Hopes for the 4.0 Toy Store
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 1:09 pmLove the PC pricing option in 3.0. Folks can open up the Toy Box for under $15 (Toy Box unlock, with a small spark bundle). This makes it much simpler proposing Toy Box Clubs to libraries & colleges looking to host Toy Box Club programs. In both of our pilots, we actually spent much more than that, for a variety of characters & customization discs, but it's the minimum price point that determines interest. On a side-note, both of these types of institutions tend to have frozen images of all software that gets refreshed often (sometimes daily), so the fact that saved Toy Boxes don't actually save on the PC is a real plus.
Setup however is a bit of a bear. Consider the amount of time it takes to unlock all Toy Store items that can be purchased with blue sparks. Now imagine doing that 10 times to set up accounts for a new club (okay, I don't need to imagine, I remember it, multiple times
).
Love how the 3.0 Toy Store does not categorize toys by release! Creativi-toys in one place, Terrain in another, etc. but it would be very helpful if the 4.0 Toy Store on the PC mimicked that of mobile - allow all toys on the same page to be purchased at once if you have enough sparks. You could also put the expansion game unlocks on separate pages to avoid confusion.
Would also like to see the return of the fully functional spark generator. Does it generate any more revenue when the spark generator takes say 10 hours to generate the same number of sparks that used to only take 1? For a family at home, it just means waiting more time. For a volunteer/instructor deciding on a sandbox platform considering price points, it might mean no sale. The entry-level PC version could become a springboard to the console version of the game.
Arriving at the realization that the greatest educational impact of Infinity is time spent at home, I find myself advocating my personal Infinity platform favorite, the console. But the startup, structured, activities through libraries & schools that can help drive that will be the PC. They can see the investment advantage of characters, power discs, etc. persisting across releases of a strategic franchise that will persist, but the less expensive the startup is, and the easier setup it has, the better. I am hopeful
.
Setup however is a bit of a bear. Consider the amount of time it takes to unlock all Toy Store items that can be purchased with blue sparks. Now imagine doing that 10 times to set up accounts for a new club (okay, I don't need to imagine, I remember it, multiple times
).Love how the 3.0 Toy Store does not categorize toys by release! Creativi-toys in one place, Terrain in another, etc. but it would be very helpful if the 4.0 Toy Store on the PC mimicked that of mobile - allow all toys on the same page to be purchased at once if you have enough sparks. You could also put the expansion game unlocks on separate pages to avoid confusion.
Would also like to see the return of the fully functional spark generator. Does it generate any more revenue when the spark generator takes say 10 hours to generate the same number of sparks that used to only take 1? For a family at home, it just means waiting more time. For a volunteer/instructor deciding on a sandbox platform considering price points, it might mean no sale. The entry-level PC version could become a springboard to the console version of the game.
Arriving at the realization that the greatest educational impact of Infinity is time spent at home, I find myself advocating my personal Infinity platform favorite, the console. But the startup, structured, activities through libraries & schools that can help drive that will be the PC. They can see the investment advantage of characters, power discs, etc. persisting across releases of a strategic franchise that will persist, but the less expensive the startup is, and the easier setup it has, the better. I am hopeful
.
( < there is a smiley face you cannot see )
I suspect many of my posts on these forums may have been misunderstood