for a lot of great, productive, and fun years.
But I don’t expect that to happen. It’s just one of those “have patience” things, which is not really my strong suit!
WHAAAT?? I really think that you’ll ber permanent admin in this site Jeff!
argh, I think it won’t be interesting anymore……..
is there a way to, as a HM community, send a message to the UGO people, persuading to transfer rights to jeff, or keep HM, or something like that?
No need for a message campaign or anything, the guys at UGO have been great — beyond great, actually. It’s just taking longer than I hoped to get the legal stuff hammered out. I remain hopeful and confident that the end result will be I regain ownership of HeroMachine Intellectual Property and things more or less continue as they were regarding this site. With the exception that I’m going to have to figure out some sort of pay feature, either a one-time download thing (so you could use HM3 on your local computer, for instance), or a subscription model where everything stays online like it is now, but you pay a monthly fee or something.
Speaking of which, is any of that more or less attractive as an option?
I don’t think I can afford to host all the HM2 and HM3 traffic on my own without some sort of pay model like before UGO bought the program back in the day.
Whichever option keeps the forums, FB page, and/or community intact, I’ll go for. (Perhaps I don’t understand well enough?) I’ve never really found that download vs. online affects the program’s functionality, one way or the other.
I’m with Nick, Whatever keeps HM up and running sounds like a good idea. Whether its a one-time thing or a membership based payment, I’m sure many of us would be willing to fork up the dough.
i personally hate monthly payments. that’s prevented me from subscribing to some online games. pay once and download would be fine.
I am good either way, however the online version with a monthly membership would allow for ease of upgrade when new items are added to the program. Which I assume will continued to be developed even though Jeff would have less time himself to devote to it then he did before, we still have people like dblade that contribute awesome artwork for the program.
i admit, monthly is advantageous in that respect, but how much $ are we talking?
on a different note, headlessgeneral–could you give me the text version of your archer dude?
*speechless* 🙁
I thought there would be a new contest, but it turned to be nightmare..
Bad Mojo!
I hope you’re able to obtain the rights. Intellectual property is tricky to be sure but if they have no one set to develop the site further then I’m sure they will release it for a reasonable and mutually beneficial arrangement.
I’m with all of you. I will miss the community far more than HM itself. I also agree that finding sponsors for this site would be fairly easy.
Jeff I hope all works out REALLY REALLY would hate to lose Heromachine
In terms of price, I don’t really know for sure. The HM2 full version was $19.95 but that was for a CD. This would be download-only, I think, so I assume it would be less.
I bought and enjoyed the full 2.0 version, and I think I’d be willing to do so again. Then again, this is a new economy with all new investment trends… half-a-buck a month subscription? Pretty nominal, and we’d certainly give a large following.
I just know I prefer one-time pay, but indeed there is the issue of updates as well. Could it be worked out that there’s a set price, and then one enters into a monthly payment contract of the fifty cents until that price is reached, all the while recieving updates? And of course just have an upfront pay option as well that can be patched with the new versions as time/ progress go on.
Just spitballin’ here…
WOW… this got me by surprise. Just yesterday I was recommending HM to one of my cousins, “It is the best customization program I’ve seen” I said.
Ok, I’m sure things will work out well at the end, but there is an old saying: “Hope for the best, and be prepared for the worst”.
So…. a few questions to get a better grasp of the situation.
Jeff, what were you getting from UGO? Space? Advertising? Salary?
What constitutes “Hero Machine”? (name, code, images, domain, your posts, our posts, the images used by the software) In other words: If UGO keeps the Hero Machine IP would you be able to use the images in another software? Could you develop a similar software reusing part of the code or using completely new code? Would it be possible to migrate content (random panels and stuff like that) of the blog to a new blog?
About the payment methods, I find monthly payments annoying, so I would prefer to pay for downloading the software, but the monthly payment would be okay if there is an option to pay for several months.
Anyway, since people is getting all sentimental I guess I should follow lol.
Seriously, Hero Machine changed my life. It wasn’t one of those huge changes that come only a few times in your life, but it was very significant one. I really can’t imagine my life without it, like cellphones or the internet, you just get so used to it that the possibility of not having it never crosses your mind.
So… thanks for everything Jeff and HM community 🙂
Lets hope the situation is resolved soon 🙂
I only just met you guys and now I have to leave? Why? Heromachine has been a part of my creative processes for years! I refuse to leave!
