Coromon is on sale right now for $5, but I’m hesitant to purchase it after discovering that they have microtransactions and a cosmetics store embedded into the game. Like, I love and try to support indie developers as much as I can, so I have a growing list of indie games on my wish list on Steam that I often purchase. I was shocked and honestly confused. Why would any Indy developer do this their game? It seems counterintuitive and honestly just stupid. I mean, look at any other successful indie game out there. Stardew Valley, undertale, Celeste, cassette beasts, just to name a few. None of these have any sort of microtransaction or cosmetics that you can buy in the game that I’m aware of. A soundtrack, sure.
It just kind of makes me apprehensive to buy any sort of game like that, like why couldn’t you just develop a new DLC for 10 or 15 bucks that has a bunch of additional cosmetics included in it and label it as character customization additions included? When you hear Mike or transactions or cosmetics, you think of cash shop bullshit like EA, Activision, Fortnite. So strange to me!
That’s what makes money. Pointing at the 5-10 indie games that won the lottery isn’t really relevant to what is required for the average indie game.
Pointing at the 5-10 indie games that won the lottery isn’t really relevant to what is required for the average indie game.
This is an interesting comparison. Winning the lottery isn’t tied to honest hard work or passion or anything like that. It’s literally a gamble. Stardew wasn’t really a gamble, it was a passion project that delivered to people what they wanted. There are other games that are very successful too. The “average” indie game is also some really strange hyperbole to use, how do you even know what’s average? is there a scale, a criteria, a rating board for “lottery” indie games and “average” ones?
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Honest question here. I’m not familiar with the game, but you seem to be upset that it offers cosmetic items for sale. One of your proposed solutions is to bundle all of the cosmetic items together and sell it as a DLC. What is the actual difference in those two options? Why does one of them seem acceptable to you while the other does not? They sound like the exact same thing to me.
you seem to be upset that it offers cosmetic items for sale. One of your proposed solutions is to bundle all of the cosmetic items together and sell it as a DLC. What is the actual difference in those two options?
The difference is cosmetic items in an in-game shop are designed to get you to “browse” the store regularly and then become mentally conditioned to “shopping” for additional things to buy that aren’t included in the game. This is a very unnatural way of acquiring cosmetics in a video game. A more natural approach is to simply discover them in the game or earn them through gameplay. Simple example: Red tiger camo in Call of Duty 4. No need to browse a shop and see skins and wade through other crap to find the one you want and then see a price tag. You also don’t have to see a DLC you don’t have, since you haven’t bought it. Adding things in a game and being like “Sorry, you don’t have this… but you COULD have it, for $5!” that’s just nutty to me
Because they think it makes them more money?
I mean is it predatory? And following dark patterns? Or is there a cosmetic shop and thats about it? I dont mind mtx in indie games like that, but if they’re following dark patterns like a mobile game where it tries to create frustration so you pay then I have a problem. Developers gotta eat, and indies are extra hungry.
