How the prices of the launch collection were calculated

A making cost paid once, a price collected on every copy

Publishing a creation costs credits: a cost per evolution, and a cost per frame depending on the grid. That making cost is paid only once, at publication. The price, however, is collected on every copy a player gets, and each sale brings the creator earned credits.

That is what makes a small price sustainable. A creation in unlimited copies can be listed at ten credits: it pays itself back over several buyers. Conversely, a creation in a single copy has to cover its whole cost with one sale.

The launch collection, drawn by LiveGotchi under creator pseudonyms, served as the testing ground: each of its hundred creations has a price taken from the same formula.

First term: the value of the work

Work is counted in frames and evolutions, not in making credits. Otherwise a 64-pixel grid, whose frames cost more to make, would send the price soaring without the creation being worth that much more.

• Volume: each evolution counts as ten frames, and a frame on the 64 grid counts double.
• The curve: the price follows that volume to the power of 0.6, not in a straight line. A creation ten times larger is worth about four times more, not ten.
• What makes it appealing: the work is increased for each point where the tree splits into branches, for each power, for each drawn emotion, and for a decoration that reacts.
• Scarcity: a single copy multiplies by 1.6; twenty copies or fewer by 1.4; a hundred or fewer by 1.2; beyond that by 1.05. Unlimited copies add nothing.

Second term: paying back the making cost

The second term divides the making cost by the number of copies, then multiplies it by 1.5.

• In unlimited copies, the formula counts on thirty copies: the term becomes negligible, and the value of the work decides.
• At ten copies, the payback often wins: it pushes a very elaborate creation to several hundred credits.
• In a single copy, the price covers the whole making cost.

The higher of the two terms becomes the suggested price.

Bounds and a margin

1. The suggestion is rounded to five credits.
2. It never goes below 10 credits.
3. It never goes above 1,500 credits, or 2,000 for a creation in a single copy.
4. The final price can move away from the suggestion, from 0.6 to 1.6 times its value. Beyond that, the collection check rejects it.
5. A price that, multiplied by the number of copies, does not pay back the making cost is rejected too.

The margin leaves room for judgement: two creations with similar suggestions can be placed a little higher or lower depending on what they show on air.

What it looks like in the directory

A few prices noted in the directory on 14 September 2026:

• Sente, by Bourg12, in unlimited copies: 10 credits.
• Daron, by Bourg12, in 10 copies, one per account, 64 grid: 465 credits.
• Gargouillon, by Crit20, in 50 copies, 64 grid: 600 credits.
• Wyverne Ancestrale, by Crit20, in 10 copies: 1,400 credits.

The small unlimited decoration stays at ten credits; the most elaborate creature, in ten copies, goes past a thousand.

In the workshop, every creator picks their price

The formula was used for the launch collection. A creator publishing in the Creation workshop sets their own price, in credits, in the “Its price (credits)” field.

• The price can be zero: a creation can be free.
• Minimum prices, set by the platform according to the number of copies, are checked at publication. The price can still change until then.
• The making cost is shown while you create. For a creation in a single copy or in limited copies, the workshop brings it down to a cost per copy, rounded up to the next credit.
• Below that cost per copy, the workshop warns: “At this price you are selling at a loss: the creation costs n credits per copy. That is allowed.” Selling at a loss is allowed: the workshop says so, it does not prevent it.
• In unlimited copies, there is no cost per copy: the workshop only shows the total cost.

The reasoning behind the formula is useful to any creator: what they commit once, what each copy brings in, and what scarcity changes. To join the creators, see the creators page.

Frequently asked questions