For those interested... in the hopes of boosting sales, we've reduced Hamsterball to $11.99 ... so if you put off buying it, now's the time!

This is, incidentally, a little experiment, and I'll let you know how it goes. If, at the end of the week, sales haven't picked up (and so far, they haven't) then it'll go back up. I'm trying to determine if HB's price, or HB's low profile is the problem.

I never did manage to get that game to run on my computer.

It always turned up as a big blob or pink/green/blue.

HamsterBall is selling poorly?! Stop, you're depressing me... If a high quality game like that can't sell ... ugh.

maxdgaming:

Did you try turning on "safe mode" in options? Some cards have a problem with fogging, safe mode turns on software fogging.

EpicBoy:

Thanks for the compliment, but we're well aware over here that it's a little short on content. :)

damn i must try this game. If i get a good 40 minutes work done tonight ill try it then ;)

I find this depressing as well.

I know in an abstract way that the gaming market is very hit or miss, and marketing is very important, even for games that should "sell themselves"... but it never fails to amaze me when I hear how poorly some great indie game (like HB) is doing. On the flip side of the coin, there seems to be a large number of games that IMO are very poor but according to their developers, publishers or third parties, are selling quite well....

first error i spotted:


[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]


on your webpage, I'd make sure I fix those errors asap (viewed in IE)

I found Hamsterball to be singularly impressive - it stands out amongst retail titles let alone indie games. But I haven't yet bought it :P

When you first brought out Hamsterball I grabbed the demo straight away... and I haven't stopped playing it. And there's the problem with that demo! I got more goes at it than I needed to make a decision to buy it on the spot. I think that you might need to do several experiments to find out how to get the game to sell itself better. I suspect reducing the price won't help one bit - I couldn't care less if it was $10 or $30, the game is brilliant. Your first experiment might be to remove all the play limits and simply include far less courses in the demo - say, only 2, or 3.

I think now that Hamsterball 2 is out I'm going to buy it though because I really want to play vs. Charlotte :)

Cas :)

hey thats pretty damned good.
I guess your problem might be its a bit too similar to super monkeyball?
personally I'd prefer some more thinks to bump into, and some more atmospheric lighting, but really theres not much to criticise here.
I'd be very interested to know what your sales are like, and indeed, if its being sold as a regnow affiliate game?

Cliffski, where did you see that error? Not on the buy page, was it? *** Panic ***

When you first brought out Hamsterball I grabbed the demo straight away... and I haven't stopped playing it. And there's the problem with that demo! I got more goes at it than I needed to make a decision to buy it on the spot. I think that you might need to do several experiments to find out how to get the game to sell itself better. I suspect reducing the price won't help one bit - I couldn't care less if it was $10 or $30, the game is brilliant. Your first experiment might be to remove all the play limits and simply include far less courses in the demo - say, only 2, or 3.

Well, a lot of people are also playing that open Beta... evidently setting their clocks back so it won't expire, alas. Remind me to beta with fewer features next time. :)

BTW, for those that are 'depressed' over this, it's only selling poorly off my site. From Real.com and others, it does fairly well. So the problem might be that my site is nigh-invisible. That's what the $$ experiment is for, to see if advertising might make a difference.

Well, the price reduction was enough to convince me to buy it. I must admi, I did find your site a little confusing to follow. I wasn't sure how I got the 'free upgrade' to Hamsterball 2 (I didn't realise I would already have it), and even the 'click to buy' link is vague, as it doesn't clearly say 'Buy!'. It's not bad, but it's a little less straightforward than it ought to be.

I didn't expect to have to pay VAT (UK tax) on my purchase. :( Still, this game is great, I hope you do well from sales. This is only my second indie purchase. :)

I think the website could be better - it looks a bit naff and doesn't sell the game very well to be honest.

Hm... I suppose the web site could be redone. Likely I'll put that off until I do my next game, though. I hate to do it, I just redid the website, and changing the site every six months will make me look like a total gimp. :)

I definitely agree that you need a buy button right there on the front page, right next to Try It. Took a while to find it, which is never a good thing. You should also make it clear that it doesn't have to be purchased within the game, since I'm sure there's a good chunk of customers that will happily buy it on a secure site but not through an application that they have no way of trusting.

