Another Indie Game Goes Pay-What-You-Want: Sleep is Death

[Tom Goldman]

Another Indie Game Goes Pay-What-You-Want: Sleep is Death

Jason Rohrer has set Sleep is Death's price at anything, so whip out that wallet and take as little or as much out of it as you want.

Pay-what-you-want, where games are sold for any price purchasers choose to pay, is the "in" thing for independent developers these days. The latest game to take the route is Jason Rohrer's newest title, Sleep is Death [http://sleepisdeath.net/].

Sleep is Death is a very unique game. Paying what you want, down to a minimum of $1.75 to cover payment processing fees and download bandwidth, will earn two downloads of the game. The reason? Sleep is Death can only be played with two people.

One player "plays" the game while the second player basically creates it. It's a storytelling game where one player is the storyteller. Sleep is Death comes with plenty of scenes, objects, and characters to create a story with, but players can also make their own. Players can share objects and there are already packs of resources available for download from Rohrer's website. Really, the best way to understand Sleep is Death is to watch this slideshow [http://sleepisdeath.net/slideShow/].

The bottom line is that another really cool title just became worth whatever you deem it, within reason. Some recent pay-what-you-want sales, such as for simple living [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95453-World-of-Goo-Holds-a-Pay-What-You-Want-Sale], so it makes sense for him to at least cover his costs here.

Source: Sleep is Death [http://sleepisdeath.net/]

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[ThaBenMan]

Hmmm... $1.75 is kinda steep. Maybe if they wanted to pay me a buck, then I'd download it...

 

[Aurora219]

Hmmm... $1.75 is kinda steep. Maybe if they wanted to pay me a buck, then I'd download it...

You harsh bastard.

This looks incredibly interesting. I'm going to get a hold of this and see what's what.

 

[Danpascooch]

Hmmm... $1.75 is kinda steep. Maybe if they wanted to pay me a buck, then I'd download it...

Lol

Anyone want to play it with me?

 

[geldonyetich]

It's basically a story-game where you have two players. One player plays as the main character in an adventure game. The other player plays as the GM who sets up the entire adventure game, setting up the environs, playing the NPCs, ect.

It's a really interesting concept, but game-wise the jury is still out if this is incredibly good or bird-hitting-window bad.

 

[Taco of flames]

This looks promising. Very promising. Kind of like what I would imagine a Dungeon Master does, as well as an experience as the player. Also, the slideshow was rather humorous.

 

[Pielikey]

Me and my friend use RPGmaker all the time to do the most absurd (yet hillarious) stories. This seems like it's realtime RPG maker. I am buying this tomorrow.

 

[LeonLethality]

I might get this, it's cheap and sounds interesting. I'll probably pay like 4 or 5 dollars for it though.

Probably after I finish VVVVVV though.

 

[Danpascooch]

Me and my friend use RPGmaker all the time to do the most absurd (yet hillarious) stories. This seems like it's realtime RPG maker. I am buying this tomorrow.

Screw that, I'm buying it now.

Does it have some sort of matchmaker though? I don't really want to have to find people every time.

EDIT: Looks like two fans made their own matchmaking system!!! http://sidtube.com/

(It wants to know more personal information than I would like, oh well. Why does it need a mailing address for an instant download anyway!?)

 

[Katana314]

Not really so interested in the game, but I think the $1.75 thing is an okay requirement; considering that they LOSE money when it's less than that.

 

[Mr.Geoson]

Anyone know if it's worth it? I'm interested in getting it for me and a pal.

 

[oppp7]

You know, if the pirates wanted to make a statement about how high prices deter consumers, now would be a good time...

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah this one aint grabbing me, but I'm in favour of the price point, I worry the normal 1 cent minimum just loses them so much money.

By all means let people take it for 1 cent, but let em know the price point where you'll actually get something instead of just paying paypal and your provider to give your game away.

 

[The Wooster]

Pay what you want unless it's less than we want? I'll pass.

 

[squid5580]

This is the type of game I have been looking for all of my life. Too bad it needs another player. If only there was a way to get an SP game to do this.

And player 1 is such a douche!!!!!

 

[blankedboy]

Uhh... what?
It used to be free, what the fuck?

 

[Delusibeta]

Uhh... what?
It used to be free, what the fuck?

Uhh... what? It wasn't for all the time I've heard of it.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

You guys do realise the game can be played offline right...
(just host a local match and press g)
You can play both roles then, and get some nice practice in.

I have this game and I played it with an old friend.
We had a blast for our first go.
What I love about the game is that it can be as serious or as silly as you want, and once you get the hang of it, its real easy to use.

 

[Asehujiko]

You know, if the pirates wanted to make a statement about how high prices deter consumers, now would be a good time...

I think that the last sale having 3 customers for every repeat download/donation pooling/person who just got the link and never even saw the donation page/actual pirate(which only make up a part of those 25% extra downloads) proved that point pretty well compared to Whinetek that reported 60 million pirates compared to 3 million legal users(conveniently ignoring the fact the the total sales of all videocards able to run the game amounted to roughly 10-12 million)

Also, more then 99% of the money you give here goes to somebody who's not the developer.