I think people are over reacting a bit and are being a little harsh to indie game developers.
This revenue model has been in existence for a long time; China has a massive, 1 billion dollar a year, industry for virtual sales. Spacetime is some what pioneers into the U.S. market, supplying a mobile MMO and utilizing this revenue stream. Of course they're going to try things out, get things wrong and get things right. As a consumer you have the option of not buying the product, you know how much it costs and what the implications are for buying it-- they're not hiding anything from you.
Personally I like the fact that I can play a game and only pay for the features I want. If I don't like it I'm not going to buy it, but the last thing I'm going to do is get on a message board and flame the developers of a tiny software company for trying to make a living off their product. (Especially when they're up at 1 and 2 in the morning fixing bugs)
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About paying for the stash. Maybe a better way to implement this would be to have bags with storage space drop off mobs in different levels? Make these 4 or 6 slot bags (8 for epic/legendary) -- then sell 16 slot bags in the store? That way you can get the basic functionality for free and hard core gamers can pay for the extra storage.
The word "greedy" leaves such a bad connotation. I am sure prices will be looked at and tweaked as necessary in order for Spacetime to keep a good profitable business model, while allowing for growth in subscribers/players.
Agreed with Jaxan. Calling someone Greedy gets you no where. I appreciate your frustration Obliteration, but our dissatisfaction and refusal to buy stash slots for that much (and yea no way i'm paying that much for it either despite how much i want it) does not make it ok to flame the devs.
I agree it shouldn't cost so much, but there is a middle road between being emo as you put it, and using derogatory name calling. We know you are a core community member, and you know the devs read these posts. Theres just no reason to call a group of 6 guys trying to make a game that they can make money with greedy. Quite frankly they have been very easy going about their prices and about advertising their product until its a finished product. The Spacetime guys just came out of a (currently) unsuccessful 20 million dollar project, and rose from that as a tiny production company that put out an amazing piece of gaming technology. If Squaresoft made this game they would charge you 12 bucks just to download it.
On top of that your game experience isn't that affected by this. Despite it being annoying, you can use a slot to make a bank alt. I had 3 characters already, so i paid 2 bucks and now i have a huge stash. Transfer to it is annoying, but such is life.
Ogrim-lvl 50-Ursan Alta-lvl 45-Enchantress Broke-lvl 45-Avian
Venom Website: http://venom.forumn.net
The prices are fair.
I no longer spend any money on other app games, so I'm happy to stick it all in here.
Stop complaining that the game is 'un-complete'. It is not, it is growing- and I'm glad to be here to see that.
Its being firm, and I don't need stash. The title was sapposed to be "becoming" but for some reason my phone changed it to being and it was a mistake by me and I'm not gonna try to change it and cover up a mistake. And i did adress this is there living and I realize this "stated in topic post" I said they should just make map packs for $5 each so they can make money. But all these other features need to be standard.
Prices lowered across the board in the recent content update.
-ALS
There is time for constructive criticism and there is time for outrage. Right now constructive criticism is the wise choice, you have a development team who wants to Hear what this community has to say, so please use Tact. Don't let the frustration of waiting for 1.2 create a barrier in this mutual relationship.
Firm and Belligerent and two different tactics, you are teetering on the belligerent side. Allow Space Time to make adjustments before you become so enraged you can't think straight. Allow them to listen to you. I agree with allot that has been posted here, but allow them time for adjustments.Atleast I'm being firm instead of going emo and quiting.
Cus 45 Warrior
Placiu 45Enchantress
Now dev's do you guys plan on in a month or so making a "special' for PVP maps were u can buy all for one lower price?
Supply and demand, no? Except in this case, it's all about demand, since the supply is infinite. So what we have here is a relatively simply demand curve. The higher the price, the less people are gonna pay and play. The lower the price, the more people are gonna pay and play. So since it's a new game, SS is gonna keep tweaking it so that they can make the maximum amount of money (they are 6 real developers with families, needs, etc., and the fact that they are pretty much living off of this says a lot for how important it is to them), which I'm thinking, since it is a mobile game, is more towards the lower prices and more people side.
Anyways, I hope SS will quickly find that perfect equilibrium so that the devs don't have to worry about prices but about content. Good luck guys.
EDIT: also, thanks for lowering prices!
Last edited by flaimdude; 05-25-2010 at 02:00 PM.
Flaimdude: Lvl31 Mage • Flaimer: Lvl15 Arch • Flaimior: Lvl14 Bear
"If you're not careful asommers will catch up to you lol" ~Royce
its growing but hardly complete...if it wasnt complete why would there be constant updates -.-
your in a dream world thinking its a complete game, its enjoyable but they have much to work on which is a good thing. if noone was to voice their opinions there wouldnt have been a lower of prices, which in my eyes is a good thing for us. why are the forums here seriously? so you can just praise the developers? no, its about criticism to make the game better. the OP was harsh saying they are greedy, because they are not, but the pricing issue is a valid point, and one that they have addressed
Sayishere - Archer.
Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon.
Obliteration~
I applaud your willingness to put this thread up. It's tough to say something the devs won't like. Especially when the community is small. I don't think you were rude. I think you expressed how you feel. I think you were brave. You clearly care about the game. Some people are fussing that you were too harsh though they essentially agree with you. Honestly, if you hadn't been direct, I don't think anyone would have listened.
I know an Apple dev said he makes more money w 99 cent apps than he used to make dev $50 games. So there is money to be made when the populations of PL grow... Right now, understandably, it's probably difficult. The developers must be working 24/7 because there are constant updates. I figure that I'd be able to spot a PL dev in public right away due to the HUGE dark circles under his/her eyes due to not sleeping for months. It's prob very tough to work so hard and give so much only to barely break even
Meanwhile, on the other hand, there are the players. I bought each campaign when it came out. My friends lucked out and got the whole campaign group for a great price. I don't mind that. Hey, an xbox game might be $60 the first month it's out. In a year, it'll be $20 or $30. But if I don't want to wait, then I'll pay more. That's life. I don't mind that. I DO mind being charged to have inventory space and other things that should be standard. As a player, I don't want to have to keep paying a buck here and there endlessly. Each update, it FEELS like there's a new life-sucking cost added for something.
As I said before, charge us $5 for a campaign and let that be it. Don't nickel and dime us.
Spacetime dev need to eat. Yes.
But.... So do the players.
Maybe devs should get together. Figure out how much you need to make as dev to eat good food like steaks & red velvet cake Then charge that for the campaigns if it's reasonable and don't charge us for things like inventory space or character respecs (I used to think char respecs was an ok charge but now it's one more charge. Maybe give a free char respec w each campaign purchase. Then folks can buy EXTRA respecs if they want). I, personally, would rather you hit me ONCE for money each new campaign.
Maybe have two options. The $2 campaign that makes folks buy every little thing... And the $5 premium choice that let's people get everything included...
And seriously, guys... If you want to make extra money that folks won't fuss about- sell vanity objects for platinum. Collars for the pets. A santa hat. People will buy those items and not feel like it's unfair.
I know that right now, I have basically no voice because I'm a junior member. It's as if I'm invisible to some degree But, I wanted to try & give feedback anyway.
I think there's a balance to be made between the needs of the dev & the needs of the players. A healthy business model will equally consider both... Of course, the dev will need time to change things... IF they change things... But they can communicate that changes are in the works... And for folks not on the forum, the devs can communicate to them in an update...
Last edited by Furrawn; 05-25-2010 at 03:03 PM.
Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. ~ Thoreau
FURRAWN 45 Paladin ButterflyPoet 45 pure dex ScarlettOHara 45 Intbear Jeannedarc 22 Mage Trickortreat lvl 22 100% pure organic chicken Christmastree 13 Mage
I said you had been clear after your 11th post in this thread. We get it. You were dissatisfied with the pricing.
You did call us greedy, and that hurt. I would have much rather seen a thread like "Let's talk about pricing" or "This seems too expensive".
We're 6 guys, working our butts off, up to 16 hours a day to make this game better for you guys. Even though the thread title and your "firm" attitude are extremely demoralizing, we chose to keep the thread alive to discuss pricing.
And then we listened, and responded. Please try to realize that we are people working behind the scenes, and not some huge mega-conglomerate.
we appreciate everything your doing, the OP was way to harsh with his comment about you guys being greedy it isnt fair or true. again i hope the comments on this thread wont affect your work rate, i hope you can understand that the reason we post the comments is because we have strong feelings for the game to be a success
Sayishere - Archer.
Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon.
Uh-oh we have a suckup, maybe I was to harsh. But an error in the title made it seem this way. It was sapposed to say "spacetime is becoming greedy" however let me point this out, over 80% of people who replied completely agreed. If I would have made a thread softly I don't believe change would have been made. You can hate me all you want I'll hate back. But look what I have done, I've been getting tons of messages in-game thanking me for my drive and forceful oppinion.
And Justg I am truely sorry I hurt you and the other developers feelings, in the long run I believe this will actually help you. Notice several replied saying because of this they have purchased more platinum today.
And what I meant by the emo reply is, atleast i didn't go to general discussions and flame you guys and say i'm leaving. Like several member have done. But I did dig myself just as big of a hole doing what I did, because now most of you see me as an asshole. Which is okay. People are entitled to have an oppinion on me.
We still love you SS devs, a little tough love never hurt...
Esus-Archer|Glyph-Warrior|Kangol- Paladin (Enchantress)
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