DLC for RPG maker game?

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Ah I see... Haven't dabbled with audio, found some ways for images though...

 

[??????]

Audio is actually fairly is simple to encrypt too, should check out tuski's audio encrypter script for ideas on how it can be done

Out of curiosity, what do you do for imagery?

 

[Tuomo L]

I stand by my 'just update it and post an announcement' thought

I do not want to give the DLC for free and if I make it a mandatory purchase for an update, that would mean I'd not be supporting other versions than just the one with the DLC.

 

[phoenix_rossy]

I do not want to give the DLC for free and if I make it a mandatory purchase for an update, that would mean I'd not be supporting other versions than just the one with the DLC.

From a marketing perspective-

Faceless Corporation releases DLC and charges extra for it. Sells some DLC. Bad press.

Indie Developer releases free update containing new content. Surge in sales as a result. Good press.

The result is largely the same, except customer's perceptions of your ethos change depending on how you go about it. Welcome to the world of marketing.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Audio is actually fairly is simple to encrypt too, should check out tuski's audio encrypter script for ideas on how it can be done

Out of curiosity, what do you do for imagery?

Still trying to find out different ways... One easy thing though is to convert them to marshal serialized files, then once you need them recreate the file, create the bitmap using the file then delete the created file afterwards so that it doesn't stay on the computer (as long as the bitmap is already created, you can safely remove the file that was used to make it)... It's easy to circumvent for RM users though, I guess.

 

[Tsukihime]

From a marketing perspective-


Faceless Corporation releases DLC and charges extra for it. Sells some DLC. Bad press.


Indie Developer releases free update containing new content. Surge in sales as a result. Good press.


The result is largely the same, except customer's perceptions of your ethos change depending on how you go about it. Welcome to the world of marketing.

Do free updates actually translate to a "surge in sales"?

 

[??????]

Yea, serializing the bitmap is the best thing I can think of for storing them too. I've  been trying to think of some better / quicker way though, with hopefully a smaller file size (not that a compressed marshalled file is that big anyway) but it all helps

I'm actually writing up a public script patching system too. Slightly different from my personal one of course but yea, probably release that at some point...

@Tuski - I think it could providing your game had a sufficient following to help promote the free update. I mean, if everyone is tweeting/sharing some game and saying how much they love all the free DLC, surely that would influence others to try the game, no?

 

[Caitlin]

Do free updates actually translate to a "surge in sales"?

It worked for a big time company who refused to sell DLC, so I do not see why it wouldn't work for an Indie developer, too.  But, of course, this is up to the developer and if the customers are willing to pay.  My brother was thinking it was The Witcher (2), but not entirely sure. Whatever, you do the best thing is to stay consistent with you actions, sell DLC or a mixture of both, free and for sale DLC.  The best of both worlds, really.

 

[phoenix_rossy]

@Tuski - I think it could providing your game had a sufficient following to help promote the free update. I mean, if everyone is tweeting/sharing some game and saying how much they love all the free DLC, surely that would influence others to try the game, no?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Tuomo L]

From a marketing perspective-

Faceless Corporation releases DLC and charges extra for it. Sells some DLC. Bad press.

Indie Developer releases free update containing new content. Surge in sales as a result. Good press.

The result is largely the same, except customer's perceptions of your ethos change depending on how you go about it. Welcome to the world of marketing.

I am sorry but how is me providing DLC bad press? 

 

[phoenix_rossy]

I am sorry but how is me providing DLC bad press? 

Because it highlights that you can't think differently to the money-grubbing faceless corporations.

I'm generalising, of course. 

 

[Tuomo L]

Because it highlights that you can't think differently to the money-grubbing faceless corporations.

I'm generalising, of course. 

Of course I want money and the time it'll take me to work on the extra content means it takes time off on another paying project thus if I provide free content I'm practically doing this extra work for free. I don't know how it's a bad thing to expect money for the things I do, considering it may make a difference if I'll able to eat or pay rent that month unless my game sells insane amounts on its first month but I doubt it would. 

