08-23-2017, 09:53 PM
(08-23-2017, 08:59 PM)Angerak Wrote: Also, I'm curious, if the game is free - how do you make any money with it? Do players pay for upgrades or fast-path solutions?
Or, are you building games for the love of game-making?
Paul
Hi Paul,
No, we don't make any money out of it. It's more the other way around!
In the past eleven years, we never charged for upgrades or fast-path or pay-to-win or anything else. We do accept donations and some games, beta and alpha in particular, are only available for supporters and a thank you.
Right now, it's all automated, barring an occasional bug or something that has to be resolved by an human. So the operational effort is very small. We need to replace computers from time to time, pay for hosting and some licenses.
Bottom line, I know people with more expensive hobbies!
It all started when a group of friends wanted to create the game they loved to play. In my case, I like creating scenarios and evolving the game AI for NPCs and nations. Much fun for me.
We like to think it's a community driven game development. We had players translating into Spanish and English. We had people writing the player reference and beginner guide, the way they though would help themselves when they started. Some folks volunteer their time as GMs to answer questions, or to create images, etc.
The Counselor is an open source java app that can be evolved by anyone.
I agree with everything you say. But there are no videos. I agree that videos and a more intuitive interface would help a lot with the first steps in particular, but the core group has no skills to create them. And no one in the community created those yet.
In our defense, the rule book PDF is ONLY 58 ages long, but a player only needs to read the first few pages to get to the game. Less so if the player is used to similar systems. The rest are the details on each possible action, that a player can easily check in the Counselor as the orders are entered.
I can tell you we took no pleasure writing the rulebook, but it was a fair request by the players and it was done for them. And then translated into different languages by the players that volunteered their time.
Another topic is that I believe the game grew and spread mouth by mouth. The game is invitation only as well, but we never declined anyone. But over 95% of the players were brought in by an existing player. And I believe a friend helped with newbie's first steps, getting most of the pains that Grim felt are not found, or not applicable, in the community.
True we had more exposure since we were advertised in S&C and got some new faces. And those new faces would have to go through some harsh learning curve.
But it also depends on which other games you played in the past. Grim mentioned the GSI system from the long past. We know that people that played those games (or still do) had an easy transition into Clash. They did not ask for the tutorial hand holding experience. They could just dive right in.
I remember when we got a rush of people coming from a particular game system that had very different concept than Clash. It was crazy stuff for them at the beginning and I know they would have benefited from having a better UX experience. But a small group persevered, asked for private games, joined in team games, learned the system, provided feedback and then they explained Clash to other friends. In the end, still a considerable growth in Clash's player base.
I don't want to reduce the merit of the systems that can afford to have those tutorials. I think they are great and probably a necessity if you want to make money out of the game.
I also acknowledge that not investing in these limits the player base size and reduces its growth.
At the end of the day, it's not the money or investment of time. We all do something we like. We play it because we like it, some love it. We only have so many free hours to give to Clash. And if the decision is between "let's make the game even better!", "let's do something very cool!" or "let's create a tutorial!" ... well... I never voted for the last one in behalf of the other options.
What's the memory that stays? The memory of how hard was to learn how to play chess or how much satisfaction one had in all the games played after it was mastered?
Where the pleasure and fun come from?
In our case, we prefer to have Clash judged by the game it is rather than how easy is it to learn how to use the Counselor.
And one day, someone in our community will find the time to invest into a better interface, tutorials, and hand holding. But until that day, Grim's feedback is fair: New players should know that without a friend as a guide it's going to be a rough start unless the player spend some reading time. But you may have fun and learn if you persevere.