Product Development and Sales for Over-Under
This is a little minigame I've created for Over/Under, a Cataphracts-like wargame for Mothership Month. I play Jenny Calabrese, the VP of Business for the Stratemeyer Syndicate megacorporation aboard the space station Prospero's Dream.1 A lot of the other factions have minigames, and so I wanted to provide my faction with one of our own. Something fun, collaborative, and relatively RP-heavy to keep the faction members engaged. I also wanted a minigame that is a little more lighthearted than the usual skullduggery I get into in my role. What sort of minigame would be thematic for a megacorp? Well, what about the world of product design and sales? And so was born the procedures below.
Will it work? Will it crash and burn? Who knows! Everything is written to be in-character for the faction chats these will be posted in. These are technically draft rules, and they may be revised as I get feedback and things play out. Any typos or errors are my own.
Product Development
Production starts with a Pitch. A Pitch should be short, evocative, and punchy. One sentence, 7-10 words, no more. βAn X that does Y with Zβ is a perfect Pitch. Start the message with βPitch:β to make sure it gets identified.
Our new Expedient Virtual Integrated Logistics program leverages micro-targeted efficiencies in our manufacturing plants to enable rapid-development small-batch product production, completed within minutes of the production order. That means that we can have sale-ready batches of your Products available near-instantly! However, limitations in the manufacturing facilities narrows the range of available products. Thus, we can only use our Expedient Virtual Integrated Logistics program on Pitches of consumable civilian commercial goods, i.e. single or limited-use household and retail items (food, cosmetics, supplements, paints, some cleaning supplies, first aid, etc.) ((OOC: Anything you'd find in a convenience store except proper drugs. But keep an eye out for future developments...))
Once there is a Pitch, one other person (not the person who made the Pitch) can start a new thread with the message βTell me more!β In the thread, players who are interested in the Pitch talk about how to turn it into a Product. Be sure to discuss how it looks, what sorts of ingredients or parts it has, any whiz-bang new development that might catch a consumers eye, or anything else relevant.
When you think your Product is ready, you need to prepare a Product Sheet! See below:
# Product Name
Description:
Brand:
Quality: β
β
β
β
β
Quantity: β
β
β
β
β
Reliability: β
β
β
β
β
MSRP:
Unit Production:
Complications:
Designers:
Description
A products description should accurately convey what the product is, what it's meant to do, what it looks like, any significant ingredients or parts, etc. You only need to write a paragraph, about 5-7 sentences to make sure everything is covered. Get creative with it! Remember, Stratemeyer does have access to advance technological components and exotic ingredients for its products. Be sure to reflect the STARS!
Brand
Stratemeyer does not typically product under the Stratemeyer name, as that is merely the name of the conglomerated equity controlling groups of the major holding company. Instead, we develop many different Brands, each one tailor-made to serve different market segments and product areas. On the Dream, Stratemeyer has activated five Brands:
- Nonna's Kitchen. A brand of prepackaged snack foods; ready-to-eat meals; canned soups and produce; and other food items that are more than just nutribricks. Also includes several experimental varieties of standard Terran fruits and vegetables. This one is a favorite of mine!
- Powercore. A series of high-end energy drinks, nutrition replacement products, and survival equipment.
- Targ and Tully. A series of chemical products for household cleaning, android maintenance, mechanical repair, and small-scale construction.
- Cobblestone. A brand that sells all sorts of products aiming to provide an authentic, luxury experience, draped in the finery of Old Earth.
- Galatea. One of Stratemeyer's cosmetic, skincare, and first aid brands, focusing on presenting an image of softness, safety, and beautiful perfection.
Make sure you give your product the proper Brand, and build that Brand rep!
Quality, Quantity, and Reliability
These are the three core components of any Stratemeyer consumable products. I have confirmed with production managers that due to limitations of our production facilities, that quality, quantity, and reliability cannot all be maximized at the same time. These trade-offs are not setbacks, but opportunities to prioritize different markets!
When you develop a Pitch into a Product, you will need to determine it's Quality, Quantity, and Reliability. Previously we measured these using a variety of complex statistical tools that required Ph.Ds to operate. Now, however, we've streamlined our processes down so even Product Development teams can use them. Introducing the Stratemeyer Transactional Automated Redistribution Systems, or STARS for short. STARS represent a complex array of inputs, production factors, and timetables. However, they are completely swappable between Quality, Quantity, and Reliability!
After conducting a manufacturing survey, our production managers have indicated that all products can have seven STARS, which product designers can assign as they wish. If a reference material is provided for manufacturing, they can squeeze out eight STARS instead. ((OOC: If you can get a drawing, even a hasty, crappy one, you'll get 8 stars instead of 7. Some of the best ideas were drawn on napkins!))
Once the STARS are assigned, move to writing up the other features.
