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Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

jeff-vogel.blogspot.com

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Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#21

Post by patio11 »

dexiwz wrote: post #3

I am always shocked at how marketing-adverse indie game devs are. Developers invest a ton of their base commodity (time) into a game, but refuse to advertise it or fail to save cash to do so. Instead they rely on front pages, bundles, and sales. Then 9 months latter they do post mortems, where they correlated sales graphs to events. I want to see a sale graph for conversions based on Facebook ads. Mobile/FB Game comp…

I am always shocked at how marketing-adverse indie game devs are.

Ambient level of marketing competence for indie developers is even below that for e.g. "indie" SaaS companies, which is unfortunate. A lot of them could benefit from simple things like aggressively getting email signups and using them to promote game N+1 to their existing fanbase, as opposed to having to buy their customers back from Valve every single time.

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#22

Post by IIAOPSW »

HCIdivision17 wrote: post #20
IIAOPSW wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you'd be interested in this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pF8JRqGEWc

I won't lie. I was hoping for leads on other games. Relativity looks fantastic. It's an odd thing: I have no idea if it looks fun to play or not, but I have no doubt that it will be worth whatever price simply for the atmosphere and style. A spectrum runs where a game can be fun for its mechanics or enjoyable for it aesthetics. For me, I suppose I'm willing to pay $10 for anything that does something well. If Relativ…

You want a list of spatial mind blowers? You should have just asked.

Box game: http://www.sophiehoulden.com/games/boxgame/

The bridge: http://thebridgeisblackandwhite.com/

EOF: http://gamejolt.com/games/end-of-file-prototype/41818

Curved spaces (more of a toy than a game): http://geometrygames.org/CurvedSpaces/index.html.en

colortone(I haven't played it yet): http://gamejolt.com/games/colortone/68905

parallax: http://steamcommunity.com/app/32506

As for relativity, its more than art. The guy showed up on reddit to explain a bit. https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieGaming/comments/3amnj0/as_a_fa...

short version: spatial puzzle embedded in a 3-torus.

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#24

Post by throwaway7767 »

minimaxir wrote: post #5

I bought two indie games recently based on word of mouth alone: Undertale and The Beginner's Guide. Both are $10 on Steam (and coincidentally, both are made mostly by solo-developers). Undertale ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/391540/ ) is one of the best games I've played in years. I wish I could have paid more for it. If you're reading this, buy Undertale now . The Beginner's Guide ( http://store.steampowered.c…

> However, Steam Refunds may help with this and may make gamers more willing to buy at higher prices.

Don't trust that you can get a refund on steam. Their policy is you get one refund, and that's it. I have a steam account with hundreds of titles, bought over many years. The amount of money I've spent with them is in the low thousands of dollars. I've once requested a refund, because I disagreed with particularly onerous terms in the ToS for a game (shown after the purchase, during the install). They refunded me, but made it very clear that this was a one-time thing and I would never again be able to have a product refunded, as per their policy.

It kinda put me off them TBH. I mean, of course you have to protect against people gaming the system, but this was clearly not the case here.

Your experience may be different if you're a famous name on reddit/twitch/whatever.

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#25

Post by hrnnnnnn »

throwaway7767 wrote: post #24
minimaxir wrote: post #5

I bought two indie games recently based on word of mouth alone: Undertale and The Beginner's Guide. Both are $10 on Steam (and coincidentally, both are made mostly by solo-developers). Undertale ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/391540/ ) is one of the best games I've played in years. I wish I could have paid more for it. If you're reading this, buy Undertale now . The Beginner's Guide ( http://store.steampowered.c…

> However, Steam Refunds may help with this and may make gamers more willing to buy at higher prices. Don't trust that you can get a refund on steam. Their policy is you get one refund, and that's it. I have a steam account with hundreds of titles, bought over many years. The amount of money I've spent with them is in the low thousands of dollars. I've once requested a refund, because I disagreed with particularly on…

They completely overhauled their refund policy recently. Now you can get a no-questions-asked refund for any game you've played for less than two hours.

http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#26

Post by UlyssesSKrunk »

throwaway7767 wrote: post #24
minimaxir wrote: post #5

I bought two indie games recently based on word of mouth alone: Undertale and The Beginner's Guide. Both are $10 on Steam (and coincidentally, both are made mostly by solo-developers). Undertale ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/391540/ ) is one of the best games I've played in years. I wish I could have paid more for it. If you're reading this, buy Undertale now . The Beginner's Guide ( http://store.steampowered.c…

> However, Steam Refunds may help with this and may make gamers more willing to buy at higher prices. Don't trust that you can get a refund on steam. Their policy is you get one refund, and that's it. I have a steam account with hundreds of titles, bought over many years. The amount of money I've spent with them is in the low thousands of dollars. I've once requested a refund, because I disagreed with particularly on…

I take it you haven't been reading much gaming news in the past few months. Steam now has refunds, like, for real. It used to just be a one time thing and they were real hard asses about it, but now they're very willing to give refunds.

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#27

Post by Cogito »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #15

As someone who has a game sitting on my hard-drive for lack of publishing and pricing knowledge, I appreciate this. For those that are curious (and don't mind a bit of self-promotion) here is my personal side-project game: playinverse.com

Looks interesting.

I tried to sign up to your email list and it broke. Not sure why but happy to help troubleshoot if you need me to reproduce.

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#28

Post by IIAOPSW »

Cogito wrote: post #27
IIAOPSW wrote: post #15

As someone who has a game sitting on my hard-drive for lack of publishing and pricing knowledge, I appreciate this. For those that are curious (and don't mind a bit of self-promotion) here is my personal side-project game: playinverse.com

Looks interesting. I tried to sign up to your email list and it broke. Not sure why but happy to help troubleshoot if you need me to reproduce.

That's odd. I just tested it and it worked fine.

No worries, I copied your e-mail from your profile and added you manually

Re: Stages in Pricing Computer Games (2014)

#29

Post by throwaway7767 »

hrnnnnnn wrote: post #25
throwaway7767 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, Steam Refunds may help with this and may make gamers more willing to buy at higher prices. Don't trust that you can get a refund on steam. Their policy is you get one refund, and that's it. I have a steam account with hundreds of titles, bought over many years. The amount of money I've spent with them is in the low thousands of dollars. I've once requested a refund, because I disagreed with particularly on…

They completely overhauled their refund policy recently. Now you can get a no-questions-asked refund for any game you've played for less than two hours. http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Interesting, thanks, that's good to know. The game in question had about 8 minutes "played", so this would cover that.

Good on them for improving their service.

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