I'd buy it and pay anything up to about $20 a month for it. After that, I'd be in trouble.

Yeah, I'd probably stay even if it were 20 bucks a month. Like Rogue, though, any higher than that would be really troublesome. It should really be more like 10 or 15, though...

Spellcast, I have to agree with you and say that Guild should at least have a solid plan to be their own publisher. I'd hate to see a publisher ruin the game by changing some stuff around, jacking up the price, or dropping crossplatform support. I'd be pissed if that happened. If worse comes to worst, I think they can temporarily have Vendetta online as a download and then require the player to enter a registration code for a pre-paid subscription. Seeing as how the game is 100% online, it'll ensure that most of the people who know about the game can actually play it... assuming they meet the system requirements. When there's enough money, they may move on to making a boxed version on the shelves afterwards.

And even now in the test phase, I still think merchandise such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. could easily give 'em a good amount of money. I think a lot of us would pay for that kind of stuff. Guild Software has a considerable amount of loyal fans in this community, and the next best thing to donating would be to buy stuff that's related to the game. It's a win-win situation for both the consumer and the company. Now, I'm not suggesting that they start mass producing merchandise and have 'em stored in a warehouse. That has the potential to become a disaster. Instead, make it more of an on request sort of thing. I'm not sure whether every employee at Guild is busy 24/7, but setting aside a few hours a day to take care of the Vendetta merchandise requests could be profitable in the long run. You'll have all these geeks walking around with Vendetta t-shirts, advertising for Guild Software!

In addition to that, I think once the WGAF engine is more finalized they could possibly license it to other companies that are trying to make MMORPG games but don't have the time to create a new engine. During the times it has been less buggy, it can in fact be a very stable and lag-free environment. What better way to see WGAF's fullest potential by selling licenses to different companies that have different ideas in mind?

=)

Mmm... Merchandise... Suggested by all, accepted by none.

I've got about $80-90 for spending and i've been trying to find what to spend it on....no luck yet, but i would gladly, VERY VERY gladly spend it on Vendetta merchandise. To me the idea is more exciting then the reset.... although i don't expect to see it for a long while, I might save that $80 or so for merchandise itself.



or i could just send it to Guild....

I would probably buy it if it was goodly priced. I.e its gona need a lot of improvement, but if it gets to "the level. I think a 7-8$ price range a month would be the most I would spend. I wouldn't play too much because life is busy as it is and gaming is only in spare time.

Well if the game gets published, then I'm guessing the price for the game will be $9.95.

Of it doesn't get a publisher, then its a free download I guess.

I'd pay for it as a matter of principle.

you will see me thats for sure...

-io

/me waits with his subscription notice in hand...

now, in accodance with the fact that i have now formally read this thread i can finally say that i agree with arolte.

if guildsoftware created merchandise for advertising their products i would jump all over that idea. im sure that scubasteve might as well, you would have to make a hooded sweatshirt but yeah... lol

seriously, make shirts, mugs, stuff like that and im sure that some of the people on the vendetta community will buy it. i know i would.

-io

/me is sure that loads of players will have the Vendetta Mug right by the computer and the coffee (hot chocolate, coffee, hot tea, etc.) pot on the other side of that...

Earth to fanbois. Please return from your fantasy business land. If you think merchandising is such a fabulous business oppurtunity, why don't you seek a licensing agreement with guildsoft and sink the money into merchandise yourself? Maybe after doing a little research into what is involved you'll sound less painfully stupid.

Exactly. If Guild is to self-publish or undertake extensive marketing, they are going to need investment capital. A lot of investment capital. I'm willing to bet that most of us, being students or programmers, are not rich enough to provide that kind of money.

They will need to court big companies and investors in order to get the cash they need. A $20 donation might help them buy coffee for a few weeks, but overall, it isn't going to help them significantly with developing the game unless every single registered player makes a decent donation.

