Future of Skylords Reborn and intro to Ardent Peak

[Mitch]

On 11-2-2017 at 9:09 PM, MrXLink said:

The possibility is there, yes. I would certainly help certain players to accelerate their way into a completed game if they deem that necessary. Again, nothing is sure yet but it is an idea that's being discussed. If we do, however, you can be assured that gaining BFP freely will still be way more accessible and gained at a much, much faster pace than ever before, and likely faster than your average F2P business model.

 

I wouldn't mind micro transactions at all, hell I'd probably  buy them whenever they're available. c:
As long as it's fair to earn BFP fast as grinding for it.
 

[Malzawar]

4 hours ago, Mitch said:

I wouldn't mind micro transactions at all, hell I'd probably  buy them whenever they're available. c:
As long as it's fair to earn BFP fast as grinding for it.
 

I think being able to buy your way into endgame will hurt the durability of the project.

I'm thinking back at all the games I have played so far. I played an MMO for 4 years, but just 2 days in the same MMO on a private server with faster progress. I've spend years, building shitty decks in yugioh when I was a kid and had no money. But played about a week with a 200€ high tier deck. And there are many other examples.

And its kind of more exciting to know that everyone has to start from scratch and all are equal. It makes it more competetive and makes people want to play more frequently, which would help the health of the game

 

Maybe microtransactions for getting things that are not influencing the gameplay would be nice, like high quality fanmade icons for players (can't think of much more currently)

Edited March 20, 2017 by Malzawar

[Phoenix313]

For me it was: when we got all cards, I didnt stop to play battleforge. I was the complete opposite and even played some community maps and tried to do it better in better, made many different decks, was playing random 4 player level 10 battlegrounds for fun and so on, than massively farming tokens, trying to get bfp by trading and so on.

The trading was kind of fun for a while but after that it was more like work (i got something of about 10k - 50k BFP that way), especially because I was collecting marketing data, building marketing statistic, estimating the risk of investments and so on, than having fun playing a game. I think I still have my big excel sheets somewhere with all the prices and many transactions. I even thought of creating a database and software for this. Even if it was a nice experience and I somehow felt like an equity trader / investment banker, I hope that its not necessarily to get all cards in an reasonable amount of time. To my shame I have to admit that I was one of those guys reasonable for keeping the prices high ;).

The problem was that not the playing itself was rewarding but doing stuff like trading. As far as I see, the approach could be changed, by the planned daily quests and getting bfp while playing (and not only on other ways). Also the thing that the tokens get removed so that there is no need to excessively farm them could improve that too.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Phoenix313

[GenetixX]

Maybe there can be Micro transactions to buy boosters and not single cards. It would be more fun with that option and it wouldnt hurt the durability of the project.

[Asraiel]

well for me is one of the major fun and gameplay parts in a trading card game the farming and trading but if you have them all on max its for me a bit like using a cheat the game looses something improtent. hope ther will be some sort of a reset to set the account back to start. so you can enjoy the full game once again.

 

@GenetixX I would say it will stay free not even such micro transaction since EA has forbidden to make profits with the Game (its in the gray zone but can be very risky maybe after 1-2 year later an option but not at start) there can also be the option that later on players get bigger and better starterpacks to start with the game. right now will it only be common or a few uncommon.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Asraiel

[gloomist]

Hi everyone,

Something made me check google for Battleforge news even though almost 4 years passed since I played my last game. I found this site and community. It's difficult to express my feelings. Like an long forgotten memory of first love you recalled. We're home Chewie, - that sort of things.

I want to say thank you to all who's involved and already looking to donate. God. Can't believe it's happening.

[Cocofang]

The craziest news about this whole thing is EA is fine with it with some obvious restrictions. Normally big publishers just sit on their IPs and let the rot, even if they don't even want them anymore. In the past people wanted to buy IPs from various publishers to revive some of them, yet were denied. So this is pretty huge actually.

However:

Quote

We ARE allowed to commercialise the game to the extent that we are allowed to gain money for the project, and this opens up quite some future opportunities. 

We will never be making the game Pay2Win or Pay2Play. 

THIS made me instantly wary. Back then BF was pretty much the game that taught me to monitor my spending habits when it comes to endless money dump-games. I didn't break the bank but definitely spent more than I want to know.

Now, with that in mind, and also the general fact that a lot of people already paid for this exact thing in the past, I really can't see myself spending money once again. There was this thing going around that it would be completely free and only fueled by donations and that would have been fine by me. But now with the prospect that there might be things coming that you have to pay for? The old BF wasn't P2W either and the grind for new cards was still tedious as hell.

