Increase a player experience when he/she buys a consumable items?

Hi all
Suppose a game doesn't have any upgradable items or has a few ones. The game has many consumable items.
Is it suitable to increase a player experience when he/she buys a consumable items?
and what measures can we increase a player experience?
Thanks in advance

 

I have no idea what your talking about, but it sounds neat.
What if your exp was based on your inventory. buy a potion, you have 10 extra exp. use a potion and negate 10 exp.
Rpgs usually have players hoarding consumables. this would give the typical rpg gamer a reward for doing so, and also extra consideration to use "expensive items"
If you build a game around this, it could be awesome
and exp measurements depend on the level up chart you decide to use
lvl 1 could be 0 - 10 or 0 - 100. You would have to work out the numbers yourself, or try to find a template

 

Is the player buying the potion with in-game money or real money or both?

If real money, I would never play a game where I had to spent money whenever I buy a consumable like a potion just to get xp. This is especially true if the XP is really just temporary. If you pay real money, that potion and xp are gone. Might be very frustrating for a player. Would it not just be better to let them keep the XP so that they buy more stuff? If this is a multi-player game, this is a set up for the perfect pay-to-win scenario, not only for live saving potions, but also for XP, basically the way to progress. Such methods for progression are not very popular with players....as seen in the news lately.

If you are using in-game money, then this may not be a problem, although...losing XP for using an item in your inventory seems punishing. Out of curiosity, what would be the benefit of hoarding in a single player game of items purchased with in-game money? In a multi-player game hoarding can cause issues with the in-game economy, such as driving in-game prices up...making it difficult for new players to succeed. The OP did not say what type of game he is making.

 

Is the player buying the potion with in-game money or real money or both?with in-game money
suppose we have a main virtual currency unit (like Gem) and secondary currency.
Absolutely you don't buy items for getting XP!
you buy them to use them in games.
Games often increase players xp, when players upgrade non consumable items or do missions
but the game doesn't have many non consumable items(does have only one)
and doesnt have missions
yes the game is multiplayer and competitional and has single mode too
Is it suitable to increase player xp when the player wins?
I use xp to unlock some items for players and etc
If a player wins, he/she gets rewards (coin,antiques, energies ..)

 

Using XP to unlock has no bearing as long as you do not require gems or something that are purchased with real money. Let the players ALL earn the in-game money to buy the items once they are unlocked. Any introduction of real money that allows the player to instantly open their wallet and pay and then be better or stronger than players who do not pay is pay-to-win.

Pay to win: Games that let you buy better gear or allow you to make better items then everyone else at a faster rate and then makes the game largely unbalanced even for people who have skill in the game without paying.​

Mobile gamers seem okay with this probably because there are so many pay-to-win games out there that it is impossible to find many that do not have it. Your game, if a mobile, will just blend in with the masses of other mobile games that use in-app purchases to succeed.

It is becoming more common in PC games as well, but still not popular. Honestly, I do not see how you can call a game a game if you let people buy stuff to become better/stronger/higher level/etc. and totally negates the ability for those who cannot pay to fall behind. What fun is competition if you can never win?

In my opinion, a game is a game when every player has the chance to equally succeed.

I am not sure how one could balance this. The best way is to have a set cost for the game or sell only cosmetics..or have a monthly fee for mutliplayer. I have seen some creative ways such as charging for extra characters or storage space.

I am not making an ethical point here. I am simply pointing out how such techniques unbalance the game and could change your targeted audience. If you think there are enough people out there who would play your game and who have a thick wallet, then go for it. Just remember, there are tons of games out there so make it special.

 

I’m all for accelerating the game for people who prefer watching numbers go up rather than actually play. BLEED THEM DRY!

Consumables, however, are a scourge upon gaming. Things bought should last for the lifetime of the game when real money is spent.

Short-term XP boosts and outright XP awards for real money is bad. Permanent item giving a bonus to XP is better. Making it earnable through playing is even better.

 

it doesn't create unbalanced
I think you supposed the game has soldiers and armies, so if a player buys many items he/she always wins! no
it doesn't have any soldiers and armies
it is a competition board puzzle game with timer. he/she can buy a few items for every game(magics and elixirs that help the player to solve them)
I said items need special player xp to be unlocked because if all items are unlocked at first, players can use all of them even when they have low xp

 

I agree with you and said above yes
but the game doesn't have permanent items. so how can we increase xp?

