I have been working on a browser game in Java since… well lets just say a loooong time. After countless nights and weekends I am getting close to having a “complete” game. Its basically an empire-building game for about 250 players/server that will run for about three months, come to a conclusion, then start over.
I was wondering if anyone who has ever run one of these games has any advice. I have never even run a website before (application developer for a living) so its a whole new world for me. I have a host picked out already and test server up and running.
I would like to offer accounts on two tiers. One free (Knight) account type that has limited gameplay akin to a demo mode. The pay (Lord) account type would allow access to the whole game, owning more towns, and running guilds. I would like to have a subscription model of say $5 per month for Lord access.
Am I crazy? Is this an out-dated model and micro-transactions (i hate them) are the only way to go? Is there any chance in hell I could ever make money at this?
Thanks for any advice, criticism, stone-throwing in advance,
–Sanojo