Any ideas on the cost of this yet. Also, if its ok to ask, any idea of the real world cost of making Eschalon Book1 and is there much cash for marketing, advertising etc.
A Newbie
Costs
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Fungus Zits
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Costs
Greetings. The new screenshots are looking very impressive. Not easily excited but I am an old time fallout type gamer like others here and am really looking forward to seeing a finished product. Hurry up and get on with it
Any ideas on the cost of this yet. Also, if its ok to ask, any idea of the real world cost of making Eschalon Book1 and is there much cash for marketing, advertising etc.
A Newbie
Any ideas on the cost of this yet. Also, if its ok to ask, any idea of the real world cost of making Eschalon Book1 and is there much cash for marketing, advertising etc.
A Newbie
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BasiliskWrangler
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Hey Fungus!
The price won't be set until we are finished with it and can examine the marketplace to see what other indie RPGs are priced at, which right now looks to be $25 - $30 US.
The total development cost is rather hard to calculate because besides the actual cash spent during development, there has been lots of donated goods and services. If you want an estimate, calculate what you think it costs to start a business and pay several developers for their hard work, plus all the equipment and software. Yeah, it's not cheap.
We do not have an advertising budget. We are working off the extremely generous editors out there who have given us news coverage on their websites. When the game is completed we will roll some of the initial revenue over into advertising so we can keep the sales up for a while. But we depend mostly on word-of-mouth advertising from fans that have spread the word about our game!
The price won't be set until we are finished with it and can examine the marketplace to see what other indie RPGs are priced at, which right now looks to be $25 - $30 US.
The total development cost is rather hard to calculate because besides the actual cash spent during development, there has been lots of donated goods and services. If you want an estimate, calculate what you think it costs to start a business and pay several developers for their hard work, plus all the equipment and software. Yeah, it's not cheap.
We do not have an advertising budget. We are working off the extremely generous editors out there who have given us news coverage on their websites. When the game is completed we will roll some of the initial revenue over into advertising so we can keep the sales up for a while. But we depend mostly on word-of-mouth advertising from fans that have spread the word about our game!
One of the biggest impediments to indie games IMO is the ludicrously fixed retail pricing of games. Something like Oblivion costs literally millions to make and retails for ~$50. Why? Because that is what RPG's retail for. Just because. This is why there are no mid-sized developers and why independent developers are like minnows in a shark tank.
Because only the big big boys can play in this market, the relentless drive for graphics continues, which steals from the budget for less tangible (and less easily marketed to publishers) things like writing.
Ten years ago I paid $50 for Diablo. What other product can you name whose production costs have tripled in the last ten years, and the unadjusted cost to the consumer has remained the same?
Because only the big big boys can play in this market, the relentless drive for graphics continues, which steals from the budget for less tangible (and less easily marketed to publishers) things like writing.
Ten years ago I paid $50 for Diablo. What other product can you name whose production costs have tripled in the last ten years, and the unadjusted cost to the consumer has remained the same?
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Cyclopean - an HP Lovecraft inspired Role-Playing Game
Cyclopean - an HP Lovecraft inspired Role-Playing Game
Cost in our days is high, how many times have I paid big money for a game that was later trash....many. But I have to agree word of mouth can really help an Indep. game get a good start, one that comes to mine is the guys at Spiderweb Software, I have bought several of there games and still enjoy them, nothing mind blowing with there package just a CD game, slive and a combo clue book if you want it. I have seen all your screen shots and have to say, I can't wait to get my hands on this game, I will also be sending links to the shots to many of my old crews in the islands who still play rpgs like the one you're developing. Keep up the good work. 
"Ranger's lead the way"
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BasiliskWrangler
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