Monetization

Discussion in 'Feedback' started by duke, Aug 30, 2017.

  1. duke

    duke Former Developer (BE Creator)

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    The most popular topic ever - what do you guys think of charging minimal amounts for things that are purely aesthetic, like those stupid fucking hats?
     
  2. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    As much as I personally don't like skins, they are a great means of post-launch revenue. I believe the initial focus should be on creating a complete feature set.
     
  3. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    I think no one who plays Empires cares about such things.
     
  4. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    Costumes or silly hats. No
    Uniform metals or helmet badges for rank... maybe.
     
  5. duke

    duke Former Developer (BE Creator)

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    It would be fitting for the universe, nothing stupid. It doesn't appeal to me either but people spend hours customizing their characters so theres a reason for it.
     
  6. Kidpaler

    Kidpaler Member

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    I'd say I'd be okay with silly costumes or hats. TBH, if it makes them easier to kill so be it. Let them waste money but it should only be on items that make them more obvious, no camos.

    Medals and badges should come with the game (IF THIS HAPPENS), to distinguish when a player is a veteran or not. Hell, Batallion 1944, a new game coming out, is doing something pretty cool where as you rank up your uniform becomes more and more damaged to represent you have been fighting for a longer time.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2017
  7. LordDz_2

    LordDz_2 Strange things happens here

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    I think it was Viper server which had special models for people who donated?

    Anyhow people would probably donate a sum if something like this came out, E-Penis is a big thing on the internet.
    Plus if it says that the money goes to supporting the development / servers I don't see why not.

    Also hats for new players would be nice, so we can see who they are and be helpful towards them.
     
  8. duke

    duke Former Developer (BE Creator)

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    I wasn't actually suggesting hats in particular, it was just an example of what people will spend there money on and how they're inconsequential to the game (it's not pay to win).
     
  9. Kidpaler

    Kidpaler Member

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    No fucking crates please love of god. Fuck crates. I'd rather just fork over $20 for the cosmetic item I want than waste $100 trying to unlock it in a damn crate.
     
  10. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    So you're telling me if I put models on my server people who have shown no interest in supporting it will suddenly donate lots of money to me?
     
  11. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    You are hyperbolising. Don't expect to suddenly swim in donation money, but it's fair to assume that someone will eventually spend a couple bucks on those models.
     
  12. A-z-K

    A-z-K Member

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    Sell concept tanks!
     
  13. Neoony

    Neoony Member

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    Would buy new taunts xD
     
  14. Sgt.Security

    Sgt.Security Member

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    Don't miss the insurance.
     
  15. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    I could see lore appropriate items being very successful.
    I'd lament a round full of minecraft characters and light sabers though.

    And yes it was Viper that once had a special character for donators.
    I've been ask to do a player appropriate character for female players too.
    Tanks and bots taking up my time atm.
     
  16. Silk

    Silk Mapper

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    If done well it's probably the best way to generate some income and actually increase playercount as there's always people who like stuff like that.

    Because of it's unique gameplay keeping the game itself free will probably be a must for it to become popular.
    Same goes for any sort of pay to win, no matter how tiny the advantage.
    Aesthetic changes would work to generate a little bit of income without putting anyone off. However i think the options would be quite limited for this game. Different weapon skins would be easy, but different players skins could cause confusion if too different or not worth spending money on if not different enough. Different faces, hair, ... etc doesn't seem all too interesting either as you never see your face in the game, only others. I personally wouldn't like it if people could buy badges representing ranks as i want such things to be depended on their actual skill, so that wouldn't leave much more options than army group badges or perhaps the option to pay for clan or community badges.

    I'm all for, just not sure how much you could do.
     
  17. Neoony

    Neoony Member

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    Maybe some "small" decals for vehicles. Lets say if you would build it, it would have your decals.
    As vehicles are quite important part of empires.
    So that might be quite fitting.

    Maybe for CV too, but I guess it would have to change by whoever is in it. But not sure if thats any good idea.

    ..just thinking about the "other options" :P

    Honestly, even though I usually dont like cosmetics in any game, mainly when its overdone for monetization...it might be a pretty good thing for this game, should definitely help bring more people.
    ( even if not the "smartest" ones xD , which is the other reason I usually dislike cosmetics...the kind of people/communities it tends to attract...but its not like there are tons of options for this game, so..what the hell :P )
     
  18. duke

    duke Former Developer (BE Creator)

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    FYI, I've moved away from this and am now looking at just having an upfront cost for the game.
     
    Neoony and D.D.D. Destroyer like this.
  19. мrвlυeѕĸy

    мrвlυeѕĸy Member

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    You could do both. I like the idea of sprays being replaced by vanity structures like flagpoles, statues or walls with advertising boards on them. Give the people something to spam instead of victory radars and charge them for the privilege.
     
  20. Ranger

    Ranger Member

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    I would like this if the customization feature was present in every feature of Empires and was; DEEP. From uniforms, to ammunition, to chassis, to player classes, to weapon slots, to weapons engineering. Yes I'd probably buy rainbow tracer 50cal ammo if I could shoot it from a Gau-19. I would buy different camouflage patterns. For instance, the I would like the Italian army vegetated army, the Vegecam of the special forces, the Greek navy uniform; a nice green and blue pattern, I have it in real life. Then of course, more common American ones like MARPAT and ACU. I have them both. I'd also like classic WW2 ones.

    Apart from skins I would like different apparel too. For example no sleeve uniforms for Rambo style players lol. Also spray paints or "counting kills on helmet"

    As for weapons engineering which I mentioned above, it's unrelated to this because my intention for that would be to actually change stats of weapons through "research and development" in game and not a form of "buy from in-game market".
    Can't explain this quickly but my idea is that there could be a big variety of precoded/prescripted weapons that the commanders could design as they see fit once they unlock certain researches. Of course there would be limitations like ammo type, number of barrels and costs would increase as power is increased. For example you could set barrel limit for bullet type weapons to 12 barrels and make a 12-barrel 50cal Gatling or chain-gun, with either big boxes of ammo (reload required) or a huge single bullet belt for the feed system. Furthermore you could control the fire rate. Depending on the RPM the cost would either remain reasonable or go off the roof. A rotary gun could mean it would heat less than other guns but require a bit more power to operate and more time to rotate at full speed.

    From my perspective, the point of designing weapons is to increase the variety of strategies even in a SINGLE game, therefore multiplying "re-playability" and experiences even for veterans. This happens because strategies are formed from the tactics used in warfare. Tactics depend on unit type and weapons. Each weapon is a tactic. If the commanders have the power to create new units (New chassis from preexisting chassis. e.g. Rocket artillery tank from a medium chassis. Heavy APC from a heavy chassis e.t.c.) and also create new weapons like a double barrel 30mm chaingun, they are given new option as to how the battle will proceed. This nullifies the problem of OP weapons and tanks as everything can be overpowered by something else. This is important especially now that duke is working on the UE4 version which may allow for aircraft.

    That was just an example of the stats alterations weapons design in-game could offer. It would require an immense amount of coding as well as modeling. I imagine it as being in a menu with various options and scroll bars to control everything and a preview screen on the side to see what you're doing. Depending on your options various model parts would come together. It's quite a pain to make really, but I have firmly believed for years that Empire's strong point is customization and therefore should work on expanding that feature to make the game really distinct (unique world wide), because RTS-FPS combo isn't enough anymore. I mean look at Planetside 2, it's a huge version of empires right now except it has Platoon leaders instead of Commanders.

    @duke if you're interested in this idea, I have documents to explain it further.

    Sorry for the long post

    TLDR: tits
     

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