I paid my share for BF back in the day and I won't do it again. For me, as the consumer, it doesn't matter if the people behind it are different. It's still the same thing (or supposed to be). I also know that servers and maintenance can't be paid with by love and passion. But with this I am kinda on the fence again. If mechanics get designed for the sake of pushing some sales onto people (like grinds for points to unlock content instead of using the shortcut and spend money), it would be a huge bummer.

[lakij]

A lot of games that start free introduce pay 2 win or  microtransactions,possiblyboth.

BattleForge as it is now and in the future won't be pay2win,but introduced microtransactions(which I'm fine with-don't take me wrong)

Take for example the game i play-World of Tanks-it's a free 2 play game with premium tanks-some of them are pay 2 win,but most are just to boost your credits and your progression.

Microtransactions do the same-they boost your progress,but are not pay 2 win.

Microtransactions for BF points are OK,but only if you gain resonable amount of BF points in the quests,etc.  unlike previously only 2/day.    

           Taste the rainbow                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Edited March 27, 2017 by lakij
not enough rainbow

[sylvix95]

1 hour ago, lakij said:

A lot of games that start free introduce pay 2 win or  microtransactions,possiblyboth.

BattleForge as it is now and in the future won't be pay2win,but introduced microtransactions(which I'm fine with-don't take me wrong)

Take for example the game i play-World of Tanks-it's a free 2 play game with premium tanks-some of them are pay 2 win,but most are just to boost your credits and your progression.

Microtransactions do the same-they boost your progress,but are not pay 2 win.

Microtransactions for BF points are OK,but only if you gain resonable amount of BF points in the quests,etc.  unlike previously only 2/day.    

           Taste the rainbow                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

hum, If i understand correctly, you think that BattleForge will have microtransactions when it comes out on the SR server ?

Because I think it wont.

Edited March 27, 2017 by sylvix95

[Asraiel]

On 11.2.2017 at 4:00 PM, MrXLink said:

• We ARE allowed to commercialise the game to the extent that we are allowed to gain money for the project, and this opens up quite some future opportunities. 

i guess the game will be playeble 100% free aldo there is the possebilitys thatz some content may be limited to a fully free account like limitation of active trades at the same time or mailbox has limitet slots and in order to remove those restrictions they make somekind of premium membership (at low cost maybe 20 € / year) to get 2x the trade capacy 2x the mailbox space and maybe even 2x the BFP and Gold reward.

thru this the games stays f2p and you may get a liitle speedboost and helping to run or pay the server 

but what allways has to be garanteed that there will not be anykind of item thats only avaieble thru Real money. i see a lot of peoples reffering to P2W, for my expirience i didnt saw any game mmo game in the last 5-10 years that had p2w, they may had Pay2Boost or Pay2savegamingtime or only Pay2Skin but nothing that gave an advantage in 1v1 over a f2p player

 

this are my personal thougts no official statment

Edited March 27, 2017 by Asraiel

[Cocofang]

5 hours ago, Asraiel said:

i guess the game will be playeble 100% free aldo there is the possebilitys thatz some content may be limited to a fully free account like limitation of active trades at the same time or mailbox has limitet slots and in order to remove those restrictions they make somekind of premium membership (at low cost maybe 20 € / year) to get 2x the trade capacy 2x the mailbox space and maybe even 2x the BFP and Gold reward.

thru this the games stays f2p and you may get a liitle speedboost and helping to run or pay the server 

but what allways has to be garanteed that there will not be anykind of item thats only avaieble thru Real money. i see a lot of peoples reffering to P2W, for my expirience i didnt saw any game mmo game in the last 5-10 years that had p2w, they may had Pay2Boost or Pay2savegamingtime or only Pay2Skin but nothing that gave an advantage in 1v1 over a f2p player

 

this are my personal thougts no official statment

If they actively lock content/functionality behind a paywall or want reoccurring payments, I would be fucking out.

Forcing grinds onto people to manipulate them into coughing up money was basically what the original BF did and it was tedious as hell. If they absolutely want to have microtransactions in this reboot, the most ethical way to go about it would be cosmetics that you can ALSO unlock by playing (albeit associated with a lot of playtime because they are in no way essential). For example the Harvester had a promo version that was fully upgraded and had a different skin. You could sell these different skins (without the upgraded part) that you could attach to the respective card.

The problem is that BF was built from the ground up to support a payment model that is based on collectible trading cards. Get randomized stuff from boosters (mostly just trash) or buy it directly from the AH. Either way, you needed BFP.

What I would love to see is that you start with a basic set of cards, maybe even the ones you got from the original BF. Then, after you finish a certain map you have the choice between one predetermined card of your choosing or a randomized (maybe map-specific) booster. That would retain the "collectible trading cards" feeling without contaminating it with a sleazy crash grab. Or something like that.

 

Basically, what would maybe even incentivize me to pay a couple bucks is, if I could see that they don't actively impede people in order to get them to pay money. No forced grinds or restrictions. A 100% leveled playing field between paying and non-paying players. But without something that inspires my honest support, I really don't feel like paying for something again that I already had.

