My plan for my games (free demo, commercial release)

[Teh Crabe]

After reading a few of the threads on here about commercial vs. free release, it seems people are fairly divided, and I think I have a workable solution.

What I plan to do is break my game into a number of episodes (3-5 depending on how the plot pans out).  The intro and a minimal demo (showing off the caliber of art, 1 or two puzzles and the interface) will be free to download.  Each episode after that will be $1.00 to download, payable via PayPal.

If you don't like the demo, don't buy the game.  If you don't like chapter 2, don't buy chapter 3.  If o one ver buys chapter 2, I won't have to spend my time making chapter 3 or 4.

Does that make sense?  I'm pretty much betting on the idea that gamers like me are willing to pay a couple bucks for a few hours of interactive entertainment, especially if it comes in bite-size chunks.  Something you could get into during your lunch break or just before bedtime.

Eventually, if sales of the game are supportive enough for me to finish it, I'll probably make a "Deluxe" version, with all episodes in one game, with some nice bonus stuff thrown in that will go for full retail.

Does anyone think this is workable?

[Privateer Puddin']

it could work, however, i think each chapter would need a cliff hanger or something similar to make the person defiantly buy the next, might be a weird story with a few of these if not done properly.

[Teh Crabe]

Well of course I'm going to rely on the cliffhanger to keep people absolutely HAVING to see what happens next.  I plan to not release an episode for sale until the next is at least 25% done, so there won't be too large a gap between games.

[Privateer Puddin']

and, i dunno know if you know, the idea of episodes isn't too knew, tex murphy (i think) creators were thinking of doing it, might be a good idea to see if any sucessful games come of this idea, or you might wanna try be the first sucessful one

[Teh Crabe]

Absolutely.  And by keeping the games about the size of most demos, I keep my workload small, and I don't need to spend a year or more developing something I 'd have to sell for Double-digit dollar amounts to break even.

I invest my time, have a fun hobby, and hopefully get some beer money at first, then make a nice profit with the deluxe versions if the experiment is successful.

I know the idea of episodes is not new, but the split that I've seen here is full game commercial release, or give the whole thing away for free.  There's a middle path here that I think people are missing.

[Minimi]

I think you came up with a pretty good idea, though it needs lots of managing, and also requires lots of time, wich I don't have, but I can't ofcourse look at your life. Well.. to tell you my goal at the moment is to first release a couple of free games, and also hopefully a pretty good free game, and after that, when I expierenced enough and maybee found someone either on ags, or in my own neighbourhood that wants to join me with a project, I consider selling the game by internet. But at the time I'm actually selling a game, then we'll be at least a year later!

[Teh Crabe]

Well, the way I am, I'm not going to put something out there of lower quality than I'm capable of.  And the way I'm going to set the site up, It won't be highly secure or anything, but shame on you if you have to steal something that only costs a dollar, you know?

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

There was recently a story in Future Music magazine where a guy made an $8 audio plugin. After a couple of weeks, he googled his program, and found a Russian site that had cracked it. So don't count on your program not being cracked just because it's $1.

Lecture over, this sounds like a great idea. The biggest problem I can see is getting a company that will process credit card orders, and paying for a server that supports SSL encryption.

[Privateer Puddin']

wasn't pay pal mentioned? archangel, i would have thought you pay him on that, then he emails you with an address to download it from

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

Hehe, yes I'm an idiot ^_^ of course paypal is a far more logical solution.

[Teh Crabe]

Like I said before, I'm not going to bother encrypting the game or anything.  If people trade it over Kazaa or whatever, I'm not really going to be able to stop it.  

Besides that, it may actually work to my advantage if those people end up buying the deluxe version, which will be mailed on a disc.

If it turns out no one buys it, but everyone seems to have played it, it just won't be worth my effort to make games, as I already make a good bit of money doing freelance illustration.

My mortgage doesn't depend on this business model.  It's mainly just a step above asking for donations.  What's a dollar compared to a couple of hours of entertaining gameplay, and some good backgrounds, animations and jokes?

Outside of that, maybe I'll establish a workable model by which professional quality adventure games can re-enter the marketplace.

Mind you it'll be on a smaller scale, but if someone's willing to buy it, someone else is willing to make it.

And with paypal, I'm not investing a whole lot into recieving payments or fulfillment or anything like that.  It's more of an experiment really, and something good may come of it.

[BOYD1981]

is this a sign of things to come? everyone wanting people to pay for their game?

i think people are only going to pay for a game if it is of high quality and not just because the person that made it wants to make some money...

what if the people that want to play it don't have a credit/debit card?

[Teh Crabe]

is this a sign of things to come? everyone wanting people to pay for their game?

i think people are only going to pay for a game if it is of high quality and not just because the person that made it wants to make some money...

what if the people that want to play it don't have a credit/debit card?

