quote: Original post by caffeineaddict
Just another question. If it''s pretty much a new genre, how do you judge how the implementation is if there''s nothing to benchmark off of. Do you just look at how good it is to play, how easy it is to play, graphics etc. ? Thanks for you''re feedback, and I do appreciate your involvement here as a publisher giving advice to indie developers.

Three things mainly:
1) The game must be fun.
2) The game must be marketable.
3) The game must provide solid gameplay value for the player.

If a game isn''t fun, we won''t publish it no matter how nice it looks. If there''s no market for a game, even if the game is fun, we''re not going to be able to generate decent sales for it, so we''ll publish a more marketable game instead. Lots of clones have this problem -- they just don''t stand out from the competition. Lastly, some games provide too little gameplay value (i.e. they''re fun at first, but after 30 minutes of play, you feel you''re done and want to try something else).


Steve Pavlina
Dexterity Software
www.dexterity.com

Hi Steve,

I just wanted to express my thanks for all the detailed and valuable information! It helps a *lot* to get these information, which give us an insight into the business world of games!

You have mentioned ASP. Is it worth to become an ASP-member? Where do I get more information about ASP (What, where to apply, benefits, costs, etc.)?

Thanks again!
Cheers,
Selim

http://www.asp-shareware.org/

Yes, I definitely think joining the ASP is worthwhile. I''ve been a member since 1996, but I didn''t really become active in it until I started focusing on shareware marketing in 1999. Then I served as VP for a year and President for a year. I''m still a member today because there''s no way I can ever say I''ve "mastered" all there is to know about shareware marketing. New distinctions are always being made. It''s well worth the $100/year if you take advantage of it.

The ASP''s private newsgroups are probably the biggest benefit; second would be the newsletter. The $100 dues acts as something of a filter. If people are only mildly interested in shareware marketing, they won''t bother to join. So you end up with a group of people that are very committed. Pretty much every question asked gets many useful answers, as there''s a good expert-to-newbie ratio. Plus the semi-privacy of the group allows people to post more freely about how their business is doing. Everyone posts using their real name, for instance, not handles. This morning one member posted about how his sales changed as the result of experiementing with different prices -- interesting stuff you don''t often see anywhere else.

I''d say there are probably around 50-100 game developer members in the ASP. The most notable is probably Scott Miller. He posts in the ASP newsgroups on occasion.


Steve Pavlina
Dexterity Software
www.dexterity.com

Granat and Steve,

thanks again for the help!

Cheers,
Selim

In todays advance 3D game world, is there any chances of people buying good 2D games. I''m mean by games like puzzles etc.

please reply.

quote: Original post by harishjs
In todays advance 3D game world, is there any chances of people buying good 2D games. I''m mean by games like puzzles etc.

Im guessing you are new around here, as we talk about this extensively. Yes, 2D games sell quite well. But they have to be good, and you have to make a good effort to market it. In the thread "Article: So You Want to Start a Game Dev Co?" Steve mentioned that "Perhaps 4-5 months after its release, Dweep was bringing in a sustainable $2500/month". Granted this was a few years ago, but this segment of the market hasnt changed much in the last few years. I think the full price retail market has changed considerably, but the shareware market has been a lot slower in following current trends.

I''m making a 3d racing game which will I think follow the ideals of something like mariokart: fast, fun, emphasis on multiplayer to keep playablility lasting.

Does anyone know what the level of quality is in amateur racing games, and what the demand is for them? And also from this sample feature list, does it sound cool to you guys:

multiple people on same PC (up to 4 players I assume)
multiple monitors supported (up to 4 players per monitor with sufficient hardware - so 8 players on 1 PC not unreasonable!)
network and other multiplayer modes including cross-networking i.e an IPX network linked to a user with a modem.
large number of maximum players (as many as network lag allows - hopefully at least 32)
exciting fun cars, probably powerups and maybe weapons.
large level selection ie 20-50 levels, including series. + level creator
focus on multiplayer ie internet with clans/leaderboards of top times
reasonable 3d graphics e.g bump-mapping, transparency, specular lighting, shadows + maybe nighttime with headlights as dynamic lights, but able to run on pretty much anything over about 250MHz.

Can''t provide screen shots, detailed inventory as in very early development stages, just wondered if this sounds like it stands a chance of getting of the ground commercially. I''d be happy to make £1000 in total from it (approx $1500 I think) in about a year. Is that likely (I have 3 months to make it so that''s how much I''d make as a mar-man!)

Don't want to be negative (or more negative than normal) but why are you asking us what the quality of the competition for your game is? Why haven't you gone out an downloaded all the shareware racing games and reviewed them for yourself?

Just because someone on here thinks a game is great you may not agree. The game they talk about might be a different style of game to yours. You need to look at the competition and make your own decisions.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

[edited by - obscure on June 24, 2002 6:50:43 AM]

Har!

Selim just for you:
"oh, yes, I earn many 1000$'s each month with my games and thus I've quit my 9-5 job".
(Yes, but I never had a different job...)

And I am proud to be not an ASP member (anymore).
Actually I am thinking of joining it again, mainly because Steve seems to believe so much in them.

[edited by - Jester101 on June 25, 2002 1:08:27 PM]