I didn't want to hijack jag0's cnet thread (http://www.dexterity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32), but I'd really like some input on why a game like Aargon Deluxe received over 30,000 downloads on download.com and Cramgene has only managed about 350, despite only being released 2 months apart.

I'm only referencing Aargon as an example - I could easily find another comparable title with as many downloads. So I'm not here to criticize either game. :)

Assuming this marketing game is played fairly, why on earth is there such a huge difference in downloads? This isn't a question of quality - visitors don't even get to see a screenshot at download.com. If Aargon was a featured listing, then disregard this post, as that would likely explain it, but I don't remember seeing it featured.

Now, taking the visitor's perspective, this is what they'd see on download.com and where they'd likely decide whether to download it or not:

Aargon Deluxe 8.0d
Bend lasers, scatter light, and change color to solve these laser logic puzzles.
OS: Windows (all)
File Size: 5.67MB
License: Free to try, $15 to buy

Cramgene 1.0d
Feed your laboratory pet in this science-based puzzle game.
OS: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
File Size: 5.18MB
License: Free to try, $15 to buy

Both games offer a different experience, but is it an accurate conclusion that 100 times more players prefer to play with lights than pets? The price and file sizes are the same. Cramgene does not list Win95 compatibility, but are those extra 29,650 downloads really from Win95 users? I doubt it, especially when considering the download ratio.

I also doubt that word of mouth would have much of an impact. My only theory right now is that other Aargon sites point to cnet's download link, the only popular strategy I know of to increase one's download count.

Again, you can't compare any 2 titles beyond the short textual description as that's where the user decides to click the download button. Both Cramgene and Aargon received 2 positive user comments.

I'm utterly confused :confused:

I don't know for sure, but there are two differences I noticed. The Aargon Deluxe description is more focused, and the subject matter (lasers) is something everyone understands. When I read the first paragraph of the Cramgene description, the talk about DNA and "today's advances in genetic science" makes me start to think that I'm really going to have to put a lot of mental thought into it.

The second difference is that for Cramgene, there is no link to the publisher. This causes problems (at least for me) because I'm not willing to open up another window and do a web search for every publisher that doesn't have a link to their site in order to find out what the game actually looks like. This is much more work than just looking at the next game in the list, especially since so many of them aren't worth my time.

There could be other reasons, but those are the two that would keep me from downloading it.

Originally posted by mfassett
The second difference is that for Cramgene, there is no link to the publisher.
That's strange.. I just double-checked my account and all URLs are in place, including both the company and screenshot. I wouldn't be surprised if I had to pay them to display my links.

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

Perhaps Aargon had more updates in the past. The download count from previous versions is kept (unlike votes and reviews which dissappear with each update)

Diodor could have something there as well, but I noticed one other thing... Cramgene is in the Puzzles category and Aargon is in Strategy & War. There are a lot fewer new releases in S&W than puzzles, and yours could have been pushed off the front much sooner. I just looked at the first page of both, and the oldest puzzle game is 9/20, the oldest S&W is 9/12. And there are twice as many puzzle games as S&W.

cnet reports 53 downloads for Aargon last week, and only 7 for Cramgene. The download rates in the puzzle directory are consistently lower than those in the strategy and war directory. Just sort the entries by the last week download count.

Originally posted by mfassett
Diodor could have something there as well, but I noticed one other thing... Cramgene is in the Puzzles category and Aargon is in Strategy & War. There are a lot fewer new releases in S&W than puzzles, and yours could have been pushed off the front much sooner. I just looked at the first page of both, and the oldest puzzle game is 9/20, the oldest S&W is 9/12. And there are twice as many puzzle games as S&W.
Ah, I thought Aargon Deluxe was in the puzzle category. I'm sure that had something to do with it. Like you said, puzzle games are numerous and it doesn't take long for a new release to be pushed down.

Could be irrelevant but A comes before C. Some people do a search and try the games on the first page of results. A bit like the way people name their company AAA Plumbers Ltd.
Cramgene is an awesome game, and you should sell it by the bucketload. At some point you will suddenly get your sales, you just need to get copies to influential reviewers.

I know exactly what you mean. Where do all these downloads come from on the download sites? Just seeing the mess of games there, and how quickly new games disappear into the masses makes me wonder how people even find anything there at all. Maybe the only way to survive there is to play the "update every week" game?

Cliffski, you mention getting reviews. Of course, that would help...I would actually think it would be the primary source of downloads. But then, lately there has been some discussion about this in the ASP newsgroups, and people have been mentioning that a majority of their downloads come via the download sites, and not via the search engines. I would think that if someone read a good review, they would then go to search for the game and find the author's site (rather than a download site) via the search engine. That seems to go against what they are saying, though. By reviews, are you talking about things like the reviews done on download sites? Or perhaps they aren't distinguishing download sites vs gaming sites. It's all difficult for me to get a grip on right now, since I've only started trying to do actual promotion of my game this month. I'm very new at all of this.

Originally posted by LordKronos
Just seeing the mess of games there, and how quickly new games disappear into the masses makes me wonder how people even find anything there at all. Maybe the only way to survive there is to play the "update every week" game?

Well ultimately you need to build up a fan base. A good chunk of Dexterity's customers are people who have bought from them before. Depending only on new customers will probably not work in the long run.

Well, of course repeat customers are very important, but this discussion is more about bringing customers (or potential customers) in for the first time. And there was more than one developer that stated such results with download sites.

Originally posted by Scorpion
I didn't want to hijack jag0's cnet thread (http://www.dexterity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32), but I'd really like some input on why a game like Aargon Deluxe received over 30,000 downloads on download.com and Cramgene has only managed about 350, despite only being released 2 months apart.

I'm only referencing Aargon as an example - I could easily find another comparable title with as many downloads. So I'm not here to criticize either game. :)


Well... I can answer that question. The answer is .. All of the above. There are many factors that probably influence something like Aargon's download count and I don't think any of the above suggestions is wrong. I'm speculating a bit but...

First off, Aargon is listed in strategy by mistake. I've asked them to move it but I haven't been successful. So that wasn't some clever scheme on my part :-)

So what else?

I think the AA start probably helps a little.

The fact that aargon already has several downloads might interest some people. They want to download it because many have.

Aargon has undergone several updates so the total you see there is actually for almost 2 years.

Aargon was featured for nearly a month by CNET on the front page of the games section where it understandably received many more downloads than just another title in the list thus boosting it's overall count. This has happened twice.

Aargon has advertising going for it at overture and so on that might affect CNET searches. I know my game "A Snake's Life" use to come up in a special section if you searched on the right keywords.

Aargon has other advertising going for it like the online game reflections which mentions aargon and so on... So it's possible also that people come to CNET looking specifically for Aargon and download it.

Many authors send their downloads to CNET in order to boost the popularity and download counts on the site. We don't do that as it turns out, but it may explain some other counts which are higher. In fact CNET has a program specifically designed to do just that.

Twilight has 3 other games listed on download.com so someone might download snake... like it and want to try a title by the same authors and search for Twilight Games instead of laser puzzle or whatever. That may help as well.

Hi I'm Bluie and I'm a user! Well, a player rather than a developer. So my 2cents:

First the name alone. Aarogon vrs Cramgene. Aarogon is elegant and arrogant while Cramgene is stuff it in the closet and slam the door. In other words the "Aaro" part challenges me and the "Cram" part puts me off. Also the Deluxe makes me think this should be better than a plain version. Logically I know you can stick the term "Deluxe" on anything but there is a feeling that it should be better.

Secondly lazers are preferable to pets. You can shut a lazer off an go away. Pets require upkeep. I know that isn't a reasonable consideration in a game situaton but the feeling is there. For me part of this is coming from having tried pet games and been disappointed. I have no expectations about what can be done with lazers but I do about pets.

Anyway bottom line for me and lots of marketing researchers is that the name alone can make or break the product.

Interesting... I've never paid any attention to the title of a game when considering downloading or purchasing it. When I'm browsing games in stores and online, I read the description and look at the screenshots before paying attention to the cover or title because I know, at least in my mind, that the cover art and titles are often abstract and meaningless. I tried to address that by merging the verb "cram" with the word "gene", since Cramgene is about cramming genes together to feed your pet. I also often skip the first sorted entries as I somewhat feel that many developers/publishers favor 123-AAA names to make up for poor game quality, analogous to the way a customer may perceive a lowly priced game ("is it only $15 because that's what it's worth, or because the developers are committed to providing value?")

I see your point with the reference to pets. Cramgene is way different than any pet game on the market. There is no "upkeep" - you could play the game without pets really, as they don't have an influence on gameplay other than providing aesthetic value and cuteness factor. But the word 'pet' does make you think of just another tamagochi or pet screensaver rip-off.

It's unfortunate that market saturation has made it so difficult to get a fair evaluation of one's product. I didn't think it would ever get to the point of judging a book by its title instead of its cover (front, back, and inside flaps). But that's the name of the game I suppose. :)

You said it with "market satration" I simply don't have time to read the descriptions and/or view the screen shots of every game I run across. The title and two liner has to grab me or I don't bother. (incidentally this is also true of subject headings on bulletin boards.)

I am not in marketing. I have a used paperback bookstore. And I see lots of examples of both good and bad title and covers. And I have read lots about authors fighting with their publishers about the author's choice of title vs the publisher's. The author wanting it to reflect the book and the publisher wanting it to sell the book.

Well, I have to go open that store rightnow so I will have wait to try Cramgene another time.

GL

Good point - thanks for the feedback, bluie :) I'll have to pay more attention to the 2 liner the next time around.