...I just redid the website, and changing the site every six months will make me look like a total gimp. :)

There are BILLIONS more people who have *never* seen your Web page, than have ever been annoyed by it's frequent changing. Cater to the larger group. ;)

-David

PS I'm one of the billions...make it *shine* before I wander by, eh? :)

You may want to have the price marked somewhere more clearly. I remember when I was considering buying Hamsterball, I had to go all the way to the purchase page before I found out what the price was. This can't be a good thing.

I have a rule when it comes to buying retail. "If the price isn't clearly marked, it's not worth finding out what it is." I mean, while it may be easy to just bring the item to the register and ask, I figure that if stores don't want me to know the price of something, then the price is higher than I'm willing to pay. Now, I don't act this way when purchasing things online - I'll hunt through a dozen webpages just to find the price of something I'm interested in (maybe I'm more computer-savvy than people-savvy, I dunno)... but my own attitude towards retail might mirror the attitude of many people towards online purchases. Throw in many people's natural mistrust towards putting their credit card information into a web form, and you've got a bunch of people who aren't buying your game.

In addition, many "mainstream" gamers may not realize that indie games are so cheap. When Starscape sucked me into the seedy underbelly of the indie gaming scene, I was amazed that I could get a newly-released computer game for under $40. I haven't bought a mainstream title since. But I would never had loaded the sales form if I hadn't already seen that the game was "only" $25.

Or I could be completely wrong. Just figured I'd ramble about my personal anecdotes, in the hope that they might help! :D

By the way, any chance of extending the sale through next Monday? I just couldn't bring myself to buy Hamsterball for $20, but I didn't see this price reduction until JUST after a major purchase, and payday isn't 'till the end of the week :D You'll be my new favoritest person if you do!

Oh, that's a great new price! :) $18 Australian is a much more affordable price...

I have to agree with other people though that the main page just doesn't have enough info. The price (even if updated for a week) should be there. Also, what's the info on version 2.0? I'd prefer not to download the demo a second time just to find out. Along with 2.0, it says "This is a free upgrade to those who have already purchased the game". This is a little vague. Does this mean if I buy the game I get version 2.0 for free, or is that only for those who have purchased the game before the 2.0 update was released? It's a nit-picky query, but... well, some customers might be a little confused by this.

By the way, any chance of extending the sale through next Monday? I just couldn't bring myself to buy Hamsterball for $20, but I didn't see this price reduction until JUST after a major purchase, and payday isn't 'till the end of the week You'll be my new favoritest person if you do!

Oh, it's gonna stay there at least two weeks. If sales haven't picked up by then, it'll probably go up to $14.99 and stay there. :)

By the way there was a discussion about Hamster Ball on a popular UK gaming forum recently. Apart from the usual confusion between your game and mine :p, there was also some comments about its price which may be of interest to you:

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=43177

SimonH, I can't get that page to load. :(

Okay, Gringoes, I've taken your advice and souped up the page a bit. Any comments and/or suggestions? I'm wide open right now.

http://www.raptisoft.com
http://www.raptisoft.com/hamsterball.shtml

simonh --

Why haven't you changed the name of your game/project, considering there is another released game using the name?

I got really confused when I looked at your web page. I thought it was some early development webpage for the Raptisoft game that hadn't been updated in a long time.

Raptisoft - here you go:

http://www.superhamsterball.com/hb/hb_page1.htm
http://www.superhamsterball.com/hb/hb_page2.htm

Much better website by the way - nice work!

gfm - I started work on Super Hamster Ball over 2 years ago, long before I knew about Hamster Ball. In that time I have purchased a domain name and created various logos using the Super Hamster Ball name, so it would be a pain to change them all now.

I may still change the name yet though. Someone suggested 'Super Ger Ball', which I thought was quite neat.

I think the front page and the buy page looks good -- clean, simple and usable.

Perhaps add a few "benefits for buying" blurbs on both pages?

Anthony

SimonH, don't go with Super Ger Ball. :) Before you do that, go with "Gerbilliards" or something, and put some billiard balls in the game just to fluff out the theme. :)

Or, if you want, since you were so gracious about my using the name, I could give you our graphic set and you could bill it as a related project, heh. Probably be bad for both of us.

The price reduction got me to buy, seeing as it's a nice five minute diversion sort of game. The purchasing process didn't exactly fill me with confidence though. The customer isn't told what is going on at all, even in the purchasing email.

