Special Edition Suggestions

[Arakash]

In this thread Freeman suggested some kind of special edition which would cost more than the regular one.
Eric then asked what freeman wanted in a special edition.

I thought this was a good topic for an entire thread.
For me personally, a lot of the ideas i had tend to overlap with things that are moddable. Don't know what to make of that but ill try to list some anyway.

- Name in the game kind of things are popular at the moment for example, so having a company named after you added to the game that follows your favorite game strategy perhaps?
Would probably be a fair amount of work so it might raise the purchase cost quite a bit.

- Early access to future beta's

I can also draw on things ive seen in other games. Ill list some of them.

Im not a fan of holding back actual game content, but if chose to do so you could
- Have extra scenarios/missions for special editions
- Have extra start settings for special editions

Less attractive options that i imagine are fairly expensive to produce are things like:
- Strategy guides
- Wallpapers/Artwork etc.
- Merchandise (depending on the game could be a bunch of things)


Here are a couple of examples of current alphas ive seen and the way theyve done it: (there are obviously many more out there)
Prison Architect (Scroll down to the bottom)
Factorio


Anyone else want to brainstorm a bit for this?

[Frankschtaldt]

Personally, I really don't like special editions that give people more features for extra cost. Frankly, I think it's quite rude punishing people who are financially limited.

I don't know that there's really room for a special edition in a small game made by so few people. The early access to new betas only creates more work for Eric by making him have to release everything twice and it's just another way of punishing people that don't have the money to spare for the special edition. Physical things are probably the best bet buy they become unfeasible to make available to people outside of the country of production unless they are kept really small.

My two cents. Special editions should be released after an expac or two and be a special package deal including all features to date. They should be a way to lower the cost of entry for late comers and maybe then include something interesting but not game changing so people with cash might consider buying it even if they already have everything.

The name in the game option is a good one though. It doesn't restrict things from people with money problems but gives a real reward to those with cash to spare and the will to spend it. The only issue with it is it's only available up to a certain point in development and can't be offered after the games launch which is when it'll most likely gain the most interest in a special edition.

[Arakash]

Personally, I really don't like special editions that give people more features for extra cost. Frankly, I think it's quite rude punishing people who are financially limited.

I don't know that there's really room for a special edition in a small game made by so few people. The early access to new betas only creates more work for Eric by making him have to release everything twice and it's just another way of punishing people that don't have the money to spare for the special edition. Physical things are probably the best bet buy they become unfeasible to make available to people outside of the country of production unless they are kept really small.

My two cents. Special editions should be released after an expac or two and be a special package deal including all features to date. They should be a way to lower the cost of entry for late comers and maybe then include something interesting but not game changing so people with cash might consider buying it even if they already have everything.

The name in the game option is a good one though. It doesn't restrict things from people with money problems but gives a real reward to those with cash to spare and the will to spend it. The only issue with it is it's only available up to a certain point in development and can't be offered after the games launch which is when it'll most likely gain the most interest in a special edition.

I think we are basically in agreement on the name in the game option.

I would be very hesitant to even suggest that having special editions, like a luxury model of a car, is somehow punishing the purchasers who dont buy it.
One of the primary components of these things is the fact they are optional after all.
Unless your talking about pre-release DLC, in which case we probably agree. In this case we are still discussing alpha/beta content tho afaik.

The main reason i like the idea overall is that if rich or wealthy gamers are floating around and like the idea of spending more on the game, even if they arent getting a lot for it, they can do so.
Using prison architect as an example in that link i provided, they had several limited edition versions, some going as high as $250 USD (some highly limited were more expensive)

[Frankschtaldt]

I would be very hesitant to even suggest that having special editions, like a luxury model of a car, is somehow punishing the purchasers who dont buy it.
One of the primary components of these things is the fact they are optional after all.
Unless your talking about pre-release DLC, in which case we probably agree. In this case we are still discussing alpha/beta content tho afaik.

What exactly do you mean by "a luxury model of a car"?

Speaking from the point of view of someone that has frequently missed out on exclusive content in the past due to financial difficulties I absolutely feel that putting certain things behind a pay wall is punishing non-wealthy gamers.

At the very least, if Eric were to make a special edition I'd ask that it at least be an add-on to the core game purchased on its own rather than a higher priced version of the full game with extra content. At least this way people that are initially unsure or who simply don't have the funds upfront have the option to come back later and buy the special edition without having to buy the whole game again.

[freeman2344]

Agreed. There should under no circumstances be any actual gameplay advantages. I was thinking more along the lines of a credits mention, earlier beta access (maybe preferential alpha access regarding any possible expansions) and the like. PA has stuff like naming prisoners...this could be applied to GearCity too: as in naming AI companies, for example...but that is rather moot since all AI names can be changed by modding anyway (and this functionality should definitely stay).

Maybe stuff like a few extra wheel and headlight models? Wouldn't have any influence on actual gameplay, but cars could be made a little prettier. Maybe a framed certificate in the in-game office that you can click on?

I was really just toying around with the idea as I had hours of fun with this game and would like to make a decent contribution. I feel this would be necessary if we would like to see any actual expansion coming to fruition, since this is a very niche "gerne" and will probably not be accepted by the mainstream.

[Arakash]

I would be very hesitant to even suggest that having special editions, like a luxury model of a car, is somehow punishing the purchasers who dont buy it.
One of the primary components of these things is the fact they are optional after all.
Unless your talking about pre-release DLC, in which case we probably agree. In this case we are still discussing alpha/beta content tho afaik.

What exactly do you mean by "a luxury model of a car"?

Speaking from the point of view of someone that has frequently missed out on exclusive content in the past due to financial difficulties I absolutely feel that putting certain things behind a pay wall is punishing non-wealthy gamers.

