Monetization

[Paul]

Hi and thanks for your questions!

Although we haven’t completely finalised the payment options for Sentinel 4, it WILL NOT BE FREEMIUM. We may release a free demo version, or a free demo version that can unlock the full game through IAP.

We are also exploring currency systems and upgrades, but rest assured even if there are currency IAPs, the game will be fully balanced to not require them at any point, they will remain something that people may optionally purchase to accelerate their progress (similar to the ‘cheat mode’ IAP upgrades in Sentinel 3).

I hope that puts your mind at rest 🙂

[a.pryce]

Did you change your mind on this? After you’ve completed a level on whatever difficulty you get pretty much nothing for replaying it, so you can’t level grind to progress. It seems like that’s there to push people towards the micro transactions even with the $5 price tag. I’d rather pay more up front and not have to deal with micro transactions than paying less and having to choose if I want to play the same level 200 times so I can buy upgrades, pay more real money, or just put the game down and remain disappointed in the poor product after all of the time we had to wait for it.

I’ve decided to go with the last option and stop playing, and I hope my very poor review on the App Store convinced others to avoid it as well until these glaring issues are addressed. Best of luck.

[Paul]

Apologies you feel that way, no it is not intended to push you towards the in-app purchases, we beta tested the game fully with no In-App Purchases, and they were added to allow choice similar to Sentinel 3 whereby players could unlock things instantly if they wanted to.

Maybe what is unclear, is that you get a large bonus for completing a skill level for a particular level only for the first time. So an effective way to gain credits is to play all difficulty settings for all levels, instead of repeating already completed ones.

In addition, endless mode provides a good way to earn rewards.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, as it could be a source of misunderstanding for quite a few players.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any other questions. I hope you enjoy the game more now you know how the rewards work.

[Paul]

As a further note about grinding, it was never intended that a player should have to grind to finish the campaign on easy or normal difficulty. It is possible to play through the levels sequentially on these skill settings without the need for additional credits and upgrades.

[a.pryce]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I have been clearing levels on each difficulty as I go, but it’d be nice to still get a bigger bonus when clearing a level on psycho more than once instead of getting a good amount the first time and pretty much nothing each additional time. By only providing the completion amount once, you’re greatly limiting how people can get credits, and even if it wasn’t the intent it still pushes players towards having to use the IAPs.

 

[Paul]

I understand now. The intention here was to encourage completing all difficulties and endless play as they are more interesting, rather than to discourage or disallow repeated campaign level grinding.

What I could do for the next update is to allow the bonus to be awarded again, but at a reduced rate. So subsequent completions earn 50% of the full bonus for example. I don’t see a problem with people grinding campaign levels if they choose to at all, I just wanted it to be more rewarding to try the other things the game has to offer.

In the meantime, I would recommend endless mode. Rewards are greatly increased the higher wave number and higher difficulty you are playing.

Thanks for taking the time to bring your concerns to me, it’s great to be able to work out exactly what the problems are and get them ironed out.

[Author]

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