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[balladofwindfishes]

PC Gamer just posted this article

“So last tax year Valve paid me $88000. About half of that was in the initial month. The graph of money over time would probably look like an exponential decay that has levelled off to around a constant $2000 per month. I completely agree with what you’re thinking right now… absolute madness. To me the whole thing still seems very surreal. While before we were by no means going hungry, when I was going to get paid next was always a concern.”

Valve have confirmed to us (in an interview that will appear soon) that they give the community developers a 25% cut of the profits, which means in one year Will’s items went for a total of $352,000 in one year. To Valve cashflow like that means they get the freedom to carry on experimenting with one of their biggest properties, but it means something a lot more personal to Will.

Rest of the article has other stories from other contributors (mostly big time contributors)


As someone who makes 200+/-50 dollars a month from getting 6% of a 25% cut of a Halloween themed item, I completely believe it. There's contributors with dozens of items in the game, who must be pulling in hundreds of thousands a year.

TF2 completely funds my game purchases, even with my minor cut on a holiday themed item (that thousand of people buy every month for god knows what reason).


So why don't more companies outsource to the community? Seems super easy, pay them a percent and let them do all the work while you just sit and make the bulk of the money.

Also makes me wonder how Dota2's doing, financially, since it runs on a similar community driven item profit model.

 

[ezekial45]

So what programs do people use to make hats?

 

[JDSN]

Give me an owl you cheapstake!

 

[Sn4ke_911]

The TF2 community is fucking awesome.

 

[Animator]

How do you go about making items for valve games? If I model some items for tf2 can I sell them on the game store, does valve have to approve it first? Anybody know how the whole thing works?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Give me an owl you cheapstake!

if you randomly craft an owl I consider it piracy

 

[Dead Prince]

So what programs do people use to make hats?

msPaint

How do you go about making items for valve games? If I model some items for tf2 can I sell them on the game store, does valve have to approve it first? Anybody know how the whole thing works?

steam workshop? i thought that's what that was for lol.

 

[Ferrio]

Great, now tons of people are going to switch their majors to hat making.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

How do you go about making items for valve games? If I model some items for tf2 can I sell them on the game store, does valve have to approve it first? Anybody know how the whole thing works?

Make an item, then submit it to the workshop and painfully wait as Valve looks through it. If the community like it, it'll get in eventually. If Valve likes it, it'll get in eventually.

 

[Sethos]

What. the. fuck.

 

[Sora_N]

I need to play TF2, I have not played it since F2P...

 

[ubercheez]

Time to call my broker and have him switch all my investments over to hat futures.

 

[Dead Prince]

can i make a fedora that shoots feather tranquilizer

 

[patapuf]

Valve has always embraced the work of the community and it's nice to see that it pays off for both sides.

I whish more companies would take that route instead of trying to stop modding from happening.

 

[KingKong]

I made 4 dollars selling my genuine items so far on the marketplace!

 

[DTKT]

Totally relevant.

 

[dave is ok]

This market is going to explode for Dota 2, FYI.

Dota/League of Legends type games lend themselves to cosmetics much more than an FPS does.

TF2 - 9 classes
Dota 2 - 109 classes

 

[Green Biker Dude]

This market is going to explode for Dota 2, FYI.

Dota/League of Legends type games lend themselves to cosmetics much more than an FPS does.

TF2 - 9 classes
Dota 2 - 109 classes

dota has waifus too

 

[joe2187]

Valve motto:

Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day
Teach a man how to make a hat, and we'll make him filthy rich.


Also, teach me how to make hats, I need money

 

[Alchemy]

I'm not entirely understanding the process for creating these items, does the community come up with the rough idea and Valve models it and hooks it up in game or is there some accessory editor that people are using that imports models and textures then lets users hook up attack points to?

 

[dark_chris]

The TF2 community is fucking awesome.

They are.
Also, I like how goofy the font is. Always makes me laugh a lil sometimes.

 

[CountAntonius]

Its pretty genius and a great way to keep a game fresh. As long as everyone profits there will be new content made. I read they were trying to figure out a way to make this work for map makers as well which would be great.

Dota 2 skins will be huge business and the fact that they will give tournies an opportunity to sell custom skins for funding events and giving pro players branded skins shows how forward thinking valve is.

 

[Rickenslacker]

I'm not entirely understanding the process for creating these items, does the community come up with the rough idea and Valve models it and hooks it up in game or is there some accessory editor that people are using that imports models and textures then lets users hook up attack points to?

People in the community fully create the actual assets with professional tools, put them up on TF2's workshop and through lottery chances get picked to put into the game every now and then.

 

[AgentP]

I don't get it, who wears the hats and why? People buy them via a Steam interface so they can look different while playing a shooter?

 

[Sn4ke_911]

I don't get it, who wears the hats and why? People buy them via a Steam interface so they can look different while playing a shooter?

Exactly.

and it's a first person shooter. It's crazy i know.

 

[Hero]

Do you have to make the hat in a modeling program or something? Would do this just to see what it's like

 

[Ferrio]

I don't get it, who wears the hats and why? People buy them via a Steam interface so they can look different while playing a shooter?

