Supporter version

[Ktoff]

Hey guys,

if i understand correctly, Arcen is not far from financial troubles and yearning for a better economic success (which i think is only a matter of time, but time is money and if you don't have any of that yadda,yadda).

Luckily you have a loving community which apparently buys multiple versions of your games and continue to do so even once they run out of people they could gift it to (including me :-) ). This does not make a lot of sense so I would like to make two suggestions:

a) Create a supporter Version (or a supporter DLC) which adds no gameplay value but includes some tiny little shiny thing such as a special background for the title or something in that way. You could even make something akin to a collector's edition, however i fear this would go to far.

b) Sell (maybe even overpriced) licences to Alden Ridge. Yes, the game is not even in beta, but people buying licences they cannot use will also buy licences for a game from the best Indie developer on the net without beeing able to use it YET.

So long,
KToff

[x4000]

Thanks for the ideas, Ktoff.  We're seeing how this next week goes, and we've got a new full expansion coming for the start of December, so hopefully between those two we should be okay for a while.  But, we've been thinking of how we'll handle Alden Ridge so that we can get through that project, and we're prepared to consider alternative stuff like you suggest certainly before going out of business.  But we're hoping we can survive on a bit more traditional means before it comes to that.

[Ktoff]

I certainly share your hopes in that respect :-) I also hope you do not find my suggestions presumptuous.

[x4000]

Not at all! Suggestions are always welcome.

[Kron]

I like the supporter-version concept. As long as it has no mechanical effect on the game, it'll be a wonderful way of rewarding users for their loyalty! <3

A similar trick would be tracking donations (or any such metric for revenue gained per user) and assigning the generous users some sort of special forum badges or something.
... This might not be as smart an idea though. Stuff like this occasionally causes community division. ;_;


Anyway, I really hope that Arcen works its way out of its financial rut! I'm gonna grab the game as soon as I can convince my parents to let me buy it. :x