Steps to release a game legally

Does anyone have insight on precautions necessary to release a game? Such as:

1. how to copyright your game
2. a good site that handles selling software
3. generating keys
4. how to get an isbn barcode etc etc.

I'm about 2 weeks away from completing my game and I need to start working on this part of it. I want to make sure i have all my ducks lined up before I release anything.

Yes I know some of you are shocked. You mean Chroma is actually gonna release something? :)

Hey man, its good to hear you're finishing something! Are you still in the Hampton Roads area? It'd be cool to check out what you've done.

Anyway, you can to to www.uspto.org to get trademarks for your stuff. I believe you can also get over to the US copyright stuff from there. I got a copyright on a game about 10 years ago just for kicks and to learn, it was easy.

As far as a good site to process, I'd go with Plimus. I have a whole system now that ties into my backend to register users and Plimus has some good stuff for that as well as the fact that they don't charge an arm and a leg. Basically, the way my stuff works now is users get a warning that their time is expiring (which is stored server side) and when its done they can follow a link from within the game to the order form. They fill it out and when the maximize the game again to keep playing their good to go ... no codes or anything the game just checks in with the database on my server.

You can do a code just as easily of course. Lately, I've been talking to people and they say it doesn't really matter you don't have to go nuts trying to stop people from hacking, just making purchasing as easy as possible.

you have to punch yourself in the face to release a game legally.

Not really ! Just joking me old mucker.

You dont have to copyright your game to sell it but you may want to if you think someone out there has the gall to sell it as their own.

I copyrighted mine with the US opyright office which was annoying because they want a printout of lots of the sourcecode.

I found upload.com to be the best website for selling games.

It also handles keys.

Why would you need a isbn?

Not sure about the ISBN. But heck there's a barcode on everything these days.

I'm gonna do something crazy and hit up microsoft to publish my game. All they can say is no. :)

The only thing I am struggling with is graphic direction. The gameplay is in place and even with placeholder graphics it quite playable.


I mean look at Bejeweled. You're clearing gems and it has a space theme. It appears that the theme there is just filling a space.

I've pondered a medieval/fantasy theme, cloudy air theme, 60s retro theme, mythology, and aztec or egyptian themes. Where's the aspirin...

Anyone have an idea on a fresh theme that hasn't been overdone?

ISBN is for printed books (International Standard Book Number).

Copyright is automatic upon creation of your work.

Generating keys is usually done using a hashing mechanism of some sort.

The only site I really buy from is totalgaming.net (Stardock). If it isn't on there, chances are I won't be buying it. Ever.

Good luck with Microsoft.

Now there's optimism for you :-)

your cheat guide will need an ISBN ;-0)

Good luck with your game.

I'll just list some, maybe it'll spark an idea in your head :).

- Aspirin theme ;)
- World culture themes (australian, indian, jamaican, etc)
- deep sea theme
- homey theme (victorian, farm, suburban, etc)
- prehistoric theme ( dinosaurs, cave men, etc)
- pre-pre-historic theme (primordial soup :D)
- hacker theme
- mirror theme (idk...but sounds interesting)
- optical illusion theme
- fruit theme
- car theme
- plane theme
.... list goes on and on.

yes but it's secret ;-)

You dont need to register a copyright, copyright is automatic on a peice of creative media if there is a plain notice of copyright and the date.




taken from here:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci

good luck chroma, if you don't mind me asking how long did your project take from concept to polished-ness ?

It's just I've developed my app so that it works for personal use - but the balls i'm juggling have caused me to drop my most gratifying ball - my bmax app. 12 months time maybe.....

Well myself and my brother had been bouncing game ideas off each other for over a year. We had finally settled on a puzzle game with a medieval theme. I had started coding it and working on some placeholder graphic when a bolt of lightning came thru my kitchen ceiling and zapped me and I got a new idea. That was 3 weeks ago. The gameplay is very simple but fast paced and addictive(or so I'm told). So at the present, the project is going on week 4 with graphics being the major hurdle right now. I'm pretty sure I've got an art direction now though so hopefully in a week I'll have a lot of the artwork done. It's definitely not polished at the moment but I am shooting for a November 1 completion date. At that time I'm gonna do a week of playtesting etc etc. Then hopefully it will be available for sale around November 8th.

wow that's a pretty quick development, so week 4 now, Nov 1st = 2 more weeks so 6 weeks excluding testing...how many hours a day do you work? To sell it's gotta be mega polished and have you done all the menu screens/options/profiles etc, they take an age?

I pretty much code/do artwork every chance I get which fluxuates from 2-6 hours daily. Not sure if you've seen some code modules I've written in the past but I had all menu code and options type stuff done long ago. I'm really big on reuseable code.

The graphics will be generally comparable to the quality seen in popcap.com games. I pretty much see that as the puzzle game industry standard. Anything less would appear rushed and impact sales in a negative manner.

The goal isn't money though. All I want to do is release a game people can enjoy playing. A game that will keep you on your toes and give a sense of accomplishment when the level is done and make you want to do the next one. I fully plan on donating $1 per every unit sold to the American Diabetes Association (my father has diabetes). This will be stated on the box/game page and the check will be presented quarterly by myself in person to them. The projected price of the game is $19.95.

That is really nice, and will spark a lot of on-the-fence sales.

great thanks for the info and the donation thing is nice. However, you need to clarify that it'll be $1 when sold fro your site because if the portals sell it and say BFG sells it as part of a mega pack you may actually get less than $1!