Chapter 23: Pricing for the Experience Store

Early in the morning, Alex Parker received a message from Athen Carter.

"Alex, my game, Storm Knight's Grand Adventure, is set to launch tomorrow. I've sent you an installation package. Please try it out. How's your game development going?"

Alex replied, "Sure, I'll give it a try. My game is pretty much done. I'm planning to put it in the experience store to collect player feedback in the next few days."

Athen Carter responded, "What? Finished already? It's only been three months! Are you on a rocket or something???"

Alex laughed, "It's a casual game and not that big. I'll send you an installation package in a few days for you to try."

Athen Carter said, "Great, let's give each other feedback and improve together."

Alex downloaded Athen Carter's game package and installed it on his phone.

"Storm Knight's Grand Adventure," with a 94MB installation package, featured an icon of a little man holding a sword.

This game had been in development for nearly six months. After taking Alex's advice, Athen Carter spent another three months modifying it, testing, tweaking, and preparing for the market launch, which had taken a considerable amount of time.

In comparison, Alex's development of "Plants vs. Zombies" was much faster. The time Athen Carter spent on adjustments was the same time Alex used to develop his entire game.

Entering the game, Alex noticed subtle optimizations in scenes, characters, and gameplay. These minor changes were only noticeable to someone with Alex's keen eye.

Athen Carter had clearly put a lot of effort into the game's experience.

Additionally, Athen Carter made significant gameplay changes based on Alex's suggestions.

One notable improvement was the complete overhaul of the combat system. While retaining the essence of the original system, Athen Carter added substantial new content. A standout feature was the new combat ability, "Storm."

The protagonist, a knight, could control storm powers, using gusts to slow enemies and reduce their vision, rain to hinder their movement and cause minor ailments and a powerful hurricane to blow away smaller foes.

Minor storm abilities were constant, while primary storm abilities required energy buildup to use.

Monsters were also revamped to match the new combat system. Different monsters were vulnerable to different storm abilities, while some had resistances.

For example, a heavily armoured monster was barely affected by gusts or hurricanes but was significantly slowed by rain, which caused "disease" and "rust" effects, gradually weakening it.

Alex appreciated these combat system modifications. Athen Carter had innovated beyond Alex's suggestions, creating something unique.

The "storm" combat ability was also reflected in the game's title, a clever move by Athen Carter.

"Storm Knight's Grand Adventure" gave players an immediate sense of the game's content while maintaining some mystery, effectively drawing them in.

Another significant change was the branching storyline. Initially, with a single ending, it now had four possible outcomes based on player choices.

Ending One: The knight defeats the dragon, rescues the princess, becomes a hero, and lives happily ever after with her.

Ending Two: The knight fails to save the princess and perishes with the dragon in a final, desperate battle.

Ending Three: The knight defeats but spares the dragon, making it a kingdom guardian.

Ending Four: The knight defeats the dragon but succumbs to the lure of treasure, becoming the new dragon.

Using Athen Carter's GM tool, Alex experienced the game fully within three hours and explored all four endings.

Under normal gameplay, completing the game would take 6-8 hours, with double that time to explore all endings.

Athen Carter adopted two of Alex's three suggestions, smartly omitting the ultra-high difficulty one.

In Alex's view, the game might not become a super hit but was set to enjoy moderate success.

Alex messaged Athen Carter: "I've played your game, and it's excellent. It's sure to be popular."

Athen Carter quickly replied, "Thanks for the good vibes. I'll be busy with the game launch for the next couple of days. After that, I'll visit your store to try your game."

Alex replied, "Deal."

After lunch, Alex took a one-hour nap, waking at 2 PM to prepare for the store's official opening.

Before the grand opening, Alex had some preparations to complete.

First, he checked the store's equipment and installed the game correctly.

Second, he set the pricing for the experience store.

As the designer, Alex had complete control over pricing. He could set it to be free for everyone.

However, free access posed a problem. What if Alex's future games became hits?

If the store became crowded with players gaming all day and night, it would defeat the purpose, preventing most people from experiencing the games.

Offering free access initially and then increasing prices wouldn't work either.

Store pricing needed to remain stable. Reducing prices was acceptable, but increasing them would upset existing players.

As the store wasn't profit-driven, Alex didn't want to control the crowd through price hikes later.

Hence, he decided to charge from the start, ensuring it wasn't too cheap.

In case of overcrowding, he would also limit each player's game time.

In this world, Internet café prices in the capital range from $3 to $10 per hour, with $3 per hour being the bare minimum.

Higher-end cafés existed but catered to the wealthy. Alex aimed for a price most players could accept.

Ultimately, Alex set the experience store price at $5 per hour, reflecting the superior environment and spaciousness compared to typical cafés.

This price was relatively high for now but would be justified as Alex developed more premium games over time.

Drinks were sold at market prices, not marked up. Alex wasn't concerned with small profits from refreshments.

Players were only charged while gaming. If the store was packed, players were limited to a maximum of four hours, after which they had to log off and rejoin the queue.

The store operated from 10 AM to 8 PM, with no overnight or extended bookings.

After setting everything up, at 2:30 PM, Alex officially opened the experience store.