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Kickstarter tier revamp?


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A standard boxed copy is an option at the $50 price point. We're still waiting on the quotes including the printed manuals, but the price is likely to be in the $3-4 range per copy, plus postage. Selling them for $50 wouldn't be bad. They come in print ranges of 100 so even if we're left with an extra 99 at the end, I'm sure we'll be able to sell them on the forums or on the site or something eventually. We'll put this in as an option at the $50 reward tier if so, so you can choose one instead of a T-shirt. I think most people would be very happy with that, to be honest...

The other alternative is a $50 digital tier. I'm thinking that this could include two premium pre-orders for the people that don't want to have a boxed copy, allowing them to give one to a friend.

Would you also consider introducing a tier that included a physical copy of the game plus a t-shirt or a poster? You'd be guaranteed to sell at least one (1) of those!

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It's mentioned at the front page but maybe it could be emphasized more. Everyone at the 30$ level and beyond will get to the novella but, yeah, it should be mentioned in the reward descriptions. I'm sure Chris will get to it eventually, the poor guy. :P

I think the post was actually suggesting that people could get mentioned in the novella rather than Chris mentioning it on KS.

I pledged enough to get a second copy of the game for a friend and a t-shirt, as long as I can get those I'm happy.

I would love to have my face in the game (wouldn't be so pleasant for the rest of the players) but my fiancee would make me wish I had taken up Chrysalid arm wrestling if I spent that much on it.

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I would love to have my face in the game (wouldn't be so pleasant for the rest of the players) but my fiancee would make me wish I had taken up Chrysalid arm wrestling if I spent that much on it.

Protip: increase your support in increments of $50.

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While I'm never going to be upset to receive cool game related goodies, I can only hope that the return is worth the huge effort.

Suggestions beyond "you don't want to get probed sober" shot glasses are:-

Calendar - each month contains a pic of the already created game art, and a paragraph of text showing the escalating conflict. Will the alien hordes finish earth off before we snuff it in December 2012 anyway? (optional little "Mayor McChubb abducted by aliens could be added into certain days showing an extra nod to donators (for a little more naturally))

Postcards - Really, a set of game postcards for inclusion in any physical box would be very nice. Art already done.

Xeno-probes - glow sticks with a little Xenonauts sticker on them. :)

Baseball Cap - Jean Luc's design seems very well suited for the front of a black baseball cap.

Xenonaut patch - it's not a military outfit unless it has it's own patch. I have a few of these from the Call of Cthulhu game and they are very, very cool - Starkweather Moore Antarctic expedition

Little alien head cloisonné pin - show your support for our brave lads (and soon lasses) fighting the alien hordes!

"Name of the braver soldiers defending the earth, gaining the highest bravery awards all-round the world"

And then putting an in-game memorial-type screen,

yup, having this as an additional tab in the memorial screen would be great. As a bonus you could alswasy get them to add how they died from a UFOlogy themed list. 'Harvested, Abducted, Mistaken for cattle, Mind Controlled,Alien Sympathiser etc etc.) A pretty decent return on pledges for that.

No waiting until end credits here...

I was always a big fan of adding folks to the global events thingy, so I'd still very much like to see that. It seemed to have a pretty good return. It also adds to game immersion (unless of course it's 'Leicester attacked: Gauddlike abducted by Venusian Space Vixens')

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You should add a $175 tier for an old-school boxed copy with printed manual, and $250 or $300 tier where they can get a limited edition boxed copy with printed manual and plastic figurine.

I can help with sourcing them at very low cost.

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Nice list thothkins! I especially like the military patches! That's just what I need to get my airsoft outfit complete :D

I guess postcards and glowsticks are quite cheap, but not sure about Calendar and Baseball Caps..

Though your idea of a calendar is pretty rad. I'd definitely like one of these on my wall/table.

But yeah, this is the kind of stuff that could make quite a few people up their pledge.

Edited by Shima
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Xeno-probes - glow sticks with a little Xenonauts sticker on them. :)

You mean authentic Xenonaut flares, as seen in night missions :P

It also adds to game immersion (unless of course it's 'Leicester attacked: Gauddlike abducted by Venusian Space Vixens')

Might have to try it, purely for research purposes if any of them are reading this.

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You mean authentic Xenonaut flares, as seen in night missions

Why yes! that's exactly what I meant. How handy that the aliens seem to have left us some around abduction sites too :)

Might have to try it, purely for research purposes if any of them are reading this.

Brave, brave Gauddlike. Willing to make sacrifices like that for Earth. whattaguy :)

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$50 sounds very cheap (+$20 on premium level for disk plus postage). Factor in your hassle for handling this, designing the cover material, cd design print and shipping lists - while it might give you more pledges, it doesn't sound like it will return much in the way of income to further develop the game. Why not go for $60. $65 - still in reach for most people, but it might mean more for what you can do with it game resourcing wise.

I like Mithron's idea of being able to name sicientists. Given that you are overhauling the UI, being abe to view your list of scientists names and nationalities (even in pop out) might payoff very well, without seeming to sell out xenonauts (it feels like an extra layer of immersion).

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While I like the addition of the physical products in principle, they're going to be a greater % of money away from the actual development aren't they?

KS already take a sizeable chunk for themselves, I'd rather have a more polished game and not see more money disappear into the ether.

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$50 sounds very cheap (+$20 on premium level for disk plus postage). Factor in your hassle for handling this, designing the cover material, cd design print and shipping lists - while it might give you more pledges, it doesn't sound like it will return much in the way of income to further develop the game. Why not go for $60. $65 - still in reach for most people, but it might mean more for what you can do with it game resourcing wise.

