Okay guy, I am an experienced web developer and I think I may shed some light on this topic.

First of all, you don''t need to even think about how many GB/Month you can handle, why? Because just like many major distributing software sights the users will not have to download the product directly from your site. You set up different download mirrors. HINT: A mirror is a group of links all going to the same file for download on different servers. I would reccomend using Cnet) ZDNet) and then uploading the file to several different accounts on a free service such as geocities, angelfire, tripod, freeyellow. On your site the "download" section might look a little something like this:

1) Download from Mirror 2
2) Download from Mirror 1
etc. etc.

This method means you pay nearly no money, using a really cheap host like powweb.com. ANOTHER HINT: PowWeb is excellent for people who don''t want to go the more expensive but more convenient routes like my hosts Dreamhost and MedieTemple.

By the way, using PowWeb you get 25GB/Transfer per month so until your game hits the big time you could afford to give customers a direct download from your site. Just make sure to monitor the amount of transfer periodically if you decide you don''t want to use mirrors.

Good luck
- Luc

quote: Original post by d000hg
This is a coupla questions about getting a website.
Yes sorry this is the wrong thread I know, but there doesn''t appear to be a site about web stuff hint GD.NET staff!
So anyway:
1) I need a website to post demos/screenshots of my project. So for that I just need a free site with a reasonable amount of storage space like 10s of Megs. I''d also prefer one without adverts if that''s possible.

Not sure if it helps or not, but i''ve been going through Selectedhosting.com for quite a while now. Our last host kicked us off when we did 40 gigs of traffic in a couple days. The guys at selected hosting are extremely nice, helpful, and honest. There have been times where i emailed them with a bizarre question and they replied within a couple minutes. And if email isnt your thing, they offer 24 hour support that is actually 24/7, very nice. So far with selected hosting we''ve had days where we''ve done 15 gigs or more and they havnt said a thing. They just ask that you tell them if if you think you''ll be doing more than 50 gigs a month, then they move you to better server.

oops

[edited by - Gregory Micek on July 8, 2002 7:01:53 PM]

quote: Original post by Gregory Micek
but i''ve been going through Selectedhosting.com for quite a while now.

They look pretty good, and you testimonial is helpful. I have been evaluating web hosts for a few weeks now, and I will probably be picking one in the next week or so. As it stands right now, they look to be one of my top picks. If I do decide to go with them, they have a place on the order form where you can fill in a referrer ID. It sounds like the referrer gets 5% of the price for the first year (and once you have referred 11 people that goes up to 15%). Do you have a referrer ID?

Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Coming July 2002

http://featureprice.com is where I went for hosting. I have a 50MB site for about $5 a month and unlimited bandwidth. The only limitation: I can''t host porn.
Amazing deal, and there has only been one problem. Recently the server I was on had its harddrive go bye bye. They replaced it, but my site was gone. I had to reupload everything so it just goes to show you backups are nice.
Other than that hiccup in service, it has been smooth, quick, and reliable. I highly recommend them.

-------------------------
(Gorgeous graphics)+(beautiful sound effects)+(symphonic music)+(no gameplay) != Good game

quote: Original post by GBGames
http://featureprice.com ... unlimited bandwidth

They dont offer unlimited bandwidth. I just checked their sales FAQ:
---------------------------------------------
I have a high bandwidth website and will be using several dozen gigabytes of data transfer per month. Can I host with your service?

If you use that much data transfer, we truly recommend that you wait for our high bandwidth plans which we will release in the next two months. Until then, we recommend that you host your websites with companies whom have a high allowance of data transfer. Please note that companies offering "unlimited" transfer are very likely to shut down your website once they notice it transfers a high amount of data.
---------------------------------------------

Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Coming July 2002

quote: Original post by LordKronos

They look pretty good, and you testimonial is helpful. I have been evaluating web hosts for a few weeks now, and I will probably be picking one in the next week or so. As it stands right now, they look to be one of my top picks. If I do decide to go with them, they have a place on the order form where you can fill in a referrer ID. It sounds like the referrer gets 5% of the price for the first year (and once you have referred 11 people that goes up to 15%). Do you have a referrer ID?

Thanks for noticing that, heh. My referrer ID is rpmgames (or you can just hit this link http://www.selectedhosting.com/?ReferID=rpmgames )

quote: Original post by LordKronos

They dont offer unlimited bandwidth. I just checked their sales FAQ:
---------------------------------------------
I have a high bandwidth website and will be using several dozen gigabytes of data transfer per month. Can I host with your service?

If you use that much data transfer, we truly recommend that you wait for our high bandwidth plans which we will release in the next two months. Until then, we recommend that you host your websites with companies whom have a high allowance of data transfer. Please note that companies offering "unlimited" transfer are very likely to shut down your website once they notice it transfers a high amount of data.
---------------------------------------------

Yeah, i''ve been through that. What a lot of hosting services do is advertise unlimited bandwidth, but there is a catch. Ran into this with our previious hosts (CIHost). They advertised unlimited bandwidth, but then we found the site locked down. After trying to get someone on the phone for a few days we found out that it was going to cost $2,000 to get it turned back on and continue running for the rest of the month. Turns out their unlimited bandwidth does not include file or image transfers, just html and text. A lot of hosting companies advertising unlimited bandwidth work in a similar manner.

As a little aside to this, we were able to get out of the $2,000 bill by getting our lawyer involved. And thanks to the help of googles cache and our code monkey''s skills we were able to get everything back.

quote: Original post by Gregory Micek
What a lot of hosting services do is advertise unlimited bandwidth, but there is a catch...Turns out their unlimited bandwidth does not include file or image transfers, just html and text. A lot of hosting companies advertising unlimited bandwidth work in a similar manner.

Yes, I''ve noticed that trend. As I said, I''ve been looking for a new web host for a little while now, and I see this same thing quite a bit. One of the better looking ones I saw was phpwebhosting.com . They claim "we do not place limits on your site''s bandwidth" but that they have "unmetered" bandwidth. Basically, they claim they dont limit you, but if you get too high bandwidth they will throttle you (so you dont get cut off or charged, you just get a somewhat slower site temporarily). They even go into a little bit about how most places that advertise unlimited bandwidth are lying.

So I am pretty happy with what I found. Then I am going through their FAQ and find this:
"Though we do not have any pre-set limits, you will not be allowed to and/or over five GB of bandwidth/month."

That sure sounds like a limit to me. They go on to say that if you go over occasionally, they wont care. So its a soft limit, but its still a limit.

As for the not including files and images thing, thats a new one to me. I couldnt possibly imagine it. What would that be good for? serving ASCII porn?

Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Coming July 2002