Mmm shiny.
Last week I proposed a premium subscription for Captain Forever (working title), and the response was overwhelming… ly negative. Which is great. Without feedback I’d have followed my plan to untimely financial demise, so thanks for saving me folks. Let’s see if we can fix this thing.
Captain Forever will be a free, self contained game. That’s the dream. But I think it has the potential to be much bigger, and I want to get it there. I’m going to need support in this endeavour. I thought subscriptions could be the answer, but I don’t want to trap people in recurring payments, I don’t want to trap myself supporting an unsustainably small player base, and I don’t want to upset people by changing what they’ve purchased. I want, y’know, good things. So let’s try something else.
How would you feel about a series of games? Each would be a new universe, a new challenge, a new experience. I’m thinking ~$2 each, monthly release, gradually building on the core game as I go. People can buy whichever installments they like. No subscriptions, no forced updates, just cheap awesome fun.
What do you think? Is this a better model? Sounding board GO!
<3 Farbs
I don’t think micropayment models work very well on the internet, Farbs.
Or at least, they haven’t proven to. You’d need a big platform, a big brand, and single-click transactions. Something like iTunes.
Generally, I think it’s risky to let players buy tiny pieces of your game at a time. Why not let players pay $20 up front for the whole shebang? That’s *20 months* worth of your proposed $2/episode model, and I’d wager you’ll find far more people willing to pay $20 once than pay $2 20 times. Like I said, the one-time fee has worked for CC and Minecraft (and Mount&Blade, too).
From what I’ve heard about the game and the caliber of the people talking about it – and from knowing what you’re capable of – I have no doubt that it’ll be stellar. Don’t use a difficult business model out of the fear that you won’t have players rolling in weeks, months, and years from the initial release. That’s my three cents!
yo, I think that you should let people play and try before knowing how much would they like to pay
Um, I’m sorry, I totally messed up my math up thar. You know what I mean, durf.
I—for the most part—agree with Derek. Micro-payments can be very iffy. That said, episodic, installment-based payments, I think, are a different beast and can be the best of both worlds. Allow people to stay on board for as long as the product is worthy of each individual’s attention, while at the same time avoiding the problem (which you mention in your post) of a purely subscription-based model. A one-off payment would still be a good idea, as Derek says, for those of us with the utmost confidence in what you can deliver. Obviously, this would be best instituted at a discounted price (of course, this assumes you have a fairly good idea of the scale of this project.)
P.S., This probably should be a foreword, but I’m not actually sure what this Captain Forever project is! *oops*
I think a one off payment then recieving the content as it comes out would be better and more reliable.
It’s a simple idea and less likely to fail. Some people are reluctant when it comes to paying micro-transactions as new content comes out.
I think that episodic gaming (which is essentially when you’re doing here) is fine, as long as these “episodes” are designed so that they don’t make people feel like they have to buy them to get the game they thought they did before. How about this:
You bump up the price to 5 or 10$, and you release it in much larger, essential updates ever 2 months or so that people want to pay for (but keep the modular aspect of things). Then, you release the smaller 2$ segments you were going on about before in free micro updates. People could still only buy the ones they want, but they feel like they’re getting more for their dollar.
PS – Sorry if any of that didn’t make sense: I wrote it like, three times.
@farbs – Round three is the best, because it’s usually like RC!
Yay! Nagging works!
Seems like you still like the low cost many times-idea, this idea doesn’t differ that much from the original.
Really makes you wonder what kind of game you actually are making, if a normal release model doesn’t cut it!
Still, one-time payments are easier, and I don’t think outside people, who haven’t played you other games, would be interested; only seeing a huge pile of similar, really cheap games they’d think you’ve just churned out uninspired run-off-the-mill games to earn money.
If you still want to stick to episodic gaming, I’d rather see you going for Andrew’s idea.
And by the way, if the games come in mini-slabs, why not keep the first one or two free to attract newcomers?
After getting to playtest for awhile, I know I want this game, and I would be totally cool with expansions every month or two. My objection to the other plan was the “lock-in” aspect of a subscription, but this way I would get to keep playing the game I bought without worrying about it getting repo-ed. The option to expand the game for a couple bucks now and then sounds great.
