Micro transactions?

[theberzerker13]

I was just wondering if there are any plans to introduce micro transactions within the app? I love the game but I don't have the time or patience required to unlock everything. I really want to experience the game with everything available to me (Ships of Honor, all ship upgrades, etc) and I would be willing to pay for this.
I don't know what would be a reasonable price, maybe like $5, but I believe there are many players like me who would rather spend some extra money instead of dedicating a lot of time and effort getting achievements.

Plus, I think Cory wouldn't mind the additional revenue that this would generate.

[slayernz]

It's a tough one - the game has such complexity (unlocked features aside) that it doesn't lend itself to casual gaming. Regarding the unlocks though, probably the biggest unlock for the beginner is the Water-Fuel tank, which is really quite easy to get (I think it is just surviving for 1,000 turns on Demanding).

The other unlocks are nice to have, but not really necessary for the casual player. Why? Because as a casual player, you may as well set your game level to Basic or Normal, and not have to worry about the dying thing. Your ship and captain's skills quickly become superior to all of your opponents, and within a short time you will be destroying any ship you wish, with or without the ships of power, special starting ships, or other features.

Almost all of us who have played the game for a while will still have at least one character that is a Basic or Normal one, just so you can putt around the galaxy gathering, killing, and effectively ruling the game. Most, if not all, will have built this character up to the position he/she is in without any of the unlocks at all. I mean to say, on Basic or Normal, if you grab a ship with, say, 30+ sails, then your fuel consumption will be around 0.014 units in the red zones, and 0 units in the green zones.

[oldalchemist]

If you paid for it, it's not an achievement.

If you really want to experience the game, you play it.

[theberzerker13]

It doesn't matter how you "aicheve" the bonus content,I could spend my time playing or I could spend my money, its all the same. Obviously if I am willing to pay for these unlocks than I have dedicated alot of energy to playing the game. Its wrong to assume that players won't "experience" the game if they can simply buy everything that they would normally unlock, what would be the point of spending money on a game you don't intend on playing?

I just think it would be a uselfull option for both the players and the developers, bringing in extra cash and providing a less frustrating alternative for players. And becasue its a single player game with no interaction whatsoever with other players there is no mutliplayer to unbalance or anything like that.

So your game would be completely unaffected should they make this possible, so whats the problem with letting players have this option?

[absimiliard]

I suspect oldalchemist is hinting that allowing people to buy the achievements might devalue how valuable having achieved them feels to those who worked hard to get them. (In particular I'm guessing Dark Nemesis)

But I'm probably wrong, when I put words in people's mouths that's usually the case.

-abs

[theberzerker13]

No, that makes sense, and I agree that those who took the time to unlock everything may be frustrated if the option became avaliable. But for every one hardcore player who has accomplished that there must be at least 10-20 casual players who simply do not have to time or dedication to unlock everything. So imagine: out of the 200,000+ players who have the game maybe 5,000 would be willing to pay $3 unlock everything generating $15,000 in revenue ro the developers, on top of the price for the elite edition.
And as I said before. its not a multiplayer game, so whatever goes on in my phone has literally zero effect on your gameplay.

[Cory Trese]

I do like the idea of making $150 from 50 people paying $3 to unlock the content.

I'm scared people would call me greedy!

[slayernz]

Greedy would be if you charged $150 for the unlock and $3 for the game itself

[Cory Trese]

I'm curious, is $2.99 greedy? Some Factions want to charge 2.99 for our next game.

[slayernz]

Given the amounts of updates, the fact that there is still a free version, and the depth and complexity of the game is amazing, no, I don't see why $2.99 would be too greedy. I don't know about the others on this forum, but I personally think $1.99 was undervaluing your game.

It's not like an app that you would play a few times, get bored, and move on. Instead, it is a game that is so rich that the more you play, the more you discover. I've been playing the game since January and I have to say that there are very few games that I would play so consistently for so long, Android OR PC. Maybe that counts against me for a price discussion though. If you asked someone like me, Old Alchy, or Liz, or Cynik how much they would be willing to pay for your game right now, we'd probably suggest prices up to $10 because we know the value of the game. Newbies might balk at $10 - but so long as there is enough digital crack stored up in ST RPG Free, there should be enough motivation for a newbie to pay maybe $3.99 or $4.99 for the Elite version.


