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All the games are free to play...uh what?

The_CraigThe_Craig Posts: 89Member
in General Discussion
In this video:



It's stated that all games are free to play, can somebody give some clarification as to what that actually means, I wasn't aware of this and won't be happy if we can't straight up sell games for a fixed price point.

If she means all games have a trial that's fair enough, but that's certainly not how it sounds in that video.
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Comments

  • AyrikAyrik Posts: 429Member
    edited January 2013
    There are no sale prices for games in the store. There are only in-app purchases. If you want to make an in-app purchase in your game to unlock the full version, that is one way to charge full price for your game.
    Post edited by Ayrik on
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  • EdKEdK Posts: 55Member
    All games must have a trial of some sorts. They just won't have prices next to them in the market. Everything will be done via an upgrade.
    Admin of The Unofficial OUYAForum.com.
  • The_CraigThe_Craig Posts: 89Member
    Yikes. Well I sure hope that's simple to implement...
  • SpoonThumbSpoonThumb Posts: 426Member
    Yep, so a demo, or a trial version that expires after a set time period I believe would also be fine
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  • BalbiBalbi Posts: 198Member
    Currently there are two options for developers, Entitlement or Consumable. Entitlement would be like a full unlock (DLC) or something while Consumable would be like a one-time use thing. A booster item or something to that effect.
    Lead Developer of Leroux
  • GodlyPerfectionGodlyPerfection Posts: 140Member
    And subscription will be an option in the future as well.
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  • bennygoldbennygold Posts: 18Member
    The_Craig said:

    Yikes. Well I sure hope that's simple to implement...

    Well that's up to you or your developers, how simple is it to offer the game free while locking away parts of it for in-app purchases.
  • bennygoldbennygold Posts: 18Member
    It doesn't need to be complicated. An example, think about 'The Walking Dead' game, you could monetize that by allowing players to download the game, but then once the game runs each of the episodes are available for purchase individually.
  • AnticitizenAnticitizen Posts: 19Member
    I think Limbo is a great example of a game that offered a demo before you paid for the whole game. It let you play the actual game and then at a gripping point in the storyline (you were caught in a spider's web) it gave you two options: Leave the boy in the web or buy the full version to free him. It was well integrated into the gameplay.
  • Volcanic-PenguinVolcanic-Penguin Posts: 90Member
    I'm guessing The_Craig is referring to the in-app code being simple to implement more so than any challenges in how to integrate it with your game design, which I'm a bit concerned with myself, but I'm guessing they've made it pretty easy.
  • sodafountansodafountan Posts: 38Member
    Seeing as everyone already answered the question, i'd just like to go on record and say that not listing the price of a game in the store is a brilliant idea. There are so many people who won't even look at an app or a game on Google Play if it costs money, forcing people to try something first is a great way to get them to pay for it.
  • BalbiBalbi Posts: 198Member
    sodafountan said:

    Seeing as everyone already answered the question, i'd just like to go on record and say that not listing the price of a game in the store is a brilliant idea. There are so many people who won't even look at an app or a game on Google Play if it costs money, forcing people to try something first is a great way to get them to pay for it.

    As a developer I am very much against this. I want people to know what to expect when they are prompted to pay for something. Surprising the customer is a very easy way of turning them off of purchases. I did a lot of testing on this at my last employer and would advise against leading people into a trap. :)
    Lead Developer of Leroux
  • SpoonThumbSpoonThumb Posts: 426Member
    @Balbi , you're right, but there are plenty of ways to let the customer know the deal with the price before the game prompts them to "insert coin to continue"
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  • AyrikAyrik Posts: 429Member
    As long as the IAPs and prices are listed in the app info I am fine with it as a gamer and a dev.
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  • sodafountansodafountan Posts: 38Member
    Balbi said:

    sodafountan said:

    Seeing as everyone already answered the question, i'd just like to go on record and say that not listing the price of a game in the store is a brilliant idea. There are so many people who won't even look at an app or a game on Google Play if it costs money, forcing people to try something first is a great way to get them to pay for it.

    As a developer I am very much against this. I want people to know what to expect when they are prompted to pay for something. Surprising the customer is a very easy way of turning them off of purchases. I did a lot of testing on this at my last employer and would advise against leading people into a trap. :)
    According to @Ayrik we're not going to have much of a choice. @Ayrik can you link me to something that confirms this? I think a lot of the details on the OUYA store are still a little bit sketchy.

    If prices do go unlisted (which I can still say with confidence that I think is a good idea) I would have every intention of mentioning that my game would require a purchase for full access, maybe put it in the description, or as a disclaimer upon start up.

    Out of curiosity where did you work? I think if all apps where listed without a price then you wouldn't necessarily be trapping people because they'd know upon download that mostly all games are just offering a taste.
  • BalbiBalbi Posts: 198Member
    A small company named bioware :)
    Lead Developer of Leroux
  • AyrikAyrik Posts: 429Member
    While I'm 90% I'm right about this, we can't know for sure. In February they'll release the Games section of the developer's portal and we'll know whether we can specify a price or not. In the meantime, someone can email them and ask on Twitter for an official answer.

