I know most people have some game they think would be the greatest game ever. I’ve been thinking about one more and more lately and it probably isn’t what you would expect from someone who plays MMOs. I want a web based Warhammer and 40K table top game. Think of some of the Magic The Gathering online games and you get a pretty good idea of what I want. I don’t want a Real Time Strategy, I want a turn based game.
Just like Magic has you purchase virtual cards with real money so to could you purchase miniatures with real money to build your army. My only caveat would be that they cost less than the actual miniatures. Magic currently has virtual booster packs at about the same price as real ones. You could offer discounts to people who buy a virtual army in order to encourage them to purchase real ones. Just, for the love of the Emperor, make the paints free.
The game should be played through a web browser; the reason is that it would increase the user base. Take a page from Facebook games; get people to play from work. If someone can play while they are at work you increase the potential customers, the reason for this is simple. You are not competing with other video games they can play from home. You are now not competing with MMOs or console games. You are only competing with other web based games and let’s face it, there aren’t many out there.
In order to play at work it has to be turn based, with no time limit. I’ve been playing Scrabble through Facebook lately and the wonderful thing about it is you don’t have to sit there and play one game straight through. My wife and I have been spending 2 or 3 days on a game, you can even limit the amount of moves allowed per day.
Imagine the revenue that Games Workshop could generate from this.
Pay money up front for access to the game, and have it come with a basic army… Sort of like a virtual Battle of Macragge. The initial purchase price needs to be low enough to encourage people to try it but also to make them feel obligated to play after they pay. It could include a choice from maybe 3 basic armies, Space Marine, Chaos, or Orc and outfit you with a 750 point army. I would recommend a huge discount compared to if you bought them individual.
Then you can sell other armies… maybe have some of them as expansion packs but make every army useable at all times. So if I only ever buy my 750 Chaos army I can play against someone with a Tao army. Seeing someone with the other army, and more importantly losing to it, will encourage people to buy more.
Sell more units and create different leagues and tournaments based off the amount of points. So you can have a 750, 1000, 1500, 2000, etc point battles. Let normal “random” matches be free. Have tournaments and leagues have an entry fee and have prizes for the winners.
The possibilities are endless.
The more I think about it the more I think this is an amazing idea. I did some quick finance math and I believe you could launch this game with in 12 months at a cost of around 3 million in development. If you allow for $15 for the start up pack you would need 200k people.
ReplyDeleteNow while that may seem like alot I've got another plan too. Give a 1 week free trial with a 250 point army, basically 1 squad.
The upkeep cost would be low and development wouldn't be hard at all. There is nearly no balance testing needed. GWs has already done that with their Table Top game. You could have a 4th and 5th army out in, a conservative estimate, of 6 months after launch.
I believe that after 3 months the game would clear all start up costs and begin to turn a profit.
I've been looking at Warhammer for a couple of years now. The insane costs and low chance of playing with anyone locally have made it a nonstarter for me.
ReplyDeleteI'd buy a cheap army and play online if that were an option, probably on day one. I'd hate any subscription model, but if it were like MTGO, where you just buy stuff and play with it, I'm all for it.
Of course, I'd like a WarMachine version of this, too...