2017-04-15 19:41:20

Game developers make the best game developers when they're not also serving as their own sysadmins. So why don't you just let me take care of that. I've put together a Linux server built explicitly for developers. It runs Gentoo Linux, with appropriate configuration settings for running much of the latest and greatest software. And because this is Gentoo, the system builds anything and everything it requires from source. Which means there's a good chance the development libraries you need are already installed. And if not, just ask!

What you get:
* Unlimitted usage of a Linux server primed for development
* Most dependencies already installed, with others available upon request
* Support for initial install and setup of your codebase of choice - I will make sure it runs, then leave you to it.
* A server you don't have to maintain, because let's be real - you've got enough to worry about.

What I expect in return:
* Common sense. If you wouldn't do it on your own machine, don't do it on mine.
* Keep it legal. I don't have many rules. But if what you're doing could get me shut down, we will have words. If we have to have words often enough, we will have words after I've nuked your account.
* Don't hog the system. This is a shared resource. You're sharing it with other developers, and whatever projects I have running. If a process you own is being greedy, I will kill that process. If it's a constant problem, I will ask you to fix it. If it keeps being a problem, we'll say goodbye.

You're thinking yeah, but there's no way it can be free. Not without a hell of a catch. And you're entirely and completely right. But it can be cheap. For $4 US, you can worry about your code and I'll fight with the environment.

Any of this interest you? Shoot me an email, and we'll talk. And unlike folks who shall not be named, this is no fly-by-night offer. The server is online, fully operational, and being initially patched as I write this. And for the truly skeptical, you can have a look - if you give me a good reason to let you. I will create a temporary, single-use account for the sole purpose of making you feel better. You can look, but don't touch. If you want to touch, let's talk.

Face it. You're better at development. I'm better at playing sysadmin. You do your thing, and let me do mine. We'll meet in the middle and do something awesome. And the only thing you're risking is $4. Is your code worth it?

2017-04-15 20:30:36

hi
the only thing that i can say about this is no thank you. especially if you talk so harsh. and i have a couple of questions.
1. do you have wine installed?
2. why would someone want to share his code with you when the developer himself could set his own server up and manage it in some way?
3. at least could you please provide us a website which can tell us what are exactly your goals with this thing, or, better you could tell us here yourself.
thanks for reading

2017-04-15 20:46:57

1: No. Partly because it may not be worth it to get it running on a server like this. However, I can look into it if there's a need for it.
2: I'm not asking devs to share their code with me. If they want to, that's perfectly fine, but otherwise, it's no different than if they'd gone with a company like Wolfpaw for their hosting.
3: I already outlined my goals for this in the first post. An aweful lot of game developers are, shall we say, less than stellar sysadmins. And a lot of sysadmins are less than stellar developers. So, you worry about code, and I'll worry about making sure people can't hack the server and steal your code.

PS: There is nothing harsh about my first post. Direct, perhaps, but you would be surprised how many people need to be reminded not to get stupid with a publicly accessible server. Major hosting providers have terms of service for a reason. I'm not a major hosting provider, but I'd be as responsible for any damage caused by you as they would. In place of a terms of service, because I'm not a lawyer, you have the first post. The result is the same.

2017-04-15 21:00:23

O, awsome. Clear and to the point. If I ever get something out of my head and into code, I at least won' t have to worry about security and hosting.

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2017-04-16 01:28:30

Yeah. Gonna agree with the OP. What on earth was harsh about his generous offer? Direct and to the point, laying down the rules, and defining the territory. If you think that's harsh, you probably shouldn't be a game developer using someone else's services anyway.

Spill chuck you spots!

2017-04-16 04:48:09

Completely agreed. I may take the OP up on his offer to get a MOO going when I'm more serious. I'm outlining my Galbadia Prime Online novel, and I'd love to turn it into a moo.

TBH I'm not sure what the best codebase is to go with, actually, given the fact I'd be both head coder and builder, at least the way I see it now.

But back on topic: If you know what you're doing and already have a game in development, you'd be pretty stupid not to take this offer. If I was looking for hosting, I'd pay up immediately.

2017-04-16 05:11:47

Definitely a +1 for the marketing pitch!
I like to think I'm just as good a sysadmin than I am a developer, so I'm not interested at the moment, but I will keep it in mind and if it's still around in a few weeks I'll recommend it to others who are interested.

Regards,
Blademan
Twitter: @bladehunter2213

2017-04-16 13:03:00

Hi.
It's great to see others who are offering the same thing. More alternatives.
I'm offering the same service. Read more on this link:
http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?id=20737
I have a lot of  questions:
1: How much experience do you have on running servers?
2: Will developers be able to start their server again if it goes down, or do they need you to do it?
3: How can they get in touch with you quickly? I don't find mail to be the best way if you need to get in touch with someone very quickly.
4: When you don't offer something for free to make sure things works, how can you then make sure peoples server works as soon as they start to pay? Trust me, you will run into issues if you're trying to run a server which is made in Visual basic. Or maybe you've found a way to do it which I don't know about.
5: You say: If people don't wanna run the code on their own machine, then you won't run it on your server. This can be understood in multiple ways. Why should people pay for your service if they wanna run their server on they own machine? I know what you mean, but this is just to demonstrate how people might understand this.
6: How do people upload or update their server?
7: How would you solve the following: People who have made a Windows server, and don't know anything about Linux at all. They need a host for their server. They need to update it on their own, and they need to restart it or get it up and running again on their own.
I at mid that I'm new to Linux and still have very much to learn. Yes, I have failed a few times so peoples servers went down. But I learned from that and learned what not to do... smile So it's great to see an other alternative.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-04-17 03:05:06

Lol.

