Partnering Up: Hosting Service Providers
Added 2020-03-13 00:41:10 +0000 UTC
Hear ye, hear ye! I have some news that I'm very excited to share with you all related to some new partnerships.
My vision for Foundry Virtual Tabletop is to create a self-hosted application where you are in full control of your hosting environment and your own data. This is a great vision for lots of users, but a weakness with that design choice is that it requires some technical configuration which is unappealing to some aspiring dungeon masters.
Hosting your dedicated Foundry VTT server in a cloud enviroment is a fantastic and empowering experience - but not everyone wants to mess with EC2 instances, security groups, SSL certificates, and reverse proxies -in fact, probably only a few of you want to!
It has always made sense to offer a managed solution for hosting Foundry VTT which can provide this level of power at the click of a button where all the hassle of infrastructure and network configuration is taken care of for you.
I'm thrilled to share two official Hosting Service Provider partnerships with The Forge and with Foundry Server to provide this experience to game masters who want the best of both worlds!
Some common features of both services that you should be aware of:
- For the duration of Beta, you must be an active Patreon supporter in order to utilize either service.
- After Foundry VTT release, you can purchase your own software license key from the official Foundry website and use it with either hosting provider. You bring the software license, they bring the hosting service.
- Both services are also still in "Beta" - but they are developing quickly and are ready now for hands-on testing. If a managed hosting solution sounds perfect for you - I encourage you to help one or both with testing and iterating on their approach.
Read on to learn a bit about each service:
The Forge
Tired of running your own server and fighting with routers and config files? Use The Forge to painlessly run your own adventures and fight goblins instead!
The Forge is a fully integrated, turn-key hosting service for Foundry VTT created by KaKaRoTo. Get your own Foundry Table up and running with a single click, and benefit from the integrated user experience allowing you to save time and effort, whether for initial set-up or for managing your games regularly. Make your server public or private and share unlimited invitation links for your players to access your game for free. Each game benefits from its own unique subdomain, allowing you to launch into a world directly at any time or confine players to a specific world.
Through the Forge, all assets are delivered via a high speed distributed network of servers, allowing your international players to load your game assets with maximum bandwidth and minimal latency. The only thing that should be slow and painful is their deaths at the hand of a lich! The Forge’s auto-snapshot feature can save your game data after every session and synchronize it with an external server of your choice and allows you to go back in time to inspect what your game looked like on any given date. With unlimited bandwidth usage, high storage quotas, and the ability to import your existing data or export your games for backup purposes, The Forge is the solution for all your game hosting needs.
Developed and operated by KaKaRoTo, you can expect the same level of polish, dedication and quality that you've seen from his numerous free FVTT modules or the convenience and seamless integration that you experience with his Beyond20 browser extension.
Foundry Server
Foundry Server provides a reliable, cost effective, and responsive hosting service for the Foundry VTT gaming environment. Our servers are located on a major US backbone and are configured for reliability and scalability. You have full control over your game server and game data at all times. Hosting is free for all Foundry VTT Patreon members during the Beta testing phase and the first 25 people who sign up during the beta testing phase will get 3 months of free hosting after full release, as a way to say thank you. As demand warrants, we will scale our platform around the world to ensure the best performance for your games. So come on over and check us out at https://www.foundryserver.com!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why not do this yourself?
It's a big project to provide infrastructure support for a managed hosting environment, and as a sole developer it would be too large a project for me to tackle while managing other aspects of the Foundry VTT project. It makes a lot of sense to partner up on this with individuals who have the technical expertise and motivation to augment the base Foundry platform with their own specialized hosting services.
Where can I learn more?
You can find some more information about these and other official partnerships on the Foundry VTT website at the following address: https://foundryvtt.com/article/partnerships/
Will there be other service providers in the future?
Possibly! I'm very excited for these two partnerships at the moment, but I am always open for establishing new opportunities to grow the Foundry community in exciting ways. Feel free to reach out if you have something you would like to discuss.
What does this mean? Is Foundry VTT now a subscription service?
No! Foundry VTT itself will continue to be a one-time purchase for a software license. Once you have that license you can still choose to self-host. Nothing changes on that front. This gives you an additional option, however, which did not exist before to use your license with a hosting service provider who will handle the management of a dedicated server for you using your license key.
