Would you buy a game like this? If so, what do you think it should be priced at?

Being made with: RPGMaker MV

Graphic Style: RTP

Type of Game: RPG/Tycoon Hybrid

About: You play as a wizard pupil who is tasked with opening your mentor's tower to the public, collecting money from them, renovating rooms in the tower, and repopulating it with magical creatures.

Planned Features
-Sideview battle system.

-Adjustable ticket prices. Raising the price too high whilst your rating is low would decrease guest happiness.

-Reputation and Star rating system. Every 5 reputation points add up to 1 star.

-Tower renovations. Alchemy Lab (Brew potions to take into battle), Armoury (Buy weapons and allies for fights), etc.

-Arena battles. Win battles in the arena to earn money and boost your reputation.

-Character Customization (Fairly minimal). Choose your gender and name at the start, plus you can buy cosmetic costumes
for your character later.

-Plenty of creatures to collect. Either bought or in the case of rarer creatures, you can unlock expeditions to go and hunt them.

-Will be a storyline but most of the gameplay will essentially be freeroaming.

-Bank loan system.

Think I had more planned but would need to look at the notepad again, so more to come probably.

 

It sounds pretty fun. The biggest draw back though, is unless you just want to remain niche, and cater to the RPG MAKER enthusiasts out there, is RTP art style (if you're going commercial/for $). Seems like lots of people try to shoot that down for whatever reason, and leave the table before they even see what's getting served.

As far as renovating your place and bank loan system, that sounds pretty cool, and I can assume that's where the meat of your gameplay will be, and I've -Kind- of got some of that going on in my own game, but it's a little different, and COULD be optional depending on how one goes about playing the game, so I am already intrigued by this mechanic. Very cool sounding to me.

Creature collecting was never a big thing for me, but it is a BIG thing for lots of people. If this is done in an exciting way, this feature alone could get you critical acclaim, and if another pokemon clone, well, you'll get some onlookers. I never got into pokemon either, so I may not be the best judge on this feature.

Not sure how battling works out in your game, it seems like maybe that would be a system that isn't integral to the base game? Like maybe you use the creatures you've captured to do your bidding/fight arena style for prizes? I just don't know enough about the tycoon games to see how a battle system at all would be handled or what for.

Overall, if I could see a video of the game before I purchased it and it gripped me, I'd give it a chance, for sure. It sounds like it's got a few things going for it that I already like, and I'm a light hearted kind of person, and lean towards casual gameplay these days. Tycoon stuff like money management and community sculpting is fun, I loved Sim City games for whatever reason. Best wishes.

 

The idea is interesting but normally I'd like to see a gameplay video first before deciding..

 

Originally I bought the Pioneer Valley medieval resources for it, but couldn't figure out the parallax mapping and the character creator kept glitching on my laptop.

The battle system is so far mainly gonna be a way to boost your reputation and it'd be the character fighting plus hired allies. It'd also come up a couple of times in the storyline and on the hunts for rarer creatures.

Planning on doing videos and screenshots as I progress, right now it's just in it's very early stages.

 

I've moved this thread to Commercial RPGMaker Discussion. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

I debated whether this should be in Ideas and Feedback as you seem to want feedback on the content as well as the pricing. Please keep the discussion to the question of selling price.

 

You have intriguing idea but it all boil down to execution of that idea to determine whether people will buy the game or not. Also, I suggest to stay away from using RTP and instead get your own art as that will get more people to notice your game and potential buy it. People view RTP graphic as something with little to no originality and effort so they will less likely look at the game. Remember that presentation is what bring people to your game and good gameplay/story is what keep them playing and retain them as your fanbase.

 

Not trying to sound harsh, but going by a wish list type post, I'd have to say no.

Going by actual progress and screen shots, I'd then say 'depends'.

 

I wouldn't buy a game based on a checklist of what it has either. Not to mention what you want does not always match what you can make. As for price, I can't answer that based on the checklist. You could make a game with all of those items and have it be really short. You could have a detailed game with a lot of dedication involved. I'm also not a big tycoon game player. I would suggest looking at the price of comparable games.

 

Closest I really found was Zoo Tycoon which I think was £14.99, but with my game being 2D rather than 3D and ultimately having somewhat less features, I'm not sure I could price it at that

 

I'd make the game first, see how it turns out and think of a price then. That's what I do.

 

Just my two cents, but, I wouldn't buy anything made with any RM, by anyone. I'll DL your project and play it, probably love it, but if you want my cash, use tools I'm not using as we speak. . . You feel me?

The main reason I say this, is because most RM games focus on visuals and script features, leaving much to be desired from a story line and character standpoint. And the classic RPG experience is 80% story, 20% stuff you can do in between.

Being an old school guy, I pay for story, not scripts.

 

Idk if there's much story generally in tycoon games, I've got a slight one that's more events triggered by certain milestones rather than one continuous plotline. I've got like future projects planned that would have a lot more in the way of story but I feel for now they're a long way off as I currently lack the resources or funds for a team to make larger projects.

 

Of course a Tycoon game would be the exception. I'm just saying, RM is a tough market to gather sales in.

Using RTP graphics will probably get you 0 plays or support within the RM community due to the Rm community sticking their noses up at the thought of using RTP graphics in a project (I personally don't mind), but I disagree with one of the posters when they say using RTP won't get you any plays outside of the RM realm. People who don't know what RM is, won't know you're using the RM RTP. . . lol. The only people who care about the RTP are snitty RM devs.

 

Yeah I kinda figured like to most people unfamiliar with the engine, they'd just look like any kind of cartoony graphics. I feel MV's RTP sort of works with the game as well because it's that sort of lighthearted fantasy setting.

 

@LocoChoco You have made a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you decide not to play any RM games "because there's no story", you never discover the many RM games with a good/very good/excellent story.

 

And you also have no reason to complain when no one buys your game as you just added to the false claim that RM games are not worth buying, so why should you get mad if 5 years down the line you try to sell a game and get no sales?

Also I have found that usually in the RM community they are better about playing the games than most others.

 

@Kes well if you read what I said again, more carefully this time, you'll see that I will play your non commercial game, and probably love it. . .

@bgillisp I never plan to charge people for RPG maker games, on principal. Should I ever take game development that far, RM will not be my tool of choice.

I'm not trying to kick any developers around here, just being brutally honest, and realistic about what RM is. Yes, you can charge for your games if you want, but most devs who get that serious about it upgrade their tool kit to avoid the sort of problems we're discussing right now.

 

Upgrade all you want, any engine has people with this same attitude there. So my advice is stop adding to the problem that will later come back to haunt you if you ever charge for a game.

 

A question was asked, I gave my honest opinion. I'm sorry it has upset you so, but your advice is lost on me, if you had paid attention to begin with.

 

It doesn't upset me, I just am suggesting not to burn your bridges as you never know what you will decide to do 5 - 10 years down the line, and the internet is very unforgiving, that is all.

As for the question asked, I'd say post a demo first. That is the better way to get an answer to the question.