Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Gratuitous DLC Experiment

cliffski

Ok, first things first, let me announce the release of a new race for Gratuitous Space Battles. They are called the nomads, and you can see more info here, and watch a video of them here (or below). And you can even go buy the new DLC here.

The idea for the nomads are a sort of retro-future race, suggesting a species that has been around a loooong time. They are travellers, and fighting purely for sport. They don’t come with any new technology or weapon types, but they do have a few extra tweaked ship modules. Also, there are not new singleplayer missions, this is just a race for you to use in existing scenarios, or in challenges.

Here is an embedded video showing off the new ships:

Now comes the slightl wacky bit. I’m selling this DLC for $5.99, just like all the previous races were, and there is no change there. If you are a long time GSB plauyer and just want the new race, then go buy it, it’s $5.99. That gets you the standard version of the DLC. There is also a ‘discount’ version of the DLC. The difference between the two is that one is $5.99 and one is $2.99. That’s it.

Obviously the standard one costs more, and I get more money as the developer. The discount one costs you less, and I get less. There will be updated stats on the page here showing who bought what.

It’s entirely up to you, which one you buy. You decide. I would obviously prefer you bought the standard one. Nobody will ever know what version you bought, the files are identical. This is a bit of a sudden manic experiment to see what happens. If you genuinely have very very little money and would have waited months hoping for a bundle or a sale, then you could make an argument you could get the discount one. If you frankly, *do* have the money to spare and would buy it anyway if there was only the $5.99 option, I’m asking you to do that.

This might make me look really stupid, but I’m prepared to risk it. I like trying new stuff in business. I think it will be interesting either way. Also, the DLC is more about promoting the game and making a bigger range of ships, so there is more variety. None of these expansions are really aiming to make money, the core game does that. ( I hope!)

Anyway, it should be interesting. If you find the time to tweet, facebook like, link to, blog or otherwise promote this experiment, I’d appreciate it. It could be interesting.

Cheers,

19 thoughts on Gratuitous DLC Experiment

  2. I have to admit. I am a litlte disinclined to get it on the basis that, well… I’m entirely OCD and then I’d need to buy the rest of the DLC in one go. And I _am_ supposed to be skint this week.

    … But then again it _feels_ cheaper.

    … I’m so torn, Cliffski, how can you do this to me!

  3. as a compromise, i’ll wait until it’s up on steam and then buy it for the 4 quid or however much it is.

    I have all of the others on steam so I do feel like i’m locked in for all GSB DLC purchases. I know that it doesn’t matter and you provide just as good a service at redownloading, but it just feels that way

  4. Actually, Cap’n Lee has a very good point there. I bought the game on Impulse initially, and now I feel like I need to buy all expansions there, pretty much because it is the place where I need to download the basic game. If I only could get the game files from positech as well, I’d happily buy all future content directly from here. I know that would be sort of odd to do, since you actually got less money from us in the first place, so why provide the infrastructure, but I think there are quite some people who suffer from this silly `need to have everything in one place’-syndrome. So maybe allow people to register their former purchases with you? Perhaps when buying new DLC directly from the site (so people don’t just register `to have it here as well’, but really to switch from another platform to direct purchases). It’s just a thought, and you’re not at all obliged to do something like this, but the locked-in feeling is real (though pretty silly) and it probably does lessen the amount of money you’ll make from future releases.

    On this experiment: I’m very poor at the moment, but still I’d seriously consider buying full price to support you (though right now, my soul is bound to Impulse, of course). On the other hand, people who felt that the dlc was a bit too expensive (which I can understand) might actually buy it now. Curious to learn how it turns out!

  5. Honestly, I think I would buy the Discount one, but only because this doesn’t seem to include as much as the other expansion races.

    That being said, I would gladly pay extra for the campaign DLC

  6. I’m afraid that I cheaped out and bought the discounted version.

    Personally, I would prefer to see one day discounted sales of your DLC.
    Say have it as a 24 hour sale for the US Independence Day or St George’s day (or world solar panel day or whatever ;-)).

