XsyonMaster
Developer Update 09.01.2014
by
, 09-01-2014 at 08:17 PM (48893 Views)
Hello Xsyon Citizens!
A few important changes are coming to Xsyon over the next few months.
1) Tomorrow I will make a formal announcement of the Farming and Cooking update to game sites. I waited until now in order to iron out minor bugs and issues with the update.
2) Starting October 1st, the monthly subscription fee will be raised back to $14.99. Quarterly, bi-annual and yearly payments will be adjusted accordingly.
For those of you with current long term subscriptions, the change will take place upon your first new payment after October 1st.
3) Coming this month, the 'free to play' aspect of Xsyon will be revised.
The standard 'free to play' game model relies on a small percentage of players that pay high fees per month to account for those that pay nothing.
Typical 'free to play' games rely on micro-transactions for either cosmetic and collectible items or items that affect game play ('pay to win').
Xsyon was originally designed long before these systems existed. The standard 'free to play' model does not fit the intended nature of the game and the current model is too restrictive for new players get a real 'trial' of the game. Currently over 90% of new free players are not joining tribes, terraforming or building, which are the game's spotlight features.
This month I am going to try a new 'free trial' system. New players will be allowed one week to place a homestead and build a small town using a limited set of architectural parts. The new player can then enjoy all aspects of the game without joining an existing tribe. If the new player does not upgrade by the time the free trial expires, the player's homestead is disbanded and buildings are removed.
This system will go into testing as soon as possible on the Test Server. I will start a thread for feedback on this system at that point.
This system will be on trial for one month to see if it helps engage new players.
4) Next up I will be focusing on still remaining bugs and balance issues. This will include combat improvements, in particular synchronization issues that must be resolved before implementing ranged combat.
Feedback threads on balance and combat issues will also be posted when I'm ready.
I hope you are all enjoying the new farming and cooking systems!