[Demigod]

Sounds Great!

[AmazeRo]

Keep up the great work

[LowerMarrow774]

Great news for us all... And thanks @Ardent Peak for coming into the frey... One question though.... How did @Ardent Peak come to be interested with this game???

[Teclis]

On 27.3.2017 at 8:20 PM, Cocofang said:

If they actively lock content/functionality behind a paywall or want reoccurring payments, I would be fucking out.

Forcing grinds onto people to manipulate them into coughing up money was basically what the original BF did and it was tedious as hell. If they absolutely want to have microtransactions in this reboot, the most ethical way to go about it would be cosmetics that you can ALSO unlock by playing (albeit associated with a lot of playtime because they are in no way essential). For example the Harvester had a promo version that was fully upgraded and had a different skin. You could sell these different skins (without the upgraded part) that you could attach to the respective card.

The problem is that BF was built from the ground up to support a payment model that is based on collectible trading cards. Get randomized stuff from boosters (mostly just trash) or buy it directly from the AH. Either way, you needed BFP.

What I would love to see is that you start with a basic set of cards, maybe even the ones you got from the original BF. Then, after you finish a certain map you have the choice between one predetermined card of your choosing or a randomized (maybe map-specific) booster. That would retain the "collectible trading cards" feeling without contaminating it with a sleazy crash grab. Or something like that.

 

Basically, what would maybe even incentivize me to pay a couple bucks is, if I could see that they don't actively impede people in order to get them to pay money. No forced grinds or restrictions. A 100% leveled playing field between paying and non-paying players. But without something that inspires my honest support, I really don't feel like paying for something again that I already had.

I generally like the Idea, but this complete ignorance t how the world works is not ok.

Just think on what you are saying there, everyone has to invest the same amount of TIME, to achieve the same thing, right? (same skill level as a prerequisite) Sounds fair?

Well, it is not, since not everyone has the same amount of time at their disposal, which is not fair either. The world is not a fair place and havin the possibility to trade some money, for a quicker progress in order to keep up with your friends is not a bad thing.

But I generally agree, that there has to be an additional reward system which gives cards. Boosters would be a lot better IMO, since they incentivize replayability. But also a "bost" system like the old bf, with more-gold, exp, etc. would definately be a good thing for many people.

[Cocofang]

Yes, there are models that allow to trade money in order to safe time. Those commonly involve unnecessary, forced grinds in order to manipulate people into spending. Either way you don't think the other way around, that there are people that spend time AND money and these pull ahead by a fucking landslide, which can be especially problematic in a game that involves an economy.

[Macfish]

Let me start off by saying that I cannot wait for the game to return. I did not play it until it died, but I have been around for a long while. 

When it comes to a business model, I think it would be a mistake to not ask money for the game. You guys put in a lot of work, and people are more than willing to pay for a good product, so whilst you might not re-release the game as your own, I think you should treat this as a business. What is important in considering your business model is whether you are just reviving the game to get it back, or if you would be willing to spend the next 10 years developing content. 

In the former case you only need to worry about maintaining servers, which I guess can be done through donations. In the latter case, which I honestly think is the preferred option, you will have to consider that this game will have to not only pay itself, but also pay your bills. And I genuinely believe Skylords Reborn is unique and fun enough to do just that. What I for instance would more than willingly spend money on is something as simple as card skins. Basically if you reskinned an existing card (and changed the way its summoned version looks) I would totally buy that. What I would love to see in the future is more cards/new editions and more elements, but this would be so far down the line that I want you to continue this project as your sole project for a long time and that means you have to make money. 

I think a kickstarter campaign would be a great idea. If you kickstart this project, I think you can attract some people with expertise you are currently missing. 

[Nesdsa]

With the editor still be avalibe to us? "Maybe not like beat or alpha but full game wise.

[Kiwi]

@Nesdsa You will be able to use the editor yes, if you still have the files and such for the editor you can even still use it yourself right now.

[noobynooby12]

This is so awesome hope everything is going smooth from this point on

[Tnecniw]

*Squeals like a little girl*
This will be good
Just curious tho, will we get new cards when it is brought back? And new maps and all of that?

[SilenceKiller99]

5 minutes ago, Tnecniw said:

*Squeals like a little girl*
This will be good
Just curious tho, will we get new cards when it is brought back? And new maps and all of that?

For now the project team is focussing on bringing back the game as how its was (with minor adjustments). Maybe they will lateron also do extra stuff, but that has not been confirmed yet

[MephistoRoss]

We are no longer part of Ardent Peak. Due to differences in interest and vision of the direction of the project, we have since parted on good terms from Ardent Peak and gone our own way.

/Locked