I was bored and reading some thread in gegneral discussion about demo/s-2 license conflicts or something.
OK, It gave me an idea for another improvement suggestion that has absolutly nothing to do with the racing aspect whatsoever.
No this has to do with Marketing. Yuck, marketing.

Now we know for the first time buyer of LFS, the price is considered by more than a few as being too expensive, or a bit on the steep side. Please don't flame me about the price debate. if a person thinks it's expensive, then they are going to think its expensive & that's that. When S-3 comes out, even more, A lot more are going to think that way if they are a 1st time buyer and wanting S-3 complete. And we know, or most of us know that S-1 and S-2 and S-3 are going to more like separate games instead of just stages for one.
OK what if some sort of arrangement could be made with some other sorta indy game developers? like I dunno some group of devs are out there making a combat flight sim or something. And you have to buy that game online Deals could be made where if some one was to buy that flight sim,
they'd get a link to LFS demo during install and a XXX% discount on the purchase of an S-1 license and/or an S-2 license. and vice-versa?
Gamers play all kinds of games. And you might just pick up on somebody that's gotten bored with "Grocery Store Tycoon" and wants to try something else.

Oh yeah, and just so I don't get slammed with narrow minded-negative feedback this time - can we have the 'ring too and the option of using split fire spark plugs?????

Not a bad idea, but not really necessary, IMO. While gamers are gamers, I think that only people who are into cars really enjoy and stick with LFS. I know plenty of gamers and plenty of guys who aren't gamers but are car guys. The ones who really enjoy LFS are generally the car guys, not the gamers.

Until S2 is out of beta, I don't think any promotion of any sort is really necessary. Once S2 is finished, I think it will sell itself. As great as LFS is now, just imagine how good it will be with better damage, better clutch model, improved sound, correctly modeled diffs, balanced classes, etc. I imagine Scavier will have to worry less about promotion and more about keeping the site from being overwhelmed.

I think that for now, and probably for the near future, the best way to promote LFS is via word of mouth.

I agree.
Yeap, only true racing lovers have a deal with this fantastic simulator.
So, gamer or not, what matters here is passion for racing, as close as possible to reality.
This can make u understand that like any genuine passion, goes on forums and anything else is attended by people who really like that stuff.
Tam tam is the best commercial spot for this product.

It's still less than a full priced game...

ajp is right.. although i'm completely unsure of his avatar

S2 is now the worth of a year old or more high on the market PS2 game..
S3 is currently the worth of a normal XBox360 or PS3 video game.. somewhere in the $60 USD price range.. i really dont think it should be lowered at all

because as we know it.. prices are rising due to inflation, prices for games will always be rising and rising until the world goes kersplat in its existance

so far i think everyone that says they can't afford LFS must not have a car then with gas prices, just to go to school it takes me over 20$ (which is about the price of S1) a WEEK.. i can understand some people in third world countries, but 90% of the time.. those people aren't in third world countries that can't afford much of anything

Quote from XCNuse :

ajp is right.. although i'm completely unsure of his avatar

S2 is now the worth of a year old or more high on the market PS2 game..
S3 is currently the worth of a normal XBox360 or PS3 video game.. somewhere in the $60 USD price range.. i really dont think it should be lowered at all

because as we know it.. prices are rising due to inflation, prices for games will always be rising and rising until the world goes kersplat in its existance

so far i think everyone that says they can't afford LFS must not have a car then with gas prices, just to go to school it takes me over 20$ (which is about the price of S1) a WEEK.. i can understand some people in third world countries, but 90% of the time.. those people aren't in third world countries that can't afford much of anything

Y'all are missing the point by a mile or more.... I'm thinking the % discounts wouldn't really be needed until after S-3 has been out for a bit. But now that I think of it, the cross-genre(sp.?) promotions with the other indy developers might simply be enough as it is without the discounts.

hmmm, how to explain this more betterer ....

