Just over a year ago we published a blog post about monetization. Since then, we've been updating our monetization plans for this topic and are updating our monetization plans. There will also be a podcast on the topic, talking about the monetization of Rugon, but also our view of monetization in general. (no english subtitles available for now)
Tore "Marogaz" Braun, CEO and Code
In free games Pay to Win is always a critical topic. Pay to Win is not. As a developer, the challenge is always that the player must have enough money for a free game to spend, but not to exaggerate and not to win. Therefore, the focus of the revision was on fairness, intrinsic motivation and getting started as easily as possible.
the 3 pillars
1. Ticket sales
Collectible card games and trading card games are traditionally monetized via card sales in the form of booster packs, which also makes up part of the charm of the genre. However, booster pack sales have two major problems:
Powercreep: If ticket sales are a big part of monetizing a CCG, the new cards will get stronger and stronger as time goes by as a developer, you still have an incentive to buy the new cards. As a result, the old cards are usually difficult or unplayable.
It takes forever playable cards, because there are not enough ways to monetize the CCG and earn the developer accordingly not enough.
Therefore, in our system, the focus of ticket sales is not on unlocking playable cards. To unlock all playable cards exclusively through games and the purchase of boosters, an average of approx. 250 hours of playing time is required.
1.1 Prestige level
The focus of our monetization system is not on unlocking playable cards, but on the progress of leveling each card. Each card will have a prestige level that can be increased more and more.
Do not worry, the game does not affect the gameplay!
The Prestige level is used to customize the individual cards and is visually displayed on them. It does not affect the values etc. of the cards.
To explain the prestige level, you first have to define original maps and duplicates.
Original cards are the playable cards used when creating decks. So there are normally two original cards from each card. For fortifications and heroes always one.
Duplicates are all further, the over the original maps beyond go.
In the picture, the original cards are represented by the green or blue stones under the cards. The number in the gray box above the cards indicates the number of duplicates.
To increase the prestige level of a card, duplicates can be combined with the original cards. The number of required duplicates always corresponds to the prestige level to be reached.
If, as in the picture, the prestige level of the "Wabernder Rogg" is to be increased from 5 to 6, 6, which in the case 56, requires duplicates.
1.2 All-Card Pack
Since the focus is on easy entry and long-term progression, there is also the all-card pack. This will unlock any maps that will be available in Rugon. The All-Card-Pack is expected to cost 20 EUR.
1.3 CCG → TCG
However, the focus on the long-term progression through the prestige level brings further changes.
We will take the step and make Rugon a trading card game. So you can trade cards with your friends or other players.
However, it will only be possible to swap duplicates. Since no original cards can be exchanged, it is also not possible to pass on the prestige level of cards to other players.
2. ingame crowdfunding
The second big pillar of our monetization system is ingame crowdfunding. Thereby a crowdfunding will be integrated into the game and you will have the opportunity to participate with us in the development of Rugon.
Crodfunding offers several categories for which donations can be made.
The categories are set by us monthly and are always available for a certain period of time.
The category "total monthly target" always exists. Here we determine how much money we need approximately in order to develop Rugon. For the other categories, we offer a variety of features or areas for which donations can be made.
As soon as money is donated, the donated amount is first attributed to the "total Monday target". If this is exceeded, the surplus is proportionally converted to all categories.
For example, if one month were to reach € 52,000 and a total of € 26,000 would have been donated for "Great New Feature" and € 26,000 for "Bug Fix", then of the excess € 2,000, € 1,000 will be shared between the two categories.
For categories with a specified target, such as the 10,000 EUR for "Great New Feature" example, we commit to implementing this feature once the goal is achieved. This will allow you to decide which features you want to see in Rugon or which ones you do not want in Rugon.
In the categories without concrete goal, such as "Bug Fix", it is not possible to achieve a specific goal. These categories are proposed again and again and we will use the money for the development of the respective areas.
All in all, we still have control over which direction Rugon will develop, but can directly engage you in the development and thus realize larger features that we probably could not handle otherwise.
3. Customization
Customization will initially be the smallest part of the monetization, because skins etc. are relatively expensive and we do not have the resources to produce many skins, or we want to develop Rugon completely, until we focus on skins, etc.
Still, to give a small view, there will probably be alternative artwork for the respective cards (for example, our beautiful attachment artwork), alternative card backs, player pictures, etc.
We've tried to be as fair as possible with the monetization system and hope you're just as hyped on the system as we are. We consciously decided against using different tricks to make more money and hope that you would like to set a signal against Pay to Win with us.
GG_Marogaz out
PS: The pictures or mockups I have done in the context of my bachelor thesis and are only for illustration. Tuki and Nico will make pretty nice variants for the implementation;)