Er...a little rough there Celebrim. Might wanna touch that up. Still, the assessment is accurate. I have had a small business that had a very distinctive logo and obvious potential for merchandising. The startup costs for an image on a t-shirt for "small runs" (under 1000) is considerable and makes for a very expensive t-shirt. The number of colors increases the cost considerably.

Venture capital has all but disappeared since 9/11. It's a vicious new environment for small start-ups.

Look at all this form another site. With all respect for authors of Ventetta.
I'm living in Poland (in next year we will be in EU .... at last), in Poland 5-20$. are a lot's of money for student's or not working people. If game will be relased as a comercial product, as a subscription, then will be for me a big problem to pay.
I.m a linux user so even Ms Windows for me have a high price :P

merchandice offers a good return, but only if you have a significant demand. My friends and I ran a D&D gaming convention several years ago and sunk about $700 into a run of 100 t-shirts with a nice 6 color logo. and we got the cheap shirts and a deal on the layout costs. The problem with most t-shirt logo's is that you can't just take an image from a computer and transfer it to a shirt. You usually have to have a color seperated image set if you want the shirt to look good when you are done.

Besides, the market for merchandice is too small right now with the test community we have at the present.
As for self publishing thats a whole different ballgame. If Guild were to make the final game 100% downloadable for a free 1 month trial (maybe limit the sectors accessible during the free part), then sell activation "keys" and service agreements online they wouldn't have a significant initial expense. (just be sure that the final version of the game is downloadable via a download manager so that us poor dialup people can start it and let it run for days to get all the content)

Then for a few hundred dollars you can buy a high quality cd-burner and burn the initial file for sale from the web if someone wants to pay a minimal fee plus shipping. (approx 10 bucks + s&h. The game allready downloads it's own updates so that isn't a problem. AS for marketing.. give those of us that play the word and I bet we could have the internet plastered with adverts for this game in next to notime. (a nifty little banner/link button would be nice too. something official for us to slap into chat forums, webpages etc.)

I'm not positive but I think one of the devs said they had some connections to someone who made t-shirts, which would allow them to get a good discount. Nevertheless, that's why I suggest they NOT mass produce the merchandise beforehand. Instead, focus on making a small batch of them initially and then sell 'em on an on request basis as sales begin to dwindle down. It'll take a lot longer to produce them as individual requests, but it'll be much safer that way.

There are several approaches to this solution that don't involve too much risk or expenses. I believe cafepress.com even allows you to submit and produce designs for various merchandise items FOR FREE. Although they may take a small percentage of your profits, it's still a pretty good deal for not having to pay anything at all. YOU set your own costs and YOU get paid for the merchandise (checks get sent out to you monthly). It certainly sounds better than having to rely on donations. So please, Celebrim, step off your high horse and stop pretending to know everything.

FM: Sorry. Got a little carried away there I admit.

Arolte: Like I said, you think its such a great idea, you find the money. I'm sure that you'll find some rich venture capitist who wants to back merchandising for a game with a fanbase of less than 100 people, especially given that merchandising campaigns for some of gaming's most popular titles (sells in the 10's of thousands) often fail. Where you see a commercial market, I see a small fan club. I don't know everything, but if by high horse you mean 'arrogant', I protest that it's not me that is here claiming to know more than the people who've actually done merchandising, worked in industry, been salesmen, etc.. Who is really being more arrogant, eh?

I'll be purchasing the game (aka paying the monthly fee).
.. at least I think I will. Huh.

Is it me? Seriously, lets get back on topic and "be nice" here. Keep the suggestions coming and let us all build on them rather than criticising them.

about the free d/l part... Seriusly people, let's look at the possibliies of that.

Games these days are easily a gig+. I assume Vendetta will be at least that when it goes gold. Ever try d/ling a gig on broadband? sometimes not that bad. ever try d/ling a gig on dial up? **** that. that's why i didn't have much porn on my computer till i moved and got DSL.