I've bought a fair few indie games and used unlock codes many times, but even I was a little unsure as to what I was meant to do. Just adding a few lines telling them that they're buying the serial number and that they should download the demo and then unlock it with the number (with instructions on how to get to the unlock screen and how to paste the serial code in) would help.

I've bought a fair few indie games and used unlock codes many times, but even I was a little unsure as to what I was meant to do. Just adding a few lines telling them that they're buying the serial number and that they should download the demo and then unlock it with the number (with instructions on how to get to the unlock screen and how to paste the serial code in) would help.

Good point. I want to add that CTRL-V didn't work, and while I figured out I could paste with right-click I doubt most people would. I prefer it when games put up a normal dialog before starting up for me to put in the code, since then I'm dealing with the normal Windows interface. It's probably not costing you sales since if a person has a key they already bought it, but it would be nice if this process was friendlier.

Hm... CTRL-V *should* work... (tests it)... looks like it broke somewhere. It's supposed to accept CTRL-V, shift-INSERT and right clicking paste. Well, I guess I'm gonna have to have a look at this again.

As for more buy info... in the game it tells you specifically that you buy a serial number, and then have to enter it-- are you just saying it should be more dominant on the store page? I believe I also have a blurb there, to that effect.

(Checks)... Yeah, it says this on the store:

Welcome to the Raptisoft Web Store! We're glad you could stop by! Please select the product you want to try or buy below. When you purchase our products, you can click on the "buy" link that you'll see on the loading screen, and enter your name and serial number as they appear on your e-receipt!

Maybe not specific enough?

Clear enough, but not obvious enough, I'd say. I doubt I even read what starts out as a generic "Welcome" blurb when faced with the payment screen. I'd say that the "e-receipt" needs to contain the download link and the instructions for entering the code. Also, seeing as the game runs full-screen, telling people fairly directly to copy the code before running the game would be helpful. A lot of people don't know about or like Alt-Tabbing in and out of games.

Anyway, as mentioned before, at this point you're unlikely to be losing sales, but it was a bit frustrating for me compared to most other processes I've been through.

"Welcome to the Raptisoft Web Store! We're glad you could stop by! Please select the product you want to try or buy below. When you purchase our products, you can click on the "buy" link that you'll see on the loading screen, and enter your name and serial number as they appear on your e-receipt!"

Based on the web usability books I've read, you'd rather reduce that text to the minimum. Something like:

"After purchase, click on the in-game "buy" link and enter the name and serial number as they appeared on your e-receipt."

IMHO the rest of your original text is very probably useless :).

Thanks Stan, I think I will drop back to a minimalist point. I was kinda going the other way there, but your little exerpt sounds good.

exclamation marks can be bad too IMHO. It makes the writer sound very young, and possibly a bit new to whatever it is they are talking about.
especially if you are talking about money and payment.
You don't see lots of !!!!! in the financial pages ;)

Yes, I second that!

"Welcome to the Raptisoft Web Store!" is okay, but "enter your name and serial number as they appear on your e-receipt!" is really not appropriate! People just do not tend to exclaim such things!

I read a book recently where it seemed like the author ended every tenth sentence with a "!"

And when I say I read it, what I meant was, I read the first 50 pages or so and then threw it down in disgust! It's incredibly annoying!

Exclamation marks... a big pet peeve. The biggest problem with exclamation marks is that they come at the end of the sentance, so when you're reading text, and come across an exclamation mark, perhaps you weren't reading the text in a really excited tone, so you have to go back and reread what you read, just to get the right tone. If you use exclamation marks, make the sentance short - two or three words, so the reader can see it before they start. If you need a longer sentance, and you feel the need to use an exclamation mark, it's a clue that perhaps, you need to go make your words more exciting.

This rant is not directed at anyone in particular - just my general opinion on the use of exclamation marks.

Exclamation marks == professional

I once knew of a company that got denied a loan SOLELY because there were no exclamation marks in the company name.

That notwithstanding...

The Hamsterball experiment is about to end. Dropping the price to $11.99 did not make any difference in sales. As a result, I think we're gonna pop it up to $14.99 and leave it there.

It's clear that our problem is exposure, not price. Can anyone recommend a good advertising venue?

Exclamation marks == professional

I once knew of a company that got denied a loan SOLELY because there were no exclamation marks in the company name.

Are you kidding ?!?! What bank did he go to, Bob the Builders 1st Bank and Loan !?! Any bank that judge loan applications on that wouldn't be in business long. As far as exclamation marks being professional, there are millions of examples against that so I won't even bother.

