New Developer Asking For Feedback

Hello Everybody:

My posts in the Blitz3D "N00b" forum have increased as of late because I am nearing the completion of my very first video game, fully developed in Blitz3D (though it is 2D) and over the course of three years. This has been primarily due to me being in school full time and having to take breaks from my project. As anyone else here may know, making a game can be awfully time consuming...

This is a very exciting time for me. I am on the verge of releasing this game, and am trying to get everything in place. Being among a community of peers who have infinitely more experience in this field, I humbly request your guidance and your constructive criticism. Someday within the next couple of weeks I will summon the courage to deliver my demo to the online community. You will be my judges. This is a very exciting time for me, indeed. But it is also a scary time.

I have a completed demo, and in fact the closed beta which I will be distributing to a few friends to test for me. The closed beta actually represents a fully functioning, for all intents and purposes completed video game. I am proud of this milestone, but I am asking for a few things from this community...

1. What are my best options for web hosting / file hosting? My demo is ~6MB and full version ~13MB. I would like to give as close to unlimited downloads as I am able to.

2. What can I do for sales? I love my game of course, and don't claim it will sell a single unit. However, if people wanted to contribute to me for my efforts in exchange for a full version, which is the best way to do this? I have looked into the possibility of dealing with online third-party merchants. Does anyone think this is a good idea or is there a better way? I am planning on renting a P.O. Box and having printable order forms if customers would like to have a copy of the CD + manual.

Additionally, have any of you other developers had problems with copyright infringement, other people stealing and trying to sell your game, etc.? I have taken necessary measures to formally protect my software, but we all know it only goes so far. Someone will always try to steal, and someone will always try to hack. I suppose it is just as certain as death and taxes. But I feel like indies are more prone to this type of abuse than the big name companies. Advice?

Sorry I hope I haven't made my post too long. I am very excited about this and would like to engage a few of you gurus in your feedback and support.

-Gk2k

This just backs up my thoughts that we should have a FAQ section covering all this stuff for new developers.

Speaking of which, I noticed Idigicon games selling for 99p each in Staples at the weekend, there was a lot of Blitz written games in there. (Mentioned it to the girlfriend but she wasn't impressed :-) )

just to say im interested in this too. on the hosting issue I think you could get away with low priced hosting, http://www.streamlinenet.co.uk are very good and i dont think you will get any problems with downloads being capped.

1. Use your ISP web space, I'm sure you get plenty of bandwidth for free. Personally I have my NTL (virgin media) webspace for holding my downloads and hotlink from my 34sp webspace. 34sp costs £17.50 per year but you are limiting on transfer hence big downloads being offsite.

2. Many people will explode with me saying this, but just get a pay pal donate button... You will get very very very few donations but probably more than using a PO Box.

If you want a discount to be available for people that help you, try using a discount code that you type in for a certain discount.

I use paypal and share it.

Paypal are like an on line bank (as you undoubtedly know) and you recieve instant payments.

Share-it are more of a reseller and charge eu-vat on their products. With them you are more of a supplier and they give you a lump sum at the end of the month minus the fee they charge.
For this fee you get some advertising, they host your file if you request and can also issue keys. So in *some* ways are better than paypal.

As for hosting I host my own files with www.netpivotal.com but there is a service called filebox or something like that (there are many diffrent ones) that host files for free, cant remember what they are called.

GrayKnight2k

I think the advice I'd give, particularly regarding beta testing, is not to assume you'll release just a few weeks later.

Thank you all very much for your feedback. I am in the process of creating my website now and setting up some other accounts to get all of this under way.

@D4NM4N: Thanks for the Share-it tip - they look really good.

@MadJack: I definitely agree and I am not assuming it will be released only weeks later. I am sure there's a lot left to do, but I am hoping for a demo release, anyway.

This seems to be a constantly discussed issue, and yet there never seem to be the answers to want you really want to know.

I too am trying to finish up my first game, and I guess like many here my game falls into the non casual market, which means Portals don't really want it, and even if they do they won't really promote it. Nobody explains really why casual only means Match-3 and Word games, and that "99% of our customers are Women over 50"???? Are there no decent sized portals for games other than hardcore gamers and women over 50? And if so what are they?

Nobody seems to quote publishers other than the Bigfish, Oberon's etc, but they for me are distributers not publishers. Plus they all seem to aim at the same weird demographic of wordplaying, match-3 lovers. I can't recall seeing a publisher looking for casual shooters or Platformers.

I guess the answer is that you have to self publish even though you know you'll probably as a first timer screw up somehow. First get yourself a website, and a service to take payments like share-it. Then write some publicity gumph, and send out to as many review sites as possible. Then I guess you need to try and get your demo onto the free download sites - which I think I will use the Glimmer games service for that. After this I'm in the dark as to what to do next. Obviously advertising seems a good idea, but I have no idea where to advertise or how to go about it, and does it even work.

My guess is if you can get enough downloads from free sites and you hit the 1-2% conversion everyone seems to talk of you'll do okay. How you go about getting into retail I have no idea, the basic premise is hoping that somebody emails you making offers rather than actively knowing who to seek out.

Sorry about this post, as I'm not sure if I'm answering a question (cynically) or asking for answers (expectantly). All I can say as from where I am now, selling a game seems far harder than coding it.

Rob

Rob:

Thank you for your response and sharing your thoughts about publishing. It is helpful to me to gain this type of insight from someone else in a similar situation.

I have not yet applied to these publishers everyone speaks of, but am remaining optimistic. I am not sure my game falls into the "casual" or "casual plus" categories either - but it can't hurt to try.

What we have to remember is this: good games catch on. If you or I or anyone else makes something others really enjoy, it has the potential of spreading like a wild fire. So I guess we can hope for the best.

-Gk2k