Extra models/skins would be nice, as long as they fit (no My Little Pony DLC or something crazy like that). You buy a model for a few dollars and get to use it, and it shows up in-game for everyone. That would only improve the game. Espcecially Marines feels like they are clones. Just a cigarr or a bandana here and there wouldn't hurt. Or furry Gorges.
I wonder if we could detect when you've bought NS2 as a gift for someone..then we could do something pretty simple in game, like give your name a "NS2 Evangelist" badge or something
Extra models/skins would be nice, as long as they fit (no My Little Pony DLC or something crazy like that). You buy a model for a few dollars and get to use it, and it shows up in-game for everyone. That would only improve the game. Espcecially Marines feels like they are clones. Just a cigarr or a bandana here and there wouldn't hurt. Or furry Gorges.
I could see having a few more skins for marines, such as the female skin/model that's coming. But to me it always made sense that marines are in uniform. Full on F2P style customization.. I don't know but it would just make the game feel cheap and distract from the actual game.
Just my 2 cents though, possibly I'm just being a grumpy old man If there's no other way for UWE to make money, well I'm probably not going to stop playing.
That said, the gift-badge idea sounds interesting and I can't even remember how many times I've read people on the forums asking for official merchandise like stuffed gorges and art prints over the years.
- > Gorge plush. Seriously, you'd make thousands with that thing. Even non-NS2 players would love that. Especially if it farts.
- > Apparel. Because it doesn't cost much, doesn't need much inital investment, and you don't need to do it yourself.
- > Some kind of new constellation program (allthough you'd have to solve the trasaction-to-account thingy). I still beat myself over not having my constell done when I could.
- > I, personally do not like the TF2 like cosmetic micro-transactions, but I think it would be even worse if in a couple of year I can't find any new guy to play with.
- > I, personally do not like the TF2 like cosmetic micro-transactions, but I think it would be even worse if in a couple of year I can't find any new guy to play with.
Wow, I actually have my constell ! Didn't remember that ! ! ! This is EPIC
The one thing that I would suggest Unknown Worlds does is add a "Standard to Deluxe Edition Upgrade" to the Steam store. Remember that several thousand gift copies of the Standard Edition were given out to those that pre-ordered early. Many of the people that received those gift copies might now be wishing that they had the Deluxe Edition armor and the other goodies.
I completely agree with this. I bought the standard edition at launch because I didnt know if the game was any good. Not long after I bought it, I returned to the NS2 steam store page and wanted to buy the deluxe edition, yet steam does not allow you to have more than one copy of the game which made me SUPER sad. PLEASE PLEASE let us be able to upgrade(pay extra) to upgrade to the deluxe edition!
Or does anyone know how I can get rid of my standard edition and re-buy a deluxe edition?
The one thing that I would suggest Unknown Worlds does is add a "Standard to Deluxe Edition Upgrade" to the Steam store. Remember that several thousand gift copies of the Standard Edition were given out to those that pre-ordered early. Many of the people that received those gift copies might now be wishing that they had the Deluxe Edition armor and the other goodies.
I completely agree with this. I bought the standard edition at launch because I didnt know if the game was any good. Not long after I bought it, I returned to the NS2 steam store page and wanted to buy the deluxe edition, yet steam does not allow you to have more than one copy of the game which made me SUPER sad. PLEASE PLEASE let us be able to upgrade(pay extra) to upgrade to the deluxe edition!
Or does anyone know how I can get rid of my standard edition and re-buy a deluxe edition?
Great idea! We'll look into it soon.
This was something that was requested from Tripwire Interactive on their game Red Orchestra 2 and they now have the upgrade option on the store page:
Sorry, I should clarify why it's tough to make the business case for the cosmetics. It's not the creation of the content that would be the problem. It's the back end. Suddenly, NS2 has to have user account logins, we have to have a payment system, we have to overall our animation and model handling, we have to authenticate content against user accounts, etc etc it all adds up and would cost lots of moolah.
We already have user account logins and a payment system. Release them through Steam. I'm sure valve won't mind hehe.
I would love high quality artwork to hang on my wall...
Cory has made a variety of amazing concept art over the years (much of which is in the Deluxe edition special content). It'd be wonderful if we could purchase high quality posters of the images.