That's what I'm getting at.  I'm not going to make something of low quality.  I'm going to spend my time making the best game I possibly can, and I do want to be rewarded for it beyond a pat on the back.  Now, I'm not asking for top dollar either.  It's only a dollar.  For the price of a soda and a bag of chips, you can download a game that I worked for a couple of months on.

If I only wanted to make some money, I'd do something besides make adventure games, believe me.

If you don't have a credit or debit card, then I suppose you can't buy the game.  If you wanted to mail me a dollar, I'd be happy to send you the link for your download.  In fact, that way paypal doesn't get their cut.  

I'm not sure what your gripe is.  I don't think I owe my efforts to anyone for free.  I'm giving away an intro and a demo to show you what I'm going to be presenting.  If you'd rather have the soda and chips, by all means do so.

[remixor]

If you wanted to mail me a dollar, I'd be happy to send you the link for your download.  In fact, that way paypal doesn't get their cut.  

Yeah, they don't deserve a cut for a service they could easily provide for free.

[Teh Crabe]

If you wanted to mail me a dollar, I'd be happy to send you the link for your download.  In fact, that way paypal doesn't get their cut.  

Yeah, they don't deserve a cut for a service they could easily provide for free.

Actually PayPal has massive overhead costs with handling the amount of transactions they do.  It would be impossible to provide the service they provide for free, and they currently are they only servecie that just takes money out of your payments, rather than charging you on top of that.

So in a way it kind of is free.  I can recieve credit card payments for anything through them and have them sent directly to my bank account, or get a card that uses my PayPal account like a debit account, at no cost tome whatsoever.

Pretty sweet deal.  They deserve their cut.

[remixor]

I know, I was--it was--I--never mind.  Too difficult to explain.

[Minimi]

Ohw man!! If you are busy creating the best your capable of, I suggest you go offline man!! All these replys not even 30min from eachother. How will your game ever be completed if you check twice in an hour the fora well... not that I'm never here, but I never said I'd do 100% my effort to make a game, because if I said that, I woulda quit school, and I know that's not worth it, because all you have to do is add some naked scenes in your game, and people love it

[Matt Brown]

didnt paypal get sued for not giving some people their dough? sounds kinda risky. I avoid it. heres what I do
to folks in the state of Ohio, where I do most of my bussiness, I sell CD's with a ton of stuff on them, all the bob's quests, TGC demos, unrealeased AGS stuff, and throw in some behind teh sences and walkthrus and stuff. I charge 5$

For people who dont live in Ohio, (AGSers mostly) or people with uber-good internet, I offer the games for download, free. They just dont get the goodies. I think this is the best way to make money in AGS. (at least for me  anyways, cause my games arent exactly the best...and certainly couldnt turn a profit among game makers) I thrive off the novelty-factor I suppose...kids going, "wow! you make games! cool! I'll pay 5 bucks". Im not trying to make a ton of cash..it really just helps me keep focused, and it helps with my job's salary to pay for uni. ( I hope to pay for books for via my games)

good luck with your idea, I hope it works for you!

[Teh Crabe]

Ohw man!! If you are busy creating the best your capable of, I suggest you go offline man!! All these replys not even 30min from eachother. How will your game ever be completed if you check twice in an hour the fora well... not that I'm never here, but I never said I'd do 100% my effort to make a game, because if I said that, I woulda quit school, and I know that's not worth it, because all you have to do is add some naked scenes in your game, and people love it

Heh heh.  I'll have to add that to my manifesto.  Plus, I am working my game.  I MULTITASK!

[Teh Crabe]

didnt paypal get sued for not giving some people their dough? sounds kinda risky. I avoid it. heres what I do
to folks in the state of Ohio, where I do most of my bussiness, I sell CD's with a ton of stuff on them, all the bob's quests, TGC demos, unrealeased AGS stuff, and throw in some behind teh sences and walkthrus and stuff. I charge 5$

I don't know about PayPal suits, most of their deal about freezing people's funds had to do with fraud investigation.  I've been using them for other things for almost 3 years now and never had a problem.

For people who dont live in Ohio, (AGSers mostly) or people with uber-good internet, I offer the games for download, free. They just dont get the goodies. I think this is the best way to make money in AGS. (at least for me  anyways, cause my games arent exactly the best...and certainly couldnt turn a profit among game makers) I thrive off the novelty-factor I suppose...kids going, "wow! you make games! cool! I'll pay 5 bucks". Im not trying to make a ton of cash..it really just helps me keep focused, and it helps with my job's salary to pay for uni. ( I hope to pay for books for via my games)

good luck with your idea, I hope it works for you!

YOu idea's good too, but more of a hassle than I want to deal with.  I'm out of school and work 50+ hrs a week.  I don't want to do order fulfillment.

I'll let you know if it does work.