    I can't remember exactly where I read the info from, but I think it was when she was the keynote at some Android expo. Could've been the many Twitter posts too, I wish I could remember/prove it.
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  • Volcanic-PenguinVolcanic-Penguin Posts: 90Member
    In case anyone's still wondering.

    http://www.ouya.tv/game-developers-how-to-get-started-on-ouya-now/

    Payments:

    • All games are free to download. Just a reminder that, on OUYA, there is no such thing as a “paid app” so all games are free to download. This could mean your game has a free demo or level before a paid experience begins, or that it is a “free-to-play” game with in-app premium items, content, or other purchases.
    • In-App Purchasing API. In-app purchases can either be “entitlements” that are purchased once (e.g., “unlock the full game” or purchase a flaming sword) or “consumables” which can be purchased repeatedly (e.g., coins or tokens). The ODK will have payment APIs to sell in-app items.
  • SamJSamJ Posts: 18Member
    So say I have a game with 10 levels, I want the first 3 to be my "demo" and you pay to unlock the rest. I cannot have a "Demo" download and a "Full" download, I can only have 1 APK. So when someone downloads my "Demo" they are actually downloading the full game with 7 levels turned off. 

    I see a couple of problems with this
    1 - File size, say my full game size is very large, why does someone need to download the full game if they haven't brought it yet? This will take up more room than necessary on their console and burn up internet bandwidth (something you need to worry about in countries like mine and smaller nations)

    2 - Updates, if I update a level in the full game will the people who have my "Demo" installed be prompted that there is an update they need to download that won't affect them at all?

    Is this a problem? Or is there a way around this that I don't know about?
  • noctnoct Posts: 122Member
    Maybe someone from Team OUYA can clarify, but assuming there isn't a way to package downloads with IAP, you could always handle it internally: stick the files up on some cheap content host like S3, download them if the user has the entitlement.
  • SamJSamJ Posts: 18Member
    Can you have APK's reference and external package? My main issue is that I am using Unity, and I'm pretty sure there build process is just to build the whole game so I don't see how I can make a "Demo" and a "Full" game work without having to have 2 APK's or the "Full" game hidden in the "Demo" ready to unlock.
  • thoms3thoms3 Posts: 2Member
    just to add as a regular user, i think it's brilliant not to show the price, let customers evaluate if they really want the game and not focus on the price, sometimes i only look at games in a certain price range... 
  • SpoonThumbSpoonThumb Posts: 426Member
    Google Play solved this problem with http://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.html

    For unity, check this: http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/370761/google-play-store-multiple-files-for-large-apk.html

    I assume OUYA will have something similar and that the unity guys are working on with OUYA on how unity can work with it
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  • SamJSamJ Posts: 18Member
    Thank you SpoonThumb. Good reading right there :) I have been worried about this for a long time so it's good to see I will be able to do this without too much hassle.
  • AyrikAyrik Posts: 429Member
    I don't think OUYA will have the 50 MB restriction, since you don't have to worry about mobile internet. And this does not solve your problem SamJ. However, you can do what you want by using AssetBundles and download the new levels when they're purchased, which unfortunately, is a Pro only feature in Unity.
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  • DreamwriterDreamwriter Posts: 768Member

    If the OUYA store doesn't have any utility for showing prices (I'm hoping it does), you could just put the price in your game's store description, maybe even in the game title.

    And yeah, Unity's Asset Bundle system allows you to download any non-code assets to load from, and you could get an account on one of the cloud services like Amazon S3 to store your asset bundles on.  Of course, as Ayrik says, it's a Unity Pro feature, and also, my experience has been that assets stored in asset bundles tend to be slow to access after downloading, so make sure you take that into account, preloading them before you need them and stuff.

  • BalbiBalbi Posts: 198Member
    Ayrik said:
    I don't think OUYA will have the 50 MB restriction, since you don't have to worry about mobile internet. And this does not solve your problem SamJ. However, you can do what you want by using AssetBundles and download the new levels when they're purchased, which unfortunately, is a Pro only feature in Unity.
    Unfortunately a pro feature but absolutely worth it for three reasons.  
    1) Users can download the demo version and grab the full game's asset bundle when they unlock it. 
    2) You can force people to download directly from your server where you can do a lot of analytics (ie: how many downloads, how many purchases total = how many pirated copies etc.).
    3) You can do file chunking so users only download as much as they need. Player downloads the base APK that houses the main game logic. After that they launch the game and it determines which assets to download next. If they had a save game and they're 50% through your game, it would start downloading the assets needed to resume their game.
    Lead Developer of Leroux
  • MightyRabbitMightyRabbit Posts: 108Member
    You should probably just go the easy route and make your IAP flip a value that unlocks the content for the user upon a successful purchase. I don't think you'll get any backlash for doing that on OUYA like you would on 360 or PS3. That negates all the extra work you'd have to put in to handle downloading, storing, and installing extra asset bundles - plus you'd save money on not having to host the files.
  • Killa_MaakiKilla_Maaki Posts: 504Member

    MightyRabbit said:
    You should probably just go the easy route and make your IAP flip a value that unlocks the content for the user upon a successful purchase. I don't think you'll get any backlash for doing that on OUYA like you would on 360 or PS3. That negates all the extra work you'd have to put in to handle downloading, storing, and installing extra asset bundles - plus you'd save money on not having to host the files.
    I would second this, but as someone else mentioned that may result in downloading a bunch of content that isn't necessary in the short term.
    BUT, it does have the benefit of not having to download more content when purchasing the full version - the user gets instant access to the full game when they purchase.
    There's pros and cons here.

    I myself and developing a multiplayer game, and my game will restrict the player to singleplayer/practice mode until they purchase the full game (no content issues here)
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  • shackrashackra Posts: 1Member
    SamJ said:
    Can you have APK's reference and external package? My main issue is that I am using Unity, and I'm pretty sure there build process is just to build the whole game so I don't see how I can make a "Demo" and a "Full" game work without having to have 2 APK's or the "Full" game hidden in the "Demo" ready to unlock.
    I just really like this approach of "having two separates binaries", If you don't use ODK for your game, you have to deal with keycodes or stuff like that(?). "Store's API for the people!"
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