The
Drengin Network
White Paper
Draft edition
Executive Summary
The Drengin Network (Drengin.net) is a PC entertainment network in which players are able to access original and cutting edge games designed specifically to be distributed via the Internet as episodic content. The user pays what amounts to $3.99 per month in exchange for access to a constantly increasing and improving set of content in the form of different games and extras for those games. When a user obtains a game off the network, it remains theirs forever, even if their subscription has expired.
Background
Drengin.net represents the second service from Stardock.net, a new ASP that has one of the few working Business to Consumer services. Its first service, The Object Desktop Network, is a desktop environment with dynamic content in the form of an increasingly improving set of desktop enhancements Well known programs such as WindowBlinds, IconPackager, WindowFX and more all started out on Object Desktop. Many of the technologies present simply don’t exist elsewhere.
Object Desktop is a hit by any reasonable definition already. With its components in use by millions of users and thousands of paying subscribers, The Object Desktop Network is proof that the concept of dynamic content services can be successful and that the ASP model works in practice in business to consumer environments. Using the proven model of The Object Desktop Network, Stardock hopes to bring the same successful development and distribution model to the entertainment world.
The game market today primarily revolves two retail models called AAA and C level titles. AAA titles would be the retail $49.95 game. Hundreds of these games are made a year, a few of them sell in large volumes and the rest unfortunately lose money. A C title is the $19.95 bargain game that can also sell in high volume but it typically a low technology game for a mass audience.
Because of the way the game industry has moved, it is difficult to come up with a new, unique game that is small in size that can survive at retail. Because of their distribution model, without a retail presence, the game cannot make a return on its investment. The Drengin Network represents a new distribution mechanism.
It is also becoming more and more difficult to create “niche” games because of the retail dynamics involved. And even those who are capable of creating a AAA game, aren’t able to do so simply because they can either not find publishers willing to advance them enough capital to create it or they are not able to go 18 to 24 months without any revenue. This is where the Drengin Network comes in. Around the world, gamers and game developers alike are looking for world-class games that are unique, fun, and new.
Many of the best games ever made could never be created on the PC today because they simply do not have enough “content”. Classic games ranging from Tetris, Paradroid and MULE represent 3 very different games that were hits at the time but can’t be made today because they would have to be completely changed from their original concept to justify a retail presence. As a result, today’s games tend to be iterations of big hits of the recent past or really old games with their game play sacrificed in order to show off a new video or sound technology. Few new game concepts are created today because of the risk in trying something new when a game costs millions of dollars to create, let alone market and distribute.
Game publishers turn away thousands of game designs each year because the concepts are either too risky or not “AAA” level. Many others are rejected simply because of the advances on royalties required by young teams of developers. Drengin.net will become a home for many of these developers looking to create something new who, because of the Drengin.net model, can begin to see revenue on their game early thanks the strength of the other completed games on it. By taking advantage of the fact that it is a service, developers and gamers can truly apply the episodic game concept. That is, the user is able to download additional missions, adventures, levels, units, and whatever else over the long term.
The Concept
Stardock will initially begin the network with in-house developed games. During this time, it will continue to expand its external development network of game developers. Developers who come forth with the game concepts and the means to make them come true will find a welcome home at Stardock.net. Stardock expects most of its gaming content to come from small development shops where the game projects only have a few people on them (as opposed to the 30+ people a typical AAA game requires to create). The final product will be a game of exceptional quality but smaller in scope or with less content out of the gate (that would be made up over time via downloading additional episodes on the network).
On the user side, a Component Manager is downloaded from Stardock.net. Like the Component Manager for Object Desktop, it lists the currently available components (in this case, games and additional content for those games) that the user can obtain.
As a hypothetical example of one type of game, the user might load up Component Manager, click on Drengin and see a new role playing game available. Underneath the role playing game might be “Chapter 1: An unexpected Journey”, “Chapter 2: The long trail.”, “Chapter 3: Secrets and Omissions” . The user might then click on the role playing game which would, by itself, be relatively small (around 10 megabytes). This would allow the player to get started in the new role playing game. When the time came, the game would download from Stardock.net additional chapters on demand. The user could alternatively use Component Manager to download all the chapters at once. Over the course of time, new chapters would become available. These chapters might be rather large in size, but because they are only downloaded when needed, it doesn’t represent a huge strain on the user’s connection.
How this benefits the gamer
Stardock has done a great deal of market research on the two primary classes of gamer which we’ll call “hard core” and “casual”. Stardock expects its initial customers to be primarily made up of the former with the bulk of the long term revenue to come from the latter.
The hard core gamers are dissatisfied with developers recycling existing game concepts and taking out much of the original game play in order to demonstrate some new technological achievement. Casual gamers are disappointed that many games have become so complex that they require significant investments in time to become reasonably good at them.
For instance, in one of our surveys, a user responded, “Look at <recently released role playing game v9>. I was a great game but didn’t run well on my computer and they sacrificed a lot of game play just to have a truly 3D world. I would have much rather had an updated <v7 of the game> type game where the world was still large, I had a party, and lots of people to interact with.” I short, a successful game concept was modified in order to demonstrate the visual beauty of new 3D video technology.