As an aside, I'd love to see some in-game stat that says exactly how long you have been playing the game for ... "You've been playing ST RPG for 2412 hours and 15 minutes. You installed the game 2418 hours ago. You probably need a life." No practical purpose, but heartening for the soul all the same

[absimiliard]

Cory: I would have gladly paid $2.99 for ST:RPG Elite if that had been the price. Frankly, you had already hooked me on the free version and there was no way I wasn't buying Elite. I'll caveat that wholesale endorsement by noting that playing role-playing games is pretty much my social life, so I'm very much the "type" who would get addicted to your game (I'm in enough games that 20 of my friends, folks I see every other week or more, come from gaming)

As for the awards, personally I wouldn't mind. It's not like you'll get bragging rights for buying it. (nor for that matter is there any reason someone couldn't lie) So it really is just a single-player thing.

That said, I wouldn't buy any of the achievements. Most of what I seriously love about this game is how hard it kicks my ass. What's fun isn't having gotten the toy from beating Dark Nemesis, what's fun was the over 100 captains I lost before finally winning. (that damn award took like three weeks for me to get, of playing NOTHING other than Dark Nemesi captains) But that's just me, as I noted earlier, I'm an outlier.

-abs

[oldalchemist]

I might not have upgraded to Elite had the price been higher. As it is, the jump to Elite is a low hurdle and I think you want it that way.

If you can just buy an achievement, it's not an achievement. It's just unlockable content. Now there's no reason to get better at the game, except to save a few bucks. There's no reason for Cory to make the achievements interesting. In fact, he should be motivated to make them annoying grinds for fabulous loot so that people pay for them rather than earn them.
As it is currently, the achievements are tough, but interesting and the rewards are of decreasing gameplay value, but of greater prestige.
Yes, it's a single player game, but the excellent development process here has been demonstrated to be heartily multiplayer.
I say if you're going to pay for unlocks, Cory should charge a hundred bucks and give you a captain file that has already won all the awards. His name is "Captain Alreadyplayedthegameforyou."

[captain nemo]

Is $2.99 greedy ??

No I don't think so. You have proven that the games are well worth the money. ST Elite is a steal at 1.99 & I never thought twice about it.

I guess the question becomes will people that haven't played ST before be willing to pay $2.99 I don't see that as a problem. If the free version of the next game is like ST then I think they would be willing to pay the extra dollar.

I sure would pay $2.99 for the next game, without a doubt. Even without a free version

[captain nemo]

As for the unlocks.

Why can't you split them. The easier one's that would help or add enjoyment to casual players, could be either payed for or can be gotten thru normal level & get to unlock them & use them in normal. But the rest of them keep the way they are. The hardcore players will still have there challenging awards to get.

maybe that way you can help both the casual & hardcore players, enjoy the game just that much more.

I'm a casual player, I want to see how far I can go with one capt & see what I can do with him.

I'm not interested in making a capt just to get an award, and then make another capt for the next award. To me I see no point in that.

I hope Cory can keep it so that both groups can use & enjoy the game(s). Just some thought from a new member, nothing more.

[slayernz]

Hey Capt Nemo,
In no way do I actually set out to have pilots used just to achieve an award. My aim in life (I lead a pretty sad existence) is to fly a captain for as long as possible, making him bigger, better, and more well-rounded. Winning the unlocks is definitely an objective, but once I have achieved that unlock, I sure as hell won't go and ditch that captain just to start the pain again After all, it usually takes a significant amount of effort to achieve any unlock with a new pilot on Crazy level. I'm definitely going to use that captain for as long as I can.

It's always rewarding getting a captain to a relatively high level on Crazy or Insane setting. Unfortunately the biggest drawback is that when I do something particularly stupid (taking on Alien ships without paying attention to captain health), the game is a lot less forgiving.