I haven't really used the boosts much and I will try them out today, but my main concern is that a decent portion of the population will not be super enthusiastic. How this actually effects your earning may be minimal, but I know there are a ton of online games that have IAP consumables and things start to become uneven, especially if a game gets hacked. The most recent experience I had with this was Zenonia 4...it was pretty much a crap fest if you went into PvP not backed by hacks or IAPs. If a paid version is available what does it offer?
There will be two versions of the game (so far planned) - 1. Free version. It will include ads to watch between moves, like many of the "with friends" style games out there already. There will also be IAP for coins that will allow you to purchase boosts. 2. Paid version. It will remove the ads entirely and you'll never have to look at them again. It will also have IAPs for the coins to buy boosts. However, the one thing not yet implemented in the beta is the UI to earn coins by playing games. When you win, lose or draw a game, you'll get some coins to go towards the purchase of boosts on matter the version you play. If you are content with just getting coins from games you play, then you'll never have to purchase a coin pack. Also, we tried to balance boosts so that they don't feel game breaking if you never use them. For starters, we limit how many you can use in a game. In addition, with the two ways to win, you'll always have a way to plan to get ahead. We aren't fans of IAPs being the "win button" so we are trying to be very careful to make it fair for everyone. The one game that I think has a similar model is JetPack Joyride. There is the option to buy coins to get stuff more quickly, but you can play and have fun and still get the same stuff. The obvious difference is that this is a competitive game, which is why we wanted to open up a beta so we can get feedback in all areas. This one included. I do hope that answers some of your question. If not, let me know!
^ Yeah, that definitely answered the question! Your solution is a pretty solid one so hopefully it fares well in beta. Thanks!
So wait...these boosts give you an in-game advantage over your opponent, and they're available through IAP, meaning players can pay for an advantage over their non-IAP-buying opponents, who will have less boosts? I hope the answer to this is no, I was excited for this game. It will be difficult to not have boosts be a "win" button, because they either offer an advantage to the player using them, or they're useless.
Our goal is to make the complete game playable without a single IAP. You can play the game normally and earn the coins needed to collect and use boosts. Still, even if you have all the coins in the world (through play or IAP), you are limited to 3 per match. The boosts right now are things familiar to word game players like double letter and double word scores. How this balances out is that if you have a high point total, someone can still spell lots of long words and capture your starting tile and win the game. If someone uses a boost to block a tile, you can use that turn to score massive points with a great word elsewhere and win. Of course, you and your opponent may never even use a boost. We wanted them to be little agents of chaos that may further your strategy or bite you in the butt later. That said, I'd love to invite you to the beta so you can try them out. I'd love your additional input after you have played around with the game and the boosts more. Shoot me a PM and I'll get you started ASAP.
