How limited is "very"? Limited enough to allow prospective customers to experience the game's most entertaining features?

I was reading the Morning's Wrath story on its website when I decided to rewrite some passages:

Quote:The history of the throne to which Princess Morning shall ascend is plagued with tragedy, and mantled with courage and undying hope. The Leowyn realm exists solely through the actions of a lost prophetic visionary, Garran Leowyn. The first to govern Summerfound, the land of the Leowyn people, Garran founded the society in which Princess Morning has lived. Centuries ago, Garran led his people across the sea, to discover Summerfound, a place of peace and rest.

As the years passed, Summerfound’s suffering from an evil as potent as that from which Garran and his people fled could not be denied. Wellsprings of an ancient power were found across the land. Civilizations long extinct had fought and destroyed each other over such mysterious springs. Only one remaining spring, however, flowed with the remnants of a bygone power. Sleeping within the Leowyn realm, this last wellspring attracted the eyes of a dormant force: the Ashidians, or 'Scourges' in the tongue of the Leowyn people, awakened and sought to capture the wellspring. Garran's people survived catastrophe once more, through the power of the wellspring the Leowyns claimed victory. No longer a land of peace, the Leowyn kingdom thereafter became a combatant in an ancient war.

The Ashidians, although defeated, were not destroyed. The battle seemed certain to continue. For two centuries though, evidence of a forthcoming Ashidian menace dissipated, faded, and the people of Leowyn forgot of such troubles. This era of doubt would conceive a child born of royalty, Princess Morning. The Ashidians once became fear itself and terrified the citizens of Leowyn with the utmost ferocity, but now the Ashidians are only a nightmare in legend.

In recent days, ill tidings in the west have stirred. Rumors tell of an Ashidian return while others claim only common bandits are to blame. But the royal family has vanished on the frontier and Princess Morning stands alone to govern.

I'm not sure what to make of "Garran's people survived catastrophe once more, through the power of the wellspring the Leowyns claimed victory." Its structure is awkward and I can only abstract meaning it.

By the way, you might be able to boost sales by offering a discount or bonus exclusive to GDNet+ members, which would also increase support for GDNet. :)

[Edited by - Adraeus on March 17, 2005 1:32:35 PM]

Good luck selling it. Looking forward to seeing it in-game. [smile]

Nicely done again good man. Keep up the good work. [smile]

As for your Free Content Distribution Model, do you not think a highly restrictive demo economically unsound? I say this because one of the most successful Independent Developers (have been around since 1992 or so) of RPGs has employed the 1/3rd free content offering to great success. I myself think the 1/3 model optimal because it offers enough content to allow the player to get into your game while stopping when things just begin to get interesting.

Perhaps I overstep my boundaries here, but I think relying on video demos insufficient for generating interest in a potential customer for the following reasons:

o People are impatient, videos are large. The larger the videos, the less of them will be downloaded.

o People are easily bored, unless your videos contain alot of bright colors, flashing lights and big bangs less people are likely to watch them through,

o Unless your game is of the type which will rely soley on visuals to sell, videos will not be sufficient to draw people in. The experience will be forgotten more easily since the gameplay is not being experienced through enough channels, not being felt first hand so to speak.

A demo consisting of 1/3 content offering or somewhere near that would be optimal me thinks. It allows the player to get into your game to the point that when you stop offering, the game has made enough of an impact and impression to motivate the potential customer to buy the game. Any less and you risk not having made enough of an impact (dp = F * dt), any more and you risk loosing the player as they become satisfied in what they were given. Just me 1 Pence. [smile]...

Daerax's message reflects my thoughts on the issue too.