Enticing players to do something for extras in game

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dorne
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Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#1 Post by dorne »

What would you get your players to do in order to access more of your game content? Things that don't involve money.

Let's say the content of your game is freely available, but in order to access some content, they had to do something for you?

I'm thinking of an example I want to implement, where if they want to access a bonus part of the game, they would need to fill a survey of their own life, and what their future plans are, if they're satisfied with their current situation and what steps they want to take to achieve their plans (data is local and can be saved at the player's request).

Another thing I can think of is to tell them to do 10 jumping jacks, and ask if they actually did it.

You can even be direct and tell them to check your twitter or a forum post for a passcode.

The point is to have fun getting the players to do things for you willingly for a reward.
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#2 Post by RotGtIE »

Your audience is already giving you, at a minimum, their time and attention. If your product is for sale, they are giving you money as well.

What you are giving them in return for this is an entertaining experience. The audience are not your servants, you are theirs.

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#3 Post by Kkoro »

There are plenty of games that do such things. The question is, is your game worth that extra effort and time though...
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#4 Post by Shinoki »

I personally wouldn't like to do something inane for something that should be already built into the game as an extra.

However, doing something for extra content can be fine too. Doing a thing with mini-games in game to unlock extra CGs isn't uncommon, but I'm not quite sure that's what you're looking for. Having a password unlocked once you finish all the routes so that you can go to the developer's website to get extra goodies is nice too. (ie. extra downloadables, etc.)

However, I wouldn't really want to go out of my way to do something extra that will distract me from the game in order to get something extra from the game. It seems kind of redundant?

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#5 Post by dorne »

RotGtIE wrote:What you are giving them in return for this is an entertaining experience. The audience are not your servants, you are theirs.
The author should try to make an experience that caters to its audience. In context and roles of the genre, the audience can act the part of a servant. Sort of like Simon says?
Kkoro wrote:There are plenty of games that do such things. The question is, is your game worth that extra effort and time though...
Let me know some examples if you have them.
Shinoki wrote:I personally wouldn't like to do something inane for something that should be already built into the game as an extra.

However, doing something for extra content can be fine too. Doing a thing with mini-games in game to unlock extra CGs isn't uncommon, but I'm not quite sure that's what you're looking for. Having a password unlocked once you finish all the routes so that you can go to the developer's website to get extra goodies is nice too. (ie. extra downloadables, etc.)

However, I wouldn't really want to go out of my way to do something extra that will distract me from the game in order to get something extra from the game. It seems kind of redundant?
I can remember one instance in a Playstation One game named Megaman Legends 2 allowed you to pay 2 million zeny for an optional item or take a 100 question quiz, with questions irrelevant to the game. You had to answer 100 questions with no wrong answers! No guide at the time, I remember that quiz vividly because I had to do alot of trial and error for that.
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#6 Post by 8oni »

Hmm, there is 1 game that I know do things like that, if I remember right the name is 'Night at Hospital' or something like that, sorry can't remember. But on that vn, after you finish a certain character route you will get a code that if you input online on the web you can see a diary from that certain character POV.

I remember that because it's unique.

So well, I think if you make it easy enough to do some people won't mind to do what you ask for extra content.

But personally, if you ask me to jump 10x then I won't do that, I dislike psychical activity sorry '_'

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#7 Post by Mammon »

8oni wrote:Hmm, there is 1 game that I know do things like that, if I remember right the name is 'Night at Hospital' or something like that, sorry can't remember. But on that vn, after you finish a certain character route you will get a code that if you input online on the web you can see a diary from that certain character POV.
I remember those diaries, it does give a little extra lore to those who want it and it adds a little sense of accomplishment to it all.


While I'm no talented programmer, I do know there's a little python trick to open websites without the reader's consent. The NaNoRenO16 game 'Segmentation fault' used it to give a sense of meta creeps. I'd of course ask for the reader's consent before doing it myself, but I can see it really working out for something like this. Like:
Hey, I see you've got all the endings for <game>, well done! I'm really glad you liked it enough to see it through all the way.
Now, I'd hate to ask even more of you, but if you'd indulge me asking you a little favour? Could I open a few sites on your computer and ask you to rate or review this game there? I'd really appreciate it.
Choice Yes/No
if Yes: <link to the>
-The Lemmasoft thread (review)
-One of those sites that only counts the amount of people who opened it. (Counting the amount of people who finished the game.)
-The Visual Novel database thread (rating)
-Another place for a review or rating etc., like Steam if you got Greenlit.

Selecting each of these options gives a $ and if you got 3/4 you unlock the extra scene. Whether the people will leave a review or rating will have to be on blind faith though. Does seem like the most practical and effective technique though, and actively urging people to leave a review where they might not even find the thread otherwise. And it does allow you to hide content from them without extra downloads.
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#8 Post by Kkoro »

I generally see those things in triple AAA games, and it's usually because their production value/reward is valuable for the customer.
Examples: League of legends has cosmetic skins that can be unlocked by following their twitter/facebook.
Titanfall 2 has codes for cosmetics that are available by purchasing doritos bags, mountain dew bottles, or by visiting certain restaurants.
Blizzard(Overwatch) has special cosmetic skins unlocked when you play their other games such as Heroes of the Storm.
Plenty of other games have "get x reward by getting a new player to register to this game"

Yeah so, most online(most of the time F2P) games have such "outside of the game" unlocks.
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#9 Post by Aviala »

I remember someone telling me that there is a quest in a MMO, I think it was secret world, that requires a player to find a section in a bible to solve a puzzle. And no, not an in-game bible, you needed to find an actual bible and search for the right passage. Of course, you could just look it up online... But what's the fun in that?