    I would buy your DLC but the £4.69 price point for each add-on is a little rich for my blood.

    Point in question, I have just bought Nomads without watching any of the videos or really looking at the info page because of the lower price (damn you :-))

    Iain

  7. I bought the discount one. I have stopped playing GSB (all games, actually), and planned to skip buying Nomads, but at $3, it meets my fiscal and completionist needs. :)

  9. Simple decision really. I’ve bought 4 of your previous games including GSB (which i bought at the testing stage) and then bought the dlc packs as they came available even though i’ve not really played GSB much last couple of months. I do know i’ll come back to it at some point, however, but I also consider that I’ve been fair in coughing up my readies up till now so I went for the discounted one as everyone likes something a little cheaper every so often.

  10. I’ll be picking up my copy soonish (late September I’m thinking). And in a sad attempt to impress an English hippie (I keed, I keed), I’ll nab it for the 6 bucks. I expect that by the time Cliffski’s done with GSB, I’ll end up having shelled out about as much as I might have for a first-run title. Which is fine, it basically makes GSB seem a bit like an episodic strategy game.

    This and Capcom’s weird little experiment with the Dead Rising 2 Pre-LC are piquing my interest, along with Telltale’s proven episodic model. Maybe this sort of thing is the happy medium between the “I won’t buy without a demo” and the “Making a demo isn’t cost-effective” camps.

  11. I don’t buy DLC. What an odd way to start a comment you might ask, but let me explain. I don’t buy DLC because I don’t like DLC. I play games because I want immersion, a sleepless weekend sinking my teeth into a game and when I’ve finished it or had enough of it I’m done, UNLESS there comes an expansion my way that let’s me waste another sleepless weekend on it. So here is the point, I am not coming back to a game for a couple of hours at best, which is what DLC is offering. I am gladly paying 25-35€ for a proper expansion that pushes a story forward, adds interesting content but I am not paying 5 or 10€ for ‘a bit of fun’, that’s what cinema tickets are for. Don’t get me wrong, I am very interested in the content your DLCs offer, but not in those small servings, so here’s my proposal – bundle it! You’ve got 4 out already and you’re obviously keen on trying new business models, bundle the 4 for 20€ and throw in the 5th for free and we’ve got ourselves a deal. Just a suggestion of course but I think there are a lot of people like me out there.

  12. Any chance of getting this DLC on steam? I love being able to load it all from steam. I’d happily pay $6 for that. :)

  14. It’s funny how people will pay extra to have everything in one place!
    It’s like the books and the %-savings and the absolute savings.
    But it’s true and I see it the same way.
    Downloading impulse on my new computer, clicking on download, done.
    If the game would have a button: download all DLC packs you are entitled to from positech automatically I would defo go for the cheap version.

  15. Love the new race. I went for the full price one for several reasons, but mainly because:

    a) I approve of the experiment, and wish to encourage this sort of thing.

    b) I want Cliff to have a beach umbrella instead of spaghetti.

  17. Just bought it for the standard price.
    Personally I bought it at that price because I’m a long-time fan of your games (from Kudos 1) and I want you to have as much spare cash as possible to spend on the next game… and you deserve it! :D

  18. I think that *this* is the way to go!

    What would be even better would be to let us choose a price in the suggested range. Personally, and if that would be possible on steam (im a steam slave), I would like to actually buy it somewhere in the middle. This way I would not feel to cheap, and at the same time get the feeling of having a good bargain!

    Anyways, I’ll wait to see if that goes to steam or not. My time is mostly consumed by StarCraft 2 nowadways, but I have plans to return to GSB and smash some fleets to space dust! OR conquer the hell outta da galaxy!

    Good Job Cliffski!

  19. I have no problem with paying $5.99 for the expansion, however I would like to buy it on Steam. I like having everything on Steam so I can easily download it to my main PC and my laptop without having to worry about it.

    Heck I even purchased the game again on Steam just to have easy access to it.

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