Generating more sales
Posted By: ulillillia
Generating more sales - 08/19/06 17:19
I've now released the full edition for my 2D game. However, the only way I can seemingly get sales is from my website only and since my website has almost no traffic (one unique visitor every two days on average, barely 250 MB bandwidth per month if avatars on forums and posting screenshots for forums and E-mails are taken out). This is a very unworthy way to selling my 2D game. What methods, short of paying a huge fee for advertising, can I use to help generate more sales.
Posted By: old_bill
Re: Generating more sales - 08/20/06 10:32
There are plenty of websites for free games out in the web,
put your free edition onto them, so possible customers can
check out the demo and buy the full version later if they like.
And search for a thread from Romac, he had some good points
about how to get attention without having a large budget for
advertising.
old_bill
Posted By: Ichiro
Re: Generating more sales - 08/20/06 15:12
I'd do these things:
1. Write up a press release announcing your game (check out the articles at
http://www.dpdirectory.com/3newsltr.htm ). There are PR distribution services, but you can distribute a release yourself by gathering e-mail contacts for editors of magazines and websites.
2. Read up on marketing (
http://www.dexterity.com/articles ).
3. Make sure you submit your demo everywhere (e.g., have you hit all the big sites such as Tucows and download.com? The indie sites such as GameTunnel?) Learn about the PAD format (
http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/ ) and submit your game to all the shareware sites you can find.
4. Place DOWNLOAD and BUY buttons prominently on your website.
And last, but not least:
5. Get honest feedback about your game, improve on it for a month or two, and release a sequel. The feedback should be somewhat painful but constructive. Ask enough people what they want to see more of in your game, and you should begin to see a consensus.
The iterative process in #5 is, IMO, the most important -- many indies seem to get discouraged and dump a project rather than finding out which parts to improve and improving them.
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/20/06 15:43
Quote:
I'd do these things:
1. Write up a press release announcing your game (check out the articles at http://www.dpdirectory.com/3newsltr.htm ). There are PR distribution services, but you can distribute a release yourself by gathering e-mail contacts for editors of magazines and websites.
I looked at your link and it's mentioning of paying $129 - forget that as it's too expensive. Plus, what is this "press" thing?
Quote:
3. Make sure you submit your demo everywhere (e.g., have you hit all the big sites such as Tucows and download.com? The indie sites such as GameTunnel?) Learn about the PAD format ( http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/ ) and submit your game to all the shareware sites you can find.
I was told not to use download.com and to use Regnow instead. I often don't think of Tucows as I almost never go there. There's one other one, but don't recall it's name.
Quote:
4. Place DOWNLOAD and BUY buttons prominently on your website.
What do you mean by this?
Quote:
And last, but not least:
5. Get honest feedback about your game, improve on it for a month or two, and release a sequel. The feedback should be somewhat painful but constructive. Ask enough what they want to see more of in your game, and you should begin to see a consensus.
The iterative process in #5 is, IMO, the most important -- many indies seem to get discouraged and dump a project rather than finding out which parts to improve and improving them.
Although it won't be a sequel to the game, it'll be in the form of updates where new features (such as new challenges) get added, of which updates, to version 3.x, are free. The next update is 2.5 with 2.6 following after that.
Posted By: Ichiro
Re: Generating more sales - 08/20/06 16:58
I looked at your link and it's mentioning of paying $129 - forget that as it's too expensive. Plus, what is this "press" thing?
Again, you don't need to pay for the distribution service; you can do it yourself if you want to save the money. But the articles on that site will tell you most of what you need to know to write and distribute a press release. That's an important step, as it's one way to get your game mentioned in magazines and on larger gaming websites.
I was told not to use download.com and to use Regnow instead. I often don't think of Tucows as I almost never go there.
I think we're talking about different things. You don't need to sell though these services; most download sites (and there are many good ones) will allow you to list your product there for download, for free. Download.com and Tucows are large sites with lots of traffic. We always upload there.
(BUY/DOWNLOAD) What do you mean by this?
Check out the articles at Dexterity that I mentioned. But in particular, conventional wisdom suggests that you should have big, bright buttons for the two most important actions -- downloading the demo and purchasing the game.