Personally, paying a big price up front for future promised updates doesn’t appeal to me. If you want to go that way, why not just finish the game, then release it, so I get the whole game when I plunk down my money. Sounds too much like pre-ordering based on some alpha footage, i.e. I’d like to know what I’m paying for and exactly when it will come out. With a finished game there’s not as much uncertainty, and I’m not “locked-in” to the rest of the game when/if it comes out.
I really liked the idea of seeing incremental changes to the game world. How would these expansion packs work with that? Would each one just be released in one big content dump and then you’d go work on the next one? Would someone be able to pay $2 before the expansion is finalized and see random updates until it’s complete?
Would it be possible to give an option of payment methods?
People could either:
Pay once and get everything
Buy in tiny chunks that don’t cost much
@Adam: OH GOD THIS.
I’m giving that some serious thought, yes.
Like you said, “the dream” is to have a freem self-contained game. You could have a smaller free version and then sell the larger version however you wanted. A bit like shareware, I guess.
I’m really looking forward to your game!
I can’t make an opinion either way until I can see examples of how the games will look.
If you are consistent, then the $2 might work good, if there’s enough people involved.
Hi there just browsing for some space based game and came across a post on bigdownload.com
The problem with single payments at the outset for the entire package is you may lose constructive feedback along the development cycle (replaced by angry demands) as well as forcing yourself to complete the project if you decide at some point to end the product for whatever reason it may be.
Although I have no idea how the game actually plays I would suggest a free initial demo for establishing a larger audience (e.g. limit the game as it is now). Market this aggressively as I am guessing you have already had some considerable positive feedback on the product.
I would then make a slightly larger than originally intended micro package for, not $2, but $5 that makes it a “complete” game and not the demo (so the current or slightly more updated current game). Then plan a rehaul/sequel/major package for the $10-$20 that can be purchased in parts or as a complete package (for the dedicated fanbase).
Without further knowledge of the game, what your development costs are, how many sales you are likely to make and whether the packages are extra story-lines, in-game items etc. to the initial product I cant suggest anything more specific.
I for one had never heard of this game before tonight but am intrigued by the concept and think there is a lot of potential if approached in the right manner.
Anyway good luck, I hope this all pans out for you.
I missed out on your earlier testing, but the game sounds very appealing from what I’ve seen and other people’s responses.
I’m intrigued with your thoughts about alternate payment schemes. I don’t know that I have any solid facts to contribute, but am very interested in the discussion.
I’ve noticed that one downside of buying low cost PC games online is that the process of authorizing online payment is a bit of a deterrent. People don’t seem to care as much about the actual cost of the game as the hassle of buying it. There’s also the issue of needing a recognized credit card, which affects minors and people in certain countries. If I could just plunk two dollars in your hand I’d do it without hesitation, but I might think twice if I had to fill out a couple of forms and enter in my payment information.
I could see that being a bit of an issue with a more fragemented model (for instance multiple installments, but no subscription). My hunch is that the impulse buy urge isn’t quite as powerful outside of a streamlined service like the app store or XBox Live Arcade.
(Psst. Can I playtest captain forever?)
How about I give you $20 and you let me playtest before I go mad from waiting?
On that note, it’s been a while since the last post. When should I expect a new one?
I love your work and am looking forward to seeing this project moving forward,
A small number of people can provide a large amount of revenue if you design a model that lets the ‘die hards’ choose to pay extra… If you’re able to let people self ‘price select’, effectively, picking the Mochachino Frappa-wappa Soya for $8 instead of the $1 Coffee, while still having the $1 option available for the more frugal or poorer or less ‘into it’ folks, you get more money overall,
[As an example (which I know you've moved away from, but it serves), a basic subscription model don't let people pay more than that, so you miss out on 'extra' money from those that would pay it.]
In my industry, PBBG’s (www.pbbg.org), subscription based games seem to not do so well for this reason.
The important thing to aim for in that setup is to keep those paying a small amount happy, and still feel like they are getting a quality game. I second otehrs comments in regards to making sure that people don’t _have_ to upgrade to feel they had the game they had to start with. Peer-envy is hard to avoid though, the balance can be hard to get right!
Make sure to research case studies of other games and see what’s worked and what hasn’t and why, for inspiration for your own ideas,
Best Wishes,
-Ben
Hi there
We all need a progress report!!
Love ya
Cmon farbs!
We wanna know whats been going on in that little farbs cave of yours :p
When will we get to play?
Hi, I’m back! Was on holiday all last week and am preparing for a conference this weekend. Details and more thoughts on payment in my forthcoming post.