Suggestions regarding making profits

[ssxw]

Dear developers

I certainly love your game so thanks for putting your effort into creating such a nice game.
I was enjoying playing this game until I figured out that I need to pay in order to proceed to high levels.

Unfortunately I decided to stop playing the game due to financial issue.
I told people about this issue via chat and most people had the opinion no different from mine.
In fact they were not aware of the fact that they need to pay in order to keep playing.
I also checked app store review and most people loved the game but didn't want to pay in order to proceed.
According to what I have researched, most people, including me, were disappointed.

I totally understand that developers need to make money in order to continue their work and a game like this deserves a great fortune but I think it's better to make profit in different ways.
It's just my opinion, my personal suggestion.
Please do not take this in a wrong way

1. I think making profit via ads is better
I'm sure you know better than I do but you can make a huge fortune with ad.
Ad requires lots of attention from the public
but the current game policy to pay in order to proceed make people leave.
Recently a free app called "we rule" from ngmoco was successful.
People around the world, not just north america, love that game and ngmoco makes profit by ads.
I'm sure if ngmoco charged people for an advanced level in 'we rule',
they would not have been as successful.

2. Other MMO games may be coming.
As an active app store user, I realized that if one type of app is successful, similar types of apps start to come up. I'm sure there's a correct term for this but I will just name it a trend.
I think it's quite agreeable to say that 'pocket legends' is creating a new trend
because most importantly it's a new type of game on iphone and the majority of people say it's quite fun.
Threrefore I think other developers would come up with similar types of games in the near future
and they, in my opinion, will make their game totally free because yours, pre-existing one, is not.
In most cases, if that happens, people will play the new game.

3. You could charge money for some great items
You probably heard about the game called "Lineage"
Lineage is also a MMO game and has been there in a market for over 10 years, yet lots and lots of people still play that game.
The company of Lineage has made profits by selling items, not for a couple of years but for over 10 years.
I am not sure if you are aware of this but once people get addicted to their character, they lose the sense of reality and start to invest money and this is how lineage made money.
Wouldn't it be better for you to make people get addicted, just like Lineage, and make people voluntarily pay for items?

I certainly love 'pocket legends' and thought that this game could be better.

Thank you!

[Shebee]

1. Definitely no.
2. May be coming yes, they won't be free either or if they will they will be nothing close to PL-
3. You can already buy items with iTunes.

I understand that people feel disappointed, so did I but I decided to give it a try, and so far, well I'm pretty satisfied.
The game isn't 100% complete yet and there are a lot of things to fix, but the developers are very, and I mean very friendly and work all the time bringing fixes, big and small many times a week.
Not too long and this game is without any flaws.

Edit: I do find it odd that they advertise the game as "Free to Play", while in reality it isn't
It's like any other f2p game out there; play for 1 day and then pay.
Technically yes it's free to play, but it's like giving out cars "for free", and after a few miles you have to pay to drive them, when your in the middle of nowhere.

[ojilles]

Well, I think it's kind of free to play. You can level up to lvl13 all without paying a dime, and then you have the option of getting into premium content. I guess it's a matter of how one looks at it. Just with the free part it's already tonnes of fun!

(Oh, and please no ads! Besides, esp on the iPhone, there's just no screen real estate)

[_ck]

How can you claim to love Pocket Legends but not be willing to pay $1.99 every now and then to keep playing and support the game? That's less than a fast food meal, a fraction of what it costs to go to ONE movie. Pocket Legends gives you infinite hours of FREE play before it asks you to pay extremely little to keep playing new levels. Yes, buying all the new levels in one go might seem expensive, but no one's stopping you from buying a new map every now and then. If you bought one new map every month or every two weeks, would that really break your bank? How do you even afford an iPod touch/iPhone if you can't afford $1.99?

1. We Rule makes as much if not more money off of selling mojo. Click the coins/mojo button and you can buy mojo at comparatively outrageous prices. It's the same thing with other similar games like Farmville. They are ad-supporting AND sell you stuff.

2. Considering how much time and money it costs to develop this type of game (MMORPGs are among the most expensive types of games to develop), if someone were to make a completely free 3D MMORPG it's highly unlikely it'll be on the level of Pocket Legends or other MMORPGs that sell things in-game. You pay for quality.

3. You can already buy things in the game, like Shebee says, and the next app store client is to include a "Platinum Store" which could mean even more purchasable items.

[Garrison]

NO ADS. Period. Maybe a button on the main page to tell you about other SpaceTime products, but that's all I'd tolerate.

It is still very early in the release of Pocket Legends. I'm sure the financing structure will adjust appropriately as time goes on, the game improves, they get more feedback, and other MMO games start to compete. But don't hold your breath.

In the mean time, I quite enjoy the system as is. I find it odd that such obsessive players who "love" the game have such an issue with paying for additional content. But to be fair, I suspect some may not have any funds to speak of, and their iPod/iPhone/iPad was a gift and/or is paid for by a parent, etc.