I would like to get a stick in the mail with Battlescape loaded on it. Just plug it in and go. Great for when I’m house sitting or visiting.
A nice pledge =)
Why not just put it on a memory stick for yourself once you’ve downloaded it?
Personally I would never buy a physical ‘reward’ but I imagine some people might be interested in 3D printed models of ships or the station from the 2010 tech demo.
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I do like physical rewards, but they must be a pain in the ass for smaller developers. Not worth the hassle, though a USB would be pretty sweet.
Will we get in-game items if we pledge more? I know that’s how Star Citizen must have got a lot of it’s pledges. Not saying that I entirely agree with this philosophy however.
While I have doubts about fully exclusive ships, special skins or models (with the same stats than other ships, and close-looking enough so people would recognize them in-game) may work fine.
Popular rewards are also special status in-game or in the forum, like “Founder” status with a special badge or things like that.
I’ve seen several games or campaigns that proposed for very high-end backers to model one unit/item specifically for them, though generally not for their own exclusive use ; or a unique custom reskin or remodel of a specific unit.
Let’s see, there are also the classics like high-quality PDF of the concept art, the OST, physical (“dead tree format”) version of the artbook (though those are expensive), posters, figurines now that 3d-printig is more affordable…
If you were wondering about pledging a lot, what kind of reward would make you decide between three and four(/five) digits?
The overhead that would result from physical rewards seems to be antithetical to the goal, as a contributor, of getting the game adequately funded. The more money that has to be spent on the purchasing or production of the physical reward, and then the shipping of that reward, the less money there is for actual project development.
Personally, if I wanted a USB key, I would go to Best Buy. Best Buy has tons of USB keys. Do you know what Best Buy doesn’t have? Any games from the Infinity franchise.
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Well we know that players must spend resource points to build ships in a game, so you can’t have a reward that gives instant access to a ship. - That would be imbalanced.
I’ve rarely seen physical rewards for less than 3 digits precisely because the overhead cost needs to be marginal compared to it. But if you are ready to (non-representative numbers) pledge 500$ and the cost of actually buying, customizing* and sending a USB key is 15$, then you only have an acceptable 5% of overhead.
Note that I do intend to pledge a lot and I’m not particularly interested in physical rewards.
*I don’t really see the point of having the game on a random USB key, so I assume that it will be customized somehow, for example with I:B’s logo printed on it. Or carved with a cutter, then painted with whatever pen was lying around at the time, if you really want cost-efficiency.
See, my thinking is that if I’m willing to contribute 3 figures, I’d much rather that 5% - which could very well be equivalent to an entire contribution tier! - be spent on making the final product. All of this other stuff just turns out to be distractions. They’re distractions to me, and they’re distractions to the producers. Maybe my thinking in this is broken (or utilizes too much common sense for the modern era), but if I’m backing a kickstarter it’s because I want the final product. Anything that risks taking away from that final product is in direct contradiction to my goals in backing the project.
That $15 is lunch for a developer (or maybe two of them, if they eat cheaply), or an hours work out of an intern. If I wanted to spend $15 on a thumb drive, I could get a much, much better bang for my buck on Amazon, or just down the street. It seems like a foolish waste of money for everyone involved.
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Yeah, I’m thinking a bit like that as well. Actually, IIRC, the Planetary Annihilation campaign added a tier with higher rewards, but without some of the physical ones - it may also have been because international shipment fees are not included, but it’s something to consider either way.
The problem with no physical rewards at all, I’d fear, is that many people expect them and may not pledge (as much) without them. Are the efforts and increased goal for the campaign worth the added money they would bring? I can’t say, but it seems that most big successful campaigns did have some.
So let’s not call it a ‘foolish waste of money’ but a ‘temporary diversification of activities in production and distribution physical goods in order to leverage investment’.
Personally, I’m going to decide a rough budget, look at what pledge levels are around it and choose non-physical over physical rewards if there is to choose.
Now, depending on what physical goods are proposed, I may change my mind. I’m pretty sure there would be enough room for a fully armed and interstellar-capable Orca fighter in my backyard, for example.
(Yeah, I loved the Orca. I really hope to see some Centaurus fighter live up to it one of those days)
I’ll make the donation and Kichae can send me the stick =)
Well here’s my idea (names and prices are just that: examples
):
1$ - Thank you!
10$ - Copy of the game (Launch).
15$ - the 20$ rewards, limited count.
20$ - Beta+Launch + fancy forum name.
50$ - Alpha+Beta+Launch + fancy forum name + Pioneer title + unique small ship (fancier variant of a normal ship).
75$ - Alpha+Beta+Launch + fancier forum name + Pioneer title + unique small ship + a Launch game key.
100$ - Alpha+Beta+Launch + fancier forum name + Experimental Pilot title + unique small/medium ship + Launch game key.
250$ - Alpha+Beta+Launch + gold-plated pimped out forum name + Commander title + unique small/medium ship + unique shields and contrails effects + Beta+Launch game key.
