transitioning from freeware to commercial

[DaFool]

Hi guys and gals,

What do you think about this topic? Usually a commercial gamemaker had been commercial all along from the beginning, we don't really have any examples of a freeware maker going commercial (is there?)

I'm just wondering if it's better to

*start with a new "brand-name" / creator identity separate from the freeware identity?
*what's a good price point for a standard 'entry-level' doujin games (according to my sampled Comiket games, last about 2 hours or less, feature just 2 or 3 locations, 1 or 2 romanceable characters, 12 event CG bases (+ additional variations), 7-9 music tracks, and 2-4 branches (I was surprised that a few even just had 1 or 2 menu choices!)

Refer to:
http://www.curiousfactory.com/distribut ... bution.php
If they're going around 1000-2000 yen Japanese prices, perhaps for an OEL (who are used to lower prices in our games) 800 yen is a good price?

I know this is coming from someone who never made an online purchase with credit card except for a textbook from Amazon like 6 years ago, so it's not a freeware vs commercial debate at all... there could very well be a different audience to match the different 'spirit' of creating each. I was just thinking maybe it's time for the hobby that consumes the most time (not just scripting, but creating art assets as well.) to put food on the table.

[monele]

Limited to VNs or not? If not, the author of The Spirit Engine 2 seems to have made the transition since the first game was free.

[sciencewarrior]

I think the only reason to create a new identity to go commercial would be having some really low-quality stuff out there you wouldn't want potential buyers to find in a Google search. Even then, most people realize creators evolve over time, and even renowned artists don't bother taking down their doujinshi, so it would have to be something really embarrassing.

If you are thinking about selling your game for 800 yen, bump it to 900. It will still be in the impulse-buy, less-than-1000 range, and the extra 12.5% certainly won't hurt.

[Vatina]

I'd say you can keep the name, unless you have reasons to hide things like what sciencewarrior mentioned. I saw someone else move from free to commercial recently, but of course I can't remember where right now....

And I also think it could be a good thing actually, to have something free available for new potential buyers. If they are in doubt, then they can always check out your free products and see if they like your style. A sort of unrelated demo?

[papillon]

amaranthia.com was freeware games before creating her first for-sale one, it didn't bother anyone. (Me, I didn't have a webpage for games when I was only making free ones.)

[Sin]

I think the key issue here is price. Obviously, a higher price has to be justified with a higher quality.
But there is a price range ($5~$10) that people don't mind paying just to try something out. If it was a bad product, only a few bucks lost. If it was good, great!
Once you start building a name for yourself and get known for making good products you can then charge more for future games.

[Chibi Kami]

One of the two guys behind Aquaria first worked on the freeware game Eternal Daughter, so...

[DaFool]

My question was kinda limited to VNs, but if there are plenty of other indie game makers going freeware -> commercial then that makes me more comfortable. Sometimes we get to know a creator only when they start selling good quality stuff? (And the fact that it's commercial pushes that drive for 'good quality'... i.e. in polish, not necessarily innovation).

So maybe a name change is in order since I have a couple of hentai under my name. Those who recognize the style from the earlier works can easily make the association in the commercial products, but those who only try the commercial can't track back to the earlier works without a lot of digging.

So there's the name division between earlier works and later commercial-quality works (which will most likely have a price, or a free demo). Also the old name can still be used for the most avant-garde or experimental / risky / hentai projects.

And that 900 yen deal is a good idea, thank you! (I'm getting the 9.99 psychology here).

So to summarize, here's the template for a reasonable commercial VN:

Code: Select all

40,000+ wordcount (using 20,000 words = 1 hour normal reading speed)
1 or 2 love interests
2-4 menu choices (sometimes just 2 options per choice) unless it's a KN
12-16 base images for the event CGs (meaning there are 12 slots in the CG gallery)
7-9 music tracks
900 yen ballpark pricing

I ask the questions too early since I don't have a project anywhere near completion that will take this route, and I did revisit this topic before, but at least now there are some goals so that once met technically, the rest is up to artistry, creativity, and innovation where the commercial aspect can benefit from the freeware aspect.

This could be interpreted as a not-so-rocksolid benchmark by which English-speaking VN players feel is reasonable pricing for the content we get, and all aspiring commercial makers are invited to use this benchmark/template if they wish. (Of course, most commercial makers have long surpassed this already.) I didn't want to bring back the 'Great OELVN race' or 'What is Commercial Quality[tm] discussion Round 100' vibes (groan ), but look at this... it's on paper, and it's achievable!