HIMA'S PROFILE

author=flowerthief
Thanks for the explanation, hima.
At least no one can complain about the model of "release free but hope for financial compensation from nice people"...except maybe the developer.

But how does that model work with respect to paying any minions one might have? (artists, scripters, composers, etc)

You're welcome!
As for paying your team, the staffs should be paid for their labour beforehand. The project leader, the one who paid for everything, then take any donation from the project after that.

Or if there are not many people in your team, then split the donation works too.

This looks really good! If there's one thing that I feel off, it's the length of Sairen's left arm. But awesome nonetheless!

Man, the party really need to shut up and let Sairen speak...by speak I mean every time s/he wants to speak, not just when s/he's snapped!

author=Serpentarius
How about leveling via achievements? The gist of it is that you level up after making a benchmark or accomplishing an achievement. For example, if you had a move called "Moonsault" that ignored evasion and you used it on a certain number of enemies with high evasion, you would get a achievement and thus level up. It is very similar to how Team Fortress 2 unlocks weapons.

This method of leveling awards players that understand and know how to apply the mechanics behind their attacks and just know what they are doing in general. It makes leveling much more involving and exciting for the player as opposed to the traditional and monotonous method of just gaining exp until you level up. It will make having max level from merely a representation of how long you've killed the same group of enemies over and over again into something approaching a proof of skill and knowledge.

I also feel that this system is very similar to how skills in real life are tested, the best example being the driver's test. You aren't passed by just driving for an hour straight; you have to show them that you can actually drive by taking turns, parking, signaling, etc. So doing it this way will make leveling indicative of your skill level.

The major disadvantage of making such a system is that it would be much more involving and time consuming to develop and test than a traditional leveling system. It would also demand techniques to have multiple facets and applications to fit multiple achievements around them as well as enemies and bosses. It would just require much more thought and effort on the part of the the designer.

Leveling via achievements will allow for a more dynamic and involving leveling system that rewards smart and experimental gameplay. If a designer wanted to incorporate this into his game, he would have to devote a great deal of time to making it work effectively. The results will make for a much more rewarding game for both player and developer.

I like this idea. It's actually similar to the online trading card game I'm playing. They have achievements that you can unlock when certain conditions are met, and reward you when you can complete it. This force you to use different cards, setup totally different style of decks in order to achieve that goal. While that is more about keeping the game interesting for players, I can see how this would be an exciting alternative way of just grinding for exp.

I'll definitely keep this in mind :)

I think he means micro-transaction. Like freemium games, maybe? I could be wrong though. But if he means micro-transaction, then it's like you release the game for free, but charge something for premium players.

For example, in Maple Story, going from one town to another takes time. You can buy an item that teleport you instantly to the desired place. People who want to save money will not buy it and walk there by themselves. But there will be a group of people who want to save time and think that they'd rather spend money than time. With this model, you want this small group of people to compensate for releasing the game for free.

Most competitive or hard core gamers hate this, since most freemium game make them think that they're playing a crippled games, or the gameplay favour paid players too much, or feels that the game force them to pay money to have fun.

I've been following seminars of GREE, which is pretty much a Japanese Zynga, so if you want more information on this I can tell you. It's pretty evil, and the fact that they admit it with a smiling face and spread the knowledge kinda make me feel sick in my stomach though.

As for Radiohead, they're a music band that release their music for free on the internet. They also offer an option for people to pay whatever they want for their music. I think they sell physical CDs as well. They're a great example of releasing stuff for free doesn't mean you cannot make money from it anymore, as there are many people that pay for their music, even though the music is free.

Thinking about a non-linear match 3 games where the story changes depending how well you play. While match 3 games aim at casual players, I feel that many of these casual players will get better at the game and go through a transition of being a hardcore gamer ( at least at that specific game ) without knowing it.