[Dev Journal] Camelot Unchained: Gaming the Kickstarter Reward Tiers

SBFord

Creating Kickstarter backer reward tiers is a tricky business but one that Camelot Unchained's team has a solid grasp of thanks in large part to the MMORPG.com community. In an exclusive developer blog, Mark Jacobs talks about creating the reward tiers for the digital rewards and much more. Read on before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

My first goal was to embrace, not fear, the disparate nature of MMORPG gamers and to build tiers that consider this right from the beginning. The obvious issue with this was how best to deal with a potentially large and not particularly homogenous audience of players whose wants and needs are not only different from each other's but which are, at times, in direct conflict with those of their fellow MMORPG gamers.

Read more of Mark Jacobs' Camelot Unchained: Gaming the Kickstarter Reward Tiers.

Massively has the details on the physical rewards as well. 

burdock2

First! Will there be no physical copies of the game or "Collectors Editions" for say, the $150+ Tiers? These should be considered - also, how come the $110 tier gets Beta 2 access, but the $150 one only gets Beta 3? Should that read Beta 1? My suggestion would be to appeal to the old school gamers, is to have a collectors Box, cloth map, printed manual, ect. Look to Shroud of the Avatar for ideas!!

Ingvar

Pff this will cost me $200 to get into the alpha

kharzan

The weapons/armour that are for the $110 tier, I recognise that these are cosmetic differences only, but will they last the progression of the game or only a short duration? It would be frustrating to have these rare items (appearance-wise) but have to trade them in quickly to maintain your stats.

Stromm

Let the games begin ! :-)

Edany

Love it! Get those guys to update the Massively article to reflect all of the detail laid out here. As you know, there's a huge reader base over there and they are only listing the tiers that start at $120, and even then, the details aren't quite matching up.

Fantastic info here, VERY excited to see this!

kosac

why Pledge Tier $250 dosnt have alfa if $200 have alfa.. strange for me..

meddyck

If I am reading this right, the $200 tier gets fewer rewards than the $110 and $150 tiers. How does that make sense? Shouldn't it get everything those tiers get PLUS alpha access?

There doesn't seem to be a tier with beta 1 access.

Only giving beta 5 to $25 and beta 4 to $50 doesn't seem consistent with everything you've said about getting Founders involved in the creation of the game from an early stage. I would assume beta 5 is pretty close to release and around the time you'll be handing out public beta weekend keys on sites like this. Surely Founders even at that low a level should get in sooner than that?

Battlerock

This game has massive expectation. Then people will invest more expectation. Then it will launch. Then comes the rage. I cant help but be fascinated in this culture of gamers that throw money at what might be or what they think something will be. It's like history is irrelevant or forgotten or just brushed away to easily.

Edany

Also, the $200 mark is "pure alpha" access, but the $250 tier is "beta 2"? So is that access to both Alpha and Beta 2? Or is there a slight mixup on the access levels? Maybe its too early and I'm being a tard.

Dieedi

250$ tier includes physical rewards that explain the price differences

wutae

How come people do not understand what Mark did here ? Ate you interested about beta ? About cosmetics or alpha ? Pick whatever you prefer! For example I couldn't care less about cosmetics but I do care about alpha so I wouldn't want to get an extra fee for cosmetics that I don't realy need ! Mark about alpha , how early in development alpha access people will get?

Ice-Queen

Cool thanks! Hmm Now...do I get the $200 or the $500 so that my son and hubby have alpha access too.....

CExy

There is a pure alpha access tier, how about a pure beta 1 or 2 tier? 

I couldn't care less about a unique appearance starter armor

gylnne

Very nice tier structure, grats!

ThomasN7

Sound about right. Just wish we had ingame footage before we pledge. It is all good though, can't wait to get this started!

gylnne

Understand your wish Normandy7 but I point folks to Mark's integrity in the industry and using Kickstarter to fund a game is a wonderful way to get people involved in creating the game.

infuzor

Pledge Tier $250 is the one i'm getting. Hope it wont sold out in a sec.

BillMurphy

If you have questions for Mark, put them in the comments here, and we'll send them to Mark tonight to be answered tomorrow in a follow-up feature!

owenunbound

Losing alpha access between tiers $200 and $250 (and getting it back at $500) is confusing. I don't like it.

gylnne

Originally posted by BillMurphy
If you have questions for Mark, put them in the comments here, and we'll send them to Mark tonight to be answered tomorrow in a follow-up feature!

 

Thank you Bill

ThomasN7

Mark mentioned something about different subecription plans. I would like to know what ideas the CSE team has so far on that subject such as how much would a subscription be and what that entails.

MrBoots

Just another RVR game with no real risk vs reward. I always hate getting pushed into factions with people I don't like. It's a terrible game design and it's sad that Jacobs can't do anything new. He's going to keep making the same tired game forever. I burn out on these games in a few weeks then start looking for something else. I think I will pass on this one. The beta doesn't even appeal to me.

JayFiveAlive

Originally posted by kharzan
The weapons/armour that are for the $110 tier, I recognise that these are cosmetic differences only, but will they last the progression of the game or only a short duration? It would be frustrating to have these rare items (appearance-wise) but have to trade them in quickly to maintain your stats.

I'm wondering this myself - starter items generally last only like 3-4 levels max and quickly are trashed/sold. Are these cosmetic differences just to be used for the first few hours before you trash them and forget about them?

gylnne

Originally posted by JayFiveAlive

Originally posted by kharzan
The weapons/armour that are for the $110 tier, I recognise that these are cosmetic differences only, but will they last the progression of the game or only a short duration? It would be frustrating to have these rare items (appearance-wise) but have to trade them in quickly to maintain your stats.

I'm wondering this myself - starter items generally last only like 3-4 levels max and quickly are trashed/sold. Are these cosmetic differences just to be used for the first few hours before you trash them and forget about them?

 

I am a bit confused on your question. Cosmetic items in Lord of the Rings don't have stats, you use your stat armor but cosmetics just show for looks. What am I missing?

gylnne

Originally posted by MrBoots
Just another RVR game with no real risk vs reward. I always hate getting pushed into factions with people I don't like. It's a terrible game design and it's sad that Jacobs can't do anything new. He's going to keep making the same tired game forever. I burn out on these games in a few weeks then start looking for something else. I think I will pass on this one. The beta doesn't even appeal to me.

 

No real risk vs reward? Have you had a chance to read his foundation principles? Please explain how you get pushed into factions with people you don't like, enlighten me.:)