These are marines we're talking about! They wear uniforms. They are supposed to lack individuality. Same with the aliens, who share a hive mind.
That said. I have two stream accounts, I can launch ns2 from the one that I don't own it on, but can't connect to any servers. So, there it's obviously a login system that checks if the steam account is authorized to use the game.
If authorized, check a simple sql database for stream Id, and a string associated with it containing purchased cosmetic doodads. When the client connects to the server, it sends the cosmetic string along with player name and deluxe edition status. server relays info to other connected clients, clients display doodads. Kinda like how ns1 shows my constie icon in game.
If the cosmetic content were pre installed with the client, there would be no need to download models ala ut2k4.
I'm not particularly a good programmer, but I'm fairly confident I could implement it, probably.
if you were able to work this out with black armor, why not with other skins?
The system that puts the two extra marine armour types in the game is not designed to handle a plethora of customisations. ... Also, Steam's DLC system, which authenticates the armours, is not designed for cosmetic customisation. It would be A) Incredibly clunky and Valve would not allow it.
I'm not talking about a pile of options, I'm talking about ONE package for each bunch of skins. There are plenty of games that release DLC for strictly cosmetic content. Over on Train Simulator you can buy this train skin, for $20, on sale 50% off though. People must like their trains to spend that kind of money on just a train skin so they can drive that particular train. If they can do it for a train skin, why can't NS2 do it for a package of skins for their game? So I'm not talking about people being able to buy one of 50 skins for $0.99 cents or such. It's a package, one of two, that would be available. One package for marines, one for aliens.
Or, how about this then. Release a new version of NS2 called 'ultimate edition' which includes the full game and all the new skins. Have it replace the deluxe edition. Now create a method for existing owners of the other editions to 'upgrade' to the new edition. So instead of being DLC, it would technically be a different title that you could buy, and users of the other titles would be able to upgrade to the new title.
If you want to make cash you're going to need to do it through Steam. Short of a new title, selling skin packs (which maybe include new animations and such) would be a guaranteed seller for NS2 fans.
I think the developers should investigate possibly having the expansions to NS2 to be 'pay-what-you-want'. It is a middle ground between not segregating the player base, but still being able to recover costs from the costly development process.
(As an aside, I rediscovered my old NS1 forum account. A fun discovery to say the least.)
EDIT: This is already a thread on that idea. Derp.
From another topic, but that is a option aswell Hugh.
Pay-what-you-want is a bit of a gamble, but it could turn out great.
been thinking about whats next for uwe, most indie companies go on to either make a follow up game or an expansion (possibly standalone) to their original game.
This got me thinking, how exactly could an expansion ot ns2 actually work? you see TWI simply switched their ww2 shooter from russia to the pacific theatre to create new content. But how would this possibly work for ns2?
the only way i can think of that uwe can make money from ns2 content without creating ns3 or a completely new game away from the ns universe is to add a third race, a 3rd race to ns2 with maps specifically designed for 3 way play. this way it would play very differently to the original ns2 which is obviously 2 sides and it would allow uwe to reuse assets and not have to design a whole new game. im thinking 15.00 to 20.00 for the expansion.
How do you think uwe should go about their future product? afterall constant patches for ns2 is great but at some point uwe will be looking for more revenue.
I just wanted to mention, after seeing babbler armor, it looks like you already have attachment points for the aliens and a little reskin could turn babblers into cosmetic items, allbeit it would have to be a new "thing" as babblers need to stay babblers but I think you can see where I'm going with this.
I just wanted to mention, after seeing babbler armor, it looks like you already have attachment points for the aliens and a little reskin could turn babblers into cosmetic items, allbeit it would have to be a new "thing" as babblers need to stay babblers but I think you can see where I'm going with this.
Excellent point. With that said, adding to what I said earlier, a lot of code could probably be recycled.
You should consider an additional level of deluxe imo, since most of us already got it by pre ordering and it could offer an additional venue of revenue.
You should consider an additional level of deluxe imo, since most of us already got it by pre ordering and it could offer an additional venue of revenue.
Well no kidding but you see how nuts people go for armor. Especially the cooler they look. It's an untapped gold mine.