500$ - Alpha+Beta+Launch + gold-plated pimped out forum name + Admiral title + unique small/medium/large ship + unique civilian ship + unique shields and contrails effects + two Beta+Launch game keys.
1500$ - the 500$ reward + you get to design a ship together with one of the devs, name it (lore friendly) and you get a 3D-print of it mailed to you + autographed unique poster.
So in terms of game assets - the “unique” ships or weapons i’m talking about is basically the same normal ship with an addition of wings or glow lights or a bit of geometry on it like the Thor from Starcraft2’s collector’s edition, not actually brand new ships. So the devs would develop these ships for the normal game and add the fancier bits on top to make them stand out. These would be awarded on launch or sooner as they’re ready.
The 1500$ “design a ship” thing is basically the user either submits their own or they chose from a pool of existing concepts and the developer ADAPTS that design into the game to fit well. The backer can simply say “oh i want this ship but with wings” or they submit their own custom art and the dev incorporates the style of that ship into one of the existing concepts to fit the universe, not a full realisation of whatever the backer wants (that’s just unrealistic).
If someone pays $1500 for “this space ship but with wings”, could we also give them the “eccentric billionaire” in-game title? Ye know, to explain why they’re flying around in a space ship with wings.
As far as the OP’s plug and play memory stick idea, wouldn’t that be a stretch goal rather than an incentive? What would you put “on a memory stick for yourself once you’ve downloaded it”? The unpatched installer? The game directory, without any of the external tools it needs to run (be it DirectX, OpenAL, or something else entirely)?
I don’t need my games to be mobile because my computer is (gaming laptops ftw), but if I ever switch back to desktop gaming, having my favourite game easily available on a memory stick/external harddrive with no downloads and minimal installation needed would be awesome, in case I’m visiting someone or just so I wont have to download it twice. There are other stretch goals I’d personally rather see, but if adding a local backup functionality to the installer wouldn’t take too long, doing so might be worth it just for the chance of having TotalBiscuit use Infinity as an example of how PC gaming is becoming more mobile.
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If you consider this, ensure that they’re only skins, not completely exclusive ships. That’s the one thing bugging me about Star Citizen, is that there is essentially now a grey market for people to buy as many ships as possible. It’s ridiculous
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Must save up $1500. Must get Mr. Jafo a space ship with wings!
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I don’t feel able to give any input on pledges over $100 because I’m not part of that market. (Currently looking for a job & self employed keeping my head above water)
However, I think frag971’s low end suggestions are too cheep. $10 / £6.20 for the game? - That’s nothing. (I appreciate they were just examples)
Also I’d suggest making the forum title and the in-game title the same.
I’d expect to see something more like the following price points: (Hover over item to see currency conversions)
$5 - Thank you! Your name will go in the list of backers in-game + get the 'Backer' title
$10 - Receive exclusive 'Backer' decal which you can apply to your ships + the reward above
$15 - Early bird of the $20 tier (limited number)
$20 - Digital copy of the full game on release + 'Pioneer' title + the rewards above
$25 - Early bird of the $30 tier (limited number)
$30 - 2nd round closed beta access + the rewards above
$40 - Two copies of the $30 tier - Bring a wingman to the beta
$50 - 1st round closed beta access + 'Test Pilot' title + 'Test Pilot' decal + the rewards above
$60 -
$75 - Alpha access + 'Classified ALPHA Test Pilot' title + 'Classified ALPHA Test Pilot' decal + the rewards above (Limited number)
Addon Rewards
$2 - 'Explorer' title. Requires $15 tier or above.
$8 - 'Smuggler' or 'Pirate' title and 'Battle-scars' decal. Requires $15 tier or above.
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What a good idea 
Bring a friend to beta!
I agree those are some good suggestions!
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Nice idea @Bentware, being a small time indie myself, I have thought of a USB stick as a distribution medium, don’t have a need for distribution yet though.
Just wanted to say that your pledge structure seems perfectly reasonable to me, but “Backer” is a terrible title to slap on someone in-game. I know most people don’t give a damn about the consistency of the roleplay environment (especially in an arena game), but it kind of shatters the world building efforts. Plus, it just doesn’t seem very fun!
If it’s just a forum title, on the other hand, I’m super-plus-plus OK with that (though, it’s still not very fun. But I’m not happy with any of my replacement ideas, either, so meh).
It would be kind of cool if these things transferred over to Infinity as well, especially things like ship decals. Custom avatar backgrounds for kickstarter supporters, if the day ever comes when there’s an in-game avatar system (ala EVE) would be kind of cool, too.
Maybe even add a Custom Title tier at a higher dollar figure. (I’d consider paying for a ‘Reporter’ title, for instance.)
Good point. I completely agree. Perhaps something like ‘Pioneer’ or ‘Scout’ could be the $5 title.
At the $20 tier you could get to choose from a few like ‘Explorer’ and ‘Recon’.
Some other random ideas: Scientist, Miner, Engineer, Cartographer.
I’m trying to avoid military ranks as I don’t like the idea of people buying ranks. A rank should be earned.
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