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[Melly]

Personally, I'm happy that in TIGS we make fun of posts with lazy spelling and meaningless grades that expect themselves to be taken seriously.

Why aren't we as mean towards simple "you rock" comments? Because we like to be nice to people. No, that doesn't mean gushing nothing but praise. If I had good criticism to give VVVVVV, I'd gladly do so, and I'm fairly certain Terry is the kind of person that takes intelligent criticism well.

If TIGS was nothing more than threads with simple positive comments and well constructed criticism, I'd be more than happy.

But let us not discuss if TIGS is fanboyish in this thread. Go ahead and make a thread about that subject, and I'll gladly discuss it there with you.

[SirNiko]

Ignoring the comments about sexual orientation or randomized scoring practices, a few of the comments are valid: particularly the one about the person wondering when the full version will be available. Putting out demos of games on Kong happens, but it's typically a demo for a free full game that will be uploaded later (example, Fancy Pants Adventure). For one person to miss the boat seems innocent enough. Clearly, the rest figured out the price for the full game.

Perhaps it would have made more sense to make a unique mini-version of VVVVVV only for Kong, and instead of "buy full version!" you instead poised it as "Want more? I have a full game with the same mechanics for sale here!". Obviously, it wouldn't kill all the complaints, but I think it'd make a big dent.

Dragon Age Origins did that, and even went so far as to make unlockables in the free game give you prizes in the paid game. It's a sneaky little way of pushing you just ever so slightly to buying without actually being underhanded about it.

I'm interested to hear how the Kredits system works for you, Terry. I play on Kong pretty regularly but I've never used that thing. It seems like the site's trying hard to monetize things, but I'm not sure I see it happening.

-SirNiko

[Valter]

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN 

Actually, that's mostly people castigating the OP for his shenanigans. What gets me is the people who say "I don't like this game, so it should be free". If you're not going to play it anyway....

[Dataflashsabot]

In case you don't already know, this was reviewed in PC Gamer UK issue 211

[Renton]

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

Only time you'll see me say this:


lol.

[Fallsburg]

Well, not on the topic of the price (well, a little, I thought that the price was a bit too steep but that's Terry's prerogative), I thought that the game was great.  It took a simple mechanic and just explored that one mechanic completely and entirely.

[moi]

If you upload sthg on Kong, to get advantage of the traffic, you have to go with the comments you get

[Bood_war]

I concur with Renton.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Well, at least some of them are entertaining 

KingOfTheBongo  Levelbug2  Feb. 22, 2010
    5 stars, but the pay is ridiculous. I have disdain for you and I no longer respect you as a flash devoloper

Man that is cold, what's wrong with people?

[pgil]

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN 

make it free its a good game but i cant see anyone paying for it

All I want is these greedy people to get the hell outta here of Kongregate.

For some people, the fact that something is not free is an important factor on forming their opinion about something. If you don’t like it, go and hug Bill Gates, he was the founder of “non-free” software…

You greedy pigs! WHERE'S MY FREE SHIT!!?

[Craig Stern]

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN 

Ugh. Commented.

[deathtotheweird]

It's overpriced so the best solution they offer is to make it free?

  
why didnt terry think of that

[AshfordPride]

I really don't see any harm that could come from dropping the price at this point.  Everyone who bought this game already has.  Short of a publicity stunt or maybe some massive interest in this game caused by word of mouth, I'm willing to bet that sales of this game have slowed to a trickle.  Those who have been following Distractionware will know this is coming out, and bought it as soon as they had the chance.

So now what's the harm in lowering the price?  The people who have spent fifteen dollars have given him the support they wanted to give, and they had no problem paying that price for the game.  Now the people who didn't can pay, oh say, five dollars for a copy now that the price is more on the level with what they feel the game is worth.  It's not like there's anything but profits that can be made by putting a game that requires nothing to ship, copy, etc on sale. 

Personally, I think this game should've been cheaper, because so many people were turned away by the price.  Maybe instead of getting five people to buy it for fifteen, he could've managed to find ten that would by it for ten?  The people have spoken, and for whatever reasons they may have, they feel the price is too high.  The price was set at what it was because the author overestimated the trust of his consumers and misjudged the apparent value of his own game. 

[alspal]

five dollars for a copy now that the price is more on the level with what they feel the game is worth.  

That's exactly the thing, Terry has set a price he thinks the game is worth. Money has a different worth to each individual. There's always going to be poorer people who want something but can't afford it.

[AshfordPride]

five dollars for a copy now that the price is more on the level with what they feel the game is worth.  

That's exactly the thing, Terry has set a price he thinks the game is worth. Money has a different worth to each individual. There's always going to be poorer people who want something but can't afford it.

But he's trying to make a profit.  He stands to lose nothing by lowering the price now, other than gaining a new lot of people who will be willing to buy the game.

And really, poorer people?  It's only fifteen dollars either way.  It's not like there's some poor child in rags who isn't buying this game because it's either VVVVV or more coal for the fire. 

[team_q]

My understanding, based off of other similarly priced indie games, the increase of sales does not make up for the money lost by lowering the price. UNLESS it's a big advertised deal, but sales are always an exception.

[deathtotheweird]

Terry hasn't released numbers, so it's hard to say how his sales are doing. Other indies have maintained their price point for months after the release, so why shouldn't he? It may be the wrong decision but that's quite hard to know for sure isn't it?

Which makes me wonder if he's waiting to hear from Steam. As I recall, they e-mailed him in the past but he's been having trouble reaching them lately. Would it be a wise decision to lower the price of your game before you know for sure that a certain platform (in this case, Steam) will carry your game?

[SirNiko]

Price point says a lot about a product to some people. In wine sales, for example, it's been demonstrated people will perceive a higher-priced bottle as being higher quality even if everything else is the same. Maintaining a high price point may scare off low-price adopters, but it can cause people to perceive the product as being higher quality. Basically, a $15 dollar game says Terry makes $15 dollar games, and that can be an important thing to say.

I think the price is high, but Terry's gotta think long term, not just maximizing sales for VVVVVV. It's up to him to pick the best model for that.

If Terry submitted VVVVVV for free on Kong, he could actually make some money. He'd stand a good chance at winning the weekly contest, and maybe even the monthly contest for $1500 (Although I'd wait until next month. Infectionator has February pretty sewn up). There are also random donations (kreds) that may or may not get you some cash. I don't know how often people use that.

Once again, Terry's gotta think long term, and putting his game on Kong for free might not fit into that plan. However, people on Kong insisting he put it up for free aren't being totally stupid and senseless. Or at least, they are, but ironically their suggestions still make sense.

Anyway. I'm curious to hear from behind the scenes how Kong works for Terry, especially if he makes more/less sales there or gets any donations. I think that would be a big help for other game devs who might consider Kong as a launching point.

Also, I think World of Goo's 'pay anything' birthday sale is another point worth considering. Maybe do the same thing a year from now? It could work.

-SirNiko

[Chromeleon]

I really don't understand why people have been getting so whiny and indignant about the price.  Paying ~$15 for a very solid ~2 hours (plus extras) of playtime would be considered a good price if it were a DVD.   

[mirosurabu]

I wish Terry incorporated a personal advert widget in his previous games.