Is there an easy way to sell your games?

Let's say you've written a really good game, thrown up a website with demos, and are ready to sell.

How does that work?

Ideally, the customer
1) downloads a free demo
2) decides he/she likes it
3) goes onto website, enters credit card info
4) is emailed a key to unlock full game

Now, 1 and 2 are easy (if you have a good game)...
And 3 can be accomplished by adding a link to PayPal on your site...

That leaves 4.

Code for that sort of thing has already been written in the Archives - you enter your name, and a password is generated by set rules to match your name. For example:

Name: UberGeek
Password: fa41-@f#m-(a902-1mfq-1^@b

The password is hidden from the user, and only if you enter the correct name/password will the game unlock. The same program will be run on the server, and then the password is instantly emailed to the customer. Then he/she has the full game.

There must be services that do this - this is almost exactly the process I went through to unlock MilkShape3D. I think it used Share*It, but I don't remember...

Anyway, does anyone know of any services that do this?

http://www.bmtmicro.com

There's also Plimus but I'm not going to link to it because they're lousy, imho.

Selling a game is hard. Don't want to sound harsh but after looking at your website today, and seeing the screenshots (the gallery ones - the ones on your website don't work), I'd say you have a slim to zero chance of anybody buying it. There are many reasons for this conclusion, not least of which is because your site looks awful and amateurish, and I can't see anybody divulging their payment details to you even if they did get as far as wanting to buy it. The site looks like what you said it is; "thrown up".

The other main reason, is that your graphics aren't particularly attractive. Very primitive graphics and use of standard TTF fonts just don't do you any favours at all. I can't comment on the gameplay because the above reasons ensured I didn't even want to investigate that far.

I can tell you everything's cool and it'll sell millions if that's what you'd prefer - personally I think I'd be doing you an injustice. It needs a lot of work before you can even begin to think about selling it.

its possable to combine any sale sites that use serial key lists and my software protectors to validate emailed codes. Share*It and BMT Micro are two that im aware of that offer support for key lists

kev

lol

I did not

*did*

*not*

mean my game!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was just a general question - I know I still have loads more work ahead of me for my game - I was just curious to know how something like that would work!! :-)

[edit]:
About my website:
I spent a total of 20 minutes making that thing - the only thing I was concerned with was having a stable webspace so that people like you could download my demos! Of COURSE it's not permanent!!!

[another edit]:
Also, I'm NOT going to mess with accepting credit card info - that's what PayPal is for. :-)

Yeah no.2 on your list is by far the hardest bit because it's art, the rest of the points are just technical - unless of course you are selling someone else's game which is good (as you've mentioned).

BMTMicro are fine, I've used them, and I've used Share-it to. No problems with either. Plenty of people use Plimus too.

I'm not selling ANYTHING at the moment - I just was cursious as to how it was done!!

Thanks anyway for the info.

Is there an easy way to sell a game? The answer is a resounding no.

In fact the chances are slim to none. The amount of people in this community that have sold multiple copies of a game is very small, and for all of these people they are extremely talented and experienced, and have paid their dues in hard work to sell a product. Take for example MadJack, a member of the Blitz Community that recently got his game published. I think I recall him saying once he has been working on Tank Universal for four years. Sticking to a project that long is a feat, and when considering the amount of praise and success he's had with it, it's really a rare thing.

My advice to you (as has been my advice to others as well) is don't spend your time trying to make the big bucks, write programs because you like programming. I'm assuming you are a young person (as am I) and you should spend this time building your experience and learning, cranking out some fun, but maybe not popular, projects.

Ask Gfk how long he's been writing code. Once you get to that point you can start thinking about making money. Until then, have fun, make some games you and your friends will enjoy, and above all else: build that experience.

In closing I'd like to wish you the best of luck, welcome you to the community, and commend you on your positive attitude and determination.

Since Sauer's mentioned my 'name' above, I thought I'd just make a few comments.