Comments
Plz I'm trying to grow
Yellvey
2020-03-19 16:18:47 +0000 UTCHey can u sub to me on YT channel, it is Yellvey
Yellvey
2020-03-19 16:18:37 +0000 UTCHey Halobob87. There were a few hours 3 days ago where the patreon license check was broken for everybody. That will teach me to push an update before going to sleep! It's been fixed since then of course, so feel free to give it another try. And if you have any problems or questions, Drop by my Discord server and I'll be happy to help : https://discord.gg/tHYvryr Thanks
Youness Alaoui
2020-03-16 18:36:18 +0000 UTCHey Mark, thanks for providing this feedback. To be clear - I am not providing these services myself, so your feedback about their pricing terms and features should be directed towards The Forge and Foundry Server directly - but I'll share this comment with both service providers so they get your message :)
Foundry Virtual Tabletop
2020-03-16 18:25:04 +0000 UTCSo, some feedback. I think the prices look good, I'm paying $5 for a 1G ram droplet on vultr for hosting. But a few things: advertise that you'll be doing SSL. Advertise that game data will be backed up(if you're not doing backups, set that up). Also, I think having too many data limit points will be confusing. Normal people may not understand bandwidth limits, since that'll vary a lot based on the number of players. A single storage limit and/or upload size limit would make your plans a lot easier to understand. Personally I think a storage limit, with an easy interface to show how much you're using of your limit(maybe in the foundry app itself) would be ideal. Main thing is to keep it simple so the options aren't confusing, yet offer options to appeal to heavy and serious users.
Mark Mealman
2020-03-16 16:57:31 +0000 UTCI have no problem in the subrcribe procedure but the server dosen't give access to the master
2020-03-16 12:52:57 +0000 UTCI'm experiencing the same problem. I'm also subscribed at the 5$ Beta tier, but even after linking both accounts it still show the message : "No Foundry VTT License Without a valid Foundry VTT License, you cannot create your own games. During the Beta phase, anyone who has pledged to the Beta Tier on FoundryVTT's Patreon, is considered as having one license. Please link your account with Patreon to validate your FVTT license before running your games."
2020-03-13 17:55:10 +0000 UTCHey MNBlockhead just a reminder that both Foundry Server and The Forge are partnerships, so for technical assistance you would need to direct those inquiries towards the appropriate party, depending on which service you are trying. As for Patreon eligibility, the $5 Patreon Beta tier should be sufficient to access the hosting service - if that is not allowing you to start a game session you should contact the service operator for assistance.
Foundry Virtual Tabletop
2020-03-13 15:48:18 +0000 UTCI signed up and linked my Foundry account to my Patreon account but Foundry states: "No Foundry VTT License Without a valid Foundry VTT License, you cannot create your own games. During the Beta phase, anyone who has pledged to the Beta Tier on FoundryVTT's Patreon, is considered as having one license." I am at the Beta Explorer tier, which I guess is not high enough. But I don't see a "Beta" tier for this Patreon. Do I have be subscribed at the Council or Benefactor tier in order to try the hosting?
MNBlockhead
2020-03-13 13:36:40 +0000 UTCThere's no monthly cost for Foundry once launched. Forge will be a sub, either monthly of paid yearly with a discount. Current plans start at 4 dollars a month. And that's for the host, player accounts are free.
Jimmy Crawford
2020-03-13 07:34:58 +0000 UTCI'm so happy to see this.
2020-03-13 03:22:35 +0000 UTCWhat is the monthly cost on the Foundry service?
Erogroth
2020-03-13 02:36:40 +0000 UTCSuch great news! Now I can actually try to use it to run a game for friends!
Pensive Primate
2020-03-13 01:38:38 +0000 UTCsubscriptions.
Shonai
2020-03-13 01:24:49 +0000 UTCThanks for the info! If they end up being subscription, I'll probably stick with self hosting. I can do all the setup, I'm just lazy and don't want to rely on my internet 😜
Sparkrdom
2020-03-13 01:05:51 +0000 UTCGreat question - and probably I should have addressed it - but I'm leaving the pricing discussion for hosting services up to the providers. The Foundry VTT license will be a one-time purchase and then you can explore which hosting provider (if any) you feel like is a good deal.
Foundry Virtual Tabletop
2020-03-13 01:03:57 +0000 UTCWill these hosting services be subscription based? I assume so, but it was not addressed. I would love a single price option, but I guess that's what the self hosted option is for! Thanks for all you do.
Sparkrdom
2020-03-13 00:59:58 +0000 UTC
