After reading the latest newsletter and browsing across the website and reading the forum (mainly the article about, that it should be finally released) I got thinking about PWX.
A few things came into my head.
Technology preview You want to welcome modders to your "game" (I will explain why I added the quotes below), so you try to come up with the best way of making it possible for the user to add custom content. I wonder if it would be helpful to at least post some kind of technology preview, that let's some people start on trying to add custom content. Nothing playable, but maybe just a rough CAW, that lets you experiment a bit. Since a preview is subject to change in anything, nobody should be able to have a basis for complains, if something breaks in the future (although people will bitch), but it would help to show off limitations or issues early on and give people, that are actually into this stuff some feeling, if this actually works out. I know this might cut into the actualy browser, but just slapping together an unstable sample, that takes a folder might be enough to attract feedback.
Rather an engine than a game? I am wondering, if this is actually a game or an engine. Since the quality of every wrestling game is mostly based on the quality of the engine I wonder, if it would be more sense to release this as an engine that can be used. So you wouldn't really have to care about the modes and stuff, but rather the match types, that can be supported. So you will actually just pass the data about the match (types, settings, wrestlers, events, etc.) to it and you play or simulate it and at the end you get the result. The modes could be programmed around this and users could actually implement every possible stuff. I think that's actually how TNM works (been a few years since I ran it). Also if you would offer this information in advance you might be able to get a lot of great modes from the start or find out what events or features might be lacking to get it actually working and you would have a lot of modes from the start. Again I think this is the way TNM does it. Also making this multi-platform won't hurt either.
Revenue I understand, that at some point you have to make some money out of this. You can't work 9 years and not expect anything from this (unless you are Duke Nukem ;), so I wonder how to distribute it and to which people. The engine approach I mentioned above might be helpful to license it or enable "apps"...sorry plugins with some kind of possible licensing, so people could offer free and premium content for it.
Now my brain ran itself into a corner and can't finish the initial thought anymore, but I hopefully got something starting with this post.
Tech preview: We originally wanted to release a CAW tool ahead of the PWX game itself. Then we realized we had to make a solid game or the CAW would be useless. So first we're making the game which is turning out to be not quite as easy as we first assumed.
Rather and engine than a game? Honestly, as long as PWX is focused on the PC platform and being mod friendly I fully accept that people will be ripping it apart and using it as an engine to drive their own creativity.
Revenue: We aren't expecting to get rich or even break even from the first PWX release. But we are keeping our fingers crossed that opportunities arise after the first release and we find a way to make this a feasible franchise. The industry is so volatile these days that we can't predict how, if at all, PWX will become profitable.
On the revenue part, I will buy fifty copies. On the engine part that would be awesome to have an engine to work on but ummm I don't think I would want to make my own game but just add to it. Say if I wanted to add PWX sandbox part to the game will I be able to do so? Just a random thought.
With regards the revenue part, I think the best business model comparision I can think of is Garys Mod for Half life 2. small team which has maintained profitability with regular updates and listening to the customer.
However that would mean a steam release and I am unsure how many hoops you have to jump through for that.
Well, with engine I didn't mean, that you necessarily need to create your own game, but that you can freely create all the parameters of a match. The game itself would come with the general modes, but anybody else could add matches and modes. An advanced programmer/modder could add something like a manager mode or legends mode. People with less skills or time on their hands might just add a modification, that resembles the most famous tournaments out there. Just take a look what people for done for TNM7 in terms of gimmick matches and plugins. I think that's even more important than having a good CAW at the end, because just putting a funny Mohawk on a character won't change the game at all. You might still be fighting the same tedious modes all the time.
If it goes up on Steam exclusively I won't buy it. Got no account and not planning on getting any. I am not very keen on the whole "App Store" and online-only thing. When I buy something that's really good I still wanna be able to use years from now. I am pretty sure a lot of games and movies really need to be unlawfully hacked/modified in a few years since internet access is mandatory for them and the services necessary will have ceased to exist by then.
Something else I just thought off regarding the engine approach. It's quite more technical, but if the engine would return events like "pinfall", "submission", "low blow", "hit", "left the ring" etc. it might even be possible to add something like custom rules plugins, that might offer you to implement several MMA rules, point systems or even (which would be a first IIRC) Lucha Libre rules.
Oh...and I want mask pull. And illegal moves, that are always available (maybe hide behind a special modifier or when multiple buttons are hit).