One of the problems of being a game publisher are (often) the lack of regular and steady content from developers. A lot of users often mistake publishers for being developers as well. For the record, a publisher is a company such as ours, Level Up. We are the ones who buy the game, license it and operate it in the country. We have the rights to market it and even host it in local servers. But we DO NOT have the rights to design, fix, or tamper with the game design or the codes in any way. That privilige belongs to the DEVELOPER – the ones who designed and program the game.

Now that we’ve got that straight, let’s get into the meat of this post

First, let’s discuss what content is and how important it is in the success or failure of a game.

Content are updates to the game in the form of new items, new maps, new quests, etc. Several game designers/developers can package content in different ways

• Epidosical - these are exactly like the episodes in Ragnarok. Good examples are Juno, Demise of Morroc and the rest. The good thing about packaging content via episodes is that it will be easy to market. All you need are the best features of the episode and then you hype it to the users. The problem with episodical content is that it takes a long time to develop. Since the stuff inside these episodes are most probably huge, the testing period will be longer as well.
• Item Based - new items being released are also considered content. This is critical in an F2P game. The game can only last as long as your players are not bored. Without new stuff for them to buy, things will go downward. Best that a game has some form of new items at least once a month. The good thing about item-based content is that it’s also easy to market. Think of it as an additional item to a real-life retail store and you’ve got the key elements of strategy covered. You’re on your way to improving your item mall retail skillz if you’re in the gaming business.
• Feature Based – some games patch their content via features. By this, I mean increase in level cap, new skills, new gameplay features or fixes to broken rules or items. A lot of this may be technical and will only attract current, high-level players.

A good rule of thumb is to expect content from the developers at least once every quarter. Sounds easy? Well, a lot of developers can’t send you the details or the features not unless they’re done designing and testing it. Good relationship and coordination with them is key. That’s what me and my team always strive to do.

Artificial Content

So what do publishers do when they do not have content on a regular basis? Simple – create “Artificial Content”.

In other words, even if one cannot toy with the game design, there are various methods to achieve this. Story arcs events, if created well, will make the users continue playing. Trying to harness the power of a main feature in your game (such as the massive PVP aspect or sieges) will also prove useful. If you give the players enough reasons to play, they will play. pay

I was talking to one of my colleagues the other day and he said that “We do provide our community, content. Not official content but content that we ourselves generate”.

And to me, that’s very good insight. Serving the community and giving them what they yearn for: events, promos and discounts, and maintaining good relationships  are traditions that we have kept since we started the gaming industry in this country.

It’s what we’ll continue to do as long as we have players who play our games and give us valuable feedback.

And it’s this kind of ‘culture’ that separates the men from the boys in this industry.

Peace!