Having published a game, it is my experience that retail stores are king. However, over the next year, would there be any interest from the gaming community to purchase "chapters" for, say, $2 or $3 per chapter until the full game is complete? It's almost the same as waiting for the next season of your favorite tv show.
thoughts?
Comments?
Troyan Turner
The Danse Macabre Multimedia

Hi Troyan.............Great idea!
I'd be the first one to hop on that bandwagon!

Success of this idea might likely depend on the overall quality and length of the first issue.....first impressions count big time, as I'm sure you're very much aware! And, it might be nice to know how many installments are planned ahead of time, too.

Regards, Witchen

This is the way that Valhalla has been marketed. I think they are on episode six of a projected twelve all together. You pay for the episode and then download it to your computer--after that it's not necessary to be on the Net to play...

isn't this also how the ladystar game is being done?

i'd just be worried about whether the game would ever get finished. i remember when stephen king started selling chapters of a book online, and then wasn't motivated to finish writing the book...

-emily

fov (emily) said it before I could. What's to say those who buy a few chapters are not going to see the game finished because there wasn't enough sold.......or the people making the game lost interest and decided to do something different?

I have a scanner I bought some time ago but it still works fine. Went to the maker's site one time and it said they had all gone to Hawaii. Never saw them again.

If this is intended to be a method to get funding to complete the game by selling an incomplete story, I not sure I really see it working very well. (of course I may well be very wrong)

How much does it cost to process a $2 or $3 credit card transaction?

It is true that the really big businesses make their money by repeat sales (so, lots and lots of sales of small increments sounds good), but they don't rely on a relatively small market place... look at McDonald's... loads of outlets, small margins, but millions of sales.

To be honest, I don't know how McD's does it, because the food is dreadful (question: does McD's sell food at all?)... and I would expect them to have trouble getting repeat business. I suspect, however, it is because you can rely on McD's to be the same 'food' worldwide, making it an easy choice, rather than a good one.

Anyway, back to the point. Are you going to be able to create a game that draws people in strongly enough to make them want to buy 36 episodes over (let us say) 12 months? To do this, surely you need a game that has at least 4-6 hours play per episode, and you'll need the majority of the episodes ready at 'go live' so that the power gamers (like 'boomers who spend 6-10 hours gaming per week (or more)) will keep your game on their radar long enough to buy subsequent episodes.

This is a bk**dy big commitment for you as a developer & publisher... but if you can do it, it could be awesome!

Good luck,
The Gremlin.

p.s. I know this is a bit unfocused and rambling, but it's late here just now.

Hi,
I'd be willing to give it a go if I really liked the game. I'm eagerly reading the installments of Broken Saints, an animated graphic novel, but then again, Broken Saints is free.

My big concern would be whether the game was going to be finished. If I was concerned enough, I would not buy the chapters until I saw that the game was far enough along that you would complete it.

Same Troyan who posted on the DC website about making further installments of The Forgotten?

If you decide to go that route, make sure it is priced accordingly. If the overall price is more than the game, as a whole, you may get some upset customers.

I'm still for the other 6 installments if you're still contemplating the idea.

Good luck.


fanatic

How big would the downloads be?
How long would the chapters be?

Yes, I am the original developer of The Forgotten. I've spent a lot of time talking to Dreamcatcher about obtaining the rights to finish the series and they see it as more of a hassle than it would be worth at this point. They are very interested to see my other idea when it is ready.
Depending on what online option and what bank you partner with, it could be profitable to venture to sell in chapters.
As far as buying something that might not be finished, all I can say is doing another game is a passion. Also, let's say you buy 3 chapters and are satisfied, but for some reason the game will not be finished. You're only out $9. What's the difference, monetarily speaking, if the chapters were worth $3 a piece?
Be aware, I'm an avid gamer myself, but once you step into a developer's shoes, its hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes, so I'm not being adversarial in any way, just curious the mindset of the gaming community.
Thanks again for all of your support and responses
Troyan Turner
The Danse Macabre Multimedia

Another thing is we could publish the chapters and they will be playable entirely online. Saving, acct info, everything is in your acct online. If anyone finds a bug, we can fix it for everyone instantly. Plus there is Paypal. You could either pay by the chapter or have a monthly or yearly subscription.
This is all just brainstorming, but it is all doable. Pretty unprecidented (sp). I love it!
Thoughts?
Troyan

Sorry everyone, my brain is whizzing now. We would probably give the first chapter away for free, since this is pushing the envelope. If we sell you on the first chapter, everything after that is pay by chapter or subscription.

thoughts?

Troyan

At $3 a chapter?!?!? who wouldn't buy it? That's NOTHING.. I think the big concern would be TRUST in having people give their money out.. That would be the only obstacle.. so the site would have to look SLEEK. And having the first episode free would also do that..

Also, personally, I would rather have the computer on all night downlaoding than having to wait significant amounts of time for the next screen to load..

Just some thoughts

I think the downloadable chapters at 3.00 per episode is fine. I would prefer downloadable chapters or at least optional downloads. I just like having it on my HD. I will play games online if there is no other way and it's good like Arcane and The Miller Estate, but if I am going to pay for something I like to have it.

I don't think you have to give away a full episode to create interest - a nice decent length demo will do that nicely.

One suggestion is it is nice to have downloads available in separate files to ease the pain of a long download time for the many out there who don't have high speed access and have to limp along at standard modem snail rates.

I would certainly be interested in whatever you come up with, as long as it is a solid adventure title with cool plots like The Forgotten. Still sad that we never saw the rest of that series

Laura

For me, I have never been a fan of online gaming. I prefer single-player environments, or LAN multi-play.

If you are left with no other option than to release as an online download (I believe the Siege of Avalon game was distributed like this until the company released all the mini games as a whole in a retail box), definitely make the download sizes reasonable. For those on dialup (or those, like myself, who have terrible ISPs - I have Adelphia broadband and get severe packetloss, etc), connecting to a site to pay online may be a bad option. Of the choices presented, I'd rather see you did waht the makers of Siege of Avalon did. They released the game in chapters (6 total, I believe.. not certain though). Once they got enough money together, they bundled the chapters into a single retail box.

Perhaps you could take the sales records to DreamCatcher and they may publish an anthology to comprise the 2nd game of the series which can be sold in retail stores. Just make sure to add bonus content (added levels) on the retail version not available for download. If you don't do this, people will most likely stick to the downloads and DreamCatcher won't bother with the project. At the very least, if sales are bad for the Anthology of chapters, a 2nd game will have been made in the series.

Lots of options to pursue. Thanks for your interest in continuing the series.

Good luck.


fanatic