At the very least, if Eric were to make a special edition I'd ask that it at least be an add-on to the core game purchased on its own rather than a higher priced version of the full game with extra content. At least this way people that are initially unsure or who simply don't have the funds upfront have the option to come back later and buy the special edition without having to buy the whole game again.

Im still yet to be convinced that your feeling that special editions somehow punish non-wealthy gamers is correct.
Personally i cannot get past the idea the point that this is for an alpha/beta only and these editions are not being forced on people that cannot afford them.
We may have to just put this point aside as a point of disagreement.

What do i mean by a luxury model of a car?
Ill use a more personal example, when my father bought a Holden Monaro(Australian Car) some 40 years ago you could buy a standard version or a choice of a few other versions. Depending on the version they had minor additions such as a slightly different paint style or slightly different body work.
By giving these options, Holden was not punishing people who could not afford them.

Agreed. There should under no circumstances be any actual gameplay advantages. I was thinking more along the lines of a credits mention, earlier beta access (maybe preferential alpha access regarding any possible expansions) and the like. PA has stuff like naming prisoners...this could be applied to GearCity too: as in naming AI companies, for example...but that is rather moot since all AI names can be changed by modding anyway (and this functionality should definitely stay).

Maybe stuff like a few extra wheel and headlight models? Wouldn't have any influence on actual gameplay, but cars could be made a little prettier. Maybe a framed certificate in the in-game office that you can click on?

I was really just toying around with the idea as I had hours of fun with this game and would like to make a decent contribution. I feel this would be necessary if we would like to see any actual expansion coming to fruition, since this is a very niche "gerne" and will probably not be accepted by the mainstream.

I definitely see your point about this being something that's entirely moddable.
Unfortunately, it is also one of the few i can think of that wouldn't require a lot of extra money or wouldn't require holding back game content.

I was really hoping you guys would be able to suggest some more ways of doing this beyond what i came up with, so if you do have any ideas, please share them.

[Frankschtaldt]

I was really hoping you guys would be able to suggest some more ways of doing this beyond what i came up with, so if you do have any ideas, please share them.

Fair enough. I guess it shows that I'm really not a fan of having a special edition of a game. Not at launch anyway.

Later on when there's other content to bundle together, yes. At launch when you're making things available to people with money and not to others, no. Charge everyone $2-3 more and give all the content to all the fans.

I'll bow out of this conversation now. I've voiced my opinion so I guess I don't really have anything more to add.

[lord.abhorn@gmail.com]

Hi, I would suggest you buy a licence for real companies and cars names for the Special Edition.
And with those real entries prepare some hystorycal scenarios like compete with Henry Ford in America
or try to beat Silver Arrows and Autounion in Germany
or meet mr. Ferrari in Italia
the scenarios schould not be too random, but rather scripted to follow the real hystorycal events of those early-days or todays world famous automotive companies.

Via the licence you could probably aquire some cool company graphics to the game too (like more blueprints/bodies/logos etc)

And a little supprise - may be a real CarKeys with gear City logo in shape of crankshaft or something closely related to the car bussines

[Eric.B]

Hi, I would suggest you buy a licence for real companies and cars names for the Special Edition.
And with those real entries prepare some hystorycal scenarios like compete with Henry Ford in America
or try to beat Silver Arrows and Autounion in Germany
or meet mr. Ferrari in Italia
the scenarios schould not be too random, but rather scripted to follow the real hystorycal events of those early-days or todays world famous automotive companies.

Via the licence you could probably aquire some cool company graphics to the game too (like more blueprints/bodies/logos etc)

And a little supprise - may be a real CarKeys with gear City logo in shape of crankshaft or something closely related to the car bussines

Unfortunately licensing real marques and vehicles will be impossible for us. There are a few reasons for this, the first primary being that the cost of a Ferrari license would be greater than the game's sales... and that's just 1 marque, the game has a few hundred.

You also have a logistical nightmare of every marque wanting their brands promoted a certain way. I don't have the resources to accommodate that.

On top of all this, there is no promotional value for said companies to license their marques to me. Unlike a racing game where said companies can show off their work to potential customers. The object of GearCity is to beat these marques and build cars better than Ferrari. Doubt they'll let that happen to their brand image.

That being said, all the companies in GC are modelled after real companies,
So your best bet is to wait for the moding community to figure out what to rename and what logos to replace.



Vehicle names will be getting some tweaks in the near future.



Scenarios will be coming in the future when I get pre-made history system operational. This will not be a special edition feature.


Thanks for the suggestions and welcome to the forums!

[freeman2344]

Hi, I would suggest you buy a licence for real companies and cars names for the Special Edition.
And with those real entries prepare some hystorycal scenarios like compete with Henry Ford in America
or try to beat Silver Arrows and Autounion in Germany
or meet mr. Ferrari in Italia
the scenarios schould not be too random, but rather scripted to follow the real hystorycal events of those early-days or todays world famous automotive companies.

Via the licence you could probably aquire some cool company graphics to the game too (like more blueprints/bodies/logos etc)

And a little supprise - may be a real CarKeys with gear City logo in shape of crankshaft or something closely related to the car bussines

As Eric said, though this would be nice - it is completely out of the realm of possibility. Even large development teams working on top-of-the-line racing simulations and backed by multi-millon dollar publishers have plenty of trouble securing licenses from car manufacturers (Ferrari and Porsche are prime examples here). Though other manufacturers, such as BMW, may be more forthcoming, they're still a long way off from doing ANYTHING for a reasonable sum. Due to the nature of GearCity, having one or two "officially licensed" manufacturers, even though it may be feasible, would be the very definition of the word "pointless". But fret not, I'm 100% sure that someone will come around and mod real companies into the game soon enough...In fact, I've already done that for the beta and it really is easy enough to do yourself .