The Megatrends of Game Design – Article (1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue

Pascal Luban, vetran games designer, outlines the trends that he sees emerging in Game Design and the Games Industry over the next few years.  This post, and other posts continuing this exploration have been based on the articles The Megatrends of Game Design Part 1, and Part 2.

The first megatrend that Luban raises is the necessity of increasing the commercial life span of games. 

The lifespan of games can be surprisingly short, developers are committing to hundreds of thousands, sometime millions of pounds on game development, on a long investment period of around 18-14 months.   And the window of opportunity sale the game, and recover the costs and make a profit can be incredibly short, sometimes only a matter of a few months.  And along with this the publishers run the risk that their competitors are simultaneously working on a similar product, which may well beat them to till.

This retail environment is not one that encourages the large amounts of time and cost needed in R&D.  So what are the ways to extend the commercial lifespan of games.

(1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue.

Multiplayer games, commonly known as MMOG (massively multiplayer online games) are seen as a way of engaging the player in a longer term environment.  One where the player has to not only acheive their targets, but also to do so in an everchanging environment and against a real, live and unpredictable competition.  Some recent games including Call of Duty 4 have made definite decisions to develop MMOG into their platforms.

With Fantasy Couriers we perceive the Multiplayer element as being a key part to the enjoyment of the game.  Some games are all about you versus a situation, or an opponent, but this is never a situation that could ever apply to a business environment.  In business there is always competition, always a cheaper product, a better service, or an alternative option.  Even you are lucky enough to be the single supplier of a product you still have to compete with all the other products and services that consumers have the option of spending their money on instead.

The courier market was chosen for the Fantasy Couriers business simulation game because it is one of the most competitve markets out there.  Small errors in pricing can mean catestrophic results to a company.  It’s also a market that suits multiplaying, because there are so many different pricing and business strategies that can be adopted.  There are very few industries where the impact choice of high price low volume, and low price high volume is better demonstrated.

UK Motoring Costs rising year on year

Motoring costs have increased by 30% since 2006.

On average, the private motorist has seen increases in the cost of motoring of over 30% since 2006.  The cost of motoring in 2008 is set to be 14% more expensive than in 2007, and 2007 was recorded as being 16.2% more expensive than 2006.

 

The main factors in these cost rises are Fuel, and Road Fund Tax, 2006 seeing a massive 32.5% increase in the cost of tax for the average driver.  However, all of the main costs, with the single exception being breakdown insurance, have increased by substantially more than inflation.

 

This is feeding through the industry and resulting in the lowest number of new car registrations in recent years.  Of those people who traditionally replace their car with a new car, research by uSwitch shows a quarter will this time not be looking to purchase a new car, and will be instead replacing with a secondhand vehicle.  And those who do still intend to buy a new car are intending on downsizing their budget by an estimated £3000 each, due to economic uncertainty.

 

Recent UK market information shows that instead of consumers buying new cars outright, they are looking at other financing alternatives, including contract hire.  But then the major companies underwriting contract hires are arms of the big banks, and recent activities have shown us all that banks do have a tendency to act with their own interests at the forefront.

 

The motor trade is facing crunch time, it is probably one of the major industries that will be required to look at every aspect of their workings, and change or die.  If consumers can’t get credit, they can’t buy cars, instead maybe the motor manufacturers will need to supply their own credit lines if they want to shift cars, but most of the major car manufacturers are struggling to obtain credit as it is.   The big 3 American car manufacturers, Ford, GM & Chrysler are looking for a government bailout.  And it will be interesting to see if the US government is forthcoming with such a proposal. 

 

What will this do to the price of cars on the forecourt?  Will the lack of demand push the retail prices down?  Or will the reduction in production result in long term higher car prices.  Many argue that new car retail prices have been overpriced for years.

 

So will the UK motorist be looking at 2009 seeing another rise in motoring costs?  The indications at present look like this is likely to be the case, with the long term fuel price set to rise, the green taxes pushing up the tolls, and the road tax on the larger vehicles, and the insurance industry continuing their perpetual 10% a year increase.

Top Five Tips For Couriers To Save Money

Teaching Van Drivers New Driving Techniques could save their company’s money, even the smallest saving on each van through fuel-efficient methods will have a beneficial impact on the company. to stay in business.  Alistair Patterson from Simply Clearances has vans traveling all over the UK every week, he has found that their fuel costs have been taking up more and more of their profits, which made them examine how they can make savings.

