Re: IF archive on CD-ROM


24 Oct 1995 17:40:26 GMT

Jacob Solomon Weinstein (jweinste@mekab.usc.edu) wrote:

: This brings up a good point. It does seem a shame for all the profit from
: the collective work of the IF authors and the archivist to go to the
: company that's publishing the CD-Rom. Given that Jason was already
: thinking of putting together an IF CD-ROM, Jason and VOlker may want
: to get together and see if they can get the two potential publishers
: to bid against each other. At the very least, I'd like to see some of
: the profit go towards the upkeep of the archive--perhaps even to
: provide a little financial renumeration to Volker for all his hard
: work.

Yes...

On a CD targeted in the $30-$45 range, we'd not see a ton of royalties
per CD (less than $10 per copy.) I haven't figured out what the most
equitable way of handling royalty payouts is. Certainly I think the
compiler and Volker deserve a cut, but so do authors. Now, there's gotta
be dozens of authors, not all of whom can be contacted, and some of which
have already released their games as freely redistributable. But for
those who haven't, well, cutting a pie into 12 pieces is reasonable, but
as the dozens who request royalties increase, it makes it difficult to
get more than a few dimes per copy per share.

But the CD would have a potentially huge market-master it in ISO 9660
Level 1, put all the interpreters you can compile on it, and then
basically anybody with a CD-ROM drive can use at least SOME of the software.

Incidentally, my concept also calls for investigating the licensing of a
few classic Infocom titles, to increase marketability. Any thoughts?

--
Jason Compton                                  jcompton@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine         (708) 741-0689 FAX
The warming sun...                             ...the cooling rain.
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