I think asking the player to go an extra mile can be amazing if it's done well. Another example was the buildup to Sombra's launch in Overwatch. The devs had build an ARG game where players would get encrypted messages, sometimes hidden in real world locations (I think, not sure) and solving the mystery required a wide variety of skills like coding, message encryption, logical thinking, etc, it wasn't really something a single player could solve on their own. But the only reason they could do something like this is they're super big and popular.

I think the key thing here is to make sure the thing you're asking the players to do is a) fun or interesting in some way and b) provides some "value" to the player. Unless you're actually making an experimental game where the players need to do weird things just because the game dev says so, and that's the whole point of the game...

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#10 Post by Dark Sentinel »

Kkoro wrote:There are plenty of games that do such things.
If I got it properly:
Hate Plus.
Bake a cake for you waifu, make a photo of the cake with the waifu, send it to developer, receive a code as an answer, punch it somewhere, get a Steam achievement.
щ (ºДº ) щ

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#11 Post by Tyrantauranox »

For some online PlayStation 3 games, we ran campaigns for Facebook likes/follows. If you typed in your Facebook account ID at an in-game terminal, it would check the account to see if you "liked" the game, unlocking a cosmetic item and a little bit of in-game currency. These campaigns got us thousands of new followers, and we ended up running similar campaigns to increase newsletter subscriptions and Twitter follows.

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#12 Post by Antizaba »

I like the idea :) If it fits in the game somehow, it would make a fun new aspect. I'm a playful person, i like silly challenges :)

That means, i would totaly enjoy tasks like: solve this logical puzzle, finish/find this quote (from some famous literature), answer this common knowledge question (even if i had to look it up), visit this website to find secret code (if the website is made just for the code, not for advertisment), win this minigame, or even do the jumping jacks :D (or eat a whole pizza, shout somthing into your toilet, put a leaf on your head, light 8 candles while singing a lullaby, or anything stupid :) )

(but i would strongly dislike tasks like like/follow our facebook/twitter/etc, give us your email adress/other personal info, share this post to your friends, or anything that is obviously just an advertisment)

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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#13 Post by dorne »

Mammon wrote:
8oni wrote:While I'm no talented programmer, I do know there's a little python trick to open websites without the reader's consent. The NaNoRenO16 game 'Segmentation fault' used it to give a sense of meta creeps.
This sort of interaction is very meta, and I love it!
Aviala wrote:I think the key thing here is to make sure the thing you're asking the players to do is a) fun or interesting in some way and b) provides some "value" to the player. Unless you're actually making an experimental game where the players need to do weird things just because the game dev says so, and that's the whole point of the game...
Yes, it's a way to interact with the player in unexpected or unorthodox ways that I like.
Dark Sentinel wrote:
Kkoro wrote:There are plenty of games that do such things.
If I got it properly:
Hate Plus.
Bake a cake for you waifu, make a photo of the cake with the waifu, send it to developer, receive a code as an answer, punch it somewhere, get a Steam achievement.
That is dedication, and probably would not be as accepted if the base game itself wasn't as interesting. It provides a type of challenge that requires physical effort, and that's fun.
Tyrantauranox wrote:For some online PlayStation 3 games, we ran campaigns for Facebook likes/follows. If you typed in your Facebook account ID at an in-game terminal, it would check the account to see if you "liked" the game, unlocking a cosmetic item and a little bit of in-game currency. These campaigns got us thousands of new followers, and we ended up running similar campaigns to increase newsletter subscriptions and Twitter follows.
How is the retention of followers if I can ask? That sounds like a good way to gain some metrics of the actual playerbase. It is a bit different from what I'm thinking of which is a more personal type of "request", but the channel by which you interact with the players is similiar!
Antizaba wrote:I like the idea :) If it fits in the game somehow, it would make a fun new aspect. I'm a playful person, i like silly challenges :)

That means, i would totaly enjoy tasks like: solve this logical puzzle, finish/find this quote (from some famous literature), answer this common knowledge question (even if i had to look it up), visit this website to find secret code (if the website is made just for the code, not for advertisment), win this minigame, or even do the jumping jacks :D (or eat a whole pizza, shout somthing into your toilet, put a leaf on your head, light 8 candles while singing a lullaby, or anything stupid :) )

(but i would strongly dislike tasks like like/follow our facebook/twitter/etc, give us your email adress/other personal info, share this post to your friends, or anything that is obviously just an advertisment)
Such a playful person :) yes these types of challenge or requests are targeted towards you!
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#14 Post by gas »

Think the inverse. Do challenges, questions and activities about your game on your socials to gather people.
Best quotes, quizzes, pepakura to download, photo contests, polls, sketches preview, "you can't believe what happened to me" videos.

Then have that download link under their eyes. They will click it and enjoy the full experience.
All the matter of the web is to gather people in a fancy place where they have fun, then try to send them where money are spent.

("But my characters are unknown to many! My wonderful plot too!" --->"The same for each game/book of this world. If you can't convey excitement at first sight, no one will ever care for. So, convey it.")
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Re: Enticing players to do something for extras in game

#15 Post by Tyrantauranox »

Follower retention was decent. We tried to avoid getting spammy with posts/emails, though. Many posts announced contests or simple giveaways, which encouraged people to stay on the lists.

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