29) Venture Concept 2

1)

Opportunity

• The opportunity here is the lack of a sufficient RPG to be played online.
• Existing solutions are an attempt to take games designed for in-person gameplay and put them online for people to play together.
• Leads to issues such as a lack of immersion that causes players not to be entertained, "chunky" or difficult gameplay, and a steep learning curve.
• Difficult for consumers to immerse themselves in, and therefor does not satisfy the stated need.
• The target market is student-age adults (age range of 18-22), that have either just moved off to college or otherwise away from home.
• Opportunity really only requires that the consumer desire to play an RPG.
• With Coronavirus events, there is a unique and limited spike in the opportunity.

 

Innovation

• “Constellation” is a roleplay game designed FOR gameplay online, not around it.
• Will have smooth and immersive gameplay that takes advantage of what the computer has to offer.
• Providing its own video and audio conferencing for player and Game Master (GM) interaction.
• Will allow GM and players to create communication channels, choosing who they want to talk to.
• GM can subject any player to “comms” or video loss, taking away their methods of communication. 

• Constellation “Stellar Pack” will be sold for $15. Includes:
• The “Universal Handbook” (GM’s guide)
• The “Starfarer’s Guide” (Player’s guide)
• Video/Audio chat capabilities
• GM communication controls
• “Galactic Pack” will be sold for $20. Has everything from the Stellar Edition, and includes the “Starfarer Outfitter”, a character designer.
• “Universal Pack,” $30. Everything in the Galactic Edition, and the “Universe Designer.” This allows the GM to create and display a universal map, including galactic, stellar, and world maps with national and factional borders.

 Venture Concept

Competitors to Constellation are well established RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons and the Pathfinder/Starfinder games. These are well known and widely played, making it difficult to get into the market. But, as stated earlier, this does not mean it is impossible to convince someone that already owns one of these games to purchase Constellation. The benefits and unique attributes of this online RPG will be enticing to RPG players, especially those in the target market. The competitor games are designed to be played in-person around a table, and do not translate well to online play. They also rely on other independent sites and software in order to be played on online. Constellation will not have any of these problems and will allow players to enjoy their time together despite the distance.

            Constellation will be sold virtually, not physically, allowing for a cheaper sales price. This also will be an advantage over competitors, who’s manuals and guides are expensive to consumers.

            Although Constellation will be focused on online play, that does not mean it cannot be played in person. Groups can still play around a table if they are able, as the manual and player’s guides will still be easily accessible on a computer or even a tablet. This will allow it to enter the exact same market as the competitors, and possibly even beat them in it based on their higher prices.

            The business side of Constellation will have a game design and art team to create the game and manuals, a software team to build the game online, an advertising team handling social media presence and getting the Constellation name well known, and the management team that will coordinate teams and handle finances. All told, starting out, I can expect a company of around 3-5 employees, expanding as necessary. These employees will be able to work from home as well, cutting on costs of an office space and commute.

            The venture’s unfair advantage will be lower startup and running costs. Manufacturing, inventory, and distribution are all expenses we will not have to worry about, as the game will be sold virtually.

            Next for the venture is game design. Working on mechanics, art design, and such. Essentially designing the prototype to be tested over ecommerce like Skype or Zoom.

Next for me is research on how to start a company. Assuming my company were launched, 5 years down the line I’d like to have the first edition of the game established and playable and be designing the second edition based on the feedback we get from the first. I’d like to have a well-established team as well that can cover all the company’s areas individually, rather than have a few people covering several areas.

 

2) The most important piece of feedback I got, I think, was that it was a bit long to read. I was a bit worried about that, and I appreciate that someone let me know I was right. Another bit of feedback that I gave myself was "How am I planning on retaining my customers, or providing more value?"

3) Thinking about the feedback that I gave myself, I came up with add-on packs basically. I know that these get a lot of criticism, but I made sure not to make them necessary to gameplay. One can play Constellation just fine, and enjoyably, using the Stellar Pack, the other packs just add a bit more value to the players and GM. As to the feedback that it was a bit long, I decided to condense the Opportunity and Innovation sections into bullet points, shortening the work a little and making it a little easier to read.

4) A Starfarer enjoying his time in Constellation