MSRP
The Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price is our recommendation for what the Denizens of the Dream pay for our product. The MSRP is based on the STARS in Quality:
| Quality STARS | MSRP |
|---|---|
| 1cr | |
| β | 2cr |
| β β | 5cr |
| β β β | 10cr |
| β β β β | 12cr |
| β β β β β | 15cr |
Unit Production
The Unit Production is how many units we'll be able to manufacture using the Expedient Virtual Integrated Logistics program. The Unit Production is based on the STARS in Quantity:
| Quantity STARS | Unit Production |
|---|---|
| 3 | |
| β | 10 |
| β β | 20 |
| β β β | 50 |
| β β β β | 100 |
| β β β β β | 200 |
Complications
Unfortunately, the Expedient Virtual Integrated Logistics program needs extra resources to ensure product reliability. Therefore, products with STARS in Reliability will have fewer complications! Be sure to balance this aspect against the others, and don't forget these products must be profitable!
| Reliability STARS | Complications |
|---|---|
| 3 | |
| β | 2 |
| β β | 2 |
| β β β | 1 |
| β β β β | 1 |
| β β β β β | 0 |
If a Product does have complications, it will need to be written up in the Product sheet. Be sure to give a thorough description ((OOC: and have fun with it!))
Designers
The Designers are all the employees who participated in making the product! This is used by Stratemeyer to identify product development talent suited for more permanent positions.
Of course, there's rewards to be had for successful products. You'll be compensated for the energy and time you put into products, and the better your product performs the more you'll get rewarded! The team that created the product will collective receive a bonus equal to a percentage of the products gross profits (revenue - Sales team costs.)
| Product Goals | Reward |
|---|---|
| 50cr of total sales | 10% |
| 75cr of total sales | 15% |
| 100cr of total sales | 20% |
| 150 credits of total sales | 30% |
| 250 credits of total sales | 40% |
| 500 credits of total sales | 50% |
Additionally, the Product Team Leads have the option to grant special prizes to the best products made in a day, the best descriptions, the most interesting effects, or any other criteria which they wish to judge! These prizes will be between 50-200cr and dependent on daily sales.
Once all of these features are written up, the Product is ready! Show it to your Team Leader and send it to the Sales Team!
Sales
Of course, making products is only half the equation. Once the Product is made, it's time for the Sales team to jump into action! These fearless commercial soldiers charge out into the market, getting their wares to the consumers who need them the most. Each Sales Representative is a professional trained in the transactional arts and equipped with the best information the Product team can give.
When the Product Development team finishes a Product, it is instantly manufactured by the Expedient Virtual Integrated Logistics program, and becomes available to sell. The Unit Production on the Product Sheet will tell you how many units of the product are available.
Once the Product is ready, each Sales Representative can pledge to sell a number of units. Make sure this gets recorded, as it will affect your reward! Once a Sales Representative has pledged to sell units, those units are not available to anyone else. Others can only pledge up to the remaining amount. Once all Sales Representatives have pledged up to the total Unit Production, no more units are available to sell!
Once you have your pledged units, head out to the Dream and make those sales! Be persistent, but not annoying; be helpful, but not cloying; find a need and fill it. Convince people that parting with their hard-earned credits for our product is the best thing they can possibly do.2 Sell at the MSRP, in order to maintain our brand integrity. Selling below MSRP is a disciplinary offense and may result in your removal from the Sales Team. Also, if you are shown to be lying or deliberately omitting any of the product features, including complications, you will be disciplined. Lying about products creates major headaches for the Legal Department!
You may take the pledged units with you if you like, or you may rely on Stratemeyer's patented Blockified Amazonian Delivery System to deliver the goods within 6 hours anywhere on Prospero's Dream.
Once you've gone out and made your sale, be sure to transfer the revenue from your pledged units to your Sales Lead, so we can pay the costs. All Sales Representatives receive a 2% base sales commission on their sales, rounded down to the nearest credit! However, if they hit certain sales goals, they will receive even more!
| Sales Goal | Reward |
|---|---|
| Sells all pledged units | 5% base sales commission |
| Sells all units above 150% MSRP (have receipts) | +5% commission |
| Team sells 50% of Unit Production | +2% commission |
| Team sells 75% of Unit Production | +5% commission |
| Team sells 100% of Unit Production | +5% commission |
All of the +% rewards are cumulative!
A Sales Representative can sell as many units as they have pledged, of as many Products as they care to. However, do not oversell a Product by attempting to sell more units than you've pledged. This creates negative brand association in the marketplace as customers fail to receive promised items, and inefficient manufacturing runs are performed to make up the gap. If you are found to be overselling, you will be disciplined and removed from the Sales Team.
And that's all! Get to selling!
Sales Lead, remember to make sure to forward any revenue left after paying commissions to the Product team!