There is also no reason why a Drengin.net game couldn’t be later released as standard retail product. Stardock certainly plans to either self-publish Galactic Civilizations at retail or work with one of its publishing partners to do so. Other Drengin.net games could go the same route, once the game had matured and gained enough content, a stand alone game could be published at retail either by Stardock or one of its publishing partners.
One other trend that Drengin.net would counteract is that many “niche” games have fallen by the wayside because their markets are now too small to get into retail. And with the current game industry economic model, unless you’re at retail, you cannot make back the cost of producing a high quality game in most cases. The net result is that few of these games are now created. With Stardock only charging $50 per year, all these games would cost less than most new AAA titles. Most gamers would agree that this is an impressive deal.
How the Developer Benefits
Many development companies get their start doing their first project on a part time or on a small scale. Stardock itself got started when its founder began writing an OS/2 game while still in college. Other developers may have other jobs and are working on their game part time as well. And still others might be small, newly formed companies that are looking to begin generating revenue early without having to commit to a long, multi-year project that may not bring revenue. The Drengin Network greatly reduces risk to developers by lowering the cost of entry to as low as it can go. By working with Stardock, they can begin making revenue on their game even while it is still in development and because of its subscription format, do not have to have every level, every episode, or every adventure completed before releasing it to gamers.
Developers can take advantage of many of Stardock’s technologies and partnerships to lower their costs further. Stardock’s game libraries, music partnerships, and graphics contacts can allow a team of developers without those resources to make a game without having to bring on their own in house graphics design team, musicians, and create a game library from scratch (though they can still do so if they wish).
For a start-up game developer of 4 or 5 people working on their first game project together, The Drengin Network may mean a difference between getting their first game out and having to disband after months of searching for a publisher at trade shows like E3, GDC, etc. History has shown that many of the best game designs have come from people who don’t happen to have titles such as “Producer” or “Project Manager”. They may be working on their game with a few friends in college or after work (we should hasten to point out that Stardock’s multi-million dollar OS/2 game revenue largely came from developers who started their projects part time – it doesn’t take 50 people to create a world class game, only a really huge out of the box world class game).
A developer that one day wants to see their game at retail can still do that. In our role playing game example, once enough “chapters” were put together, the game, now enhanced over time with additional updates and an incredible amount of content would be ready for its own AAA level outing at retail via Stardock or one of its publishing partners. Another benefit is developer help. By having so many teams working together over the Internet, a game developer from one project can often help someone working on a different project with a given program problem.
The Initial Games
Stardock plans to launch The Drengin Network by including several games created internally as well as externally. One of the highlights of the initial launch will be the inclusion of the full version of Stardock’s upcoming Galactic Civilizations, a AAA game. The Product Manager of Galactic Civilizations, Brad Wardell put it like this: “Well, we should put our money where our mouth is. One might say that we’re basically giving the Drengin Network away with each copy of GalCiv. But this is how strongly we want to ensure both gamers and potential developers how serious we are about making this succeed. By making GalCiv part of Drengin, we can basically guarantee hundreds of thousands of Drengin.net users who can see for themselves how cool this is. It also takes away some of the risk from developers since they will, in essence, get a royalty on each copy of Galactic Civilizations.”
Other games planned include Stellar Frontier, a massively multiplayer action game, a side scrolling adventure game described as a touch of Commander Keen meets Pitfall with cartoon cut scenes between levels, a poltical simulator, and a role playing game. Additional games will come from development teams Stardock signs up.
Availability
Drengin.net was publicly launched in March 2003.
Contact Information
Stardock.net:
Drengin.net
Stardock’s home page:
On EFNet IRC: #Stardock
Game Submissions:
Stardock
Email:
Product Manager:
Brad Wardell (bwardell@stardock.com)
Stardock welcomes submissions. Please contact us to make appointments at E3. We will be available for meetings at E3.
Credentials
- Stardock has developed and published several games that have been found at retail. Its most recent retail game, Entrepreneur, was sold in stores world wide and received universally positive reviews in the game magazines for its originality and entertainment value.
- Previous published and developed games include the first multithreaded strategy game Galactic Civilizations for OS/2 (1994), Avarice (1996), Trials of Battle (1997), the OS/2 version of Links Golf.
- Stardock has 5 years of retail and licensing experience. It worked with IBM on creating its entertainment content that was bundled on IBM PCs. Its business software has been pre-loaded by major PC companies including IBM, Vobis, and Escom as well as many smaller PC manufacturers.
- Stardock’s website (Stardock.com) is ranked in the top 1% of websites in user traffic (higher than most well known game publishers) according to Netscape.
- Stardock has also worked with Blizzard, GT Interactive, and others in creating add-ons and additional content for games.
- Stardock has developed games that were published by others as well including IBM, Ubisoft, and GT Interactive.
Trademark notices
Stardock is a registered trademark of Stardock Corporation. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders.