Spring RTS Engine

Just saw that Hawken has announced closed betas coming up and you can sign up. Anyone else going to try and get in?

They gave me a link to give to others, but I think that violates some rule here, so I'll just link to the blog post talking about the news.

http://www.hawkengame.com/blog/archives/381

I signed up too. But I always sign up to closed betas and never get in, so I don't have much hope for this. They say the game will be "free-to-play" which sounds a bit cryptic..either something is free, period, or they are going to charge players in some other way..freemium..bah.

I hate free to play, the business logic behind that is that they assume they can extract more money than if they were selling it for a fair price up front. Ends up extremely abusive most of the time ("hey, wanna RENT a gun?") and there are so damn many of those F2P games these days trying to hit the jackpot that the game will just be drowned and die quickly.

I never sign up for these things but Hawken has me really excited, so this is new to me:

You have elected to take part in the Hawken closed beta. Enlist three friends by sharing the link below and we'll reserve your callsign before fighting begins.

http://playhawken.com/?ref=blablablabla

You are free to fight 12.12.12.

Seriously, pushing the closed beta out through a chain letter? Is that... typical? Because it seems kinda sad and desperate.

seems kinda, small company with no multimillion dollar budget for advertising trying to use word of mouth.

Cheesecan wrote:I signed up too. But I always sign up to closed betas and never get in, so I don't have much hope for this. They say the game will be "free-to-play" which sounds a bit cryptic..either something is free, period, or they are going to charge players in some other way..freemium..bah.

microtransactions.

smoth wrote:

Cheesecan wrote:I signed up too. But I always sign up to closed betas and never get in, so I don't have much hope for this. They say the game will be "free-to-play" which sounds a bit cryptic..either something is free, period, or they are going to charge players in some other way..freemium..bah.

microtransactions.

... ick. The only microtransaction-based game I've really fallen in love with is TF2, and TF2 was retail when it launched.

seems like game companies have figured it out. First there was MMO games where you pay a monthly subscription model, then there was DLC, now there are microtransactions. DLC will stay because it is primarily console friendly but pc users better expect microtransactions to become the big new douchey model.

Microtransactions is an old idea.

smoth wrote:seems like game companies have figured it out. First there was MMO games where you pay a monthly subscription model, then there was DLC, now there are microtransactions. DLC will stay because it is primarily console friendly but pc users better expect microtransactions to become the big new douchey model.

The problem is that realistically, the only way to make a microtransaction-based game *keep* paying out is power-creep. I mean, Valve succeeds with TF2 by sheer bulk, but TF2 is rare in that its purchased hardware is (a) fully available through the drop system to the point that most of the useful gear can be obtained through a few weeks of idling, and (b) the stock equipment is only slightly weaker than the optimal loadout. But TF2 succeeds by having a large vanity collector's market and by the sheer popularity of the brand. Smaller developers will be under a lot more pressure to keep getting revenue from players, and that means giving players a real reason to *need* to buy gear. And that means power creep.

Cheesecan wrote:Microtransactions is an old idea.

so old it came out 4 years after mmos started showing up

pxtl, I think it is evil

smoth wrote:seems like game companies have figured it out. First there was MMO games where you pay a monthly subscription model, then there was DLC, now there are microtransactions. DLC will stay because it is primarily console friendly but pc users better expect microtransactions to become the big new douchey model.

MTs are fine if they're done in similar to what Riot Games did with LoL.

Basically, by making only luxury items obtainable exclusively through the MTs. As long as I can get regular items that are required for me to be on an equal footing with other paying customers I'm fine with it.

But when they do something like what Runes of Magic did, where you're getting destroyed by a 10lvl smaller guy just because he shelled some cash, you won't be seeing me play that.

In fact, if someone were to start making custom unit skins for Zero-K and announced they were selling those (either as server or self funding), f.e http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4927/pyroskull.jpg, I wouldn't mind at all.

gajop wrote:In fact, if someone were to start making custom unit skins for Zero-K and announced they were selling those (either as server or self funding), f.e http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4927/pyroskull.jpg, I wouldn't mind at all.

ah but I am not selling them. They are for licho to use as extras as he wishes.

yeah LOL did a good job.. I have ALL the kogmaw and maokai skins. ALL the skins.

I know you're not selling them. I'm just saying, it wouldn't be "evil" in any way if someone were to do that, nor would it be against open source. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad way to reward people who have donated either.

Regarding LoL, I haven't spent a dime on skins, I use some custom skins that look good, and I have the jarvan and kayle gladiator ones. And I did play a lot :p

I'm surprised there is so much hate for free-to-play games. I like being able to try a game with no financial pressure. I just absolutely ignore all of the "microtransactions" they try to get me to use.

The thing is that LoL and TF2 are the big successes of the business model. Imagine if they'd been middling contenders instead of smash hits? They can settle for getting huge bennies out of like 1% of players who pay cash (I've spent like $4 on TF2's in-game store - hats for Pyro, Sniper and Engie). What if you were a smaller game with a smaller playerbase and needed your dedicated fans to pay out more consistently? You need them to plonk down a bit of cash with *every* major update? That means you need to have some must-own products in every update. Skins are never must-own.

That's where I worry about power-creep coming in.

smoth wrote:

Cheesecan wrote:Microtransactions is an old idea.

so old it came out 4 years after mmos started showing up

pxtl, I think it is evil

Wrong again

what is wrong with you, there is something seriously wrong with you.

my point remains.

mmo -> dlc -> micro trans.

distributed-culture-tax on intertubes connection(state collected, money distributed on projectsof your choice) > mmo (privat tax on entertaiment of your choice)

Its ironically that now, that i have a idea to support, i have to morph into a strange mixture of forb/pic hybride politically. State keep your fingers away from my culture taxmoney, i want to decide on what it is spend. Companys better dont have sad excusess for wasting my taxmoney, or else artists and company personal geto n the excluded list.

Also, if the nex systemShock2 money is not enough to start production this year, it is not distribooted to halo at the years end, but stored until a company raises its hand in a "Yeah, we could do a part of it for that money"..

SanadaUjiosan wrote:I'm surprised there is so much hate for free-to-play games. I like being able to try a game with no financial pressure. I just absolutely ignore all of the "microtransactions" they try to get me to use.

I hate it because it means I'm not their target audience (so they have no reason to make me happy), they're targeting people who are willing to blow money on extra things and since there's incentive for them to pressure players into spending money they'll continuously be tempted to make the game reward money spending more.

I'm not even installing freemium games on my Android phone since the last one I had installed kept spamming me with ads for their stupid microtransactions. And hell, the PC F2P games I played still send me advertising emails about their "great deals". I simply cannot justify spending money on temporary benefits when there's so many games you can OWN for less money than those microtransactions charge. Fuck spending seven bucks on virtual guns, I can buy a whole game that doesn't try to pressure me into buying more shit for that money.