TroyHepfner
July 31st, 2010, 07:22 PM
I was thinking about some of my fellow indie developers who have developed expansion packs for their games, containing additional enemies, items, missions, and other game content. Some of them charge a small fee for the expansion packs, and in some cases they bundle the base game and all the expansion packs for a discount price. For some indies, it's a nice supplement to their meager income.
That got me thinking about Rick Rocket.
There are at least a dozen untold stories from the Rick Rocket universe floating around inside my head. Some of them are already "written" (just not transcribed onto paper or into my computer), and others are just ideas that need to be fleshed out and developed. I would love to have the opportunity to tell these stories and bring them to life!
However, from a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense for me to develop a full-fledged sequel to Rick Rocket. I spent a lot of money to develop this particular game. For the first time, I hired a professional artist and a professional musician, and I also invested a number of months to program it (during which time Dirk Dashing 2 was shelved). Although Rick Rocket has sold fairly well on Mac and Linux, I haven't seen many Windows sales - perhaps because there are so many other 2D space shooters to choose from. As a result, I barely broke even on this game. Now that I'm a full-time indie, I have to focus on game projects that are likely to generate enough revenue to pay my bills.
But even though I can't do a full-fledged sequel, I was thinking perhaps I could tell the rest of Rick Rocket's adventures through a series of expansion packs. This way, I can minimize my costs by reusing the same game engine, music, and artwork. And hopefully, because it is an expansion pack, maybe players won't be disappointed that it uses the same graphics and music as the first story. Of course, I would add some new graphics for new ships, and maybe one new music track.
The question is: would my Rick Rocket customers be willing to pay for expansion packs?
Unlike the free add-ons that I've done for our Fashion Cents and Word Play games, the Rick Rocket expansions will take more time to create. There are stories to write, missions to set up, gameplay balancing that needs to happen, and new ships and scenarios to program. Plus, before I can even build one expansion pack, I will need to write code to allow me to add new content to the game dynamically. This means I wouldn't be able to give the expansion packs away for free.
I figure each expansion pack would consist of the following: a whole new story, told through a series of 24 missions (or more, if the story warrants); a few new ships, some friendly, some not; maybe a new power-up or two; and maybe a new music track to mix in with the existing music. That's would customers would get if they were to purchase an expansion pack.
As for what it would cost, I'm not quite sure yet. I think $5 would be too low for the work I would have to put into it, but I'm afraid maybe $10 would be too much. So I'm thinking I would charge $7 or $8, depending on how many missions there are.
So Rick Rocket customers and fans - the ball is in your court now. What do you think? Would you be interested in new stories and missions for Rick Rocket, and if so, what are you willing to pay? Is $7 or $8 reasonable?
That got me thinking about Rick Rocket.
There are at least a dozen untold stories from the Rick Rocket universe floating around inside my head. Some of them are already "written" (just not transcribed onto paper or into my computer), and others are just ideas that need to be fleshed out and developed. I would love to have the opportunity to tell these stories and bring them to life!
However, from a business standpoint, it doesn't make sense for me to develop a full-fledged sequel to Rick Rocket. I spent a lot of money to develop this particular game. For the first time, I hired a professional artist and a professional musician, and I also invested a number of months to program it (during which time Dirk Dashing 2 was shelved). Although Rick Rocket has sold fairly well on Mac and Linux, I haven't seen many Windows sales - perhaps because there are so many other 2D space shooters to choose from. As a result, I barely broke even on this game. Now that I'm a full-time indie, I have to focus on game projects that are likely to generate enough revenue to pay my bills.
But even though I can't do a full-fledged sequel, I was thinking perhaps I could tell the rest of Rick Rocket's adventures through a series of expansion packs. This way, I can minimize my costs by reusing the same game engine, music, and artwork. And hopefully, because it is an expansion pack, maybe players won't be disappointed that it uses the same graphics and music as the first story. Of course, I would add some new graphics for new ships, and maybe one new music track.
The question is: would my Rick Rocket customers be willing to pay for expansion packs?
Unlike the free add-ons that I've done for our Fashion Cents and Word Play games, the Rick Rocket expansions will take more time to create. There are stories to write, missions to set up, gameplay balancing that needs to happen, and new ships and scenarios to program. Plus, before I can even build one expansion pack, I will need to write code to allow me to add new content to the game dynamically. This means I wouldn't be able to give the expansion packs away for free.
I figure each expansion pack would consist of the following: a whole new story, told through a series of 24 missions (or more, if the story warrants); a few new ships, some friendly, some not; maybe a new power-up or two; and maybe a new music track to mix in with the existing music. That's would customers would get if they were to purchase an expansion pack.
As for what it would cost, I'm not quite sure yet. I think $5 would be too low for the work I would have to put into it, but I'm afraid maybe $10 would be too much. So I'm thinking I would charge $7 or $8, depending on how many missions there are.
So Rick Rocket customers and fans - the ball is in your court now. What do you think? Would you be interested in new stories and missions for Rick Rocket, and if so, what are you willing to pay? Is $7 or $8 reasonable?