Two versions could be offered. A lite and a separate download for the full version
Sent from my iPad On 16 Jan 2013, at 21:59, Draconis Entertainment <gene...@draconisentertainment.com> wrote: > Hi Tom and Dark, > > THanks for the feedback. As I tried to make clear in the original response, > playable demos are something that are being continually discussed and thought > about here. It's not an area where we are dead set on any specific course of > action. > > To clarify: When asking a user to invest $30-$40 in a title, we feel very > strongly that it was essential to offer a playable demo. > > In lowering the price, we have to balance the added overhead of managing > demos and accepting potentially higher levels of piracy from users finding > ways to exploit the demos. > > Using some random numbers just to illustrate an example… > > If five people do not purchase the game because there is not a playable demo > and no one of their acquaintance has a copy on their machine that they can > play for a few minutes, we've lost five sales at most. > > If we offer a demo, and an exploit means that 50 people pirate the title, we > have potentially lost a maximum of 50 sales, plus the time spent implementing > the unlockable demo, etc. > > And, just to throw out some real world numbers…just in what we've been able > to track, we know that MonkeyBusiness has been pirated by around 300 users at > minimum, and potentially many more. In an industry as small as ours, that is > not insignificant. > > We are not saying we will definitively not do demos…but it is something that > we need to weigh the pros and cons for very carefully, and make sure that it > is worth it overall. > > Sometimes, doing the best thing for the customer is costly. Our registration > keys, for example, are not tied to hardware the way, for instance, GMA's are. > We do this because we understand the frustration for users upgrading to a new > system, or who have multiple machines they want to be able to play the game > on. As a result, we've had to accept a very, very high rate of piracy of our > games. In bringing the cost down, it is harder justifying all of these kinds > of things, and we need to weigh each very carefully. > > Hope this helps clarify. > > On Jan 16, 2013, at 3:49 PM, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> I find myself in agreement with Dark on this issue of demos. While I >> realize Draconis is attempting to bring the cost down on new and >> existing games I'd still prefer to try before I buy a game. Even if a >> game is only $10 I don't really have it to spend frivolously. As I am >> married, have a family to worry about, etc I tend to watch every >> dollar and only pay for things that I am absolutely sure I want. >> Sometimes an audio trailer and a brief description isn't enough to get >> me to purchase a product. >> >> I'll offer an example here. I do not consider myself much of a Harry >> Potter fan. Oh, I've watched the movies, read the books, and for me it >> is something I can pretty much take or leave. So I'm not actively >> looking for games etc with Harry Potter themes. So something like >> Sarah would not attract my attention because of the Harry Potter type >> theme alone. >> >> Moreover I heard audio trailers, read descriptions of the game in >> early development, and for the most part I blew them off. However, >> when I got to play the demo of Sarah I became hooked on the game >> itself, and wanted to see more of the castle, see how far I could get, >> and it was the demo that convinced me to cough up the money for the >> game more than any other factor. So you see even if Sarah had been >> $10, which would be more than reasonable for that game, I wouldn't >> have paid because I didn't think I would like it until I actually >> played the demo. >> >> There have been other cases where my decision to buy or not to buy >> have been based more or less on the quality of the demo. If a demo >> isn't available I'm going to be less likely to pay for the game unless >> I have money to burn and have no prior commitments which is usually >> never. :D >> >> Cheers! >> >> On 1/16/13, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: >>> Hi. >>> >>> As regards demos, I'm afraid I'm a little confused as to your reasoning that >>> >>> bringing the price down automatically means you don't need a demo. This >>> might be true for games such as silver dollar where the over all price is >>> extremely low and the game is more than simple enough to understand from an >>> >>> audio clip, but for something more complex that might not be the case, >>> indeed there have been several occasions in the past that I only recognized >>> >>> the worth of games myself by playing them. >>> >>> I did not for example think much to the initial idea of audio pinball from >>> the audio clips or promotional material. i was not convinced how much fun >>> the game would be, since from what I heard it didn't seem you had much >>> tronol over events in the game and had to just hit buttons occasionally. >>> >>> if you had asked me to hazard even as little as 5 dollars on the game, I >>> probably wouldn't have done so, since I didn't find the idea appealing and >>> being carefull about money, don't particularly like throwing away even a >>> small amount on something which might not be entertaining for a long >>> period. >>> >>> Since however a free demo was available, I had nothing to lose in trying the >>> >>> game, and when I tried the game i found the experience of playing the game >>> extremely different from my preconceptions, which it turned out were utterly >>> >>> wrong. I now regard both esp pinball titles as some of the best arcade games >>> >>> available and would highly recommend them to anyone, but that would not have >>> >>> happened if I had not had the direct experience of playing the demo >>> version. >>> >>> Likewise, I will probably not buy change reaction since I did not enjoy the >>> >>> previous demo, but if I had an opportunity to play the newer version and >>> observe the changes (no pun intended), in the game for myself, that may well >>> >>> be different, however I don't particularly feel i have enough money to >>> hazard 10 dollars on the possibility. >>> >>> thus, I would suggest that even if it does! take more time in developement, >>> >>> any game which is priced more than five dollars due to it's complexity and >>> interest really should have some sort of demo available for it, particularly >>> >>> for games with a different audio complex, or games that require complex >>> actions to play. >>> >>> Most Visually impared people are not particularly wealthy, therefore it >>> makes sence they be carefull with money. Part of that care will naturally >>> not involve hazarding money on things just on an offchance, and since games >>> >>> are a luxury item, people will need to be extra sure of what they're >>> getting. >>> >>> this is why I myself rarely buy a film or tv series on dvd that I have not >>> seen before and thus will be certain it is something I will want to watch >>> through several times, and the same applies to games, which is why I'd >>> personally recommend rethinking the demo policy, ---- even if not for all >>> titles. >>> >>> All the best, >>> >>> Dark. >>> >>> >>> --- >>> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >>> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >>> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >>> You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at >>> http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. >>> All messages are archived and can be searched and read at >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. >>> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, >>> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. >> >> --- >> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >> You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at >> http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. >> All messages are archived and can be searched and read at >> http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. >> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, >> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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