Hi devs, I plan on making a game pretty soon, one major part of the game will be the economy.
I want to make multiple currency’s, and one of the currency’s players will be able to buy using Robux, but I don’t want my game to be pay to win. For example, silver will be the currency that players can grind and buy weapons and armour with etc, and gold will be able to bought using Robux.
I also plan on making gold purchasable using silver (at a worse price than with Robux obviously), to give non-paying players a feel for the paid experience.
What could gold be used for that will make players feel that they are getting value for money? But at the same time not making the game pay to win?
You could use the premium currency, in this case gold, for items like character cosmetics and upgrades.
I would have certain things only have the ability ti be purchased with Robux, but I love that you are granting F2P players to unlock premium currency items.
I want to give paying players more than just cosmetics, I feel like cosmetics isn’t really good value for real life money, I was thinking of making exclusive weapons able to be bought using gold but still having some silver weapons that are more powerful.
Basically I’m trying to find out where the line is drawn between pay to win and not.
Cosmetics and other items that don’t give any advantage in game, but that look very cool are good starts, as someone grinding might decide to flex their wealth by getting cosmetics from silver → gold, while a player that pays are getting something nice and supporting a game they like.
Edit: I just saw that you don’t want just cosmetics, Saber Showdown, one of the examples, has weapons that are obtainable by both real life money and in-game money, also the cosmetics it does have are relatively cheap.
I feel that players who pay deserve more than just cosmetics.
What about items like weapons and amour, but a cooler version, perhaps stronger too, but still having stronger weapons that can be bought for silver?
But I don’t want non-paying players to have access to those exclusive weapons (unless they buy gold using silver) to give paying players that sense of rarity.
Some weapons can be both silver/gold, some can be only silver (for the grind), and some can be exclusively gold (for the status), really all depends on the weapon/item, and how you feel could balance the costs and benefits.
Also, if your game has a high difficulty curve, then you might need to balance as much, since a skilled, F2P, player will win against a P2W player.
I think that’s a good way to about it, having items that are bought with Robux/premium currency but are not over-powered, so the game is still fair for F2P players and gives satisfaction to paying players.
Although balancing will be very hard, trying to not make a premium weapon over-powered but not useless at the same time.
I would highlight Gold currency in Rise of the Dead - Roblox. They allow players to buy gold with robux only, with it you can purchase cosmetics, some ingame items (Mostly obtainable without robux) and trade gold for other stuff. F2P players can trade with people exchanging thier items for gold, not paying any robux at all.