Jeff, I am utterly gobsmacked…
I don’t know what to say!
Here’s hoping everything works out for the best…
Of the two options, I have to agree, paying for the download once beats the heck out of a monthly fee.
On the other hand, that does not allow for much in the way of sustainability for expanding the program, or adding future versions.
Either way, however it works, best of luck!
Well, I was not expecting this.
Although I haven’t posted a lot in these forums, I have been a follower of Heromachine for years. I see the impact that this has made on so many people’s lives, including my own. And I have observed how closely knit this community has become. It would be tragic to see it go.
I hope that everything gets sorted out in such a way that HM can continue. 🙂
Time to play the waiting game…
Myself, there’s no way at present I could afford to do a pay option. But I paid for the HM2.5 download and was proud to do so. When my finances improve, I imagine I’d be willing to pay something.
I’ve had an intuition for a little while about HM but I couldn’t put my finger on it, now I know what that intuition was trying to tell me.
Would it be possible/legal for us to create a HeroMachine *fan* page on FB? Things got really unclear to me a year or two back when FB changed up their group formatting, but if we can create a fan group, then it’s not a matter of Jeff or anyone having ownership, plus it provides us space to post our work. Not sure of the legality, but it’s an option we can think about for the short term.
Ah man, this bites. I don’t contribute a lot word-wise either here or the forums anymore, but I love reading and looking at what you guys post – some of you create stuff that I just can’t believe came out of HM.
Well, here’s hoping things work out and we see each other again. Jeff, if it’s not too much trouble, could we put together some kind of mass mailer or something so you could keep us updated?
@William (46): What if there were a base price, and then, for future “editions”, one could buy “add-ons” to the current system? It could even allow for customisation of what an individual has in HM3, if, say hypothetically, a person wanted to purchase a “mediaeval historical” add-on but not a “future tech” add-on? Just popping off with ideas.
without contest, challenge, funny comic entry, prize to chase, will it still attractive?
without them, HM is just a hero-machine-generator
well, I’ll just hope the community still exist anyway 🙁
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Imp, you’re honestly the first person I feel like I “got to know” via the blog. I’m so happy to see you still around!
In terms of pricing, I think the way a pay-for-download thing would work would be you’d pay once, which would give you access to a log in page or something where you could download as many future updates as you wanted. I’d probably try to save updates up so I’d do one a month or something so you weren’t having to constantly download things, but I don’t see a situation where you’d have to pay for every single update. That would be … ungood.
The advantage to the subscription model is that you’d just automatically always have the latest without having to worry about it. The downside is that probably wouldn’t be downloadable.
However, a lot of people want something they can use without being connected to the Internet, so there’s that to consider.
All of this is assuming I retain control of the program, of course.
Gendonesia, if I were to retain rights to the program I’d keep doing all the blog stuff (contests, etc.) as well. If not … not. I don’t get the impression UGO is at all interested in that stuff though I could be wrong.
Well…step off the plane, link up and this is what greets me. I just…wow.
I’m still in a bit of denial over this. I imagine I’m still going to come here every day to see if there’s updates, still go to the UGO forums until I actually see that they are no long in service (if that day even comes; I’m in denial after all). I’m just…I don’t know, disappointed I guess. Not in you Jeff, and not in UGO, just the situation at hand.
I’m hoping for the absolute best, and I’m willing to pay my way however you see best. I think Dan said it best when he said he would miss the community more than the program. I usually am hard pressed to create more than one character to my satisfaction each week, but I will comment every single day, and look forward to reading what others have to say. While I may not meet any of you, I’ve come to regard some of you as my “HeroMachine friends.”
Hoping that at some point in the future (and sooner would be better than later), that the party picks back up again.
Well things are not being shut down for the moment anyway, but in the event that they do I figured I’d put this out there. My Google+ Profile is at https://plus.google.com/118384797442037264926/about if you want to keep in touch with me feel free to circle me.
Allright Jeff, wish u all the best and everything’s gonna be fine 🙂 🙂
Wow, is that ever a full kick to the nads with steel-toed boots!
