Will ADOM be free to play on Steam?

[ekolis]

And what differences will there be between the free version (I assume there still will be one?) and the Steam version if it's not? Are you going the route of ToME and basically making it "donate to unlock a few minor features and Steam achievements", or will there be significant enhancements to the Steam version?

[Max Angor ⛏]

No it won't, from what I'm to understand.

[Arbot]

It's been metioned before, the steam release will be "ADoM Deluxe" or something of that nature. anyone who donated to the crowdfunding camplaign at $40+ will recieve a free copy of the steam version. As far as what the differences will be that remains to be seen. There has been mention of the Deluxe version allowing you to select your star sign and steam integrated achievments.

The game itself outside of steam will always be free and complete, the only differences that there will be for a paid versions will amount to convience but won't influence game play in any way that will be significant (you can already select your star sign if you want to roll dozens of characters.) There won't be paid DLC to unlock a cool new sword or to unlock a new elven race (although 4 races of elves clearly isn't enough).

[ekolis]

Cool, so sounds pretty similar to ToME then?

[TheCreator]

As said by Arbot the basic idea behind the Steam version is to

(a) provide "Deluxe" features (many ideas there, e.g. an exploration mode with free wishes, point based character creation, selectable star signs, etc. pp.) and

(b) put great focus on community features (shared and global highscores, achievements, maybe in game chat, etc.)

Nonetheless some kind of success with Steam (and maybe other platforms) will be necessary to guarantee ADOM's life for a very long time. Now that we have graphics and sounds (and people working on them on a professional level), we are forced to earn some kind of income to keep up this level of evolution. The more successful we will be the more dynamic ADOM's evolution will be (and vice versa). As a sad fact of reality as all people working on ADOM also need to earn a living and sustain families.

The difficult act now is to balance ADOM's previous history and philosophy (being a basically free game; postcard-ware, admittedly) with the need to keep it alive for many years to come.

So in summary: There always will be a free version and there will be a Steam/Deluxe version that hopefully will be compelling enough to generate the income we need to sustain ADOM's existence.

[ekolis]

Sure, that's completely reasonable, and I don't begrudge you the need to earn a living. I was just curious what your plans were for the future! (Heck, if you made it free to play with ads, I wonder if folks would still be interested...)

[TheCreator]

@ekolis: It's really a very difficult challenge to find the right model. I'm serious about there always being a free version but we also need to find compelling reasons for a commercial versions. And I certainly neither want to restrict content nor use ads or anything as I hate such things myself. It's a very interesting challenge and any good ideas we didn't have so far are very welcome ;-)

[Max Angor ⛏]

I would include non-essential stuff in the paid version. Various modes, difficulties, modifiers, etc. Can you beat ADOM with your eyes closed? Check THIS out! Survival mode! Hard mode! Other things!

[KittyKittyBang]

I just love the opportunity to contribute further to the welbeing of my favourite RPG. ..I think the ability to choose a star-sign, or play as a tourist (with some wishing assistance) is beautifully enticing, and would certainly get my money anyway. But this gives me a simple way to purchase gift-copies and pass them on to friends too, to try to get them hooked -- without all that hassle of going around to evangelize it in person. (My enthusiasm would probably put them off anyway: "Okay! You've been demonstrating this thing for three hours already! Get out of my house !) :)

[Max Angor ⛏]

I have a $50 challenge to my friends to beat ADOM and prove it... but only to my friends. I've seen how good others are at this game (I love it but suck at it, lol)

[KittyKittyBang]

That's a good way to encourage them. I've been playing it so so long, and I'm spoiled to heck from guidebook reading and the forums, but I still haven't completed it. I think it's because I play fragile characters and take risks .. and then when I do get far, I get distracted by real life, forget where I was, and start over instead. (These days I take copious notes, because my memory isn't getting any better, and real life just wants more of my memory allotment.)

Maybe a notes/diary system could be a part of the Steam version? ..I'll file a request in the ADOM forums once the Steam version has started to add Steam-only features.

[Dino [NG]]

In game chat (like Tome) would be awesome :)

[Vivisector 9999]

How much will the deluxe/Steam version cost when it is released? Is that known at this point?

[KittyKittyBang]

Definitely a challenge to cost .. in terms of value the game possesses IMHO it's worth more than most of the AAA titles out there. But it does just look like an indie RPG to a random steam user looking at it for the first time.

That said, there are a lot of old-school RPG fans out there. I got into this genre through the Ultima series (3 through 6, IIRC), and this was the most Ultima-like thing I'd seen in ages, so I was hooked right away.

Maybe as an infinitely replayable, but indie looking title, it would fit somewhere in the Kerbal Space Program kind of price-slot? (But again, Kerbal was cheaper early in its development, and has slowly ramped-up price .. mabye that's not a good example.) :)

[TheCreator]

The price is not yet known. Any discussion/ideas/suggestion are welcome as pricing probably is the most difficult and critical suggestion at all.

I have been pondering everything from "one low price and that's it" to "one high price and that's it" to "one average price and various in-game purchases for extra features (not really DLC, just convenience stuff to activate if you want it)" but I still have not come to any conclusion. Pointers/links/etc to discussion regarding pricing on Steam also are very welcome.

And thanks @KittyKittyBang for the pointer!

[Iggy, Arisen Incubus]

Maybe a Free-To-Play of 20 and the next Prereleases can be locked for DLC? I dunno.