I tried to explain better, but I was just typing in circles

I need someone with experience in Sales (retail? or a whiz at cold calling?) to explain this.
In my line of work, I work closely with sales reps and project managers. Over the years, things rub off on you. I know what I'm talking about, but I seem to lack the intelligence to be able to state it the right way

Quote from Racer Y :

Y'all are missing the point by a mile or more....
hmmm, how to explain this more betterer ....

I tried to explain better, but I was just typing in circles

I need someone with experience in Sales to explain this.

No, we get it.

You want package deals but ultimately a lower price for LFS. LFS costs less than virtually every new computer game and definitely less than the games for the next gen. consoles.

nah, he's capitalizing on people's cheapness. people will sometimes buy something just because it is discounted.

"Oh My God!! 5% off!!! Buying that RIGHT NOW"

and by the way, sometimes you will find that lowering the price of your product actually increases your profit, by inreasing sales in a parger proportion than your price decreased by.

Well I don't know how you see its expensive. In Australian dollars, its $20-$40 cheaper than most new games, that don't deliver half of what LFS does.

I just bought S2. And I don't have much money to spare, but I considered it an absolute bargain, and worth every single penny. Definitely no buy regret here.

Ven

Probably not needed at all, but Steam has been able to sell a few good non-mainstream games through its online downloading system. Games which have been very good, but which lacked some marketing strength required to get them into the spotlight where they belong. Mark Healey's Rag Doll Kung Fu was the first of these titles if I'm not mistaken. (Mark's in the credits for Live For Speed, and I think Scawen helped out on Rag Doll).
Just a thought.

Quote from Electrik Kar :

Probably not needed at all, but Steam has been able to sell a few good non-mainstream games through its online downloading system. Games which have been very good, but which lacked some marketing strength required to get them into the spotlight where they belong. Mark Healey's Rag Doll Kung Fu was the first of these titles if I'm not mistaken. (Mark's in the credits for Live For Speed, and I think Scawen helped out on Rag Doll).
Just a thought.

Theres where the good idea is, if Scawen made a deal with Valve to market LFS on steam that would more than likely increase sales and posibly get the word out to a VERY large number of people who might be interested.
of course the draw back is, Valve is most definately gona want a percentage of the profit.

so it's all how it would balance itself out, and until S3 its probably not a good Idea. or S2 final at least.

VALVE SUx0RZ TEH BIG 11!







dont do it

Price-Elasticity of demand is the technical term for how much your demand changes as you vary the price, LFS looks to be fairly price-inelastic, I don't think if it was £5 more expensive we would have many less racers at all, it's a niche market, realistic racing, one for people who have enough money to enjoy car things, generally speaking.

Sweet Jesus no.....the day LFS has anything to do with Steam is the day i stop playing it.

Why is everyone I talk to so against steam?
Its a very good service, I've never had a problem with it.
I swear, some people have 1 problem with it and they lable it bad.
If I did that I wouldent be playing LFS.

Quote from DragonCommando :

Why is everyone I talk to so against steam?
Its a very good service, I've never had a problem with it.
I swear, some people have 1 problem with it and they lable it bad.
If I did that I wouldent be playing LFS.

Because its a memory hog and crashes. When your from rate drops to nothing all of a sudden, chances are that steam.exe is at 99%. This is very noticeable for those of us with dual monitors; we play on one and have taskmanager open on the other.

Well I guess it's because I have Steam.exe set to one processor I don't notice it, but Steam has never gone to 99% or crashed on me. It runs like a background task.
And I have ALOT of stuff running sometimes.

Eh, that was my topic by the way

Anyways, it sounds reasonable, and would help Live For Speed become a bit broader. I know alot of people are against it, but hey, more customers means better development, right?

Quote :

ajp is right.. although i'm completely unsure of his avatar

That avatar is an LFS remake of one of Top Gears recent challenges, they had to make stretch 'limo' versions of normal road cars and thats what they came up with