Hi all,
My first post - referred to this forum by someone on the BlitzBasic forums.

I'm nearing completion on a game that I hope to market as shareware. It is packaged as a free "demo" with a registration key required to unlock other game modes. There are other incentives to want to do so.

I was planning on trying to promote it myself somehow by:
- getting a website for my "company"
- promoting it via robosoft, etc...
- working with ShareIt.com to handle billing and perhaps additional marketing(?)

But now I'm wondering if finding a Publisher is a possibility and going that route. I don't know how much I need to divulge before someone could say if there are interested or not - obviously the game idea is all I have to protect.

I can say that it is:
> 2D, window or fullscreen, Windows platform
> blend of word skills and spatial skills required
> what I feel is an original gameplay idea
> "magical" theme
> original artwork and code, working with another on original music/sfx.
> NOT an online game .
> A great title that I think will help marketing appeal.

All I know is that everyone who has played it has been hooked - although they enjoy the word/puzzle genre to begin with.

I just am not sure where to go from here. I don't mind the challenge of trying to push it out there myself if I thought I had a chance of success. Any advice??

thanks!
Dave

*glowers, holding her RPG/wordpuzzle game protectively*

Mine still has some time to go before completion, though. :)

A publisher isn't going to consider your game unless they get a look at the whole thing and that means releasing a full version to them. You might get away with showing them a demo to start but they certainly aren't going to accept a vague description.

It's a common beginner mistake to think in terms of "protecting your top secret idea" but you need to relax. A distributor is not going to steal your idea and remake it themselves and the development community isn't out to rob you either. Besides, I'm willing to bet your game's not as groundbreaking and original as you're probably thinking it is. Not to be harsh, but that's the way it goes.

Only go with an on-line publisher that you know has a massive built-in audience base. Otherwise, you will do just as well selling it yourself from your own domain. I used to believe the talk that distributors give about their "connections" but it's all talk. You have access to the same reviewers, advertising venues and deals as anyone else does.

Originally posted by gronkus
I don't know how much I need to divulge before someone could say if there are interested or not - obviously the game idea is all I have to protect.


First of all, the game idea is not all you have...good thing, because ideas cannot be protected. You have the source code, and the copyright on everything you've created - documentation, artwork, story, source code, etc.

Second, the publisher doesn't want your idea. They want a completed game to sell. Ripping your idea off means they now have to find a development team to write the game. Simply buying the game from you is much cheaper.

If you're still scared they might rip you off, you could ask for a non-disclosure agreement. Chances are they will immediately blow you off. The problem is that they see lots and lots of games...how do they know they don't have one right now that is very similar to your idea? The publisher doesn't want to deal with that kind of hassle, so they probably won't sign anything.

One compromise way to go...put your game out yourself, and try to build up a name. Then approach a publisher, and offer to sell distribution rights. Then you'll have a proven track record and sales for them to look at, instead of being an unknown. It also improves your bargaining position.

One way to do things...

-Sort out a decent protection system. Either code it yourself (the hard way) or go with Armadillo (the easy way, costs about $90 which is definitely worth it in my book).
-Setup a website. Make sure you have a high bandwidth limit for all those downloads.
-Get an account with Plimus or eSellerate etc to take the orders.
-Register with as many download sites as possible, most importantly Download.com. (Yes the $79 is also worth it in my book.)

It works for me.

thanks all for the advice! I'll try and relax :rolleyes: and work with some of the good suggestions you all mentioned.

I pity anyone who would try steal my idea :) . LOL If I'd know it's so hard to realize I'd start something more simple, ;) but the problem is it was looking very simple in the beginning...