Posted By: JetpackMonkey
Re: Generating more sales - 08/20/06 18:20
I really agree with Ichiro. Honest feedback and watching real people test-play it is a good idea. Buy some pizzas for gamers you find on craigslist, watch them play and get feedback and make adjustments. Though this is pretty standard for releasing a game, maybe you've already done this step.
Some tactics for low budget game marketing: It might be worth buying some ad banner time on a website community that uses games like yours. Send free promo copies to game magazines and websites. Try to get an exclusive. Get people talking about it.
Posted By: Lion_Ts
Re: Generating more sales - 08/22/06 22:12
Hi, Uli!
I looked at your site. Sorry, but I think, it isn't market place. It was good while you posted your shaderwork and your dreams
. But to sell something you have to change site style totally or open new website for your product only.
Posted By: lostclimate
Re: Generating more sales - 08/23/06 05:50
if you look at morbious i believe he is offering free banner ads on his site, not sure how much traffic it gets , but also i would like to say, if this turns into a formal list, we might want to have it stickied
Posted By: FoxHound
Re: Generating more sales - 08/24/06 09:51
I've not looked through this thread, so I'll just say it.
Submit to all the casual game portals. I've made a post in this forum with a huge list of casual games. You'll have to search for it.
Submit to every shareware site. I did this back in June and I'm still getting "acceptance" letters now. You'll have to search for it.
Use Regnow, it's 20 bucks to join but it's worth it, i've got 30 affilaites through them and only 5 through Plimus.
Posted By: lostclimate
Re: Generating more sales - 08/24/06 16:54
foxhound, how is your game selling, im not sure if you feel comfortable answering, but if you do, how well is selling, because im thinking of trying to make a game will the arcade feel to it, but im not so sure how well it will sell.
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/25/06 02:02
Although I do have banners, they are *so old*, four years old (likely even older), that they are even highly irrelevent to my website as it is. What's mentioned in them otherwise has little to do with my website and when first made, I otherwise had almost no knowledge of Gamestudio, barely even able to make blocks, let alone having a whole working game. I have had intentions on replacing them, but my motive has always been negative for all that time. Now that I've got a more worthy reason, the motive is around neutral increasing the chances of making any.
I'm already using Regnow. The affiliates require 3 banners. I don't know any game portals (except those with simple chess and checkers, nothing like my game), but I have had intentions on using some software download site to list the free edition.
Posted By: old_bill
Re: Generating more sales - 08/25/06 10:42
What you need are Reviews, someone needs to test you game and post for write reviews for well know webpages.
And as allready said, crate a special website just for your game, where you advertise it and
tell all potential customers about its fetures, and why exactly they have to play it, which means to buy it.
A product can be as good as choclate, but without advertising, it's dead.
old_bill
Posted By: Damocles
Re: Generating more sales - 08/25/06 19:24
the best advertisement is to make a good game, that people talk about
Posted By: Lion_Ts
Re: Generating more sales - 08/25/06 21:50
Quote:
the best advertisement is to make a good game, that people talk about
NO.
you can sell even bad one. good promotion is a trick. hide weak sides (call them 'futures' 
) but show strong and interesting one. write articles about new way or new generation or new but not for everyone... make offers (limited in time, for example), gifts(buy one, take 2!!! or something else),...; prepare ground for talking about!
Each goods has the buyer, sorry for my English.
Posted By: Damocles
Re: Generating more sales - 08/26/06 13:45
I dont buy games, unless I test a demo, or they are really cheap or have the Blizzard-Label on them..
And I never bought a game online ...
Posted By: Lion_Ts
Re: Generating more sales - 08/26/06 19:06
Me too
Though I'd prefer playing a demo before buying, I usually buy after a few reviews and a few videos of the game in action. So getting people to review a game is a good idea me thinks.
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/27/06 02:44
Since it seems like reviews are what I need, how do I get them? The only reviews are from the Showcase II forum my forum (only a few rare cases due to the major lack of traffic to my website), and a few E-mails I've gotten. A video doesn't really seem like an option - the file size, even for 10 seconds' worth at 20 fps (200 frames) and 640x480 resolution, is bigger than than the program itself. Using Winzip on it wouldn't be worthy unlike all other AVIs I have so I'd need a codec and I don't have any worthy codecs. Although I do know how to make a video of it, there are two issues:
1. Using CamStudio only seems to use 16-bit color causing the graphics to look very weird - it doesn't allow for me to use uncompressed frames.
