What makes you click "Purchase"

The genre and the demo mainly!
Though lately I find myself purchasing some titles blindly because the discount price is almost over :joy:

Kind of depends on the story. If itā€™s a genre that I am particularly fond of, I tend to buy it quickly. Another factor that can win me over is the writing style itself. But what mostly wins me over is how engaged that the demo makes me feel with the MC. If it doesnā€™t feel like I can connect with the role easily, Iā€™m a little more hesitant about it getting it right off the bat. But I may consider buying it later to if the writing is strong enough or if I want to have a more polished view on on what works with the story and what does not (and if itā€™s a part of a series, I like to see how it makes improvements).

Other times, Iā€™ve played the game from the WIP forums and and already had a idea of if it might be a game that fully interests me to do a day one buy.

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this year 2018 i have not buyed even 1 choice of game (only played 1 that was free and made by cata) , while i have buyed only 7 hosted gamesā€¦ compared to other years this is clearly the less interesting year for me in cyoas since i started buying games here in august 2014ā€¦ and seeing the new list i have my doubts about next year since the games im waiting for relĆ©ase will be in hosted gamesā€¦
i dont think the genres have to do much with it, for me the quality of the writing and length are the most important and it seems only a few writers here can keep my interest :thinking:

I feel like Iā€™d have to click most of the options to have an honest answer. Considering there isnā€™t really that much space in my phone, I think my picks go through a process that involves three main pillars:

1. Knowing who the author is. I canā€™t help it if I have my favorites, and I also canā€™t deny that there are some authors that are just more in synch with what I want as a reader and what I might find interesting. So, for instance, Iā€™m a known fan of Kevin Goldā€™s projects, so I think Iā€™d just buy his next one, even if it is a genre Iā€™m not really that familiar or interested in. Of course, that means that I have a tendency to be more interested in games done by previously-published authors and not really the new ones.

2. Playing the demo. But what really makes me go over the edge, metaphorically speaking, is playing the first couple of chapters and liking it. Before Tally Ho launched last year, I wasnā€™t very interested in its setting or characters (I also had no one idea who Jeeves and Wooster were), even though I liked A Midsummer Nightā€™s Choice quite a bit. However, it was the inventiveness of the demo that really hooked me. A lot of that, I think, had to do with how many choices were presented, and how each of them had distintct effects on the way the early part of the story developed. In a short span of words, Tally Ho introduced me to army officers, frustrated artists, doting aunts and secret societies, giving me a full slice of what to expect after I bought it.

3. The cover or the author interview. Iā€™m a bit of a visual fan, and Iā€™ve found that a good comissioned cover can certainly make me change my mind about a game, just like the short interviews published on the blog. A good example of both would have to be The Eagleā€™s Heir, a game that I didnā€™t care much for until I saw what the authors were talking about it and saw the cover, feauturing (I think) ALexandre dueling on top of a flying battleship. The ā€œsteampunkā€ elements of the story never became clear to me in the CoG descriptions of the game, so when I saw that extra layer, I was more than tempted to try the demo.

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Description: Does it sound like a really cool story? Is it intresting to me? (I like fantasy heros villians, pirates and adventure stories) I also would like romance options.

Demo: Is it intriguing? Do I want to read more?
Mostly: Are the characters well thought out are they intresting and somewhat mysterious? Do I want to learn more about them? If so, and I can justify the price of the game I will buy it.

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Thanks for putting up this poll! It was really interesting to see the results. :slight_smile:

I usually go by game reviews; if something has 4 stars or fewer, Iā€™m afraid itā€™s a bit of an auto-skip unless the genre/description really grabs me.
That said, maybe that isnā€™t really fair to the games, since some reviews have very strange reasons for their 1-star.

After that itā€™s the game description and then demo. I wonder how WIPs work, since theyā€™re free. I wonder what gets someone to try a WIP.

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In order of importance, the platform (is it available on PC, canā€™t really enjoy the experience if it isnā€™t. Because for me ā€œmobileā€ gaming is not enjoyable in the slightest. )
The main feature you do have listed on the poll would be the demo. For most games the demo is the decisive factor for me, except for when I did participate in the (forum) beta, as any game that gets me to make that kind of commitment for free is one Iā€™m gonna want.
Iā€™d be lying if I said that who the author is didnā€™t have some influence too, but a disappointing demo and/or features I donā€™t like can still put me off buying a particular game, even when I really like the author.

2 Likes