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News / Status update + input needed
« on: October 21, 2012, 02:21:24 AM »
It's been a few days, so let me fill everyone in on what's up. Lyn and I have been talking to a programmer about the project, and he's going to take a look and see if he's interested. If so, we'll start looking at how to prepare for a Kickstarter campaign, but that's not solidified yet.
Instead I want to talk to you guys about something even further away. In the relatively near future, we need to try and decide on the business model for the eventual relaunched game. The bottom line here is that the game has to make money, but I don't want to do anything to upset the balance of the game or the players. There are two ideas we're currently kicking around, and feedback or other suggestions would be helpful.
The first is a model similar to what Randy used in the past, where players would buy subscriptions to the game for a set length of time. However, unlike in the past, there would not be a full free version offered as an alternative. We'd give everyone who signed up some time - two weeks, let's say - of free play, after which they'd be forced to subscribe to continue. As a consequence, this would offer a more unified play experience: in the past the free version was substantially different - lacking the fluctuating kingdom, events, and so forth - whereas this would offer an exact sample of whatever the final product becomes.
The second is what's known as a "freemium" model. Games that operate with this plan are completely free to play, except for when they're not. Rather than charging to play, this would allow players to use real-world money to purchase in-game things. The disadvantage is that this walks a very fine line, and it's very difficult to create freemium content that players will want to buy that won't give them a major advantage over non-paying players.
So, there's the news. What say you?
Instead I want to talk to you guys about something even further away. In the relatively near future, we need to try and decide on the business model for the eventual relaunched game. The bottom line here is that the game has to make money, but I don't want to do anything to upset the balance of the game or the players. There are two ideas we're currently kicking around, and feedback or other suggestions would be helpful.
The first is a model similar to what Randy used in the past, where players would buy subscriptions to the game for a set length of time. However, unlike in the past, there would not be a full free version offered as an alternative. We'd give everyone who signed up some time - two weeks, let's say - of free play, after which they'd be forced to subscribe to continue. As a consequence, this would offer a more unified play experience: in the past the free version was substantially different - lacking the fluctuating kingdom, events, and so forth - whereas this would offer an exact sample of whatever the final product becomes.
The second is what's known as a "freemium" model. Games that operate with this plan are completely free to play, except for when they're not. Rather than charging to play, this would allow players to use real-world money to purchase in-game things. The disadvantage is that this walks a very fine line, and it's very difficult to create freemium content that players will want to buy that won't give them a major advantage over non-paying players.
So, there's the news. What say you?