2. Writing a small code to capture frames don't work either as after the first save, all files are JPG, not BMP or PNG. This is a bug in 6.31, the only version that works with my 2D game (6.4x causes odd things to happen and SED is horrible to use due to the way the cursor behaves (the column is not remembered).). 6.22 doesn't support 24-bit images so I can't use that either to save as BMP as it did by default. Past here, I have no other method.
The main thing is is that I do have a working demo.
Posted By: PHeMoX
Re: Generating more sales - 08/27/06 08:34
It's already mentioned, but do try to upload your demo at as many places as humanly possible, sites like tucows and download.com that get huge amounts of traffic. It's by far the fastest way to get some attention, spread your name... You could also try to get online magazines to review your game, eventhough there are quite some biased and unfair reviewers out there and off course games that aren't good by their standards will get low marks and lots of critics.
Cheers
Well you could upload a video to youtube.com or google video or something like that. Give it the right tags and you can get plenty of people to see it. Then end your video with a link to the site of the game.
Posted By: Ichiro
Re: Generating more sales - 08/27/06 15:44
Since it seems like reviews are what I need, how do I get them?Send out a press release announcing your game. It takes a good chunk of work to compose and send out yourself, but if you do it yourself, it's free. :
) Here's an example of one for Inago Rage:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ichiro Lambe
Dejobaan Games
support@dejobaan.com
www.dejobaan.com
Dejobaan Games Launches Inago Rage, Challenges Players to Create and Fight
Northborough, MA, November 10, 2004 - Dejobaan Games has released Inago
Rage, a single-player, first-person shooter where players fight in 3D arenas
they design.
In Inago Rage, players battle hundreds of mechanized enemies at once,
donning rocket boots to fight both on the ground and in the air. The game
offers 50 frenetic levels, which take place on city rooftops, above gas
giants, and in deep space. As players progress, a storyline illustrated in
graphic novel format introduces them to elements used in the game's building
stage.
Inago Rage allows all gamers to create their own levels, a process once
reserved for professional developers and technically proficient mod
creators. An integrated arena designer makes building easy with its simple
drag-and-drop interface. Players construct levels by arranging architectural
elements such as platforms, towers, and skyscapers. They then place markers
where enemies and power-ups will appear. Special effects are created through
a graphical interface, allowing players to simulate everything from a calm
day on an alien world to a storm-charged nebula above a black hole.
Players build in real-time, allowing them to test their creations simply by
switching from "build" to "play" mode. The game stores levels in individual
files, which are compact enough to be traded in forums or via e-mail.
Price and availability: Inago Rage is now available for $34.95, and can be
ordered online at www.dejobaan.com/inago.
System requirements: Inago Rage requires Windows XP or 2000; an 800MHz or
faster processor; 256MB of system memory (RAM) or more; an ATI Radeon 7000,
Nvidia GeForce 2, or better graphics card; and Microsoft DirectX 9c or
higher.
# # #
Evaluation copies are available upon request. Media kits are available at
www.dejobaan.com/inago/press.htm.
Dejobaan Games is an independent, New England-based game development studio
founded in 1999. Inago Rage is the studio's ninth entertainment title to
date.This was invaluable to us; Computer Gaming World picked up the story, and we got journalists asking us for review copies. PC gaming is competitive; the reviewers may be harsh. Take their criticism as constructive, improve those areas of your game, then produce a better sequel.
While you're at it, go to the
GameTunnel forums and submit your announcement there. They're very indie-friendly. Same for TIGSource. And you should already be submitting your demo to as many shareware sites as possible. Go to upload.com; Tucows; GameSpot; etc. If you've been downloading games from a particular website, submit yours there. If you don't download games, scour the web and find out where other people do.
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 02:10
After some thinking, I found a way to resolve the issue with getting a video to a limited extent - taking dozens of screenshots and cropping them then using virtual dub to stitch them together. 60 screenshots running at 20 fps means only 3 seconds of video, way too short for anything. I do recall a case where, if I had dozens of file_for_screen instructions, it would save as BMP and keep doing so until the file_for_screen instruction was used again where it'd save as JPG instead of BMP as indicated, but having 200 of these instructions can be quite a nusiance to work with just to work around this bug. Snagging dozens of screenshots isn't efficient either as it's very slow. With the 6.31 SED, I can much more quickly get the few hundred file_for_screen instructions needed for a video of a sufficient length.
