Zero Gear - an indie multiplayer kart racing game

    Where is nexus?

    How many items does the game already have now? Last I saw it was an impressive list already ingame.

    (ps. any idea about how much it will cost?)

    11 characters

    12 karts

    14 wheels

    25 hats

    11 accessories

    11 maps

    we don't know for sure about the cost, we will probably have to consult with some people who are more knowledgeable than us before we know for sure. It will not be more than 20 dollars at least.

    since the game is primarily multiplayer, we really want to get as many people online playing at once as possible. One way we have considered achieving that is to release the game for free, and then lock certain elements and functions in the game unless you purchase a zero gear license. Things like the garage might be available in the free version so you can deck out your awesome character, but then when you go to save or exit it tells you that you can only customize your character with a license, etc.

    what do you guys think?

    Yeah, I would basically look at what nexon does..... And do that... it works FUcking awesome for them. The core game is free and maps are free but then all the extra shit to dress your character up costs money. like 2 bucks for a hat and pants .and vehicles would be like 5-6$ . but yeah that way of doing things isn't for everyone. they only started doing that once they got a lot of people playing the game. they opened up market place inside the game that allows you to check out what your character would look like with all the gear and stuff , but then you have to pay money to buy it and stuff. It's pretty awesome. Ive spent over 60$ on the game.... virtually buying a free game lol

    We are not really that jazzed about the mirco-payment part of a free to play game, I have yet to see a western game that has been successful using that kind of setup. In fact Kart Rider has pulled it's western release presumably for the reason they found people here would not support that model.

    So the biggest reason we would have a free to play element in the game would be to boost players, it would essentially be a risk free and constantly running demo - with the added benefit for paying users that they have a bigger set of games and players to interact with. The biggest question would be what you could limit in the free version that would actually inspire people to pay for the game to unlock those features, without doing things that make the free players experience feel shitty, and turn them off from the game.

    make it 17$/15€

    give a weekend deal at steam 2 to 3 weeks after first release where you take off 30% of the price and another weekend deal 10 weeks later where you take off 50%. 6 months after release make a 75% off deal and after that lower the constant price by 30%-50%, depending on how well the game is selling (lower sells -> lower price -> higher sells again).

    Free week on Steam during the first week of the release. Then have it full price ($20?) for a while, then maybe another free week, followed by a small discount (so that it's $15(?)) and then back up. Free weeks are IMO one of the best ways to get people interested. Demos and stuff doesn't do justice most the time.

    I feel you'd be laughing all the way to the bank if you tied the cost around 10 EUR. PvZ is doing super well and a lot of that has to do with its price + word of mouth ("Hey its really cool and only 10 EUR!"), where as others that are slightly more expensive aren't pulling as much fare - they lack the zombies however

    If you release at 10 EUR, why not hold back a couple items from every category (carts and levels included) and release it a month or two later as a free update, to gain more exposure?

    I think you could have a lot of fun in figuring out ways to draw players in, your production values are insanely high also - I don't think it'll be hard to convince anyone to pay 10-15 Eur if you can link them to some footage or at least get the word spreading like wild fire.

    10 bucks/euros/whatever is the current day market sweet spot I think. PvZ wouldn't be doing that well if it sold over that (it actually is 20 bucks on popcap.com) and this is I think what people are ready to pay for a game they haven't heard about except for raging reviews and a free demo. You'll still come out with that fresh coat of paint on your studio and game, and it would take just a little quirk to crush your game at first, so don't put all your eggs in the same basket and be overconfident.

    As far as micro-payment, no it doesn't work well outside of Korea/China/Japan where they have vastly different gaming tastes than what we're accustomed to. I know large publishers are trying to find a way to make it work for themselves, but do yourself a favor, don't believe for a second you can succeed where they haven't yet.

    Quote from tofu

    I feel you'd be laughing all the way to the bank if you tied the cost around 10 EUR. PvZ is doing super well and a lot of that has to do with its price + word of mouth ("Hey its really cool and only 10 EUR!"), where as others that are slightly more expensive aren't pulling as much fare - they lack the zombies however If you release at 10 EUR, why not hold back a couple items from every category (carts and levels included) and release it a month or two later as a free update, to gain more exposure?

    I think you could have a lot of fun in figuring out ways to draw players in, your production values are insanely high also - I don't think it'll be hard to convince anyone to pay 10-15 Eur if you can link them to some footage or at least get the word spreading like wild fire.

    I would be open to any price between 10-20 USD, I think a lot of what it will come down to will be getting people's reaction towards what we plan to release + what advice the steam guys have to give us based on what they have experienced.

    What do you think specifically about having a free version of the game running along with the paid version specifically?

    Definitely. Even a demo that's too long will be enough to hurt your sales if people have enough fun with what little they have. If you're planning on a demo, I would limit its use in time, because you won't have a choice but to include a full working map and some goodies, which means your full priced version will only give more of the same. People will continue playing the demo if the only thing they get is more maps and models. You need to have more gameplay types and added incentive. Take Left 4 Dead as the working case.

    well, I would buy L4D in a heartbeat if there was a restriction like only paid players could play as Zombies.

    I am mostly worried that there won't be enough of a user base to support a vibrant multi-player experience. So many multiplayer games get released and die because there are only 200-300 players trying to play at once. If there was a free component then at least there would always be people playing.

    If we attract people that are only playing it because it is free, and don't care about all the other cool stuff you could do with the paid version - were they really going to buy the game in the first place? I'm not sure that is really a lost sale. Those people would still be a value to the game though because it is someone to fill up a server slot.

    also, another quick accessory: "Eye Poppers"

    [Blocked Image: http://nimblebit.com/eyepoppers.png]

    Can Eye Poppers make you see things on the road from further away? Would be a cool gameplay feature (assuming there are stuff in the game to throw around on the track a la mario kart)

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