Sounds like he's not offering you a server, but instead an account on a linux machine. Visual basic. Lol!

Regards,
Blademan
Twitter: @bladehunter2213

2017-04-17 08:31:03

What is "lol" regarding visual basic? I don't get your point. Some programs which are coded in Visual Basic requires those components, otherwise it won't run.
What is exactly the difference, in your opinion, between a server, and an account on a Linux machine, which is a server?

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-04-18 01:44:32

SLJ wrote:

1: How much experience do you have on running servers?

6+ years of direct experience, plus I finished 2 years of schooling on that and other topics this past December.

SLJ wrote:

2: Will developers be able to start their server again if it goes down, or do they need you to do it?

Absolutely. They'll have their own account on the server. Meaning they can do anything they want to and with their software, so long as they keep the rules I outlined above in mind.

SLJ wrote:

3: How can they get in touch with you quickly? I don't find mail to be the best way if you need to get in touch with someone very quickly.

In an emergency, I will probably be alerted automatically before anyone can use anything more immediate than email to get in touch with me. For everything else, email will work.

SLJ wrote:

4: When you don't offer something for free to make sure things works, how can you then make sure peoples server works as soon as they start to pay? Trust me, you will run into issues if you're trying to run a server which is made in Visual basic. Or maybe you've found a way to do it which I don't know about.

If you're trying to run a visual basic program on a Linux server, you're going to have problems. If you can get it running at all, it won't be stable. VB is a primarily Windows-based language, which is why most Linux service providers (including me) won't support it. For the languages I do support, I outlined in my first post how it will work. For your benefit, I'll outline it again. I will make sure your code runs before we take the training wheels off. If you're not sure how to get it set up and installed, I will install it for you, run it, and verify it works. As soon as it works reliably, I'm hands off. This is your code, and if you break it, you get to keep both pieces.

SLJ wrote:

5: You say: If people don't wanna run the code on their own machine, then you won't run it on your server. This can be understood in multiple ways. Why should people pay for your service if they wanna run their server on they own machine? I know what you mean, but this is just to demonstrate how people might understand this.

Um. Do please show me where I said that, because no. Also I have absolutely no freaking idea what you're saying, because what I'm reading makes 0 sense.

SLJ wrote:

6: How do people upload or update their server?

They will have SSH and SFTP access to the box. Note: They will not have FTP access, because FTP is not secure and I don't want problems. Most modern FTP clients can also handle SFTP (FileZilla, Win SCP).

SLJ wrote:

7: How would you solve the following: People who have made a Windows server, and don't know anything about Linux at all. They need a host for their server. They need to update it on their own, and they need to restart it or get it up and running again on their own.

I will recommend they invest in a Windows server, as unless they've developed their software with cross-platform functionality in mind, to get it running on Linux will require an almost complete rewrite and it's not my job to help you with that. If you're offering to pay me to give you the environment for you to develop your software, it's assumed you know what you're doing.

2017-04-18 02:37:45

this is just theoretical because I"m not a game dev, but you say you'll kill processes that take up too many system resources, but the person is paying you, this just doesn't jive. If I pay for something, I want the service to work reliably. Also, most people are using BGT so they need a windows server. I could see scaling it up, having a set of plans, X gets you this package, Y gets you that package, but just up and killing someone's game server because it crosses some arbitrary line, nah. I got a digital ocean droplet for $5 a month, yes its lacking in RAM, yes, I can pay more to up that, but I don't need to right now, but I know that server is gonna be running even if I'm taxing it near 100%. I don't think it ever once went down in the 2 or so years I've had it.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
End division
Become united

2017-04-18 02:44:00

1: If you're using BGT, then yes, you'll need a Windows server. So don't pay me for hosting, because I'm not running a Windows server.
2: Your Digital Ocean droplet is for you, and you alone. You're also, presumedly, paying attention to anything and everything server related, because if you haven't applied a security patch you were supposed to, you're going to have bigger problems than maxed out system resources. You would not be the only one using this server. So if a runaway process is eating up system resources, other people don't have access to those resources. Which means yes, I will need to step in and kill that runaway process. This is sysadmin 101.

2017-04-18 03:59:36

@slj: I should've been more specific. By "server", I mean root access to a box; control over the virtual machine (or physical one) in question. With the original poster's set-up, you'll have access to an account on that machine; nothing more. His job will be general sysadmining. You'd be paying, in essence, for that separation - you handle your code, and he handles the server (updates, allocation of resources, etc).
Vb? This is a linux server he's talking about.

Regards,
Blademan
Twitter: @bladehunter2213

2017-04-18 05:02:06

Slj, what James is basically saying when he says: "If you wouldn't do it on your own machine, don't do it on mine." is basically, if you know what you're trying to do would potentially break your own system, then don't do it on his server. That's what he's trying to get at.

2017-04-18 07:39:21

@Quanin: Thanks for your great answer in post 11. Thanks to @Jack to make it clear what I misunderstood, which I'm sorry for. smile
Regarding VB: I simply ment a way to run servers which are coded in VB on a Linux server.
Regarding servers which are made in BGT: This is indeed possible to run those on a Linux server, which I offer as well.
But having a professionel alternative is really great, because I at mid I'm not professionel.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-04-19 00:13:38

Possible? Yes. Easy? No. Supported by most hosts? Not even maybe.

Note: In the document I linked, even though they got it up and running, they flat out say this is a temporary measure at best and you should really be using something else if you want to be using a Linux server.

2017-04-19 07:49:33

Well, it works on my server, and people like it so far. It's of course up to you to de site what  you wanna support.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen