Hi everyone, I’m preparing to submit my first product to the marketplace and I’m trying to prepare ahead for any unforeseen situations I may run into in order to make the submission process go as smoothly as possible. I’ve gone through all the guidelines & made sure I’ve followed them as much as I possibly can, and beyond that I’ve also gone through several threads on the forums so I can know what to expect during the whole process. Quality is not a concern of mine because I’ve made sure the quality of my product is of a exceptionally high standard in terms of functionality visuals and performance (60fps+ and looking really good ), So please if you have any advice for me please let me know.
The only significant thing I found out was
Time it takes for Submissions to be Reviewed & Processed.
This is the number 1 issue I’ve noticed sellers talk about so, the amount of time it takes for a submission to reviewed and processed. I’ve seen several people point out that it can take months for the whole process to be complete, and that receiving feed back from the marketplace team sometimes takes long aswell. some people say they’ve waited up to 6+ months without their product being accepted/declined (especially plugin creators).
Question, When is it okay to include Epic’s starter content or other content your product?
I ran into the forum post of a guy who used an animated fire texture from epic’s starter content and he received feedback from the marketplace team telling him remove/replace the texture from his submission in order to continue with the process, this confused me because I’ve seen a number of marketplace items using epic’s content including things like rocks and trees from the kite demo. I’m using 1 grass texture from epic’s starter content which I plan on replacing, but this actually leads me to ask the question, in what cases are we allowed to use epics content and would be better if it were modified version of their content.
Please let me know your thoughts and thanks for your time,
The majority of issues stem from pure incompetence from the marketplace team. Lack of communication from marketplace staff with each other, inconsistent enforcement of rules, and variation of opinions on what is “good practice” (They’ll make you change things if they think it could be done better, despite not being experts in that area) from asset reviewers leads to a poor experience for all.
I have waited a little over 5 and a half months for my plugin. They pointed out issues 1 by 1, and most of them were related to typos in comments and apparent inconsistencies (it’s a 70.000 lines plugin that acts a bridge between Steam and UE; Steam has its own inconsistencies so that alone doesn’t make my product suck). It was like using Visual Studio: you have to take each error one at a time. While Visual Studio is a program, the reviewers, allegedly, are not. Given that they reply once a month, they should have the common sense of compiling a list of all the issues.
My advice would be to treat the submission guidelines as martial law and let no part of your products vulnerable to interpretation. At the end of the day, the reviewers are just “robots” in a broken environment. Treat them as such!
EDIT: To answer your Epic content question: I’m distributing my own example project through the plugin’s “Content” folder. I’m using 1 BP which is a port from Epic’s demo room and so far, no one complained about it.
@vlad.serbanescu11 5 and a half months?? well I hope these are isolated events cause it would really suck if everyone had to wait even half that time. and Its sad to hear for the second time that issues are pointed out 1 by 1, I don’t know what the reasons behind that could be, I know the team has a lot to cover but its better to keep someone waiting an extra week or 2 the first time around than to respond within a week, then point out the problems 1 by 1 every other month, not saying its what happens but the only things I can think of that could cause such are laziness or deliberate delayment for what ever reasons they may have, I’ve never had such an experience on Turbosquid, over there you get all your issues covered within 1 email, if you recieve a second email asking for changes its probably because you didn’t listen the first time around. I for certain would not like to re-upload a 4.8gb pack more than 1 once on my slow metered internet just because someone fails to tell me everything I have to change the first time around.
This is something I worry about because in my many years as a 3d artist every now and then I experience this with people that range from the random youtube users down to paying clients who don’t really know what they are asking for. These days it doesn’t happan much since I’m more experienced but still, I personally think if something looks right, works right, performs correctly and can be modified by the end user then theirs no reason to shut someone down just because you would have done it differently, after all we don’t all learn from the same place or use the same work flow/software.
So far it sounds like a lot depends on who is reviewing your product rather than whether it meets acceptable standards or not.
I wouldn’t give up just yet though, sometimes we rant more than necessary and make things seem worse than they actually are. I’m still willing to give them benefit of the doubt, after all they must know much time is dedicated when creating quality products. And even if its as bad as it sounds I personally spent a full 3 and a half months working on my product and I knew what I was getting into before I started so I’m not about to give up.
I agree with your attitude, though. All in all, once you hit the “Submit” button, the “collaboration” with the reviewers is not at all time-consuming. It’s retarded, yes, frustrating, yes, irrational, yes, but not time-consuming. Sticking with it and having the patience to go through those people is the only logical choice.
Well I wont argue since you have actual experience.
Some people haven’t had as much bad luck as others though, recently I talked to Sergey Tyapkin (creator of sci-fi modular environment Sci-Fi Modular Environment in Environments - UE Marketplace ) he says it took about a 100 hours from submission to publication, considering his a real pro at what he does and maybe even the fact that his a bit well known, it makes sense that he wouldn’t go through as much trouble as the rest of us.
Quoting the above message, I’m guessing the cleaner the project the easier it is for everyone.
), So please if you have any advice for me please let me know.