I was just making a little jokes about the exclamation points. Personally, I don't care either way. As for looking professional... it's hard to put out a game that has a little hamster rolling around cheerfully colored boards and say "I want to be taken SERIOUSLY."

That's like Sesame Street saying, why don't we get the kind of audiences that King Lear gets?

The Hamsterball experiment is about to end. Dropping the price to $11.99 did not make any difference in sales. As a result, I think we're gonna pop it up to $14.99 and leave it there.

While you're experimenting...why not experiment in the other direction?

Raise the price to $17.99 (or $19.99) for a couple weeks. If it has no effect either, at least you'll have made more money on the same number of sales.

-David

every time I tried to lower USM price, was a failure.
For a short while I was even selling it at 15$ (that's about 10$ less than original price!).
Got 2 sales in last 2 days at 29.95$ with esellerate because I hadn't deducted VAT on that account (with affiliation) while I had only one at 19.95$ in about 20 days... :)

To Raptisoft: but what is your download count? the CR from your site? if you don't have lot of downloads is normal not to sell well :)

Exclamation marks... a big pet peeve. The biggest problem with exclamation marks is that they come at the end of the sentance, so when you're reading text, and come across an exclamation mark, perhaps you weren't reading the text in a really excited tone, so you have to go back and reread what you read, just to get the right tone. If you use exclamation marks, make the sentance short - two or three words, so the reader can see it before they start. If you need a longer sentance, and you feel the need to use an exclamation mark, it's a clue that perhaps, you need to go make your words more exciting.
We don't have that problem in spanish. We have opening exclamation and question marks (¿Is this a question? Yes, ¡definitely!), so we can be very precise with that. In english you don't have a way to express that part of a sentence is exclamation or question, which we can do easily.

I always liked them. Perhaps we should just start using them in English anyway, and ¿maybe it'll catch on?

Upside-downy ! and ? are all good to go in my font system, just in case I manage to convince someone to translate the game text into Spanish (I don't know if it's worth bothering with, sales-wise, but I find the idea of making games multilingual appealing in itself).


it's hard to put out a game that has a little hamster rolling around cheerfully colored boards and say "I want to be taken SERIOUSLY."

You joke, but of course it doesn't matter how silly your product is, you still want the business to be taken seriously. Though I'm sure anyone who's played Hamsterball will take Raptisoft very seriously.

While you're experimenting...why not experiment in the other direction?

Raise the price to $17.99 (or $19.99) for a couple weeks. If it has no effect either, at least you'll have made more money on the same number of sales.

-David

And while you're at it, capitalise on the fact that *Now* is the best time to buy Hamsterball at the incredible price of $11.99.

Hello, I am just a humble owner of this game. I do not hope I am posting in a place I am not supposed to because I am not a game maker.

For what its worth, Hamsterball is the best game I have bought in a good while. The only problem I ever had was, not being able to proceed to a level without completing the one before. I know this is standard practice in most games, but I was getting reallllly stressed out on this one level :)

Exclamation marks == professional

I once knew of a company that got denied a loan SOLELY because there were no exclamation marks in the company name.

That notwithstanding...

The Hamsterball experiment is about to end. Dropping the price to $11.99 did not make any difference in sales. As a result, I think we're gonna pop it up to $14.99 and leave it there.

It's clear that our problem is exposure, not price. Can anyone recommend a good advertising venue?

I can't say I'm surprised. I've had the same results with every price reduction I've tried. One time I did get a few more sales on one product but not nearly enough to make up the difference in price. I suspect very strongly that if you set the price at 19.99 vs 14.99 the only difference sales wise is that you'll be making 5$ more copy. Hamsterball is a professional slick game. If people are having fun playing it they won't mind paying 20$ -- The decision to buy is rarely made on price (at this level - not like a car or something)

I'm a big marble madness fan and the reason I didnt buy hamsterball is that I finished the game playing the demo. I'm not sure why other people dont buy but if the game had had another 10 levels I couldnt play in the demo I would have picked it up.

I think that price is never a reason for a (good) game selling badly...
I just remember once a guy asked me about UBM price reduction, got a long email explaining that the game is great, unique, etc but 24.95$ is just too much, I need to lower price, etc.
I was on holiday so didn't reply to him and within 4 days he bought the fullversion without more complain :P