All I would like to say is that I hope like everyone else that this gets remedied quickly and whatever direction this train goes, it just stays on the tracks. Heromachine has been very important to me in the last year when I was knock off my foundations due to personal issues. I found a way to cope and vent with being able to CREATE characters that I’ve had floating in my head waiting to pop out and come to life. And after I created those images, I had a community with the same intentions to share them with. I’ll be heartbroken if Heromachine disappears from my daily practice, but will take many fond memories away from it.
So, big thanks to Jeff for selflessly letting us play in his sandbox and sharing his toys. I hope everything you dream and desire becomes reality in the near future.
And thanks to all you Heromachiners for posting and commenting and making this experience the best it was.
You know, I’m not a religious man, but I will say a prayer tonight….
Cheers my friends!
I’ve been thinking about this for the last few hours, and it actually really hurts to think this might all be ending. I first discovered HM four or five years ago and really, not a week has gone by that I haven’t stopped over at the forum or here at the blog. It may be ‘just’ an online community, but the more I think about it, the more I realize you guys, Jeff, and his fantastic program have become a big part of my online (and to some extent real) life.
Here’s hoping it all turns out for the best, Jeff, for us, yeah, but even more for you. Whatever shakes out, thank you for the ‘Chine itself, the massive effort and talent you pumped into it, all the fun we’ve had, your voice of sanity that kept the commentary untrolled, and the community you have been instrumental, nay, essential in creating. I don’t want to make this sound like a eulogy, tho. Here’s to Heromachine MMXII.
I hoped that when I woke up this morning, it would turn out that this was just a nightmare…
If HM3 needs to go payable, I would prefer the downloadable version, personally. I often wish I could use it without Internet connection.
Well this really sucks to see, I have loved every minute I have been on this site and all the amazing art I have seen come out of it. I hope it all works out and we are back to contests and Rob Liefeld jokes soon. Farewell for now.
If UGO has the ownership, they can commission a new developping team to create an HM3 which it no relation with Jeff’s program. They want just the code and the idea to exploit at their “sound of head”.
If Jeff regain its right, he have interest to licence Heromachine.
Wow Jeff, this is a sad sad day.
I first stumbled across Heromachine(v1!) and the UGO forums way back in 2002. (10 years ago, wow!)
I loved this bit of software from the start, It was something different and something really fun. Posting on the UGO boards back then too was great (and still is may I add).
Once we moved over to HM2, Wow that blew me away, it was such a step up from HM1 and the items were fantastic. This is the software that started up my “Brotherhood of the Axe” with all the great designs that could be made, I ended up building up a huge army, bio’s, and stories. I have really built up my world and collection over the years (Wow 10 years I can’t believe it!).
Then HM3 arrived and damn Jeff, you went and done it again! This latest software is unbelievable, some of the designs too that some of the users post both on the website and on the forums are absolutely amazing. HM3 has been so much fun to use and work on. Thought I don’t post much on the website and the forums, I did love coming to the site every day, Using the software, reading the great blogs, contests etc, and looking through the amazing work people produced.
It was a little strange as the 1st of January I finally finished converting all my brotherhood over from 2.5 to HM3 (all 321 of them). Dimereg was my last to convert on new years day and strangely enough, he was the first Brotherhood member I created way back in 2002. (Seems so fitting to me). I was just starting to post on the forums again too, damn my timing eh!
I just want to say Jeff, Thank you so much for all the work you have put in over the years with this. I really appreciate it. You filled me with ideas and opened up my creative thoughts. It truly is a sad sad day if this is to be the end. I want to wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavours, and really do hope you and UGO can come to a happy compromise.
I will be looking on with fingers crossed for you.
Good luck and take care friend
Regards
Scorp
Just NO!!!!
I sure hope you’ll manage to get the rights again to HM.
And if I have to pay you to download it, I will, without a second’s thought.
jeff–is this kind of thing what you do for a living, or just background for fun? (HM, i mean)
Jeff, I certainly hope you get everything worked out with UGO, so that you can continue building this fantastic program which we, obviously, all enjoy so much.
Of course, if it all goes south be sure to let us know when you get “Machine of Heroes” up and running! Big ol’ WINK!!
Well. This is a little irritating./understatement
Personally, I’d vastly prefer the pay once and download version. Whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck in sorting out legal issues and that Heromachine will continue.
Man, this sucks. I hope it all works out. This is a place I have frequented for a long time, and when I wasn’t using HM, is was to check out the awesome blog you have here.