 

[amerk]

It really boils down to the content provided in the DLC. As long as you aren't pulling the "true ending" card, meaning the player can still play through the game and not be expected to buy a pack in order to finish it or get the "real" ending, I don't really care one way or another.

If it's a few graphical updates, nothing big, I'd either suggest giving those out as a bonus (order now sort of thing), or holding off until you have a much bigger pack. When it comes to DLC, for me I'd only spend money if it was a significant update. Money isn't my only concern, so is the time it takes to be bothered downloading the pack. So even if it was just a minor graphical update, and you were only charging $1 for it, I don't think I'd bother with it, since it wouldn't impact my experience of playing the game all that much to make me want to pay the extra fee (however small it may be) and the time to download and patch the game. I'd much rather wait until you had a larger DLC and charged somewhere between $5 and $10, since I can get a vast majority of the updates at once.

The flipside for me is I much prefer added content (story-wise, extra side quests, new dungeons) than a few extra stats, some graphical changes, and maybe a weapon or two. Everybody is going to be different, of course, with a varying degree of tastes. However, if your aim is to nickle and dime DLCs with little updates here and there, I'd advise you against it. Sure, it's your right to do so, and you may feel entitled to it, but consumer perception goes a long ways as well, and if people feel you are out to cheat them, you risk hurting your fan-base for future projects.

Again, there is nothing wrong with DLCs and charging for them, but the way you choose to implement them can make or break you.

 

[Tsukihime]

Because it highlights that you can't think differently to the money-grubbing faceless corporations.


I'm generalising, of course.

Oh, but you wouldn't be faceless if you were an indie dev releasing DLC's.

 

[phoenix_rossy]

The flipside for me is I much prefer added content (story-wise, extra side quests, new dungeons) than a few extra stats, some graphical changes, and maybe a weapon or two. Everybody is going to be different, of course, with a varying degree of tastes. However, if your aim is to nickle and dime DLCs with little updates here and there, I'd advise you against it. Sure, it's your right to do so, and you may feel entitled to it, but consumer perception goes a long ways as well, and if people feel you are out to cheat them, you risk hurting your fan-base for future projects.

Again, there is nothing wrong with DLCs and charging for them, but the way you choose to implement them can make or break you.

Pretty much the point I was trying to make, articulated in a better way

 

[Tuomo L]

This is not super related to my projects but I just wanted to point out the whole marketing that has been brought up but the "faceless money grubbing companies" actually do pay DLC because the patching itself costs money for them and that's why not every company can support their games with free updates. it's not even small money we're talking about, we're talking about sums of about 40 k per a patch so at that cost, it's no wonder the devs are asking for money for the DLC content to cut the patch costs because DLC does NOT cost them money. Just like with me it's basically the whole idea of being able to afford to support the game and developing new content for it or alternatively, just stop supporting it because I have to make another, paying project to help pay the bills and doing free content is not going to help me pay the rent. I am one person and not a big company so any time I provide new content for my game free or paying, it is taking the time that I could work on another paying game. 

 

[phoenix_rossy]

A fair point sir.

 

[Millerberto2]

Hummm... I have been thinking of this too.

Perhaps you can try YSE - PATCH SYSTEM..

If your DLC unlocks a place, in the non-DLC update, block the access.

You can try think of 'workarounds' like this, haha.

Or.. a harder way: Make a script check a file, if it says True then unlock the area, if it says False block the area, but it should be way way easier to use the first one.

I implemented a Launcher to my game as a way of easily deploying patches, getting the changelog to the end-user and get the feedback directly from it:

This is very useful: Setup a dropbox account, put the patch file there and make a launcher to download it to your customer.

It will be a little bit more complex than this but... yeah, basicly thats what im doing right now. What about validating a DLC key inside the game somewhere? This will be useful for both drm-free people (if you sell drm-free copies).

Hope I helped you!

 

[phoenix_rossy]

That's pretty cool Miller.

 

[??????]

Yep, that Is what I do myself.

That only took maybe a day or two to setup

Edit:

difference is, I use a private server to hold the files rather than a dropbox account