Normally, i’d be like. ‘Premium? What ev.’ But, the thing that gets my goat is what site it’s on, KONGREGATE! FREE online games. FREE! GRR! Still, they most likely make games for a living. I believe the term i’d use is: ‘The world is not ruled by the man ( or woman) with the greatest mind, but by the man (or woman) with the greatest wallet.’

these people have to make a living too i know you don’t understand this seeing as you still live under your parents roof, however people can’t make games like gemcraft in spare time, it’s something that work really is put in to, if you want EVERYTHING to be free just ask everyone to make maze games

Who cares? If people like the game enough, they’ll pay for it. It’s extra content – treat it like downloadable content for a console game. Nice to have, but not necessary for the core experience.
Having said that, I hate Gemcraft. It’s far too long and repetitive as hell.

Get over it. If you don’t want to pay for the content, then don’t. It’s not free to make these games so losers like you can sit around and nit-pick at their flaws. These developers work hard, and have to put bacon on the table some how. So to everyone that is bitching about the “premium”, shut up and get over it. It’s five dollars, do a survey if you really want the premium content. It’s still a free game, but it has the OPTION to pay for extra content in the game, if you choose to do so.
No one’s job is to “entertain” you, yes, they’re in the entertainment business, but nothing is free. This developer obviously puts a lot of time and thought into their creations, and not enough donations are flowing in, so they had to put in premium content for a low price. And the funny part is, it’s still free when you fill out some surveys!

It’s funny how you could find people happy to pay 70€ for Duke Nukem Forever and who ragequit a flash game for just asking 5$ for extra content. And often they both are the same people <.

The hypothesis that he should jut be there to be a free or tip-paid entertainer is plainly silly.

I think if you buy something its yours.. so where my download link? i keep loosin my data.. n its wreckin my head! its always when i get to lvl 400+ i log on n .. blank.. NOoooooooooo.. n have to start again.. so i think i got this LSO thing sorted.. but if it messes up again.. i want a downloadable version damn it!!!

Lustre thats preposterious. Someone who’s a true developer has a right to be expect to be paid for his time and efforts. That would be like me going to work and my boss saying hey.. Since your a “true” employee we no long need to pay you. Who cares about your mortgage or your grocerys you should be doing this for free.

I wish I COULD buy the premium version for the sake of contributing to this developer. (I’m broke, living on student loans…)Have you read the posts on the gameinabottle site? GC is developed by a family company, just Peter and his wife, and he’s flying solo on GC2. His commitment to quality, testing, and compatibility is top-notch and the games play like those developed by a full team. Besides, Kong is FULL of games with “pay for premium” or “pay for items” games, not to menton the lame partial games and demos featured in the spotlight all the time, asking for MUCH more to play the full game. At least this one is a full game with only minor features blocked out, and you know that buying premium is going to a worthy source. :)

@ Lustre, stop trying to bully a developer to donate his time. What you are saying is a blatant lie. Some people may choose to do things just for the fun, but if this is his career, he should be paid for it. Don’t expect people to just give you their time and talents with nothing in return. That is selfish, greedy, and hypocritical.

I don’t care what you all say, I obviously want a FREE premium, but even if I can’t, I can still say this;

5 dollars. That’s right, 5 dollars for premium. Now tell me, what kind of bloody hell is this? I won’t pay you 5 dollars for such a little “benefit”, no way, Kingdom Rush has a 1 dollar costing premium and it gives more fun stuff than this. Seriously, 5 dollars I can buy a game on Steam for all I care. Can’t you reduce it to 1 dollar/euro or are you a very rich person living in a very rich land where 1 of your money is equivalent to 5 dollars?

Dude,this is like his (i think) main job. His games are EXCELLENT. He should get something in return, I mean, someone said(in GCL help thread) he makes $5000/moth on ads. DEVELOPING and interesting game with awesome animations take TONS OF HARD WORK and TONS OF MONEY. He should’ve ,made premium AT LEAST $15. He deserves it for such a freakin good game, but he’s nice so he put it at $5. BE GRATEFUL

Sorry for not replying everyone in detail, and thanks for all of you thinking we deserve to earn money to pay our bills and eat. Some random thoughts/answers on some of the comments above: Yes, this is our full time job. No, we don’t earn $5k per month from ads (or even all things combined), I wish one day we did :-) . No, we’re not millionaires and don’t live in a particularly rich country (we’re located in Hungary). I agree major game sites should remove the “free online games” tag, but don’t agree all online games should be free. If I don’t like something or think it’s too expensive, I simply don’t buy it, but don’t write complaints to, say, Lego, to sell their products at a 99% discount because I want them all. Yes, Kingdom Rush’s premium stuff can be bought for $.99, but even so some players are still complaining on their blog. Yes, I know many people don’t have any money left over to spend on such things as games after their monthly living expenses. For most of my life I had far better things to spend $5 on than a game too, and even now the only $50 pricetag game I bought in years is StarCraft II, I usually buy indie games (Limbo, Defense Grid, Braid, Creeper World). I wish one day neither of you would have to choose between spening $5 on entertainment or food/clothes/electricity. Again, thanks for all of you who supported us!

Nice reply than no reply at all, and with good depth. I haven’t been playing your gem series of games a lot like others, but its very good work, and I don’t see a problem when a dev adds extra content that he or she could of not added in the first place and saved time for other things try to get a few bucks. Cause I personally don’t like to donate, unless theres something of equal value in return, and having premium content I feel justifies even .99 cents, or even 4.99. I look forward to your next releases, and hope everything goes well with life.

This question is two-fold.
1. From the developer’s side, they definitely want some money for they time, especially with such GREAT products.
2. From our side, I’d rather not buy anything, even if I greatly love the game itself.
But many people WOULD buy!
Also, the problem is that it’s possible to find even Premiums for FREE, pirates…
I myself have the one, but as I said, I’d NEVER pay for a game, even if I think it’s the best one.
I spent less than 30$ on ANY games in the last 10 years!!!
And I play a lot.
It’s just that I have better/more useful ways to spend that money…

To the developer(s?):
I wish you GREAT success, so that you can actually JOIN some big game company, and THEY for sure will SELL games.
Good luck and keep the people love you even more!!! :D