Yes.

 

[PFD]

This market is going to explode for Dota 2, FYI.

Dota/League of Legends type games lend themselves to cosmetics much more than an FPS does.

TF2 - 9 classes
Dota 2 - 109 classes

But it's really hard to notice that brand new belt or shiny gloves on your dota hero.

 

[Kamaki]

Dota 2 can also make people a bit of money! I've made a small amount off of it which has been a nice bit of pocket money for a student like me . Don't think anyone has made even close to that much in the Dota 2 workshop though.

 

[Archie]

dota has waifus too

So does TF2.

 

[Ferrio]

So does TF2.

Oh god, could you shrink that a bit?

 

[ubercheez]

Totally relevant.

My favorite part of this is that the Hats/Hats graph is somehow non-linear.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't get it, who wears the hats and why? People buy them via a Steam interface so they can look different while playing a shooter?

my pyro looks cute + cool and my spy is the dapperest motherfucker in the greater badlands area

 

[scy]

Hats are truly the greatest innovation of any generation.

My favorite part of this is that the Hats/Hats graph is somehow non-linear.

Those dips represent fedoras.

 

[Hellsing321]

I need to learn 3D modeling

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Oh god, could you shrink that a bit?

I think he posted it this way cause it's funnier that way around, you click on it and boom, gotta admit i laughed a bit.

 

[CountAntonius]

I don't get it, who wears the hats and why? People buy them via a Steam interface so they can look different while playing a shooter?

I'm a complete whore for cosmetic items. I'd also rather they make money of this then something game breaking.

 

[Ikuu]

Dota 2 can also make people a bit of money! I've made a small amount off of it which has been a nice bit of pocket money for a student like me . Don't think anyone has made even close to that much in the Dota 2 workshop though.

It'll change as the game leaves beta, pretty sure that you can't buy items in certain regions yet either.

 

[Ferrio]

Dota 2 just has items right, you can't redesign the character ala LoL skins right?

 

[Archie]

Oh god, could you shrink that a bit?

Done and done

Dota 2 just has items right, you can't redesign the character ala LoL skins right?

You can buy entire outfits that are basically new skins, or you can mix and match (please don't do this on Sven or Tidehunter, thanks.)

 

[balladofwindfishes]

the real secret is, there's more money in Unique Stat Weapons, but they're so hard to get in game, that it's not really talked about much.

The Vaccinator, a new Medic weapon, just came out a few weeks ago, and has almost tripled the sales of hats that are three months old. It's half the price of hats, but even so, that's more money.

But the thing with stat weapons is it's hitting the lottery thrice. You have to get in on an item, and then that item has to be a weapon, and that weapon has to not be a reskin. It's why it's a lot less reliable than making hats, even if weapons bring in the real cash on a single item basis.

 

[Jamie OD]

Time to start thinking up hat designs.

 

[dosh]

Make an item, then submit it to the workshop and painfully wait as Valve looks through it. If the community like it, it'll get in eventually. If Valve likes it, it'll get in eventually.

Are all items class-specific? For instance, if you create a hat (and provided it gets in), can people buy it and then use it on all characters? I haven't played TF2 in ages, so I'm absolutely clueless as to how this works.

 

[Alchemy]

People in the community fully create the actual assets with professional tools, put them up on TF2's workshop and through lottery chances get picked to put into the game every now and then.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. This is what I was thinking, but it is interesting to see how the visual themed is maintained without a real art lead directing all the user submissions unless there is a process for iterating on user submitted items.

 

[SteveWinwood]

If you guys are really interested you can still get in pretty early (not entirely ground floor) on a lot of the dota 2 cosmetics. The tf2 ones seem to be really slow nowadays.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. This is what I was thinking, but it is interesting to see how the visual themed is maintained without a real art lead directing all the user submissions unless there is a process for iterating on user submitted items.

The community will probably vote for it more if it fits and looks right. Edit: Actually I take that back, the community as a whole is pretty stupid so it probably wouldn't.

Also Valve has published guides, including a pretty substantial one for dota) on the art style and colors and shading and all sorts of stuff.

 

[jaundicejuice]

So what programs do people use to make hats?

Maya, 3D Studio Max or XSI.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Are all items class-specific? For instance, if you create a hat (and provided it gets in), can people buy it and then use it on all characters? I haven't played TF2 in ages, so I'm absolutely clueless as to how this works.

Some hats are all-class, some are class specific, some are confined to a few classes.

 

[HoosTrax]

Are all items class-specific? For instance, if you create a hat (and provided it gets in), can people buy it and then use it on all characters? I haven't played TF2 in ages, so I'm absolutely clueless as to how this works.

For TF2, hats can be either all-class or class-specific.
For DOTA2, I think all headwear are character-specific.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Are all items class-specific? For instance, if you create a hat (and provided it gets in), can people buy it and then use it on all characters? I haven't played TF2 in ages, so I'm absolutely clueless as to how this works.

It's ultimately up to Valve to decide, as one of my favourite hats was originally submitted as usable on Demo and Soldier, but only ended up for Soldier.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

TF2 hats ftw.

*hugs Beams Team Captain*