OpenBracket Podcast!

July 19, 2007 at 10:59 pm (PBBG, browser based, game design, game development, podcast, web game)

Link

This is my first podcast thingy ever so check it out. It’s about revenue and how I think it should be done.

If you like the podcast better than articles, let me know! If enough people like it I will keep doing it.

13 Comments

  1. Cameron said,

    July 20, 2007 at 1:46 am

    Hey man, good content in that podcast, I’ve struggled with what to do about revenue for a while now. I would like to be able to fund additional development, pay for servers and what not but I certainly don’t want to slant my games. I am actually curious what features of games players find most fun and interesting, what keeps them coming back, what are they looking for in the first place. That would be some good podcast material there.

    One note on the podcast, I helped a buddy record a couple of those and he didn’t do it all in one take, he did segments, stopping and starting the recorder for each segment. Also, you need some sweet intro and outro music! :D

    Some of things I was thinking about adding to my game that would require payment are an avatar image, additional characters and I had some ideas revolving around houses/hangouts that could be private for the player to invite whomever they want to hangout, do battle, whatever. Just ideas right now.

    It would be nice to get a survey up, maybe use google adwords or something to get some input from players from different demographics to find out what they like to do and what they would pay for. Of course, they would need some type of incentive in order to take the survey…

    Anyway, just my two cents, by the way, are you from Canada?

    Reply

  2. bardicknowledge said,

    July 20, 2007 at 1:54 am

    Thanks for the feedback mate.
    The avatar idea is pretty good. *takes note* lol. Just to expand on it a little, you may want to think of having a list of default av’s and upon donating can upload a custom. You can apply this to forums to for av’s and sig’s :P

    What I would do would give players a chance to submit idea’s and then based on the most common idea’s make a survey and them implement those features a donation bonus.

    And, yes I’m from Canada ^_^ Nova Scotia if you want to get particular. You?

    Reply

  3. Ben said,

    July 20, 2007 at 3:00 am

    Good thinking.

    One note: I don’t really play a lot of the fantasy oriented games that you seem to talk about. The only one I’ve played is Utopia by Swirve, I develop fantasy sports games myself, so it’s very similar but different communities.

    Anyway, because of that, I wasn’t aware that games were allowing players to pay to get ahead, which seems (as you say) like a self-defeating practice. Saying that people that pay should get extra in-game features is a cool idea.

    That being said I still don’t know if that’s a huge money-maker, at least not enough to get the big companies into it. I don’t know what is, but again, I appreciate your noble attempts to get the ball rolling.

    (And one note – at the end of your podcast you say your address is openbracket.wordpress.com, which it isn’t. To my alarm that took me to an entirely different site.)

    I like the posts or the podcasts, probably the posts better but either way is good.

    Reply

  4. bardicknowledge said,

    July 20, 2007 at 3:07 am

    Thanks ^_^
    I realized after I posted it that my address wasn’t openbracket… oops lol.

    I will likely do another podcast or two just to see if it takes off, if not I have no problem doing posts since it takes far less time .

    Thanks for the compliments though. I’m glad people are actually reading/listening to my posts/and new podcast. I just hope that I am making a difference in a way that actually benefits teh community.

    Reply

  5. Cameron said,

    July 22, 2007 at 12:59 am

    I posted a comment the other day, didn’t seem to go through. Anyway, I’m from the USA, Virginia in fact. Just curious, sounded like a Canadian accent is all, our biggest trade partners from the North. :)

    I have been playing around with a bunch of ideas for add-ons, features, etc. I have my game concept thought out and mostly programmed, been going back and forth on some UI issues.

    I like the pay once model that Guild Wars uses but I don’t know if that is practical for supporting the game and development.

    Reply

  6. Eric said,

    July 23, 2007 at 11:21 am

    i like normal post and hate podcast!

    Reply

  7. swift said,

    July 24, 2007 at 4:52 pm

    Hey, I really like what you’re doing with this blog. The concept has inspired me to attempt to create my own Browser-based game.

    Just a quick question / suggestion for an article:

    I’m attempting to develop the equations that my rpg will use to determine things like strength, dexterity, vitality, experience, etc. Is there a good way to develop this type of equation? I know there must be some good way to figure it out. Thanks in advance, swift.

    Reply

  8. bardicknowledge said,

    July 24, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    Good day mate,
    I glad you enjoy the blog and that I inspired you ^_^

    As to your question, a lot of the type of game you are designing. I know it’s an RPG, but there are are sub genres, like cyberpunk, fantasy, sci-fi, medieval , etc.

    Anyways, there are a few general rules I apply to my own development when it comes to equations.

    1)Make them logical. I don’t mean math wise, but for example, experience. Solving a level 1 puzzle with level 5 intelligence assuming it’s a 1=1 ratio, I shouldn’t get a lot of experience for that. I do need more experience to gain a level but that task still becomes easier and shouldn’t give the same amount of experience for a higher level.

    2)Make the stats affect each other. This is something I personally like and doesn’t mean it has to be done. But I find that when I make stats affect each other and equations, it gives the player more of a feeling of growth and development.

    3) Don’t get to elaborate/Don’t under do it. I have seen a friend go from one extreme to the next. He was making two games. In one everything relied on a single dice roll – attack, defense, whether or not they hit, etc. Then for another he tried huge equations tried to tie EVERYTHING together. You can still tie everything together without creating a 10 line equation.
    EX: experience_gain = creature_exp/(player_lvl – creature_lvl)

    I hope that was of some help to ya and I think you just helped me figure out my next article/podcast ^_^

    Reply

  9. bardicknowledge said,

    July 24, 2007 at 6:22 pm

    Eric if ya don’t mind me asking, why?

    Reply

  10. swift said,

    July 25, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    thanks for the advice, ill start deriving my equations asap.

    I want stats in my rpg to be based around points instead of a set gain. (each level would give 5 pts which you could put into strength, dexterity, vitality, or your daily energy). Do you think that letting players put points into their energy will make the game unbalanced?

    Also, Im trying to develop the leveling system. How did you determine what your exp benchmarks would be?

    Reply

  11. bardicknowledge said,

    July 25, 2007 at 5:07 pm

    I dunno what your energy does. How much does a player have, what does it do, and how often do they regain it.

    For a leveling system I usually just use a equation that pretty much doubles or something of that sort for the next level. so like

    next_lvl_exp = cur_lvl_exp * 1.75 * mod_for_race/class

    Reply

  12. swift said,

    July 25, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    you know, I thought about that after i posted and had already left my house lol. Im thinking regain like 5 energy every 10 minutes, you would use energy to fight, train, and explore. I havent decided on a base but id like a player to be able to level up only about 1.5 levels the first time they use their energy. (my exp to level 2 is 125 and 250 for level 3).

    Reply

  13. bardicknowledge said,

    July 26, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    Well if you want players to be able to mod their energy with points that’s up to you, but as long as everyone has the option to do use, it won’t in itself unbalance the game.

    But I would take it take like… 5 points or something to mod your energy. Make it expensive since it’s the most critical area for players (it seems)

    Reply

Post a Comment