gamedevlists-design

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[Gareth L. <GL...@cl...>]

The best (In my opinion ofcource) is not to cripple, and not to time, =
and
not too many "buy me" screens.

You want to give them an enjoyable time, long enough to want more, but =
not
too long to feel they have gotten it all. Duke Nukem and Doom got the
balance right, they each had (IIRC) 3 sections and the first was free.

So if your game is level based, just limit the number of free levels =
IMO

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ignacio Casta=F1o [mailto:cas...@ya...]
> Sent: 20 August 2003 15:10
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game
>=20
>=20
> Hi,
>=20
> I'm finishing a small game that I've been working on, that=20
> I'm planing to
> sell online, and I'm wondering which should be the=20
> differences between the
> demo and the registered game. For example here a few ideas:
>=20
> - Offering new features: new levels, and new options (fullscreen,
> highscores, etc).
> - Displaying nag screens, and reminders.
> - Limiting the play count.
>=20
> I would like to hear other ideas and to know which of those=20
> techniques are
> more effective in order to sell a game.
>=20
> Thanks in advance,
>=20
> --
> Ignacio Casta=F1o
> cas...@ya...
>=20
>=20
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Dice.com.
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> _______________________________________________
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> Gam...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-design
> Archives:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=3D556
>=20

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[Tom F. <to...@mu...>]

IMHO, let the user have one complete play through the demo before =
giving
them nag screens. If you nag them too early, they just get annoyed. If =
they
only play the demo once, they weren't going to buy the full game =
anyway. But
if they play the game a _second_ time... then it's worth telling them =
about
the cool things in the full version.

Oh yeah, and don't give up the day job just yet - the uptake rate on =
even
the best games is horribly low. :-(

*cough* need any beta-testers? *cough* :-)

Tom Forsyth - Muckyfoot bloke and Microsoft MVP.

This email is the product of your deranged imagination,
and does not in any way imply existence of the author.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ignacio Casta=F1o [mailto:cas...@ya...]
> Sent: 20 August 2003 15:10
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game
>=20
>=20
> Hi,
>=20
> I'm finishing a small game that I've been working on, that=20
> I'm planing to
> sell online, and I'm wondering which should be the=20
> differences between the
> demo and the registered game. For example here a few ideas:
>=20
> - Offering new features: new levels, and new options (fullscreen,
> highscores, etc).
> - Displaying nag screens, and reminders.
> - Limiting the play count.
>=20
> I would like to hear other ideas and to know which of those=20
> techniques are
> more effective in order to sell a game.
>=20
> Thanks in advance,
>=20
> --
> Ignacio Casta=F1o
> cas...@ya...

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[Tom H. <to...@ve...>]

At 07:56 AM 8/20/2003, you wrote:
>Oh yeah, and don't give up the day job just yet - the uptake rate on even
>the best games is horribly low. :-(

This is true for most games, and not quitting your day job is good advice. 
However, there are pure shareware companies (Popcap for example) pulling 
down enough revenue each year to be running ~20 person companies on it.

Obviously this isn't easy, and the majority of shareware games out there 
make hundreds per month, a decent number make thousands, and very few makes 
tens of thousands ;)

As for the original post, you should look at what the games from Popcap and 
GameHouse do to promote upsell as they're probably the most successful in 
this area and they're often working on this stuff to tweak it to get better 
results.

Tom

Re: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[<cas...@ya...>]

Thanks for the advices!


Tom Forsyth wrote:
> *cough* need any beta-testers? *cough* :-)

Yes of course!

After writting 3d engines, I feel somewhat embarrased writting a puzzle
game, but I wanted to try that out. I like the game I've done, but I don't
really know if other people will like it. So any advices would be highly
appreciated. The game should be finished around the next week, so I'll
contact you privately if you are still interested.


--
Ignacio Castaño
cas...@ya...

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[Tom F. <to...@mu...>]

Nah - whole different kettle of fish actually writing a game - any =
game.
Renderers seem like rocket-science, but they're really not. You have a =
known
problem and known tools and you solve that problem. Writing a game on =
the
other hand - you've got to somehow capture this thing called "fun" and =
nail
it to the monitor. Very tricky.

We had a work-experience kid in here for a week a while ago. He =
reckoned he
was pretty cool - knew C++ really well, had written lots of assembly
software 3D renderers and so on. Good coder. So I got him doing PacMan. =
"And
what shall I do for the rest of the week" he said. Bah - took him the =
whole
week to do a decent version. I was impressed that he did actually =
finish it
in a week, which shows that he's a good coder and all, but still... =
games
are hard!

Of course now you can port your puzzle game to 3D and so on, and as =
every
publisher knows that will make it three times as fun! Right? :-)

Tom Forsyth - Muckyfoot bloke and Microsoft MVP.

This email is the product of your deranged imagination,
and does not in any way imply existence of the author.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ignacio Casta=F1o [mailto:cas...@ya...]
> Sent: 21 August 2003 18:03
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: Re: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Thanks for the advices!
>=20
>=20
> Tom Forsyth wrote:
> > *cough* need any beta-testers? *cough* :-)
>=20
> Yes of course!
>=20
> After writting 3d engines, I feel somewhat embarrased=20
> writting a puzzle
> game, but I wanted to try that out. I like the game I've=20
> done, but I don't
> really know if other people will like it. So any advices=20
> would be highly
> appreciated. The game should be finished around the next week, so =
I'll
> contact you privately if you are still interested.
>=20
>=20
> --
> Ignacio Casta=F1o
> cas...@ya...
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by: VM Ware
> With VMware you can run multiple operating systems on a=20
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> _______________________________________________
> Gamedevlists-design mailing list
> Gam...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-design
> Archives:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=3D556
>=20

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[George W. <ge...@ap...>]

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:56:31 +0100, Tom Forsyth <to...@mu...> wrote:
> Microsoft MVP

Is this a required disclosure? Like "registered sex offender"? ;-)

If so, just to be fair:

George Warner - Macintosh bigot. ;-)

-- 
Enjoy,
George Warner,
Schizophrenic Optimization Scientists
Apple Developer Technical Support (DTS)

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[<phi...@pl...>]

> On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:56:31 +0100, Tom Forsyth <to...@mu...>
wrote:
> > Microsoft MVP
> Is this a required disclosure? Like "registered sex offender"? ;-)
> If so, just to be fair:
> George Warner - Macintosh bigot. ;-)

Eurgh! I know you're just jesting, but can we please leave that one alone?
I still have the scars... ;)

Cheers,
Phil (ex-PC and ex-Mac developer)

RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game

[Tom F. <to...@mu...>]

It just means that if people have problems with DirectX then I'm one
possible point of call for support or bug reports. At the very least I can
point them in the direction of Someone Who Knows.

Oh yeah, and they send me free stuff, so I figure a mention in the .sig is
fair trade. :-)

Tom Forsyth - Muckyfoot bloke and Microsoft MVP.

This email is the product of your deranged imagination,
and does not in any way imply existence of the author.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Warner [mailto:ge...@ap...]
> Sent: 22 August 2003 18:19
> To: gam...@li...
> Cc: Tom Forsyth
> Subject: RE: [GD-Design] demo vs complete game
> 
> 
> On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:56:31 +0100, Tom Forsyth 
> <to...@mu...> wrote:
> > Microsoft MVP
> 
> Is this a required disclosure? Like "registered sex offender"? ;-)
> 
> If so, just to be fair:
> 
> George Warner - Macintosh bigot. ;-)
> 
> -- 
> Enjoy,
> George Warner,
> Schizophrenic Optimization Scientists
> Apple Developer Technical Support (DTS)
>