What would Rimworld DLC need to justify doubling the price of the game?

[Listen1]

I appreciate the perspective from someone who's been with the game for as long as you have (before A-double-digits, that's some commitment). However, I'd like to counter that from a similar position.
....
A complete game is fine. You could put two eggs in a pan and call it an omelette, and later add bacon, cheese, mushrooms, etc, but it wouldn't mean the just-eggs were incomplete. . . if that makes any sense.

Ah, thanks, and also love your food analogy. Made alot of sense and added a new perspective into this subject.

In my argument I was thinking about "mechanical features" like multiple-screen maps,  Z-levels, 3D textures, and many other things. Content in this sense, like "Water system", a bar below food and another conduit and events, could be a DLC... but I believe that modders already took care of that.

I don't know how strong modding was in Don't Starve, but Darkest Dungeon is a game with DLC and modded content(preeeeeetty weird modded content). The DLCs are full with Mechanics, Characters, Events and Buildings, while modded content are majorly cosmetic and QoL.

But for Rimworld as a game, I don't know of any content/mechanic that the Dev's can put into the game that a modder couldn't, and modders can't put stuff like Z levels because of the same reason the Devs dont.

That's why I don't think that a paid DLC will be a good option for Rimworld. There's so much a single game can do once you go past the 1000 hours mark. To me, for better or worse, this game is finished.

[skyarkhangel]

its not correct to compare AAA projects with RimWorld. AAA projects developing as a rule with a large team of developers and the costs are much higher. RimWorld most of the time developing for a 2-3 people. RimWorld was sold already more then with 1 million copies, some of it with a special packs for more then 1000$ each. In addition RimWorld received from kickstarter and has already been sold for several years before steam release  + some income from other sources.. So, if iam not mistaken, according to approximate estimates the RimWorld could bring about ~40-50 million dollars to its creators. Don't forget that the game developing with a 2-3 people. This is not enough to start make not-free DLCs? Its certainly a joke about DLS, bcs do not know how Ludeon going to make a soon release when a game really not ready. Declared opportunities still not resolved. The game optimization is terrible.. iam not talking about multithreading. The game even unable to use the opportunities of a single core. In 2018 year still in 32bit. Soon mobile phones will only work on 64 bit  What a DLC? Please, make the game first. Modders already have run into modding limitations, bcs of game optimization. Z-levels are possible in Rimworld, the game already using Vector3 graphic. Some mods like Combat Extended using 3D for shooting mechanic. All of this is impossible only because of game optimization. We have reached the moment, when modders started to make mods with game optimization(!!!), while the developers write "its so long and hard to make multithreading... we sold 1 million copies of the game and can't hire an additional developer for optimization".

[sadpickle]

I'd pay for z-levels.

Rimworld has already given me far more than enough content to justify $30. If I had paid $60 I would have gotten great value. I have over 1000 hours in the game so it's easily worth $100 to me at this point. By comparison I have spent over $100 on Stellaris and it's apparently endless stream of paid DLC and I have maybe half the hours in that game. I don't plan to give any more of my money to Paradox Interactive, because they have not matched the quality and polish that Ludeon Studios has delivered in Rimworld.

Knowing what LS can do, if they released an expansion or a Rimworld 2.0 I would have great faith in the project. I think it's a great company with a strong ethos for meeting obligations and delivering lots of good content without demanding more cash every time they expand the game. I paid for a copy, I got 100% of every update as promised, and I never was asked to pay an extra cent nor did I ever have to. So if they released a major content addition after 1.0, and asked a reasonable price, I would almost certainly buy it. I'd probably even pre-order, which is something I am normally wary of, because I trust LS to deliver.

[Headshotkill]

DLC could result in the community and modding-scene completly falling apart as now everyone has this dlc or that dlc or all dlc or no dlc installed.

[Modo44]

You DO realize he directly said development has not stopped, correct..?  And that there will be more content after 1.0, just not major systems.  That's exactly how software development is supposed to work, at least if you have bills to pay.  Development of new content ALWAYS slows after the initial release of a given game.

Or at least the adding of new features can slow/stop in favor of more polish. Rimworld is a great game, but in need of many QoL and performance improvements. So far, these always kind of fell away in favor of more stuff.

[Call me Arty]

DLC could result in the community and modding-scene completly falling apart as now everyone has this dlc or that dlc or all dlc or no dlc installed.

If Hugslibs, Alien Framework, or Jectstools were deleted today, the modding community would be crippled. These are important, because they are the foundation for a lot of things that you would otherwise not be able to do. Currently, Rimworld is limiting the kinds of mods that can be made. Due to the way it's build, it's extremely unlikely we'll see a first person camera, unlikely that vehicles will be overly functional, we'll see half-blocks that function as such, and many other things that are either impossible in the current game or could only be made in an imperfect or abstract way.

As Rimworld is reaching the final stretches of major development (as can be assumed from the information we have now) the modding community is likely to soon reach a stagnation point of possibility. Thusly, DLC that adds new systems would open up so many more possibilities for modding. We've seen examples time and time again. The capacity for making recipes is added, we get Rimsenal. The ability to add custom meters is added, we get Cosmic Horrors and Bad Hygiene. If You want advice for DLC, XCOM 2 has added a fair amount of them, and the vanilla game hasn't suffered at all. There are still plenty (majority, even) of mods that can be accessed with no additional content, but modders just use the additional assets and tools found in those expansions. I know that at the very least, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, has had dozens of "impossible" items made possible due to the additional ways to screw with things.

[Aszh]

I'd pay $10-15 for whatever optimizations are required for me to play the game with dozens of mods and 100+ pawns without the game slowing down to unplayable levels.

DLC could result in the community and modding-scene completly falling apart as now everyone has this dlc or that dlc or all dlc or no dlc installed.

I don't think it would.  The most heavily modded games of all time (Skyrim, Fallout 4, New Vegas) all had several large DLC packages each.

[tmo97]

"it's no longer economically viable, nor sustainable to put more time into the game at it's current price. It's just not justifiable."

reducing things to terms like that makes it easy to think that the shadow is the substance.
in other words, who says it's true? it's not "economically viable" you mean you want more money for what you're doing or else you're gonna stop doing it. That's it.

[Majamas]

I think this game i great and i can accept payed additions. Im new player in this game, buyed 2 days ago. Now i have problem with registation on steam buyed game (29,99$). If i not resolve this problem i will must probably buy another version. Payed patches maybe can resolve stealed illegal version and scams which are popular today.