I agree with this. I wouldn't undersell yourself - from what I've seen in every Kickstarter I've backed, if things get momentum and people like the stretch goals and you give them the opportunity to do so, a number of people will put in more money than you'd think or they initially expected to pledge (says the guy who put in an extra $23 for the Ogre project because, dude, they're selling Car Wars t-shirts!). Keep in mind that not everyone is basing their pledge on retail prices - lots of times, people will contribute extra cash if there's something sorta cool that they get and it's a project they support (says the guy who also added $50 for the Ogre project for a supporter t-shirt and canvas game-carrying bag).

What about stuff like signed posters, exclusive artwork, etc.? I'd try to brainstorm some additional tiers at like $250-300 to catch a few people there who don't want to go all the way from $150 up to $500, as people on the forums said.

Or printed copies of the novella? Signed versions of the printed copies of the novella?

Edited by Kilrathi
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Has the idea of voice been kicked around as a reward tier? Would a limited-run tier where pledges can record their own death scream to appear in the game (say 3 male civilian death screams, 3 female civilian death screams, the same number for xenonauts and perhaps same again for hurt noises?) be feasable?

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Has the idea of voice been kicked around as a reward tier? Would a limited-run tier where pledges can record their own death scream to appear in the game (say 3 male civilian death screams, 3 female civilian death screams, the same number for xenonauts and perhaps same again for hurt noises?) be feasable?

Backer-recorded pain sounds did cross my mind, too, but there's the issue of sound quality, although the matter might be mitigated by the brevity of the snippets somewhat.

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I tried to have some people visit the kickstarter page and try the demo (the forum of a french video game magazine called canardpc). Some of them are pessimistic about the game because it feels like it's been in development for ages. Someone complained about the fact that the game won't be features complete if you don't get 250000$. Nevertheless I urged them to try the demo and I think I got you some sales.

On a side note, I tried the demo myself (it's been a long time since I played a build). It's coming along nicely, I can't wait to play the full game. However I still dislike the buttons of the geoscape UI. I find them cold and impersonal. They have no depth, they look like an openoffice Calc grid. It seems like they don't want to be clicked on. I can't help but apologize whenever I click to go to the research screen.

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However I still dislike the buttons of the geoscape UI. I find them cold and impersonal. They have no depth, they look like an openoffice Calc grid. It seems like they don't want to be clicked on. I can't help but apologize whenever I click to go to the research screen.

You are aware of the upcoming GUI redesign, though, are you not?

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As I say, I've not had the final quotes through including the manuals, but a 9gb DVD with a printed cover, case and plastic wrap comes to £1.82 at the moment on a run of 100, and would be £1.72 if we got a run of 200. They're also extremely light and easy to post anywhere in the world - it'd only cost £2.50 to send it non-urgently anywhere in the world. I imagine the manuals would add maybe 50p to the cost, making it £4.82 if we did a run of 100. Even if we play it safe and round it up to £5 each, they would only be $8 each and it's something I can easily run from the UK, whereas the T-shirts / posters / art book are a little pricier if done over here. As well as more effort, likely.

So that would be an extra $12 per pledge raised to $50, minus the $2 KS / Amazon would take from the extra $20 raise. So net gain, $10 each time ($20 if the person is only a Standard Pre-order originally, or outside the US and pays the extra for shipping).

True, it's not a MASSIVE gain, but it's still enough to make it worthwhile, I think. I also think the $50 price point will have a lot more takers than $60, although I'm basing that on no real facts. I just think it'll have more chance of getting $20 / $30 people to pledge up to $50 than basically double their pledge.

Plus the other advantage of a DVD copy is we don't have to do them until the game is done. We can use the cash for working capital in the meantime, as unless we really cock the launch up we'll at least make a couple of thousand dollars there that can be used for manufacturing the DVDs.

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As I say, I've not had the final quotes through including the manuals, but a 9gb DVD with a printed cover, case and plastic wrap comes to £1.82 at the moment on a run of 100, and would be £1.72 if we got a run of 200. They're also extremely light and easy to post anywhere in the world - it'd only cost £2.50 to send it non-urgently anywhere in the world. I imagine the manuals would add maybe 50p to the cost, making it £4.82 if we did a run of 100. Even if we play it safe and round it up to £5 each, they would only be $8 each and it's something I can easily run from the UK, whereas the T-shirts / posters / art book are a little pricier if done over here. As well as more effort, likely.

So that would be an extra $12 per pledge raised to $50, minus the $2 KS / Amazon would take from the extra $20 raise. So net gain, $10 each time ($20 if the person is only a Standard Pre-order originally, or outside the US and pays the extra for shipping).

True, it's not a MASSIVE gain, but it's still enough to make it worthwhile, I think. I also think the $50 price point will have a lot more takers than $60, although I'm basing that on no real facts. I just think it'll have more chance of getting $20 / $30 people to pledge up to $50 than basically double their pledge.

Plus the other advantage of a DVD copy is we don't have to do them until the game is done. We can use the cash for working capital in the meantime, as unless we really cock the launch up we'll at least make a couple of thousand dollars there that can be used for manufacturing the DVDs.

I truly think that there is a market for a collector's package. If the regular one is only a few bucks to make and send, and you can up it to $50, why not go for a $75-$85 tier (or add to the $100 tier) with a collector's boxed copy? A nice CD soundtrack, a cool looking box and an official Xenonauts mousepad would be great items to bundle in! I am certain you would sell enough to justify it! If you want to make sure it sells then make it a hand-numbered limited edition (numbered up to 100 or even 250). Why not do a poll to see what the interest level is?

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