This was when we introduced a feature called Daily Light. However, by 2021 the game was at a point where the Candle structure did not facilitate those goals, so we decided to make systemic changes. Sky is no different-we want it to help facilitate genuine human connection and meaningful experiences. Our studio aims to make games that are a respectful and positive influence on people’s lives. It was never our intention for players to spend this much time focused on Candles. In early 2021, that had risen to around 20 Candles-a 33% increase-and even if they didn’t reach the max daily Candle limit, some players were still spending three hours or even longer to collect as many as they could. At the end of 2020, players could earn 18-19 Candles a day, up from 15. Gradually the total number of Candles available to players had inflated beyond our initial balance. Collecting Candles became more varied, but it also was clear that as we added more content, daily farm time was increasing. To give players more variety, we decided to place more Candles in those new areas to provide alternative routes. The biggest complaint from the community at the time was the mundane repetitiveness of the Candle grind. One result, though, was that players seldom visited those new areas after their first visit, and most people stuck to collecting Candles along established routes. That preserved the balance of Candles earned and Candles spent, and it meant the effort to earn items would remain the same over time. Initially when we added new areas to Sky, Candles were extremely rare in those areas. Since then we’ve had 16 Seasons, and the size of Sky’s world and content has tripled, even quadrupled. We added new content for players in the form of Seasons, but by 2020, players who joined us at launch had run out of things to collect. The overall balance of the economy was stable. Determined players could earn 12-15 Candles per day, taking around two to three hours if they wanted to sweep the entire world. In the beginning, Candle collecting was linear and limited only by the number of Candles in the game. There were only two ways players could earn Candles: from Daily Quest rewards, and lighting the Candles scattered around Sky’s realms. We designed the economy around players discovering and acquiring all items within three to six months. In July 2019 Sky launched with 37 spirits and a small set of items to discover and collect. We’ve learned through trial and error over the past three and a half years. Inflation is a common challenge that exists in almost all online games, and there are many theories on how it can occur, but preventing it is much harder. Sky is the first video game that we’ve ever had to create and balance an economy for. I (Jenova) want to start by saying that our former games such as Flower and Journey are premium games that don’t have an ongoing in-game economy. Why are prices for items always raised or kept the same, but rarely if ever lowered? The how long an item is available, such as during a limited-time event or seasonal promotion The rarity of an item’s material and shape, or its functionality The finished quality of the item-which is usually finalized after beta testing and seen for the first time when it’s released to the live servers There are a lot of factors that go into pricing IGC items in Sky. How do you decide in-game currency (IGC) item prices? This is longer than our usual blog posts, but we wanted to take time to address some of the big concerns we’ve heard from the community, so let’s get into it! Jenova and Samantha, two of the designers in the studio who work on Sky’s economy, are going to share their answers with you in hopes of providing more insight into the why or what we do when it comes to Sky’s economy. We’ve seen a lot of feedback about Sky’s economy across the various Sky community hubs. I hope your 2023 is off to a great start, and that you’re enjoying Season of Remembrance. Hi, all! Whirthun here on behalf of the Community team.
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