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Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

nobsgames.stavros.io

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Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#81

Post by Fr33maan »

someone7x wrote: post #74
Fr33maan wrote: post #60

No IAP and no ads? How does a game studio should earn money then? Knowing the fact that business model of games are moving to free to play and than players are now reluctant more than ever to pay a decent price for a game but prefer spend 5x more little by little? Do you intend to reverse the trend? Real question, no trolling. How a game studio can make money with a F2P game? Or how can we make money from a free 2 pl…

You say the business model is moving to F2P but that is only part of the story. In the complete opposite direction we have Kickstarter et al. Now perhaps the “get filthy rich” business model is only sustainable by freemium addiction (they pay 5x!). At this point it’s more about greed/entitlement than than it is starving artists getting their bone.

Thanks for your answer. Factually, kickstarter is not a business model, it's a way to get some seed money from future players. Once the game goes out you still need to have a business model.

Making a game can be an artist job but it also can be a business which is expected to grow, fast and strong as any business.

I found the use of the word "greed" extremely opinionated. Is CEO of Amazon greed ? Greed let suppose that it's accumulating money in a selfish way, which seems to be a pretty bad stuff. I might not understand the nuance as I'm not a native english speaker but I find really strange to link the desire of making money with the "greed" word.

You are maybe right, maybe it's only possible to consider video games as a sustainable business with freemium addiction. I really ask the question

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#82

Post by hamaluik »

giarc wrote: post #50

I echo the others here, Thanks! I have young kids and we let them use tablets on long trips, vacations, airplane rides. Finding games for them is impossible. They are too young to understand when characters, levels, items are locked. It seems like every 2 minutes they get stuck on some ad screen with a hidden X. I just want a game that when I pay $4, I get the full game. It doesn't even have to be a big, intensive ga…

Sago Mini might work for you if you’re willing to pay and your kids are the right age: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sago-mini-world/id874425722

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#83

Post by Fr33maan »

someone7x wrote: post #78
Fr33maan wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be then the definition of the NoBullshit. It's pretty extremist in the OP website. If there is ingame currency, then it's bullshit. If there is IAP then it's bullshit. If there is ads then it's bullshit.

When the designers’ and data scientists’ goal is to squeeze rather than entertain, then its bullshit.

That's pretty clear and I understand this definition. But then, having IAP, ads, DLC, subs does not make a game a bullshit game if it's balanced.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#84

Post by fileeditview »

neogodless wrote: post #46

I feel dumb so I don't know if it's a UI thing or just my weird brain, but I loaded this page on my phone, on Firefox and and Chrome, and I incorrectly assumed it was just broken. Where was the list of games?! Finally I read "choose your platform" and realized it was saying that not for adding games or any other reason, but to see one of the lists! D'oh!

You are not alone.. I also needed to visit the site 2-3 times until I realized that the Android logo is the door to the list I am interested in :)

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#85

Post by nottorp »

Fr33maan wrote: post #60

No IAP and no ads? How does a game studio should earn money then? Knowing the fact that business model of games are moving to free to play and than players are now reluctant more than ever to pay a decent price for a game but prefer spend 5x more little by little? Do you intend to reverse the trend? Real question, no trolling. How a game studio can make money with a F2P game? Or how can we make money from a free 2 pl…

Well some players are willing to pay for games, and moreover won't even look at your product when they see it has IAPs.

I, for one, can't afford free to play games.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#86

Post by offsky »

I built a site that’s adjacent to this idea (www.darkpattern.games). It catalogs the dark patterns found in mobile games. Premium currency and ads are two of them but there are many more. The idea is that you could educate yourself so the dark patterns have less power over you and also you can browse the site to find good games that don’t have dark patterns.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#88

Post by twoquestions »

Fr33maan wrote: post #71
Ardon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just charge for the game. Most of the games listed here are $2-$5 dollars. I imagine the lowest-bullshit way to sustain an MMO would be a normal subscription. Though I'm not sure this is the list for you, regardless.

Well if mandatory subscription is not bullshit then why not. But i do prefer to offer the game for free so everybody can enjoy it. Mandatory sub is a huge toll in term of marketing. If you are not Blizzard then it's really harder to market fit with less players. Another argument against sub (for me) is that the game will be much more fun with more players.

Being able to pay to remove adds is OK according to the site, he refers to it as a demo or trial.

So long as you can pay to get rid of ads and the IAP aren't pay-to-win (Warframe does this pretty well) I'd argue it's not Bullshit.

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#89

Post by idclip »

huhtenberg wrote: post #65
franze wrote: post #56

Here is my contribution (a webapp, a.k.a. a website) http://lalo.li/lsd/ coded it years ago mostly drunk on an island in Thailand, I now like to play it again on my iPad with iPencil. Github: https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/lsd (Warning: a single, dependency less CoffeeScript source file)

How is it in any way relevant to OP's project being shown?

Social behavior, i wouldn't be too harsh on it. Nice game, it doesnt really take away from the op imo

Re: Show HN: Tired of mobile games with IAP and ads, I made No-Bullshit Games

#90

Post by fredsanford »

wtetzner wrote: post #79
mangoman wrote: post #70

Honestly, I wouldn't mind ads if they weren't so obtrusive. a simple ad on a loading screen isn't the end of the world to me. What's annoying is trying to tap a tiny 'x', unskippable video ads, ads that try to fingerprint my device, ads that slow down my machine, ads with volume, time limiting play unless you buy an IAP (when there's no option for just buying unlimited time for a reasonable price) I want game devs to…

Why not just charge money for games? Seems like a reasonable way for them to make money...

Then you create a soft ceiling and miss out on the whales that will spend $1K a month to have a shinier hat.
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