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RPG business model advise
Hello,
I'm in the process of designing a Role Playing System. I am beginning to seriously consider what kind of financial model would best suit me as a startup and I was hoping to get some opinions from potential customers.
What I'm thinking is inspired by a few games on the video game market. Specifically the Mount and Blade game. What they did is release the game for a low cost while it was in Alpha and used that money to fund the further development with people who paid for the game at the low cost getting the new content as it was created. As the new content was created the cost for new customers went up until they were eventually at the "final release" level.
Do you think something like this could work for a table top Role Playing Game. Specifically for a PDF version. Say the Alpha version of the book is $1 and the final version of the PDF is $10.
The game would be playable from the earliest version even if not as pretty as some RPG's out there. The main reason I would consider this is to raise money to hire the artist I would want to hire.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
I'm in the process of designing a Role Playing System. I am beginning to seriously consider what kind of financial model would best suit me as a startup and I was hoping to get some opinions from potential customers.
What I'm thinking is inspired by a few games on the video game market. Specifically the Mount and Blade game. What they did is release the game for a low cost while it was in Alpha and used that money to fund the further development with people who paid for the game at the low cost getting the new content as it was created. As the new content was created the cost for new customers went up until they were eventually at the "final release" level.
Do you think something like this could work for a table top Role Playing Game. Specifically for a PDF version. Say the Alpha version of the book is $1 and the final version of the PDF is $10.
The game would be playable from the earliest version even if not as pretty as some RPG's out there. The main reason I would consider this is to raise money to hire the artist I would want to hire.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
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I ask these questions because they are the same ones I've been asking myself: I too have been thinking about developing an RPG. Anyway, food for thought.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
I personally would not pay for a beta project. I would rather pay more for a final piece than getting a deal on a rudimentary game.
Good Luck.
Marketing is always the most important part of any business model. Unfortunately its also something I know very little about.
In terms of what my system offers, its hard to say. I'm not going to pretend it can hold a candle to Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder in a Fantasy setting, or anything. It is best suited to science fiction settings, although I'm using it in a high fantasy setting now. Its heavily inspired by Fallout, and every player has Action Points as a result. I've designed a fairly large number of Traits, some good some bad, that players can choose to have. And I've set up a system for designing powers, spells, weapons, vehicles, or whatever else you can think of. I'm sure its not perfect yet, but I'm comfortable saying its a solid system.
Also, the printed book already has a publisher. I just need to get it done. The publisher will handle a lot of the marketing at that point. I was thinking of this as a way of paying the artist I want to hire. Here is his work, http://wyrdoart.blogspot.com/
Mike aka Black Vulmea
"_Le Ballet de l'Acier_":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/le-ballet-de-l-acier - swashbuckling adventures in the age of the Three Musketeers and Captain Alatriste
Featured Campaign of the Month - August 2011
1. Determine your monetary budget.
2. Determine the amount of time you can spend on this project.
3. Calculate the amount of money needed to get the project off the ground.
4. Calculate the amount of revenue necessary to keep the project running for a min of 2 years including your start up cash and HOPEFULLY a return on your investment.
Once you have established those things you need to do advertising. DO NOT trust the publishing company to it for you as you are a very small fish as far as they are concerned (no offense intended). and I would also no start publishing at all until you finish the next couple steps. As Stephen said you should visit all the gaming cons you possibly can. The time and money necessary to do this should be calculated within the step 3 above. At the cons you should do playtesting (give the playtesters a small thanks in the back of the book) and do either booth/discussion board about your game and get people to sign up on a newsletter. Now you have a fan base and a better product. Also at cons you can talk to artists and maybe even find a backer (preferably a "angel investor").
Once you have a minimum of 1000 (sounds like a lot but you should be aiming at about 50 names a con so 20 conventions you should have your list) names your best bet, unless you were lucky enough to find a backer, is to start a kickstarter project with a min donation of $10. If 50% of people who signed up give the min donation that will give you a min starting cash of $5,000. Without crunching the numbers myself that should be enough to get you off the ground and running. Still the odds of your success, no matter how amazing your product is, is very low (Average success rate for new businesses in general is a little less then 30% and I am not sure on the success rate for RPGs in general.)
Another suggestion is if you are able to get the project off the ground and have made a little bit of profit but enough for you to continue by yourself try selling the idea to one of the bigger companies. If you can demonstrate that your project is worthwhile but just lacks the exposure necessary to really flourish they MIGHT consider purchasing it from you. With a decent contract (hire a good lawyer and don't be stingy on it or you can get easily screwed) you could retain the rights to the product and simply be working for one of the bigger companies with a percentage of the revenue coming to you plus a salary. Not a horrible deal.
Another is to put a mini starting adventure in the back of the book based on your playtesting. It will make the book a little more atractive. Also have additional supplements planned (aka a name for them, basic type of information they will include and an eta of their release from your launch date) so you don't just look like this one book weird minor game.
Hope that was helpful. As for my references to my knowledge (not to brag but to demonstrate I am not some crazy guy on the internet) I have a Master's in International Economics with a minor in Business Management from UCSD and I am in my last semester at Georgetown Law School working on my International Trade Law degree. I wish you a lot of luck and if you need any minor help (not a whole lot of free time) just send me a message.
-Jaymes
"Changing History":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/l5r-changing-history
-Jaymes
Campaign of the Month Febuary 2013
I did consider Kickstarter before I brought the game to Victory Point Games, but ultimately I didn't think I'd be able to get any funding without getting a lot of Art done first. I can't afford to just hire an Artist. A good artist could charge as much as $50 an hour. Part of the reason I'm considering this release format would be to pay the artist from the sales. The game as is works. Its just not pretty.
The most enticing thing about kickstarter is the rewards that come with different monetary pledges. Well crafted rewards can definitely get you ahead. I'm partial to signed copies for instance. Of course, there are certainly other avenues such as using a person's name or likeness in an upcoming module and things of that nature. If you have access to any of the marketing staff, ask their opinions on what would make good rewards. Once the goals are reached, hiring an artist or two might not be as difficult.
Having one artist do an entire book is quite a large task. To that end, multiple artists would be better, but we again run into cost issues. I don't know much about how they go about creating them, but deviantArt runs contests where art is created and submitted and things are given away. Perhaps getting hold of them and asking what their policies are might be an idea?
Anyway, I'm just spitballing. I've dabbled in a lot of grand business venture ideas that have never panned out and have learned snippets of many things along the way that pertain to doing things on the cheap. But nothing concrete.