First off, I should say that what you all have done here is awesome – I’ve never seen a combo of education and (addictive) fun like this. I’ve mainly been fooling around here b/c I’d like to introduce my nephews to coding. I’m an intermediate level programmer at a few languages so I don’t really learn too much about programming here myself but it’s fun nonetheless.
All that said, on to my presumptuous comment/suggestion: have you considered allowing non-subscription purchases of levels and heroes? I’d be happy to support the site monetarily, but neither of the current options is very appealing to me. With respect to gems, the price is totally reasonable, but it feels a little like cheating to me, I’d just rather earn gems by completing levels, and I’d also like to beat levels b/c of strategy, not b/c of superior armer.
With respect to the subscription, I am reluctant for a couple of reasons. First is just that I hate auto-renewals. I wouldn’t mind subscribing for a month or two, but I hate having to remember to cancel or finding out that I’ve been subscribing for several months after not playing. I mean, I know this can be a great business model, but I’m giving you the consumer side. I also don’t have much interest in the videos or personalized help (though I’m sure this is great for a lot of people), so although I think $10 a month is a very reasonable price, in my case it would be paying for stuff that I’m not going to use.
Anyway, hope that does not sound like a complaint. It is really great what you guys are building here and I’ve done just enough coding to know that what you guys are doing here is a lot harder than it looks!
And a simple question: what happens if I subscribe for a month and then unsubscribe? I assume I retain credit for subsciber levels passed but couldn’t play new subscriber levels. But what happens to any subscriber level heroes that I might have used as a subscriber? Would I lose access to those or keep them?
Hey eller13, glad you’re digging the game. We have considered non-subscription purchasing, but we are going with the subscriptions for now, as it helps us keep on track with making five new levels a week.
If you unsubscribe, you can still play all the subscriber-only levels you have started, and you get to keep all the subscriber bonus gems you used. The heroes come from beating subscriber-only levels to unlock them and then buying them with gems, so any that you bought would still be yours. If you were to forget about it for a while or change your mind about the subscription or whatever, we would just refund you, so you’re not risking anything.
Thanks for the response, Nick. Just wanted to give you the perspective from my end. FWIW, I may just subscribe for a month and then unsubscribe. I’m probably not typical but I cleared all the non-subscriber levels in about three weeks (not counting the Trials, which I understand to be essentially impossible for non-subscribers) but I knew all of the necessary programming concepts to start with.
So subscribing for just one month is likely much cheaper for me than if I paid $1 per level and also bought some gems, although I would nevertheless prefer a non-subscription option. But I appreciate the fact that you retain heroes and levels that you have unlocked/played, so I will readily admit that it seems quite reasonable as you currently have it set up.
Thanks Nick! As you said I was able to subscribe and unsubscribe in quick succession so I am set to go for a month with no worries about remembering to unsubscribe later. Honestly that was the easiest unsubscribe I have ever done!
I also don’t have much interest in the videos or personalized help (though I’m sure this is great for a lot of people), so although I think $10 a month is a very reasonable price, in my case it would be paying for stuff that I’m not going to use.