11–20 of 49 posts
They should have also made a higher tier price. Some people would have paid that because they love the game, and what is the big difference between $5.99 and $9.99 if you are in a wealthy country and have a full-time job?
Wait a minute? This looks like the best bits of Master of Orion 2, upgraded to modern graphics standards. I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Now if only this workday could end so I can run the demo... :-)
Buildings on the planet were cumbersome - how to improve?
Btw a group of us have designed a MOO-like collectible card game, in beta test, pretty cool if I say so myself. 400 unique cards so far (Stellar Converter! Ion Pulse Cannon!), dozens of deck styles/ways to win.
Wait a minute? This looks like the best bits of Master of Orion 2, upgraded to modern graphics standards. I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Now if only this workday could end so I can run the demo... :-)
I still play MOO2. Interested: what are the "best bits"? I adore the tactical combat - can you defeat 3 inbound battleships with 3 scouts and a missile base? Ok it took 10 tries but what a blast when you succeed! Buildings on the planet were cumbersome - how to improve? Btw a group of us have designed a MOO-like collectible card game, in beta test, pretty cool if I say so myself. 400 unique cards so far (Stellar Conv…
MOO3 was just in shambles, I spent years on the message boards of that following the production, and the end result was.. crap. Some good ideas, totally botched implementation.
Sins of a Solar Empire has an excellent starmap and fleet control, but not customizable ships, and a static tech-tree.
Sword of the Stars was pretty good, but only somewhat customizable ships, and I remember it getting a bit of both fiddly and repetitive on larger maps. Random tech-tree was awesome. Should perhaps look at the latest expansions of that.
Biggest mistake - too cheap by half. Best pricing change any online folks can make: double your price, see what happens.
So doubling your price is only a valid strategy if people can't compare your price to similar products.
They should have also made a higher tier price. Some people would have paid that because they love the game, and what is the big difference between $5.99 and $9.99 if you are in a wealthy country and have a full-time job?
For heaven's sake. This is every bad bit of pricing psychology I can think of wrapped into a tiny package of poverty wages for the developer.
How so? He's selling twice as many at full price as the discount price according to his real time stats. To my mind, that seems like this isn't a failure at all.
The number of people who go from pirates to $2.99 is dramatically outweighed by the people who go from $5.99 to $2.99. (Do the math; that's a net loss.)
The only way this works out for the developer if this scheme results is PR and raising awareness overall amongst people who are potential customers who wouldn't have known about the product anyway.
For heaven's sake. This is every bad bit of pricing psychology I can think of wrapped into a tiny package of poverty wages for the developer.
How so? He's selling twice as many at full price as the discount price according to his real time stats. To my mind, that seems like this isn't a failure at all.
* Don't price things based on what they cost you unless you it's an ore or sorghum.
* Don't solicit customers that don't value your product.
* Don't demand that customers think carefully about which button to push to make a sale.
* Don't make the cheap option the first button users eyes cross.
You could probably go on to pick apart every sentence in the blog post (like his misunderstanding of the concept and purpose of a "sale") or the fact that his rationale sucks all possible incentive out of making his team more efficient at building and harnessing content for his game, but those are the big ones.
PS: if those stats are lying, that'll be the one smart thing he did with this page.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so? He's selling twice as many at full price as the discount price according to his real time stats. To my mind, that seems like this isn't a failure at all.
The penny rule. The number of people who go from pirates to $2.99 is dramatically outweighed by the people who go from $5.99 to $2.99. (Do the math; that's a net loss.) The only way this works out for the developer if this scheme results is PR and raising awareness overall amongst people who are potential customers who wouldn't have known about the product anyway.
By the way, the next time someone on HN asks what "market segmentation" is or why product managers get paid money, this thread would be a good object lesson.