Maniaplanet Forum

Everyone agree that we need more people on the servers. The solutions generally proposed are more communication and free demos version of the titles.

Since the demo are planned and (maybe) already in development and to avoid complains when they will be released, I will tell you how I see these demos.

In order to organize my suggestions, I will divide this post in two parts :

1. What are the features needed for these demos ?
2. How make free users buy the game ?


1. The Features

The answer to the question "What could bring people to the game ?" is quite simple : Multiplayer. Nadeo's games are designed for that and it is impossible to offer a free version of SM or TM without a multiplayer. Now, I will consider SM and TM separately.

Shootmania :

As it was announced, I agree with the idea to limit the demo to only Royal and Elite but you could add a third mode such as Heroes, Realm or Combo.
For the rest, SM has a lot in common with TM so read below to have details.

Trackmania :

TM doesn't have enough modes to proceed like SM but I think the following limitations are sufficient.

• Solo : Limit access to white maps only
  Solo : Impossible to do official times
  Multi : Impossible to earn LP (access limited to 0-50k servers)
  Multi : Impossible to create a server
  Local : Impossible to load a map
  Local : Impossible to race against a ghost
  Local : Impossible to use Hot seat or split screen
  Local : In fact, you can only play on LAN
  Editors : You can only create a map with the simple editor and you can't edit it
  Profile : You can't change your models
  Profile : You can't see the stats
  MP : Impossible to install custom titles
  MP : Impossible to use manialinks
  MP : Impossible to have planets
  MP : No custom nicknames and avatars

I made screenshots to illustrate this list. The gray buttons are disabled (I made a mistake for the LAN, it should be available).




Furthermore, I think Stadium shouldn't be the only TM to have a demo, Canyon and Valley must have one too. With these demos and multi-environments servers, all the TM titles should be extremely popular !

Thanks for reading this first part, see the next post to read my suggestions to "How make people pay ?".

2. How to make them pay !

OK, now that everybody on earth gave up LOL ( ), here are my suggestions to make people pay the full versions :


A new economic model

I think it should be interesting to divide the price and the functionalities of the games. Here is an exemple for Canyon and Valley :

• 5€ : unlock the Multiplayer pack. You can receive LP, use avatars and custom horns.
  5€ : unlock the Solo pack. You can play the full campaign, do official times and have full access to local menu.
  5€ : unlock the Creative pack. You can use all the editors, have custom skins and models
  5€ : unlock the Community pack. You can install custom titles, use manialinks and have planets

It should be possible to do the same with Storm and Stadium with different prices/packs.


Highlight the players who paid the games

In F2P, players pay to show to other players that they are more "pro". So it is important to give to players who paid the game some noticeable stuffs :

• No skin or custom models for free players
  No avatars
  No custom nicknames

It could be interesting to display in scoretables a progression bar below each player that shows how many pack you bought. So even if some players are not interested in some packs, they could buy it only to show they are better than others !


Thanks for reading. Keep in mind it is just some ideas, tell me what do you think about it or give your own suggestions !

For myself personally, I prefer the way Nadeo has been doing it for the past 9+ years better. Buy the game once, get everything with it and enjoy it forever.

However, I can't deny the fact that the kind of strategy you talked about seems to work for a lot of other games, and a lot of players seem to buy into the idea of playing like that. I feel like I must be in the minority about it.

What I like about the things you talked about is that it still wouldn't be a pay to win type scenario. That's good, because I think that would ruin the game.

Some very well written posts Elissar. I enjoyed reading.

Thank you for your feedback Eyebo. I understand why you disagree but the "pack" idea is not necessary bound to my proposition for the demo. The limitations I proposed could be applied with a full price game as it is today.

i actually really like your idea^^

I want to add some remarks :

1. Demo SM = Elite & Royal. + a mode that is soooooooo underplayed like Heroes or Battlewaves.
Why? To make this particular mode a little more popular.

Or maybe add COMBO because this mod probably looks the coolest for new players


2. I love your idea bout the pricing. ( Every pack is 5€ , 20€ for the entire game )
But you should get more incentive to buy multiple packs at once, so why not make it like this :
- 1 Pack= 4.99€
- 2 Packs = 8.99€
- 3 Packs = 12.99€
- 4 Packs = 15.99€

Problems : Currently you can buy like 5copies of the game for a better price... Should this be possible too then for the different packs? Its gonna get confusing unless NADEO does it right !

I really like this idea & I truely believe more people will be willing to buy this game.

Local : Impossible to use Hot seat or split screen

The worst idea If I bought racing game, first thing is Split-Screen with friends, after solo campaign.

That's why it wouldn't be available in the demo. You should buy the game to use split screen.