Firstly, Tank Universal was worked on for 4+ years afterhours and on weekends. A lot of work.

I sold only a few copies through my website direct. It didn't seem to matter how good/bad the game was, unless people knew about it, it wasn't going to do good business. For example, one of the best weeks I had, was when Fileplanet featured the game on their front page - I sold 2-3 per day. Inevitably though, the game was rotated off their frontpage and sales dropped back to 1 every 2 days or so.

I spent time submitting it to shareware sites using an automated submission software package (robosoft). Thought this would boost sales hugely - but it didn't.

I got it onto a couple of computer gaming mags. Didn't seem to boost sales too much.

Fact is, I just couldn't get the word out. Part of it was my own inexperience in marketing, part of that is that there are 'gatekeepers' even in the indie games world and unless you are 'adopted' by these gatekeepers (e.g. Steam with Audiosurf), it's likely to be slim pickings. For example, I emailed Steam, GarageGames, any number of the big portals and heard nothing back from those guys. Nothing.

In the end, I signed with a publisher. The publisher had existing contacts in the business, could make PR announcements, would pursue distribution leads that were not open to me as a private individual and sure enough, reviews started rolling in. They even got Steam's acquiescence after several rejections (remember that Steam hadn't even bothered to reply to my emails) and other portals also took the game on, on the strength of the reviews and the publisher's credibility.

Sounds great right? The downside is that the publisher takes a major cut. A major cut. And the game's being sold at a price point much less than what it was on the website. Certainly there's the glory in having a sucessful indie game - but the biggest benefit so far has been the recognition that the game has established something of a 'brand' and that since people have enjoyed this first title, they're likely to purchase a sequel as well.

22 years and counting.

Started in 1986, first game published eight years later in 1994. Lots of public domain and licenceware after that.

Only been 'profitable' since Blitz appeared on the PC in 2000 (Hole in One was released 2001).

@Gfk, we started around the same time. same here plenty of public domain from my amiga days. but little on the pc i mainly do .php know so have little time with blitz.

MadJack - That's a very cool game! Do you think financially it will make enough to warrant the 4 year dev time?

MGE

Still too early to tell - its taken some time for word of mouth and publicity to build.

It sold ok on Steam (nowhere near Audiosurf of course) - but not enough to cover the dev time. The idea that Steam = instant financial sucess for indies is not necessarily true. The fact that the game doesn't have multiplayer certainly hurt sales.

Having said that, there's still sales figures to come back from the other portals as they only report on quarterly basis. The game was no1 on WildGames for a week.

There's also some money to come from a retail contract (not US/UK), but this depends on my localising the game as well. Possibly, there may be other retail interest - I certainly hope so.

Beyond that, its been accepted as a finalist in the Indiecade exhibition, which should be good exposure.
www.indiecade.com

(I should mention my publisher is Meridian4 and just in case I appear to be giving a negative impression, although I've not had much experience with publishers, it's been very good working with them - they've provided good support, feedback and if you have a game ready, you may like to give them a look in.)

Thanks...
The only reason I'm writing my games is for fun. If I can find a way to make a few bucks in the process, that's great. Personally, if only 1 person in the world were to buy my game if/when it's released, I'd be happy.

btw-I've been programming for about 4 years now. Started with Blitz, and am continuing with Blitz... Great langauge... Even better community!!

Thanks for all the info - and good luck MadJack!

Just a note:

I hope this doesn't discourage you, as your game is certainly not the worst thing that's come to the blitz community (I hold at least 4 of the 5 worst games ever presented :p) and its good to have ambition.

The reason we are saying what we are is that many programmers have come, failed at selling something, and end up quitting all together. Personally, I hate seeing that, so keep at it, and you never know; maybe something will take off for you. Just don't drive yourself crazy over sales, that's all.

As I said, sales are secondary -
I want to make great games!! :-)

Thanks - it's good to know I'm at least average. :-)