Why do games sell?

I picked the right one...do I get a prize?

For some reason, I think space games have a certain mystique around them. Space = future, future = new, new = better? I dont know what it is, I just know a lot of people that play space games and only a few that play car games (with GranTuismo being the exception...everyone plays that it seems).



Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Coming July 2002

While everything about Kombat Kars is great! Except the keyboard controls make it impossible to control for me. That makes the gameplay no fun =(

If all that matters is what you get in the end, why go through life?
~Michael Sikora

cliffski, the magic formula is as follows:

Take the name of the game and convert the ascii values of the letters to integers. Add them all up, and multiply by Pi/2 (taken out to 15 places past the decimal). Then, divide by Kirchoff''s variable constant. That is guaranteed to give you the exact number of sales you can expect to have for a game.

On the other hand, if what Guardian_Light says about Kombat Kars is true, and it is difficult to control, that could be a major reason why it isn''t doing well.

---

Looking for an honest video game publisher? Visit www.gamethoughts.com

cliffski,

you need to look at your customer orders
for each type of game you sell
and try to figure out the type of buyers
you''re getting for them...


regards,


GarageDeveloper International
the independent''s publisher!tm

http://www.garagedeveloperinternational.com/

The formula for what sells and what doesn''t seems to be a complicated and fragile one. You left out a couple of factors that could have an impact on the formula:

1) Star Miner is $5 cheaper.
2) While on the surface it seems that you''re comparing a simple shooter against a simple driver, the info page for Star Miner tells me that there''s at least *some* level of depth there which is not present in Kombat Kars. You collect minerals to sell to upgrade your ship and weapons. May not seem like much, but that makes it a step above the (apparently) simple gameplay in Kombat Kars.

Another thing could be the marketing. I mean, KombatKars looks good but the screen shots are, well, boring (star miner though less graphic intensive has a nice feel to it. Can''t explain it.) second, KombatKars is 7MB where as Star Miner is 2MB (demo atleast) which means more people will download the second. Then you add in the price difference and a few other factors (like pure dumb luck and the controls, etc.) and its actually pretty logical.

I''d go to your customers and ask them (if you have records of who bought, etc.). They could tell you better than any of us could really.

Thanks for your feedback guys, its interesting to hear other people compare your games. I think depth of gameplay seems to be quite an important factor.

http://www.positech.co.uk

I have to agree with ThePRMan. For example..I noticed you have a similar game to kombat kars, called Rocky Racers, now did Rockey Racers sell enough units for you to make a similar game?
Also do the to games have enough differences ( I didn''t read the description) for the player to spend the extra $10 to buy Kombat Kars?

Also do you have some of the marketing tactics written on articles published at www.dexterity.com?

If starminer is doing well, why not create a sequal or an addon pack... etc.

John Hsia

I have to agree with what others have said about gameplay. There doesn''t seem to be much to do in KombatKars going by the info page. Combine that with a 7MB download and I don''t see much reason to even try it. Starminer looks like there''s a lot more to do as well as some freedom to do it as you wish. And at 2MB, Starminer certainly has me interested enough to try it at least.

You know you''re a programmer when your computer is like family. When it''s more like a lover, you need help.

Hi!

That star miner game is cool and not so differnt from my game that's almost finished. I'd love some figures though, exactly how well is it selling?

I agree with the idea that space games are a little more likely to catch peoples imagination and I think they have a more adventurous feel.

Also I'd be happy to swap marketing info (you plug my game on your website and I'll plug yours on mine). I think our games are similar enough that people that like that type of game would be interested in both games, yet different enough to offer fairly different play experience.

Maybe we can even look into creating a seperate web site for this type of 2D space sim (or quality 2d games in general)

[[ I see your already doing this... Excellent, I'll get back to you when I finish and relese Dreamstars ]]

Anyway email me if you're interested or just want to share your sales figures (would be a great help since I havn't settled on a price yet).

Ta,

Jai Shaw

jaisvoidifnotremoved@ozemail.com.au

[edited by - Jai Shaw on July 23, 2002 2:45:33 AM]

Just so people dont start getting thw wrong idea and quitting their day jobs here... it is all relative, neither game sells like hot cakes.
For example, this year so far Asteroid Miner has sold 46 copies.
So I haven''t ordered a ferrari yet.


http://www.positech.co.uk

Wow really only 46 and it''s got such good raves on Download.com too. If it''s been downloaded 32,000 times and only 42 people have bought it doesn''t that suggest that maybe either the registered version doesn''t offer enough or doesn''t offer enough for the cost?

I''ve heard you should be able to get around 1-2% sales to download ratio if you do it right??

Then again people are saying it''s a bit tricky maybe that''s the problem, people say that about my game too.

For Asteroid Miner I''d agree with them. It was a little tricky for me too and I''ve been playing my game with very similar game controls repeatedly for the last 6 months so I''m pretty compentent with this type of movement.

I think it''s important to make asteroids control games really really simple to start with

But thanks for those figures, I think that helps me to stick with my first pricing thoughts - that is simple games like this should be really really cheap. I''m thinking around the $6 mark. Anyway it''s only my first game. There will be time for bigger and better things latter

Jai

Well, I just downloaded Kombat Kars and installed it, but every time I try to run it, it performs an illegal operation and shuts down. I have 800Mhz, 128RAM, 32MB GeForce 2 Card, Win 98. So maybe that is why it is not doing so great, maybe a lot of other people experience the same problem as me.

Ive had a few people report that but never managed to track the bug, could you maybe email me the files from the debugdata directory to cliff@positech.co.uk
if any of them are huge I only need the first few lines...
That would be really helpfull.

http://www.positech.co.uk

Ok, I e-mailed you the file. Looks like an error with the ZBuffer.

How fun are they? My guess is that the one that''s the most fun is selling the copies.

Star Miner was more fun, but then again I don''t like racing games. I''m curious how StarLines Inc. is doing. That one has always looked intersting to me.

That one sells a fair bit better

http://www.positech.co.uk

I''m working on a asteroid mining game myself but its in 3D.