AGD Interactive is looking for people to help host our games

[Erpy]

To anyone willing to lend a hand.

With a new game release on the horizon in the near future, AGDI has decided to refresh its list of mirrors which host our games. We plan on taking the no longer functioning mirrors off the list and also accepting offers from people willing to host our games, both new and old. We would obviously like to have adequate server space available by the time QFG2VGA is released and we would like to start organizing this now so that the release can be seamless and hitch-free. If you have a good deal of server space and bandwidth to spare and are willing to help us distribute our projects, please contact us at (agdinteractive -at- gmail.com) with a mail titled "AGDI Mirror Offer" and let us know that you'd like to donate server space. In this mail, please also let us know the maximum amount of space and bandwidth you have to offer. Please note that the bandwidth load will be shared across all servers and will be put on rotation every time someone downloads a file from the AGDI website. Additionally, we would like to be able to host the files on the servers indefinitely.

Please keep in mind that this isn't just about QFG2VGA. It also extends to our other projects.

A small request: Please do not send us emails advising us that we can use bit-torrent to distribute the games. Our agreement allows us to use direct-download links from the main website only. So if you're contacting us about this, please only do so if you can offer actual server space. Thanks!

[Broomie]

We're happy to host QFG2VGA for you over at IA. As long as you have a sufficient amount of hosts which wouldn't put a huge strain on our servers I don't see a problem whatsoever. You're also likely to get Dugg (meaning your servers are likely to go down once it is announced like what happened with KQ3) so I would get as many mirrors as possible. We're always looking to support adventure games!

As far as I know, we have 100GB of webspace and 1500GB of bandwidth so I don't think servers issues should be a problem, but as long as you have plently of mirrors to start with it should be fine.

As for KQ1VGA and KQ2VGA and future projects? That's up to Blackthorne but I don't see a problem with helping you host QFG2VGA.

[Angelus3K]

I have two servers I can mirror AGDI's games on.

Maybe distributing the games via BitTorrent would be an idea too.

[navynuke04]

Maybe distributing the games via BitTorrent would be an idea too.

We can't do that per our agreement with Vivendi.

[Blackthorne519]

Yep. Plenty of space on IA servers.

Bt

[ThreeHeadedMonkey]

Maybe distributing the games via BitTorrent would be an idea too.

We can't do that per our agreement with Vivendi.

Could you explain why not? Eventually someone will likely post it to some bit-torrent site anyway, wouldn't it be better to have an official torrent?

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

Most likely because the technology has heavy connotations with piracy and it's probably not a distribution method Vivendi wants to endorse.

We'll also be monitoring torrent sites and getting any QFG2VGA torrents taken down if possible, as we want to keep our download count as accurate as possible. So once again, I request that people should only download the game from our own website to assist us in that department.

Thanks for the offer of server space, Broomie and BT. Will give you a buzz if we need it!

[gargin]

I have a domain hosted by 1and1 that I would be happy to allow you to mirror stuff on. This site is mostly just used for fun web page experiments or to demo new pages I design for people so I barely use any space.

These were the stats of my package last month...
52 MB of 120000 MB in use
Transfer Volume
177 MB of 1200000 MB have been used
File Usage
3864 of 262144 files in use

It is almost sad how little of the package I use so let me know if your interested!

Gargin

[Gronagor]

Ftp username and password? Just kidding.

Don't forget to e-mail to the above-mentioned e-mail!

Remember, they said this will be a long time commitment... Like a marriage. LOL!

[Erpy]

In order to avoid the individual servers from getting overloaded, we can use all the help we can get. So if you're interested in helping out, Gargin, just send a mail to the aforementioned adress. We'll be glad to take you up on your offer.

[Broomie]

Just realized I put 150GB of data transfer. We have 1,500GB of data transfer which is... well a lot. And 150GB of web space too.

[AsianMusicGuy]

I CAN HELP GUYS

[Klytos]

Best of luck getting freely available games taken down from bittorrent. It's hard enough getting commercial titles taken down.

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

A few bit-torrent sites will take down links upon request, as long as you can prove that you're the owner or developer. You can also contact the person who's hosting the tracker directly and request that they take it down.

Of course that doesn't mean they'll do so, but it won't stop us from making the requests all the same. Not only that but I feel we're obliged to take action, in the same way as getting the game taken down from eBay or magazine covers if they appear there. Though, at the end of the day, it's not the biggest deal for a free game and we're not going to waste time going any further than making simple requests. As they say: "any publicity is good publicity".

Though, the fan-base can help out by simply not downloading it from bit-torrent and not seeding it there.

[b74life]

Hmmm, what's wrong with qg2vga being on a torrent. It'll save you some space and bandwidth. Nine inch nails put their latest album on a torrent FOR everybody and hosted the torrent file on their site.

[Gronagor]

I think they repeated the VU agreement enough times above not to repeat the question.

(Nine Inch Nails doesn't have a copyright issue since it's their own product)

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

Yeah, like I mentioned, Vivendi won't allow it and we'd also prefer to steer away from technology that has connotations with piracy.

But can I ask that we don't turn this into another bit-torrent/piracy thread? The purpose of this thread is to focus on finding people who are able to donate server space and act as download mirrors for our games. There's another thread around here (link below) in the General forum about bit-torrent distribution and piracy if you want to elaborate further on those topics:

http://www.agdiforums.com/forum/viewtop ... &start=100

Mirror-related discussion in this thread only. Thanks.

[MacGyver]

How about Rapidshare?

[Broomie]

Rapidshare is very awkward to use. I don't think AGDI will want to use fileshare websites like Rapidshare or Mega Upload where you have to enter a code, wait 20 or so seconds for the download to launch and suffer poor download speeds. It's much better to use dedicated servers that can only have material uploaded by the owner rather than by the user themselves. AGDI will probably need about 10-15 reliable, dedicated servers for launch to assure they don't run out of data transfer.

That is what happened to us when we launched KQ3VGA and we were down for half a day (mostly thanks to Digg.com) so to stay on the safe side it's better to have fast, reliable servers to please everyone and stay away from any downtime.

And with BitTorrent, although AGDI don't want to use it as a means of distribution it will most likely end up on there anyhow. It's just some people's favorite method of downloading and all it takes is a few people to download it from the official website than seed it to other users. It's pretty much inevitable to be honest.

[RC-Cola]

That is what happened to us when we launched KQ3VGA and we were down for half a day (mostly thanks to Digg.com) so to stay on the safe side it's better to have fast, reliable servers to please everyone and stay away from any downtime.

I'd be kinda bummed if it got Dugg and the long-time supporters and people waiting all these years couldn't download it on release day cause all the servers were getting hammered. Maybe newsletter subscribers and forum members could get a link to a top-secret QFG2VGA server that the government doesn't even know about. Wouldn't that make us all feel special?

[gamecreator]

I don't think AGDI will want to use fileshare websites like Rapidshare or Mega Upload

There's no harm in providing the option and it will lessen the burden on people's sites.

[Gronagor]

Again refer to the VU agreement, and those type of programmes eats bandwidth more than you think.

And there's a number of good multi-session downloaders available on the net, that does the work even better than these downloaders.

[AsianMusicGuy]

So when will those who offered to host the game(s) here back from you?

[Erpy]

When we're ready to get the game uploaded.

[AsianMusicGuy]

Because I offered yesterday and i just wanted to know if my space and bandwidth were up to par