[gameprogrammer] Decision Points

["Edilson Vasconcelos de Melo Junior" <dirso@jrsoftwares.com.br>]

Hi, Guys!

I'm making everything in the development of my first game by the book - literally.
I wrote a complete full with details Design Document and it took me almost 6 weeks of planinng before even start to programming and it is actually worthing. I never thought that spending so much time just writing down documentation would worth anything, but in the end of the last year, when I first started the game development by just sitting on my chair and filling pages and pages with code - like I always did - I felt totally lost.
Now I'm back to the game!!!
I have several good ideas for the game - who doesnt? - and now I'm planning the releases of the game.
I'm writing this post to ask you about a few advices for a newbie that is really enjoying the experience and is spending every cent from my day job work to make my dream come true.

1) About my game:
It's a really fast sport car race game

2) Releases
I first thought about a demo version for July 1st, a pre-release for Sep 1st and the Full version for December.
The demo would be the only free part of the game and it should be enough for the people to know what they will have buying the paid versions.
The pre-release would be a try to get funding for the full version due to the money I'm spending in the artwork and music.
The full version would be free for the customer that bought the pre-release and it should be out for Xmas.

3) Now the decisions I have to make:
a) I'm thinking about make the demo and pre-release as one and prob for september 1st
b) Make a demo as soon as I can and publish it on game development forums to get some feedback about the features – I’ll prob won’t release it to the public

4) Feature and prices
a) I was thinking about 40 different cars and about 50 racing tracks, including a big island (about 400 square miles) as a bonus championship with maybe 15 racing tracks distributed in the terrain.
b) The game is organized in championships and free races
The races will have up to 28 cars (or depending on the player’s computer), and the online mode can run on LAN and internet - anyone can start a server. But we will have an official server as well.
c) Up to 4 players can play together in the same PC.
d) You can start a championship with your friends, save the progress and schedule the other races to make it fun.
$) I was thinking about charge 19.95USD for the pre-release with 12 cars and 16 tracks, 3 months free for online playing the official server - when the full version gets released and free upgrade to the full version. The player could try before buy it... he could player 1 hour of racing.
$$) 29.95USD for all the features when the full version is released and one month try out online mode.
Do I have enough features for that?

 

I have been developing this game for over 6 months and when I’ll release the full version I’ll prob be able to release a mod editor as well – since I have car and level (tracks) editor for myself to put the content in the game. If I can’t release this mod editor for the full version, I’ll do an expansion pack for it in 3-6 months including the editor after the full version gets released.

If I wasn't clear enough, please ask.

Thank you very much,
Dirso.