For you who don´t know what “GDC Next” is you can check it out here: http://www.gdcnext.com
I am an indie programmer and only do programming in my spare time, so why did I go there?
Well, my game SmartballGG is a quite new concept and while it does get some downloads, it is nothing to go through the roof about. Its more like a hobby, but still I think the coolest thing with a game would be to see that it takes off.
My background (and daytime job) is to make optical sensors. This is also what my game is focused on; to use the sensing capabilities of current devices to interact and deploy them in the game. In the future I may even try to integrate a new sensor to test it in gameplay… but thats the future.
GDC Next is about the future. The future of gaming and especially monetization:
A lot of people try to make money through games today and the ones that makes the most are F2P games. It requires some basic criterias for the game to be able to do well in F2P, and there are a lot of traps that developers tend to fall into that you should be aware of:
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Pay to win: this is a no-no. You can charge for certain items or features in a F2P game but there must always be a way to do the same without paying. You can sell a nice outfit for your avatar, but not a special armor that makes it invincible vs others not having that armor.
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Lacking features: Age of Empire online was a very good example on how lacking features can ruin a game launch. 2 Civs during launch compared to 10-15 Civs for the offline classical game. Now, AOE online had a lot of other issues as well which made it unprofitable.
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Not updating the content: A F2P game today is a service (like a night club) and not an item (like a book). You have to keep new things coming and you have to keep improving the game and take feedback seriously. People will leave if you don´t show that you are serious about it.
There are tons of other stuff as well (you can grind your way through the “GDC vault” to also watch some of the free speaker sessions there).
Things you definitely should do:
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In-game coinage: Always have a internal coinage or other value to get players to buy items. Even if it is only gained from gameplay, it can increase player interest which will increase revenue.
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P2P market: Make it possible to sell and buy items from other players. Market sets the price.
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Monitor in-game coinage: Players may stock up coinage which will give inflation in free markets. You need a way to get those coins used. Eg a drainage.
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Special item sales: Keep time limit on sales! Drop price over time, but not too fast. Its simple economics.
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Capitalize and analyze IAP content: As all your players have bought a certain item, you must keep new items coming! Use flurry or other services to see what items are selling and if everyone has it you won´t sell more!
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Keep new content cost to a minimum: Using 100K USD for a new civ when you only get 50K back is not a good business model…
There are probably other things as well that I have forgot, so please comment if you see something missing…
Renato