Bring back black armor for a limited time, and I'd pay a lot more than $5-10 for it.
Black armor is for people who bought NS2 around about three years ago and essentially helped fund the game's development.
Black armor is for hipsters like me who bought NS2 before it was cool. If they started selling Black Armor again, it would become too mainstream.
Something else you should know is that when we release alpha 1 at the end of this month, we are also discontinuing the NS2 Special Edition and all-black marine armor. It will no longer be available after this date, ever.
Comments
I could see having a few more skins for marines, such as the female skin/model that's coming. But to me it always made sense that marines are in uniform. Full on F2P style customization.. I don't know but it would just make the game feel cheap and distract from the actual game.
Just my 2 cents though, possibly I'm just being a grumpy old man
That said, the gift-badge idea sounds interesting and I can't even remember how many times I've read people on the forums asking for official merchandise like stuffed gorges and art prints over the years.
- > Apparel. Because it doesn't cost much, doesn't need much inital investment, and you don't need to do it yourself.
- > Some kind of new constellation program (allthough you'd have to solve the trasaction-to-account thingy). I still beat myself over not having my constell done when I could.
- > I, personally do not like the TF2 like cosmetic micro-transactions, but I think it would be even worse if in a couple of year I can't find any new guy to play with.
Wow, I actually have my constell ! Didn't remember that ! ! ! This is EPIC
Great idea! We'll look into it soon.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/35450/
We already have user account logins and a payment system. Release them through Steam. I'm sure valve won't mind hehe.
That said. I have two stream accounts, I can launch ns2 from the one that I don't own it on, but can't connect to any servers. So, there it's obviously a login system that checks if the steam account is authorized to use the game.
If authorized, check a simple sql database for stream Id, and a string associated with it containing purchased cosmetic doodads. When the client connects to the server, it sends the cosmetic string along with player name and deluxe edition status. server relays info to other connected clients, clients display doodads. Kinda like how ns1 shows my constie icon in game.
If the cosmetic content were pre installed with the client, there would be no need to download models ala ut2k4.
I'm not particularly a good programmer, but I'm fairly confident I could implement it, probably.
Or, how about this then. Release a new version of NS2 called 'ultimate edition' which includes the full game and all the new skins. Have it replace the deluxe edition. Now create a method for existing owners of the other editions to 'upgrade' to the new edition. So instead of being DLC, it would technically be a different title that you could buy, and users of the other titles would be able to upgrade to the new title.
If you want to make cash you're going to need to do it through Steam. Short of a new title, selling skin packs (which maybe include new animations and such) would be a guaranteed seller for NS2 fans.
Pay-what-you-want is a bit of a gamble, but it could turn out great.
This got me thinking, how exactly could an expansion ot ns2 actually work? you see TWI simply switched their ww2 shooter from russia to the pacific theatre to create new content. But how would this possibly work for ns2?
the only way i can think of that uwe can make money from ns2 content without creating ns3 or a completely new game away from the ns universe is to add a third race, a 3rd race to ns2 with maps specifically designed for 3 way play. this way it would play very differently to the original ns2 which is obviously 2 sides and it would allow uwe to reuse assets and not have to design a whole new game. im thinking 15.00 to 20.00 for the expansion.
How do you think uwe should go about their future product? afterall constant patches for ns2 is great but at some point uwe will be looking for more revenue.
Wooooooot! Good on ya UWE
It's up now! GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEYZ!! :P
oh noes! I already bought it! Just take this briefcase of money and do as you must! (annnd I'll need a receipt, you know, taxes and all)
Well no kidding but you see how nuts people go for armor. Especially the cooler they look. It's an untapped gold mine.
Bring back black armor for a limited time, and I'd pay a lot more than $5-10 for it.
Maybe only allow black armor purchasable to those with 1000 hours played, so that the black armor will remain sacred.
Shit, make it $50. That'd keep it sacred, and I'd still buy it. I've been around since day one, so I doubt it'd be a bad thing with me owning it
Black armor is for hipsters like me who bought NS2 before it was cool. If they started selling Black Armor again, it would become too mainstream.
Quote from an old blog post:
(Emphasis on "ever".)
Where do I get these deluxe purchase things like the artbook and whatnot?
deluxe folder in your game directory.