If we all take time to pray to the one we pray to, Pray for the long life of HM. It has helped a lot of us in many ways. It has made us new friends, and has given us hope. It has given life to the characters in our heads and has inspired us to write about them. Don’t give up hope, I am sure UGO will do Jeff right. Maybe someone from UGO will read all the comments being posted here and realize that HM is more then just a program to us all. I am also sure that everyone of us that Love HM has told other people about it, which has brought many visitors to UGO. Jeff you have our support, and our thanks for HM and what it has done for all of us. Here is hoping HM has a long long life.
In terms of keeping in touch, I’d recommend subscribing to the RSS feed of this blog as I am sure we’ll make an announcement here one way or another.
Or, subscribe to the HeroMachine Facebook page. I am sure we’ll also make an announcement there regardless.
You can also just check back here once a day if you prefer.
I hope this is all cleared up in the next few days, but we’ll just have to see.
Luckily there’s plenty of free options in the form of blogs and forums. The entire weekly schedule could be continued somewhere else, leaving the actual Heromachine out of the equation for a minute. Whatever happens to the character creator, at least the community has plenty of options to stay together. That’s the most important thing 🙂
Of course that’s assuming the worst case scenario, which we’re still far from.
Still, it’s a shame that there’s uncertainty at this point. I’m not an active participant, but I’ve been visiting the blog regularly for the past year or so and always enjoyed reading the various posts. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a good outcome!
*An ominous theme begins it first chords– dark and terrifying, one resplendent for an oppressor. However, DOOM materializes from within the ranks of his 82-piece band, and silences them.*
DOOM: Hebert, Doom was almost at a loss for words at this recent turn of events, but needless to say, Doom wishes to address you–JUST THIS ONCE–as an ally.
These executives as UGO simply do not understand that they’ve taken a privilege away from Doom– for it is Doom, and Doom alone, who will rain down destruction and punishment upon you, Hebert, you and those biological anomalies you call…patrons.
And no one robs Doom!
At this point, Doom must take time from Doom’s schedule and devise a suitable punishment for these businessmen. A sentient form of leprosy? A spell designed to turn revenue in their hands to dust? Zombies? Doom will let you decide, Hebert. Fear not, Hebert, for whatever shall proceed from you and UGO will only be a new beginning, one that you will emerge stronger and more resilient from– of course, that is until Doom says otherwise.
🙂
Huh. Well that’s not the best of news. I just hope that all this can be cleared up soon so that Heromachine and the blog can continue.
It would really suck otherwise because, like everyone else, I really enjoy being part of this community and coming here every day to see what’s new, to take part in the contests and to join in discussions about comics, which is bit hard for me to do otherwise, since none of my friends are that into comics and superheroes. I’ve only been on the blog for a few months, but they’ve been some great months nonetheless.
Well, shoot. That’s a heck of a thing to come home to. In all honesty, I barely use the program, but I love this blog and this group of people. I don’t comment often, but I do check in nearly every day. I hope you can work this out and continue. If not, vaya con Dios and thank you for a lot of good times.
Very sad..can not write more…
Dude. Bummer. 2012 starts out with a d’oh!
well it sounds like it will all work out, I’ll keep my eyes here 🙂
Good luck to you, Jeff. Thanks much for the good times.
Thanks also to the community. I’ll miss all y’all, if I have to, but I hope it won’t come to that. This is my homepage, after all, and I am way too lazy to change it.
And even though I’ve never gotten comfortable with, much less good at, HM3, I’d buy it to keep the lights on.
The two big unknowns currently are a) will UGO in fact cede the HeroMachine IP back to me, and b) if so, how much will it cost me to keep things going? If the answer to the latter is “almost nothing”, then we’ll just cruise along as-is. If it’s something significant, then I’ll have to come up with some sort of revenue-generating mechanism that’s fair but not onerous. Maybe that’s even just “donations” or something. I dunno.
So we have a couple of large known unknowns to resolve before we achieve a “Moment of clarity”.
SAY IT AINT SO, JEFF!!!!
AND CURSES!!!!
On a more rational note, I would be willing to pay for HeroMachine. I originally bought HM2 and would be more than happy to pay for HM2’s bigger and more awexome offspring. I really like the idea of having an downloadable, offline version (I’m old school that way) but I would readily accept the current online model as well.