The main issue is the file size. I don't see much sense in having a video that larger than the game itself.
Posted By: lostclimate
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 06:29
why not use fraps?
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 06:39
I don't like fraps - it adds text on the video and that'll ruin it. I've got other methods now, testing one right now.
Posted By: old_bill
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 07:48
Search for CamStudio, it's free and has no text or logos.
old_bill
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 08:48
I've already mentioned CamStudio - it doesn't allow for me to use uncompressed video and there are so few choices of codecs available. I've now implemented and tested my video recording method. Yep, as I expected, 900 MB for 1000 frames at 640x480 resolution.... I forgot about the "replace" feature. Despite having 1000 instances of file_for_screen due to the bug in 6.31, it's working very well. If I want to add another 1000 frames, I just copy/paste it into Wordpad, use the replace feature to bulk replace frame numbers, then copy and paste the code back in SED. The only problem is the file_for_screen instruction itself - it must always add a number at the end, which causes Virtual Dub to only load one frame. To fix this, I have to bulk rename all those files to get rid of the extra number at the end. From there, Virtual Dub reads all 1000 frames into a single video file and I can play it. It then just needs fine-tuning (maybe some audio - recorded by Audacity) then apply a compression codec applied when done. At 20 fps, my target, I can get about a minute's worth of video for 1000 frames.
Posted By: ulillillia
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 15:02
After having to write two more programs (using Gamestudio), I finally got the video. The first program was to create all the screenshots. Due to file_for_screen requiring an extra number at the end, I had to bulk rename files. The second, since Virtual Dub doesn't allow for frames to be merged into each other as an effect to reduce the frame rate, was to create a script that read from 3 BMP images and merged them writing an output BMP to reduce the base 60 fps into 20. When played back, it's a bit tricky to tell if it's actually 20 fps or 60. Now all it needs is some (possible) audio, then, when that's done, a codec applied to it.
Posted By: Guardian
Re: Generating more sales - 08/28/06 22:00
Hi ulillillia, I think your biggest problem is that you haven't really listened to the advice in this or your demo thread. You'd better, go back and list every helpful hint or criticism that was made of your game. And implement it asap. Then listen to every point given for marketing and make them so.
1) You’ve got to improve your product as advised.
GUI needs help? Visual queuing? Sound queues etc.
2) You have got to give powerful reasons to buy your game.
Why is it unique? Who would find it fun? Who is your target market?
3) You have got to give something free away with your game.
Like the software, or Models or Limited time discounts or something.
4) You have got to learn to market not just create a nice demo film.
5) And you have got to spend as much time with marketing as you did with developing.
6) If you can't do this find someone to market it for you their are at least 2 different successful game development teams that use to offer this, look in the AUMs.
Reread what Lion Ts had to say. These are part of the keys to marketing.
Quote:
Quote:
the best advertisement is to make a good game, that people talk about
NO.
you can sell even bad one. good promotion is a trick. hide weak sides (call them 'futures' ) but show strong and interesting one. write articles about new way or new generation or new but not for everyone... make offers (limited in time, for example), gifts(buy one, take 2!!! or something else),...; prepare ground for talking about!
Each goods has the buyer, sorry for my English.
Here are some links that might be helpful.
http://www.jolaf.com/resources/marketart.html
http://www.freeware-guide.com/top10sws.html
http://www.winsite.com/
To bad theirs no marketing 101 sticky, or forum.
I'm half sure you will just look for what’s wrong with this post rather then try to understand its intent, but hopefully this does some good.
I think this is one of Ullillia's "Im going to post a topic that makes it seem like I want advice, but I dont really, because I already know what Im going to do and I want others to agree with me because they will. Ichiro dosent know what he's doing."
"I think your biggest problem is that you haven't really listened to the advice in this or your demo thread. You'd better, go back and list every helpful hint or criticism that was made of your game"
Most of the time theres really no use in trying to give advice to Ullillia, since nothing you mention to him ever gets considered in even the slightest.
Honestly Uli, having a video with a watermark is way better than no video at all. Any developer here, new and veteran, will agree that having a video shows the game more than some carefully taken screenshot.
You've had plenty of reviews in showcase two, you have alot to work with.