So, in discussion with people on my dev team, we were discussing distribution solutions. Somewhere we got off on a tangent and talked about smaller games and distribution.

 With market research in mind, I'd like some thoughts from the game community. Picture a game, with graphics somewhere between xb and xb360, FPS with online support, about 10 levels and a bunch of different match types. Lets say distribution method is DLC such as XBLive, WiiWare, Sony online (I forget the Ps3 name for it) and just straight up PC downloads. Additional pack/levels would be added for free or minimal charge later on, to support the game further.

If this said game was sold at $10 per copy, would it be something you might pick up? 

Probably not. There is a large number of FPS games available for every system minus the Wii. Unless this particular FPS game was able to do something amazing and unique, there'd be little to no point in picking it up at any price IMO. On the other hand, if it did manage to do something amazing, I don't think price would be a concern.

Essentially, sure you could buy a load of horse crap for $10 but you're still buying horse crap. Price doesn't change the final product.

Plus I personally hate the idea of paying for additional downloadable content later on. The sooner it comes out, the more I feel like the developer cheated me out of something that should have been in the base product and not DLC.

I would pick it up if:

a)It was unique
b)Killing was satisfying
c)It had decent stat-tracking/community features.
d)It had a good ranking system.

Hell, for those things, I'd pay £20 for it. But only if the PSN version wasn't account-locked like Warhawk, I have siblings with their own accounts who might want to play the game (and I don't want them playing on my account).

The mappacks should have a small charge at the start, and free later on.

It would probably do you well for Wiiware, but well thought out and implemented controls are an ABSOLUTE MUST. My suggestion would be to use MP3 as a base and add in a quick turn function based on flicking the Wii remote while pointing outside of the screen range. The - and + buttons could work for switching weapons, and you could use pointing the Wiimote straight up to activate reloading. B = shoot, A, Z, and C can be put towards Jumping, Ducking and Maybe activating a powerup or using a secondary attack or feature of your weapon (attack with the butt of your gun if out of ammo, or activate the scope on snipe rifles)
you could also have it set so that shaking the nunchuk while moving caused you to throw yourself in that direction so you can attempt to dodge out of the way of incoming fire.
One thing I rarely see developers do that I would see as a huge selling point is the ability to adjust the sensitivity of the waggle on the Wiimote and Nunchuk, that way for the people who find it activating too easily, they can turn it down, and others may feel it's not activating easily enough can turn it up.
Of course, 1 and 2 buttons would be to access stats and other options, such as adjusting the waggle sensitivity. Oh, and I forgot about the Dpad, maybe use it to navigate the option menus that you pull up using hte 1 and 2 buttons? that would let you adjust those things and still be able to move around and shoot at stuff. Otherwise it could be used for quick weapon slots so that you didn't have to cycle through allthe weapons to get the one you wanted.
(heck, if I could get an online competitive FPS for the Wii that actually made good use of the Wiimote and Nunchuck, I'd be willing to pay a lot more than just $10 for it)


If it's a $10 game for the PC, I could easily see that going for people with lower grade PCs, who may not have a PC build capable of handling the big FPS already out there like TF2. So the issue here is making sure you keep it so the graphics options can be turned WAY down.

I just really don't see it being feasible for 360 unless it's a really quirky game with a style completely different from Halo and CoD, GoW, and TF2, 360 is just incredibly saturated with FPS that there's just no way a $10 game can compete with those if its not incredibly different.

PS3 I'm not sure about. It's not as saturated as the 360, but it still has stuff like TF2 and CoD, and possibly a couple others. Again, a key issue would be setting yourself apart from other games in the genre

Actually I would use MOH:Heroes 2 for the control schematics if it's WiiWare, and yes I would buy it if the controls were spot on and gameplay was good.

Assuming the gameplay is good, I tend to look at a dollars per hour ratio. I'd consider 5 hours of game for $10 to be a good deal. Go lower and I might start looking at disc-based games, instead.

Edit: And a similar ratio for new DLC. $5 for 2 hours of levels or so.

Edit edit: Hold on, you said 'match types.' So this is a multiplayer FPS? If you can make some seriously fun gameplay and well-designed multiplayer maps I'd be all over this game like stink on a monkey!

Some excellent feedback there, much appreciated. To clarify a little more, the running theme would be something similar to a more quirky FPS, a la Time Splitters 2/3, but without the story mode

I don't think a FPS would be would be good for 10 dollars. There is a huge number of good ones that are already out and people are willing to spend more then 10 for one. I think for 10 DLC I would go for either unquie artistic/cartoony games or good party games that you can pick up and play.

As you're making the game, just keep asking yourself "Why would anyone play this instead of TF2?  Unreal?  Halo 3?"  You need to distinguish yourself from the competition.

PS:  Your website says it hasn't been updated since April 10th.  That's really tacky.  Frequent updates not only make you look more professional, but also help you place higher in search engines.

Thanks for the website info, I daren't tell you how long its been before that update. We had some shifts in web design. There's really not a whole ton to update ATM, but June should bring some solid news and more screenshots