If HeroMachine and the blog were to disappear I would be extremely sad.
I can scrounge up either a couple of bucks a month, or a one-time payment of up to $25 or so, if you want hard numbers.
And speaking of the FB page, shouldn’t we post this thread TO it, by now? It currently cuts off after contest 114…..
Just thought i’d give everyone an update on the comic. I fully realize this may not be the very best place to post it, but you guys have been very supportive and I wanted to let you know how it was going on the off chance there’s no more HM.
So I just got a cover finished, the second issue fully written and a possible artist working on the first issue. I’ve also found a way to self-publish very cheaply.
So here is the first issue cover. McKnight, the hero of the comic is on the left and his son, the villainous Overlord is on the right. The bar in the background is actually my hometown bar, where the heroes and villains will meet outside of their costumes in peace.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/002/0/a/andrew2_by_heinz57xc-d4l55eq.jpg
DAY 2 of Heromachine watch. This is indeed a bad dream.
I’m in on whatever cost it takes to keep it running. $10? 20? First born? 2 pigs and a virgin? Whatever it takes….
This has been posted, Nick. But the FB page is in wrong order and the contest 114 was uploaded after this one.
@Nick Hentschel (80): Good idea about the FB page.
I don’t care what happens or how much I have to pay as long as I can carry on making stuff, getting feedback on it, helping others with their creations, and participating in contests.
Good luck, Jeff.
Happy New Year, everyone!
as much as i like this im not sure bout payin for this although i understand why Jeff may have to do a payment route i just dont think i’ll be usin heromachine if that happens
also kinda hard to pay for stuff when ur only a freshman in high school
Jeff, the only thing I would ask is if you are able to keep the rights and start the subscription thing, would PayPal be available for it? I have no credit card and in Canada reloadable credit cards don’t generally work online. It would suck if it came back and I couldn’t use it…
There are lots of things I’d like to type, but I guess all of them could be summed up in four words: “shit just got real”.
Now that I’m on it, I’d like to thank everyone: those who indirectly gave me ideas for my characters, Jeff for providing the stuff dreams are made of…
See you around, guys and gals.
NOOO! Hope things work out, I would hate to lose this site and the friends I made here.
Just wanted to add a “Thank you” to Jeff for providing such an entertaining experience. I may not have participated in every contest but I followed the site everyday and enjoyed HM2 (still!) as well as the evolution of HM3. Did not know I could have bought HM2 though, must have missed that. Oh well, I hope you continue the Heromachine community concept even if it goes away from here. Thanks again Jeff!
Hoping for the best Jeff, Heromachine has turned into an amazing thing and id hate to see it stop when there is so much more room for growth. If we have to help out in the end I feel itll be worth it.
I don’t think I’d mind a payment version of the program too much, as long as it was either a one-time or allowed me to just donate anytime I got my funds up enough to spare it…
Jeff(42): I think that I can swing that.
Dionne Jinn (83): I spotted that, actually, almost immediately after posting! 😛
Well, that just blows. I hope that everything works out for the best for you Jeff, and for the community. I had a lot of fun creating with the HM programs and reading and contributing to the blogs.
Ah, that’s not good. Although Jeff’s recent postings have suggested that some, er, changes, might be coming. The current economic times are not much fun. Hope you can make a deal with the chaps at UGO. HM3 deserves to keep developing and the blog and community is a great laugh.
And don’t despair, HM’ers. About a year ago an online forum I’d used for about 10 years got pulled by the business that provided it. The community’s still together and the forum’s even better than it ever was (and now we own it!)
Just posted an update, but wanted to paste it here too for those subscribing to the thread:
I’m printing and signing it now, so hopefully that will be that and we’ll get everything cranked back up tomorrow or the next day!
Yes, assuming I can get my PayPal account straightened out (my wife accidentally voided a charge that was actually valid), it would almost certainly be run through there.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c153/jaybjoke/papakrok-epicbattle.jpg
I’ll pay a fee Jeff. I need the HM therapy…
@Papakrok (96): HA!
McKnight57– that’s really realistic! sweet!
so, what now, jeff?
Assuming they sign the agreement tomorrow (which is 99.9% likely), we’ll be back in business! For now at least, until I see what happens to bandwidth, nothing besides the skin of this blog will change.