The mission of Easel

Making coding accessible to the masses: Easel is designed to be an ideal entry point for people to learn coding in a fun and engaging way, while also being powerful enough for experienced developers to make sophisticated games. We want to reach as many people as possible, which is why Easel is free to use as much as we can make it.

No ads: We have a strict no-ads policy on the Easel platform in order to remain a safe space for young people to learn and play. This makes it extra difficult to cover our ongoing costs.

Big dreams: Easel needs to grow in order to reach its full potential. It needs to reach more people, and it needs to expand in capabilities so it can all the kinds of games people dream of making. This requires your support!

Support our mission: Help us bring Easel to more people by subscribing to Easel+. Your subscription helps us cover our ongoing hosting costs, fund future development of Easel, and keep the platform free for as many people as possible. Thank you for your support!

For players

Perks: Easel+ provides perks in every participating Easel game. Depending on the game, this may include things like exclusive in-game cosmetics, access to unique items, or other fun bonuses.

No microtransactions: We feel that microtransactions have been harmful to game design and the player experience, with games becoming incentivized to be addictive and manipulative in order to get players to spend more money. Easel+ is a subscription model in order to prioritize your experience.

Support your favorite Easel games: As an Easel+ subscriber, your subscription fee is apportioned to contributing the costs of the games you play the most, so that they can be enjoyed by more people.

You can make games too: Try remixing your favorite Easel games! Wish your favorite game had a new ability or item? You can do it yourself! Your Easel+ subscription includes bandwidth and storage so you can use the game editor too!

For makers

Hosting: Your Easel+ subscription helps cover the ongoing hosting costs of your games, including bandwidth, storage, and server costs.

Subdomains: Give your games a more memorable URL by publishing them to a custom subdomain like turrets.easel.games. This will help your players return to your game more easily!

Cost-effective multiplayer: Even if you were to rent your own server, that is just one server in one location. Even the lowest tier of Easel+ gives you access to a global network of servers that will be closer to your players than any single server you could rent on your own.

Support the development of Easel: Your Easel+ subscription helps fund the ongoing development of the Easel platform, so that you can make even more amazing games in the future!

Scale with your playerbase: As your player base gets bigger, your hosting costs will go up too. Encourage your players to subscribe to Easel+ so that your hosting costs are covered as your game grows in popularity.

Payouts: Easel is a small platform right now. Once we are able to cover all our costs, we will be able to start sharing a portion of the subscription revenue with game makers, so that you can be rewarded for making great games that people love to play.

Keeping multiplayer games sustainable

Collective funding: Too many beloved multiplayer games have shut down because they were not able to cover their ongoing hosting costs. Unless you are a large game studio, no business model seems to work. One-off purchases are not a long-term solution, and subscription models fail because small studios struggle to make enough content to keep players subscribed. Easel+ lets us solve this problem collectively.

One unified subscription: Easel+ gives you perks in every participating Easel game. Even if a player's favorite game changes from month-to-month, they will always have a reason to stay subscribed. This unified funding model keeps all Easel games alive.

Collective bandwidth: Easel+ funds a collective pool of bandwidth that all Easel games can draw from. Encourage your players to subscribe to Easel+ and help keep all Easel games alive, forever!