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The price of KAG premium

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by JackMcDaniels, Dec 31, 2012.

  1. BorderKeeper

    BorderKeeper Tree Planter

    Messages:
    37
    Subjective opinion alert. I am by no means Game economics expert, nor have experiences with releasing indie games.
    This has gone long enough. We need some clarification.
    Your opinions on the price are valuable, but are very deformed by you already knowing the game. You need to appeal to the people from the getgo.
    There are many ways of appealing to various demographics, but I will focus primairly on the price, since the other ones are not that relevant in a small scale game like KAG.

    The main demographic are the people, that don't have much experience with games and will compare it to what is most similar, which will be Terraria or Minecraft. Those will except the price to be similar to those games, but will ensure the game will not die out (As some (semi)multiplayer-only titles have tendency to do, catch 22 and so on). They'll also leave the game sooner as they haven't paid that much and for them it's still a terraria-clone.
    The other demographic would be people actually willing to do some research of what is this game about and will be accepting higher price.

    IMO, as many of you will agree, after playing for some time now, if I had to pay for this game again, I would consider buying it, even when the price is higher. But I would still make the price-tag lower, just because the game can flop very easily when put on steam. The player-base the game has already will certainly help, but let's not be too optimistic.
    If the price will be higher, mabye put it on a sale right away?
     
  2. HardPenguin

    HardPenguin Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    310
    I'm sorry. Acted like an asshole saying that (about point 2). I didn't mean anything hurtful, I really appreciate what you and MichaƂ do but I easily get annoyed when someone in the forums attacks me totally missing the point.

    Some people here are right. After all this IS alphafunding and if you chose this way of developing final version of KAG, it is fine because I am sure you do everything you can to make us, KAG gamers happy. And thanks to dev videos recently I was able to understand it (these were amazing!).

    I'm sorry again.

    P.S.
    I didnt notice your post earlier.
    P.S.
    I still think that 25$ is a too high price for an indie game and please dont force me to change my opinion while I have valid reason to keep it. However this topic should be closed maybe as Geti says it is gonna be lowered.
     
    Geti and UnnamedPlayer like this.
  3. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    That's all fine, just keep in mind that we're people who read these posts too, not some disembodied corporation sucking away your money and not listening to what you have to say ;)

    Re: 25 bucks being too high - I'm not sure on that. I feel that AAA games are way too expensive for the amount of fun you get out of them, but that they're the right price for the amount of money that goes into them. Only a few AAA games that maximise replayability are even vaguely deserving of an $80+ pricetag (which is what just about every new console or PC game costs here when it comes out).

    Without focussing on what the larger studios can charge for their games, I always try to keep reference with other media. I happily paid 20 dollars to watch ~3 hours of fun via "The Hobbit" yesterday, and while I might see it again, after that I would have exhausted the fun of the thing. I pay between 2 and 20 dollars for lunch on a day to day basis. Coffee is regularly almost 5 dollars where I live, if you want something better than you can make at home. Music is usually $20+ dollars per hour of tracks. I've probably played a few hundred hours of KAG publicly, and if I hadn't made the damn thing I'd have paid the average cost of lunch and coffee for those hours upon hours of pretty intense emotion (from rage, through to elation). 25 cents an hour for a hundred hours of good fun is hardly something to be sniffed at.

    Now, I realise that a lot of people feel they cant afford to spend 25 bucks on a game, but to be honest, a lot of people can, and I do feel that the game is worth that much, and that it will be worth more with the new engine and everything scripted. We aren't going to charge that much because we want more people to be able to experience the game, and share it with their friends. We should make enough money to keep MM and I alive in either case, and if it manages to go viral, then it's probably better for us to have it at a price kids can easily trick their parents into paying :)
     
    Lord_bugg, LucasTT, Antman and 5 others like this.
  4. HardPenguin

    HardPenguin Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    310
    Oh well so it is a matter of where you live then. Here in Poland things are much cheaper and for price of full KAG I would be able to survive for 1-2 weeks :p However when I think about it, I still spend around 20$ on indie games on average each month, so it is not really a problem to me. But for example, when I've seen Frozen Synapse price I said to myself: 'wow, if it wasnt on sale I probably would never get it - its price was just way too high for what I could see on game videos. So about KAG, I tried to rely my opinion on comparison to other indie games prices. To me low price is one of indie game characteristics.

    My personal chart says:
    0,01$-5$: take it for sure if it's not crap (usually sales)
    5$-10$: game has to be really good to purchase it
    10$-15$: it has to be awesome to get it (KAG when I purchased it)
    15$ and more: it is too expensive, wait for the sale

    Seems like I'm a cheap bastard ^^'
     
  5. AnRK

    AnRK Shark Slayer

    Messages:
    641
    Seems like it ;) Unfortunately unless you start mailing MM/Geti your cheap polish groceries in a refrigerated container, their living costs are gonna be alot higher, I'm sure they'd be happy to charge five dollars for the full release forever if they could live for two weeks off 25. They aren't responsible for exchange rates and the multitude of thievery and wankerdom in global financial intuitions that accounts for why $25 is gonna be a quarter of your days pay on minimum wage in the UK, and half of the national reserve of Zimbabwe.
     
    jeffeypop and HardPenguin like this.
  6. eamono

    eamono Arsonist

    Messages:
    498
    the price is good where it is. You could say that this game is a rip-off of terraria but you could also say that terraria is just a rip off of minecraft, and minecraft is a rip-off of infiniminer and dwarf fortress. Honestly I play all of those games (besides infiniminer) and they are very different.
     
  7. BorderKeeper

    BorderKeeper Tree Planter

    Messages:
    37
    Geti: If you believe there is enough people in your target demographic, then sure ;)
    I will try and help KAG grow in anyways I can and I believe many people will do aswell.

    If the competetive KAG will grow, people will have another goal in their KAG and that is to be as good to one day play amongst the "pro scene of KAG" (Sounds ridiculous :D).
    Competetive scene is just a lighthouse, that will sustain even the strongest waves of players leaving.
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron and Geti like this.