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[PompiPompi]

I am having thoughts of making both a free version and a paid version of my new game Fatal Wars 2.
The idea behind this is that it's hard enough to get people play your game, so when you ask them to pay for it, it's even harder.
So if people will play the free version and like it, they are more likely to buy the paid version.

For the free version my game I think I can give the "classic" mode in Single player, local\online multiplayer. And that's it.
The paid version will have ranked matches, the "Renaissance" mode, and hopefully more multiplayer modes that I think I have good ideas how to make.

What do you think?

[leonelc29]

why not make a demo with it? sometime people will less likely spend extra to get extra content(in my view), since people already got the feel of that game and beat it. i don't know about the game yet so can't really make any suggestion.

[PompiPompi]

Oh.
I think a demo is less inviting to download. But the game I am working on has no story mode. It's mostly battles.
The single player is simpley battling against a computer AI instead of a player.

[hopwep]

Im having the same dilema. I dont want to complete close the game(not only because money) but i want to make some money.

What im looking is:
-Normal version and free, downloaded.
-Improved version with fixed donation.
-Other donations.
-Phisical version published by me, with a extra donation and a plus. Box, manual and some exclusive physique extras.

[Klaim]

One way that I don't know if it might work is to provide the game with some content but ask for money for some additional content (like a big story).

Really that's just an idea I want to test but I don't know if it would work at all.

[PompiPompi]

Heh, I don't think you can make money out of physical versions, it's not worth it for Indie developers. It's not even worth it for some of the gaming industry companies.
But...
It's fun to have a physical version, and it can be used for promotion.

[kamac]

Make a site, write something about yourself, then give your game for free and add a donate button. Like: "Donate $1 to the author" and a button "About Me" next to it. Trust me, when people know who you are, what are you taking care of/what do you like, what do you need that money for or anything such like that, they feel like donating 


...


Or make it multiplayer with premium membership 

[PompiPompi]

Hmm, donationware rarely works unless you are DF. heh.

[Kramlack]

DF

Stands for Dumbass Frankenstein. Used to notate something or someone that is unusually stupid.

What the hell kind of DF are you talking about?

[bateleur]

What the hell kind of DF are you talking about?

Dwarf Fortress, presumably!

[PompiPompi]

Yea, Dwarf Fortess.
I wonder, what did notch do with the free\paid setup?
I know he has a free version, but he also requires to register(which is very smart).
I am about the release an alpha and I wonder if I should also release a free version.
The problem is, currently there arn't any full version festures implemented...
What do you suggest to do?

[bateleur]

What do you suggest to do?

Don't release too soon. If you don't have any full version features yet, maybe you should wait before release?

[PompiPompi]

What do you mean?
I have a playable version, but everything in it will probably get included in the free version.
You mean I shouldn't release before I also implemented the full version unique features?
One way to do it, is to require from players to register to my meta server in order to play multiplayer.
Like minecraft did.
It's kind of like a newsletter list.
Did notch release free versions of his game before he had registered users and paid "beta"?

[Bishop]

If I remember correctly, TF2 Blog gave him a shout out and all the new traffic killed his servers. So he made it free for 3 days while he got the servers back up. The thing to remember with minecraft is the game was no where near finished (still isn't) and had a pricing scheme that increased over time. It's a fairly special case in that regard.

I think there is some danger in releasing a free alpha version in that people might get fatigued on the game before the full version comes out. With minecraft I wasn't bored of the small amount of content in the first few days, so paid to continue playing and to not lose the time invested in it. Had it stayed available to play I'd have been done with minecraft in about a week and would never had paid for the tiny amount of new features added since.

Perhaps the optimum idea is to have a limited time demo, similar to all those 30 minute free full versions you get of casual games like pop cap's.

[PompiPompi]

Good idea Bishop,
I think I will start off with selling in an lpha state, maybe later I will add timed free versions.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

"The idea behind this is that it's hard enough to get people play your game, so when you ask them to pay for it, it's even harder."

this hasn't been my experience. i've made free games and commercial games, and although the quality level is roughly the same, a lot more people have played my commercial game than my free games. i think it has to do with a higher perceived value -- if a game is free, it's often less appealing to play

as another example, it's probably true that more people played super meat boy (the commercial game) than meat boy (the free flash game)

that said a free version and a paid version is an interesting idea and worth trying, even if i don't think the sentence i quoted is accurate

[dustin]

this hasn't been my experience. i've made free games and commercial games, and although the quality level is roughly the same, a lot more people have played my commercial game than my free games. i think it has to do with a higher perceived value -- if a game is free, it's often less appealing to play

as another example, it's probably true that more people played super meat boy (the commercial game) than meat boy (the free flash game)

Huh that's interesting.  Although I think your example of super meat by vs. meat boy is probably incorrect.  meat boy has easily 10 million plays for the flash version and while some of those are obviously repeat players in general flash games don't have that high a volume of repeat players.  From stuff 3/4 of plays being unique players is the lowest I've ever gotten but even if we assume 1/5 of the plays here are unique that's still 2 million players vs. super meat boys 600,000 players or so.

I think your point is still correct but just that way more people are likely to play a browser game then a downloadable game.