Absolutely second this !
...and I would even invest a few hundreds euros in that company of yours
The idea of selling Aurora as a commercial product is something that crops up occasionally. I'll try and explain why I don't
I have regularly turned hobbies into jobs. I used to play keyboards for fun and eventually became a professional musician. Definitely a lot less fun when you have to to be in a certain place at a certain time and play certain types of music. Sounds glamorous and it certainly has its moments but in the end it becomes just work.
I learned programming for a hobby and wrote SFB Assistant and eventually starting working as a C++/Windows 3.1 programmer. Once I was working as a programmer, I did very little at home because I was programming all day. It become a job rather than fun, although I did start looking at VB3 which led to Starfire Assistant. Once I moved into management, I starting programming for a hobby again and it was a lot of fun (still is!).
Then I learned to play poker for a hobby and that eventually became my job. It can still be fun and you have the freedom to do things like write Aurora
but when you have to play virtually every day and you have to earn a certain amount per month, it does take on many of the aspects of a job. Also I enjoy playing poker tournaments but there is a huge amount of luck involved. For 'work' purposes I have to play cash games where skill is far more important and I can generate a steady income.
I really enjoy creating Aurora and writing the fiction and I very much enjoy the community aspects of the game. If it became my 'job' I am really concerned that it wouldn't be as much fun. I would have to make a certain amount of money, which would probably involve 'dumbing it down' so it appealed to a wider audience. At the moment, the game appeals to a very small percentage of people who want this level of detail and can't find it in other games. That isn't really a commercially viable strategy. I would also have an obligation to be responsive to people who paid money for the game and while I hope I am responsive now, no one can complain too much if I am not
. Making the game free also opens it up to a lot of people who may not want to pay for it because if the extensive learning curve.
The summary is that I have a lot of fun with Aurora and I don't want to risk losing that fun aspect. One possibility is that I might try and write an Aurora-related novel and try to sell that, or at the least make it available on Lulu or something similar.
Steve