Mr Patterson said  “Leaving about 15 minutes earlier for each job means that we can reduce the average travelling speed from 70mph to 60mph, this has increased the mileage that we get from a tank of fuel from 480 kilometres to around 600 kilometres.  I was aware that savings would be made, but even I was surprised about the extend of these, i expected to get an extra 50km a tank, not double that!”

Industry experts say that the surprising large savings are due to a number of factors which tend to arise out of a slower average speed,  there is a lot less accelerate/brake, and this contributes a lot to saving fuel.  And the slower average speed tends to mean a generally calmer attitude which helps in spotting hazards ahead and more predictive instead of reactive driving.

Top tips for saving fuel are;

1. Plan to leave your depots a little bit earlier each day for your destinations, this should help you reduce your speed, saving you fuel, and will also help you feel more relaxed too.  Don’t forget that there is also the speeding tickets to consider and fines, if you’re driving at steady speeds, particularly on the motorways, then you don’t even need to worry about these.
2. Avoid harsh acceleration and braking, this helps to reduce wear and tear, and it saves the fuel dump every time you brake & accelerate.
3. Look forward, read the road and the traffic, plan for hazards and drive for the conditions.  This should help to reduce stop/start driving, thereby reducing fuel consumption and making you a safer driver.
4. Remove all the clutter from your van that you dont need, this should help reduce fuel consumption.  You will be surprised just how much stuff you carry around “just in case” and then never use.
5. Remove any items that may affect your aerodynamics, roof rack or top boxes they will only reduce your efficiency of your van.  Be aware of the drag of a trailer, plan ahead and only use these items when you need them, and remove them as soon as possible when you’ve finished with them.

Making a living as a courier can be a tricky business, so anything that can benefit your company must be a good thing, even the smallest saving is worth having.

Fantasy Couriers game is almost ready to play and it should help you identify new ideas with savings and your company  profits.  http://www.fantasycouriers.com

Best van for a courier business?

Part 1 in the discussion – what is the best van for a courier?  And we’ll deal first with the King of the Road when it comes to white vans;

 

The Mercedes Sprinter!

The Mercedes Sprinter is seems to be the van of choice for most courier companies.  You can be pretty much guaranteed that the shiny new van charging around town delivering parcels all day will be a spanky new Mercedes.  But why is this?

On behalf of couriers, and fantasy couriers, around the world, we have been undertaking research into precisly this question.  Stopping and questioning every van driver that didn’t run away when we accosted them with our questions.

Now, we know that the Sprinter is not the cheapest of vans, in fact, if you compare all of the usual white van suspects, the Mercedes Sprinter is probably the one that will come out the most expensive.  So what does it offer that makes it worth it?

Well, it’s got that Street Cred, when you pull up in a Mercedes people take you seriously.  The badge is there for all to see, and everybody knows you have a Mercedes.  True enough, it’s not a S-Class, but it’s still a Mercedes, and it earns buckets more respect than a 10 year old LDV.  And this factor must not be underestimated.  Your average courier/van driver will be spending between 8 and 12 hours a day in his van, it is important to him or her what it looks like.

Next, SPEEEEEEEEEED!  Does the Mercedes Sprinter really sprint?  Or is it more of a long distance marathon runner.  Well, our guys on the road say YES, the Mercedes Sprinter will out sprint every other van on the road, and leave them standing.

However!!!!!!!

The Sprinter does this by using a lot of Fuel!  And Fuel is becoming more expensive daily.  How much more fuel?  We estimate that it uses approx 15% more fuel than most of it’s competitors.  Also, servicing and parts costs are high, and insurance too.

Maybe, all of the drivers we questioned were employed, and therefore they got all the benefits of looking cool, and driving fast, with none of the draw backs of shelling out for diesel and tyres.

So.  The conculsions of our research;

The Mercedes Van is definitely the Van for you is somebody else is buying it, and paying the running costs.  If however it’s you that needs to pay the bills you need to work out whether that extra respect that you will get for running a Fleet of Mercedes Sprinters (and being the envy of all your competitors) is worth the extra initial cost, the extra running costs, and the speeding tickets!