Crafting the perfect monetisation model.

(PixelTwitch) #1

Hello Guys.

I have been trying to consider how I Extraction could bring in that much needed paper…
Obviously the biggest disadvantage of a first person game that aims to monetise via cosmetic items is the players inability to see them cosmetics for themselves. Even when it comes to weapon skins its not like the player gets the perfect view with often less then 30% of the gun being visible…

I think the FIRST thing I think should be added is a pre and post game camera shot.

PRE - Your own team kinda in the way it is done in Infinite Crisis.

POST - The winning team kinda in the way it is done in Loadout and Black Light.
http://impact-esports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Loadout-2014-02-17-20-28-10-10.bmp
or
like in Far Cry 3 where everyone in the server is displayed. (even if its with the losers dead on the floor)
http://www.craveonline.com/images/stories/2011/2012/December/Gaming/farcry3multiplayer.jpg

This would both act like a store window for people. The could see a Skin that they like in decent detail and decide to go and buy it. Also, players get to see their own Skins “in Game” and that adds a certain level of pride and value.

This could be done during the intros and transitions so not to add any waiting.

The other issue I sense is the fact that the skins come as a whole. Breaking down different sections of the skins would allow for more customisation and unique looking characters.
Example would be when you buy a skin.
You can just decide to have the Top, Bottoms, Trainers, Hair and mix and match. This would also increase the likely hood of people buying multiple skins to get the character that they really want.

Finally… Something you will not do but I want to vent out a great idea…
Build a system for customising a persons own skin. So you pick your character then you can choose what item of clothing you want to customise. Have set base colors, patters, styles but then allow full customisation with text, shapes, vectors and sliders to set the style of fabric/print.

You could do it where you pay to unlock fonts, patterns, styles and fabrics with both real and ingame money. Then this is where the Genius part comes in…
The player has to pay a small amount of money to “bake” that skin. Once it is baked they can wear and also set a price to sell it. (minimum like 20p) and you take a 60/40 split on the price. Infinite skins… BOOM money in the bank.

I know it sounds crazy… BUT THINK ABOUT IT! lol

(stealth6) #2

Relevant threads:
Character Purchasing Scheme
Discussion how to make modding viable
BAMFana’s ideas on monetization
Suggestions for F2P model
Brainstorming how XT could make money

(DB Genome editor) #3

Like the idea of a team shots before and/or after the game.

Don’t like the idea of exhaustive customization. The merc silhouettes are a key part of their recognition, if you allow for too much customization (e.g. baggy or skinny pants, various headwear, etc…) it become difficult to instantly recognize who you are facing. You would have to limit this mix and matching to just the colors and textures and that rarely leads to anything good: either people will stick to reasonably matching looks (not much of a point splitting things up then) or they will go for eyesore clashing looks.

As for custom design skins, keep in mind that for these to be visible to anyone, they have to have the corresponding texture files on their PC. Infinite skins mean infinite texture files to include in the game and download. Dawn of War had an interesting way of working around that by using templates that could be recolored and included a small logo area, so you effectively downloaded the logos from the other players and their color scheme, and then generated the textures locally to be discarded at the end of the game. Works fine for a RTS with just a few players, but a bit more tricky if you have 16 players each with 3 mercs with custom skins. And of course it also limits quite a bit what you can do: only solid colors, no patterns, fixed size and location for logos.

(Ceres) #4

How about a team logo (custom made by someone, not from an in game choice) that can be uploaded to the given team and shown during matches for a small fee of course?

(PixelTwitch) #5

[QUOTE=Djiesse;495109]Like the idea of a team shots before and/or after the game.

Don’t like the idea of exhaustive customization. The merc silhouettes are a key part of their recognition, if you allow for too much customization (e.g. baggy or skinny pants, various headwear, etc…) it become difficult to instantly recognize who you are facing. You would have to limit this mix and matching to just the colors and textures and that rarely leads to anything good: either people will stick to reasonably matching looks (not much of a point splitting things up then) or they will go for eyesore clashing looks.

As for custom design skins, keep in mind that for these to be visible to anyone, they have to have the corresponding texture files on their PC. Infinite skins mean infinite texture files to include in the game and download. Dawn of War had an interesting way of working around that by using templates that could be recolored and included a small logo area, so you effectively downloaded the logos from the other players and their color scheme, and then generated the textures locally to be discarded at the end of the game. Works fine for a RTS with just a few players, but a bit more tricky if you have 16 players each with 3 mercs with custom skins. And of course it also limits quite a bit what you can do: only solid colors, no patterns, fixed size and location for logos.[/QUOTE]

Actually that has been done in the unreal engine since UT99. You would have the game download into cache the texture during loading screens AND even round transitions. This way you do not need to download everything cause it can send via p2p and if u do not see that again for a set time (week maybe) the game will also remove it from cache. Also… If you do it via a ingame editor you would not actually need to download any additional textures as it would be based on stuff you already have access to. This way to efficiency in game you can “bake” down to a texture during loading (its really quick) and delete after the round so no additional space is taken up and no uploading/downloading other then one burst of “this goes here” kinda data. :slight_smile:

Also thanks to the other too posters I will check the links out now :slight_smile:

(rookie1) #6

Next car gamehas this bundle you can buy for 1000$

BUGBEAR
VEHICLE ARTIST
Limit of 20 !

DESIGN A CAR PAINTJOB
Design a car paintjob with us. Submit a sketch or idea and we will create it in-game.

…just saying :tongue:

(Ruben0s) #7

I’m curious how the new unreal tournament game will work out. The game is going to be FREE and NOT FREE TO PLAY.

Game will be open source from the beginning? And mods and stuff can be downloaded from a marketplace (For free or if the creator wants money for it in return, not for free. Epic wants to earn money like valve does with TF2. So it will get a % from the marketplace sales)

Interesting stuff and I hope it works out. Wish SD does something like this as well. Come on SD release a SDK please :slight_smile:

(Mustang) #8

I think this is their poor way of saying, “It’s not going to be what most publishers call free-to-play (i.e. pay-to-win), it’s actually going to be what free-to-play should be (i.e. free)”.

At least this is how I interpreted it, hope I’m right.

(PixelTwitch) #9

[QUOTE=Mustang;497003]I think this is their poor way of saying, “It’s not going to be what most publishers call free-to-play (i.e. pay-to-win), it’s actually going to be what free-to-play should be (i.e. free)”.

At least this is how I interpreted it, hope I’m right.[/QUOTE]

Actually it will be FREE.

The reason being that Epic are not making the game… they want the community to make the game… They will just keep packaging the best version of the communites game while the community pay $19 a month for the privilege.

(Erkin31) #10

I think that epic will withdraw money from sales within the community (skins, map,mods …)

Obviously the biggest disadvantage of a first person game that aims to monetise via cosmetic items is the players inability to see them cosmetics for themselves

They can display the weapons (and their skins) used to kill you ( Like in cs go).

(ailmanki) #11

Imagine how many maps by players would exist already and skins by now, if we had a proper SDK from start on

wiggle

(Glottis-3D) #12

[QUOTE=ailmanki;497349]Imagine how many maps by players would exist already and skins by now, if we had a proper SDK from start on

wiggle[/QUOTE]

=((((((((((((((((((((((((

(Bangtastic) #13

you can design skins and maps without a sdk -.- you do it from scratch anyway…