Zero Gear - an indie multiplayer kart racing game

[Skjalg]

I think theres a big distinction between how Multiplayer games and Singleplayer games are released (especially indie games).

Singleplayer games, like World of Goo, are released with a short demo (a few of the first maps to get you started) and then you gotta buy the full game when you are hooked.

Multiplayer games on the other hand should not be given away for free in the beginning (just at the end after 10 years:P). The steam tactic that many here has posted with free weekends after a few weeks and the game dropping in price over time really works well for multiplayer games since those games usually spread by word of mouth like just "hey dude, come join us" on MSN/Skype. If its free (minus some goodies) when you hear that from your friends then you'll most likely just go with the free version and try to have fun with that, but If you dont have fun with the free version because it hampers you in any way when you play against your friends then you'll start disliking the game and it will just hurt your sales and rep.

my 2c

[zaphod]

I think theres a big distinction between how Multiplayer games and Singleplayer games are released (especially indie games).

Singleplayer games, like World of Goo, are released with a short demo (a few of the first maps to get you started) and then you gotta buy the full game when you are hooked.

Multiplayer games on the other hand should not be given away for free in the beginning (just at the end after 10 years:P). The steam tactic that many here has posted with free weekends after a few weeks and the game dropping in price over time really works well for multiplayer games since those games usually spread by word of mouth like just "hey dude, come join us" on MSN/Skype. If its free (minus some goodies) when you hear that from your friends then you'll most likely just go with the free version and try to have fun with that, but If you dont have fun with the free version because it hampers you in any way when you play against your friends then you'll start disliking the game and it will just hurt your sales and rep.

my 2c

So, I have been talking a little bit more with my partner about this since I was surprised about the strong reaction to the idea here. Another one of our goals with this game is to encourage a lot of user generated content, whether it is custom characters and karts - or even full blown new game modes and levels. My only experience with attaining a large enough interested group of people to facilitate that is either with a mod, or something else you can develop with for free - or a community built around a few very popular AAA games. I am pretty sure we can't count on being in the latter category, so having a free version to expand our community would really help drum up interest in user developed content I think. Which would be great for us, since an entire community working on the game is going to be a lot more exciting than 2 people.

I think that our goal is actually exactly the example you post above Skjalg, we want people to tell their friends to just download it and try it out with no barriers - and to have fun. While they are having fun though, there should be some very obvious things going on - like seeing everyone else in the game rocking awesome looking characters and karts, and people unlocking achievements, etc. that it is clear you are missing out on those things. If you are playing for free and you see your friend who got you to try it out doing those things, I would hope it would be enough incentive to register the game.

Free weekends are a cool idea, I just think that making people wait a few months to be able to check it out would leave more people to forget the game by then instead of checking out what the game is all about right away.

I also think there are some cheapskates that will never buy the game no matter what, and I would rather have them fill up servers to make the games fun for other people than have them not play at all.

[e-freak]

well seeing how many people at polycount and mapcore adore your work, I think there will be alot of custom content in the beginning. maybe you should wait with a free version for two months or so and see what the sales are doing, and if not good enough just re-release (as L4D did with that DLC) and release a free version then.

[zaphod]

just finished texturing a new char:

[Skjalg]

Looks awesome. Now make my avatar

[Ginger Lord]

Looks good.

Just have a free demo that is time restricted (an hour or so) of race restricted (i.e. you can only have 5 races online before you have to buy)

[zaphod]

I have been working on some new custom items, and I decided to see what it would look like to string together all the items we have in the game at the moment into one image for fun:

[Skjalg]

[KungFuSquirrel]

An octopus wearing an octopus remains possibly the greatest thing ever.

[Jenn0_Bing]

An octopus wearing an octopus remains possibly the greatest thing ever.

You know that means we need a fishbowl car now . It's looking very good guys .

[zaphod]

well, I am glad we didn't waste any time looking into porting ZG to consoles - apparently this is the year of the kart game.

[Warby]

both ms and sony nicked your idea/designs you should sew !!!!

[zaphod]

I am confident our gigantic legal dept here at NimbleBit would crush puny Microsoft and Sony.

[Tailgunner]

Cooper and norman will probably help you out.

ot. great stuff Love the shoe wheels

[DvS]

both ms and sony nicked your idea/designs you should sew !!!!