 

I'd be worried that the first time a player gets stuck on a puzzle they think it's a paywall and quit, possibly with loud internet complaining..

 

Ahh, but you say competition. What if one player has more real money the the second player. In that case, the second player will always lose because the first player will always have more money to buy things that help her.

If the competition is between the player and the computer, then fine. That is so common I could barely find a game for my ipad that did not do that!! I gave a bit of my real life money for whatever reason, realized this is stupid. And stopped playing them. I doubt I will ever buy another game with in app purchases again. lol

But..some folks will do that. I do not consider a game where the player competes with the computer or themselves the same as a game where two players compete with each other.

Exactly what happened to me. I quit and will not buy those games again. I buy only games where I can pay up front or possible pay for add-ons to a puzzle game...each level or whatever. But I refuse to ever again pay for diamonds or gems or stars, or whatever.

And I tried to play without paying extras and it was not worth it. It was very frustrating. I adore puzzle games but now days, I find the only ones I can find that do not ask for money for everything....from a clue to a dialogue choice to a chair to improve the house....are the older games. Some good ones out there though! Just so aggravating to hunt for them. My one spurt of mobile game purchasing, just before the plane ride from Austin back home, did not go well. Very disappointed.

 

Increase the XP by solving puzzles or by exploring new areas. But do not tie the XP to real life money.

If you are trying to find a way to make money off the game, consider cosmetics. A new outfit for the player, a musical instrument they can play, a flashlight that is purple or gold rather than old ugly one that you provide for free...you would be surprised how many people will buy these things IF they like your game.

But if you ask for money just to level up....I do not see how leveling up fits into a puzzle game though...then they will probably quit before they realize they like your game.

What exactly is the purpose of XP in your game? To increase the time they have to solve the puzzle? Add extra clues? If that is what are doing, then maybe instead, break your puzzles into groups and then give extra clues or extra time when you finish each group of puzzles.

I think one problem with this thread is that you gave us very little information about your game. Most of us who responded assumed it was an RPG but it seems it is not. XP works great when you have to kill stuff for heal or build stuff for XP, but not sure it is the best way to go about a puzzle game.

 

Ahh, the elixers to solve the puzzle.

Why not give those away as rewards when one solves the game? Not require real money, but just give them away. Let the player save them for when they need them.

Then if you need to get money, again, group the puzzles together and have the player pay for each set of puzzles.

I am currently playing a puzzle word game and I love it. I solve 21 puzzles and then it asks me to pay 99 cents for the next puzzles. There are many many puzzles, so at the end I may pay $20.

I do not mind this because I can play for days on one set of puzzles. Nothing pops up to interfere with my enjoyment of solving the puzzles. I solve each puzzle within the group and get a reward I can use for a clue. I can save them up for when I need them. Only when all 21 puzzles in the group are solved does the next group unlock and I can buy it.

I find this absolutely acceptable. I actually owned this same game on my old android, but then changed to an Iphone and lost it. Bought it all over again for my Ipad...that is how much I like it.

And I am a tough customer when it comes to anything but playing full price for a full game or a subscription. I do not mind either of those. So the fact that I found a monetization scheme for puzzle games and liked it, is a big deal. lol

 

Thank you very much dude
yes can use elixirs and magics to clue

 

Not a dude, but that is okay.

 

I haven't read the whole thread, disclaimer.


My opinion is that the player shouldn't get any reward unless they feel like they earned it. Otherwise, they'll get little satisfaction and lose interest in the game.

Even if the game is stupid easy, if the player believes that they are facing challenges and besting them, they'll feel good and keep playing.

That's one way to get player satisfaction, but I suppose there is others. For instance, in a game like Minecraft, I don't think people are looking to overcome challenges. It is more like a simplified creative outlet, much like actually making games (which is complicated!)

It sounds like your game might fall into that type of game category that I refer to as horder simulations. Games like Diablo where you are always chasing the next loot, although the gameplay never actually changes. How people enjoy those are beyond me, but they sure are popular.

 

Diablo is basically a casual roguelike. If you want to know why it's popular you'll need to either read up on roguelikes or play some of them. I recommend starting with Brogue because it's far less complex getting started.