Is the price of Dominions II a deterrent? - Page 5

Richard · #41 October 31st, 2003, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mpace:

quote:
Originally posted by Mephisto:
The problem with downloads is the bandwith you have to provide and to handle all the cases of corrupted and aborted downloads. It's mainly a technical problem for Shrapnel.

I find this hard to believe, since the demo is being download as we speak. You'll have to come up with a better excuse than that.

Actuallt that's exactly the reason. It isn't just a question of traffic, it's also a question of burst traffic. If you get a lot of people downloading at once you have to find a way to manage that since your connection will be cut off by your ISP if you go over so much traffic per second. Also it requires extra servers to support the extra bandwidth per second that would saturate your network card on a single server. The demo is 71 MB, but a a full game is anywhere from 250-450 M in size. You have to deal with re-connections, and garbled downloads. If your dealing with folks with crappy connections you'll have multiple long connections to your server that tie up resources.

It would require more money than it we would make, so it isn't worth it.

On every game we have sold as a download, it sold poorly, until we offered a CD based alternative. Then it sold like hotcakes.

This is from practical experience.

Jasper · #42 November 1st, 2003, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Richard:
Actuallt that's exactly the reason. It isn't just a question of traffic, it's also a question of burst traffic.
[further elaboration snipped]

Have you ever considered using Bit Torrent to smooth out your download spikes?

Richard · #43 November 1st, 2003, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jasper:

quote:
Originally posted by Richard:
Actuallt that's exactly the reason. It isn't just a question of traffic, it's also a question of burst traffic.
[further elaboration snipped]

Have you ever considered using Bit Torrent to smooth out your download spikes?

Um isn't that a file sharing program? I would have a serious problem giving out our final code (since we don't do shareware) to folks to distribute across the internet.

We haven't had the best experience with games that are downloadable. Magazines won't review them because they see them as shareware. We did the games we have done mainly at the request of our customers and we have not seen dramatic level of sales for our downloadable games compared to physical Version.

Also we would have to make a manual available as a pdf, which would make the game an easy target for pirates.

On the server end you also have to worry about long held download sessions, many of our customers are still on dialup.

And the customer service issues with having to turn back on failed downloads, etc.

So far the download experiment has not been a success for us.

Chris Byler · #44 November 1st, 2003, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jasper:

quote:
Originally posted by Richard:
Actuallt that's exactly the reason. It isn't just a question of traffic, it's also a question of burst traffic.
[further elaboration snipped]

Have you ever considered using Bit Torrent to smooth out your download spikes?

That might work for the 70MB demos, but wouldn't work very well for a buy-and-download model; BitTorrent isn't designed to accommodate that sort of restriction on who can download from it.

Alneyan · #45 November 1st, 2003, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Shir Khan:
I would pay 30 bucks, nothing more.

Max Payne 2 is CHEAPER than Dominions II., and there is a huge difference in quality between these games.

Thanks for this bit of wisdom, I wasn't aware Max Payne 2 was a strategy game, let alone a TBS. I gather Max Payne 2 is quite different from the one then?

Sarcasms aside, how can you compare two completely different games such as Max Payne and Dominions? The only field would be graphics, or the amount of money invested in the game. (Max Payne is the winner in the former case without a doubt) If you don't like TBS games, then obviously you would prefer Max Payne, and vice versa. But how you can compare the two is beyond my knowledge.

Mortifer · #46 November 1st, 2003, 02:19 AM

Oh boy I love polls!

The results so far:

Do you think Dominions II is too expensive?
Yes, it is too expensive. 56% (23)
It's about right. 41% (17)
No, it should cost more. 2% (1)

What is the maximum you would pay for Dominions II?
$50 or more 41% (17)
$45 10% (4)
$40 5% (2)
$30 37% (15)
$20 7% (3)
$10 0% (0)
I would not pay anything for Dominions II. 0% (0)

The community is totally divided about this. Interesting as usual.

blackwulf · #47 November 1st, 2003, 02:23 AM

Games such as Space Empires IV, Galactic Civilizations, and Dominions offer deep game play, continued support via substantial patches/enhancements and excellent replay value. These factors in my opinion are very important when determining the products value.

In this regard Dominions 2 is worth the price of admission.

Side Note: Malfador Machinations, Stardock, Illwinter Game Design, and other mom and pop operations exist today because the commercial market continues to fail to bring us the kind of gaming that these small companies offer. However do to the niche market that these smaller companies operate in they have to price their products in such a way that will enable them to continue to grow as a business. Without this growth they could not afford to bring us the games that they do and soon we would not have them as an alternative.

Blackwulf

Watchdog · #48 November 3rd, 2003, 07:25 AM

Well, if downloading hasn't been successful then I guess you should just lower the price and take the hit

Seriously though, your volume would inrease a lot and that will more than make up for it. Drop the price to atleast and you'll get my $$.

That's how much I paid for aow2SM and I'm not paying more than that for this game.

Richard · #49 November 3rd, 2003, 07:35 AM

The people who buy our games are hardcore folks, dropping the price will not influence them to buy or not buy the game.

We have dropped game prices before and we have never seen a spike in sales. Sorry that doesn't work for the game we make.

blackwulf · #50 November 3rd, 2003, 11:57 AM

What do companies like Shrapnel & Illwinter Game Design offer for your money?

#1. Deep, imaginative game design developed and published by people that enjoy game substance over flash.

#2. Immense variety within said game designs with vast replay potential.

#3. Flexibility that allows us to modify the game so that we can play the game the way we want to.

#4. They offer neck deep involvement in these forums and do their best to meet customer needs and desires.

#5. They continue to support and enhance most games sometimes years after they have been published.

What I want to understand is why there is such a debate as to the price of this game?

Let�s say you played the demo and thought the game sucked why would you purchase it at a lower price?

Now if you played the demo and loved it or are a fan of the original Dominions would you seriously deny yourself this game because you think it should be $10- $15 cheaper?

Does anyone here think that Shrapnel & Illwinter added $10 to the price of the game so they could make it into FORBES top ten list next year?

The bottom line is that Dominion�s 2 offers more depth, and more replay value than your average $50 eye candy laden game title and they only want $45.

Not a bad deal if you ask me.

-Blackwulf

[ November 03, 2003, 10:20: Message edited by: blackwulf ]