I've finally finished a productivity application I have been working on an off for the last 2 months. Some people showed interest on it so I decided to give it a shot and sell it (I spent 2-3 more weeks polishing it afterwards). Now, I should have my game done by the end of next month. Should I put everthing on one site and try to maybe cross sell ? (While the products don't directly cross reference, I'm reckoning 1/3 of the users that will use the app may be interest in the game) I'm pondering between doing this, either setup a games site and an apps site, or even setting one page per product. I will continue to make games, and I will continue to make apps (both fascinate me) but I'm not exactly sure how I should come across and try to sell them. I'll post more info on the app here when I'm finished with the website, I think some of the folks here may actually like it (or not :))

That approach seems to work well for Stardock (http://www.stardock.com) so I don't see why it wouldn't work for you.

We'll be basically doing the same thing, although games are coming a bit later. I can't see it causing harm to your sales so you might as well try it and see how things go.

I plan to sell both apps and games from the same site. That is, if I ever actually write an app.

I don't see what it could possibly hurt, especially if you think there could possibly be an overlap in audience.

In 1996 and 1997, when I was just getting started, I listed The Journal (http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/) and the games on the same Web pages. There was almost *no* overlap. In 7 years of selling both, I've had fewer than 10 players buy The Journal. And only 1 or 2 users of The Journal buy a game. So I don't bother anymore. I keep them separate.

On the other hand, if you can come up with a good *reason* for players to be users and vice versa, then go for it.

Best of luck.

-David

David's results make sense to me. You can test this kind of thing easily enough and let the data speak for itself.

My opinion as a consumer is that sites with both games and apps indicate that the developer may be unfocused and uncommitted, causing me to suspect that neither the games nor apps will be very good. Among shareware app sites, I actually get the best impression from sites where the developer only sells one key product and the site looks professional. www.netcaptor.com is a good example. This makes me think that the single program is the developer's sole source of income, so it will be well-maintained and updated for some time to come. NetCaptor is certainly updated frequently. I also figure that if an app is making enough money for someone to live off, it can't be too shabby.

With indie game sites I get the best impression from those with a handful of nice-looking games and a professional looking site, but no non-game apps.

For once, I agree with DavidRM.

I am going to be distributing Artgem, and will keep them totally separate, save a "Made with Artgem" button at the bottom of my site. I am having the site completely designed by "professionals" and it will have zero similarity to retro64.com.

Why distract a customer with something they likely have no interest in? So yes, David and Steve are right :)

What is artGem ?

thanks.
pat.

It's a 2D pixel painting program- and it's all I have used for 2 years. I will make an announcement here when it goes live.