I recently started on a game called "Rifan's Adventures" it is a platform game, and I was going for the Mario-esque feel but without doing a direct copy. Here is what I have so far...

http://owned.fgvhost.net/Rifan.zip - Super beta version! One level. Do not click load game at the beginning, it DOES NOT WORK!

Now, what I have to ask you, is should I continue on this path? Do platform games sell shareware - I always saw shareware as a puzzle game thing, well this isn't really a puzzle game...

And, do you have any opinions on the game? Anything that should be added/removed? Any great ideas?

This would be my first shareware game, of course this hasn't been in development for very long so...

Edit:

Keys, left/right moves, A/s Shoots and Jumps. Up/Down aims your weapon. 1/2 changes weapon, you have limited ammo on the chaingun!

Edit2: Everything is 100% original except for the background, I cannot make backgrounds, and the style I want, I cannot find any one who will do it for me (I have no money ot offer, so it is a little tight)

I wouldn't call this a beta - a beta is when you feel the product is complete & bug-free, and you want others to help you find remaining bugs and provide feedback. This is more like a proof-of-concept; you've demonstrated that you're able to write a platform game, but now you have to start work on the game itself. On to your main question:

... should I continue on this path? Do platform games sell shareware - I always saw shareware as a puzzle game thingTwo words for you - id (http://www.idsoftware.com/business/history/) Software (http://www.3drealms.com/keenhistory/). They started out writing shareware platform games! You can sell anything you want as shareware, you just have to put in the effort to make it sell.

Before you can sell this though, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. You'll need more levels, better levels, it needs to be fun and more challenging. The graphics should be improved, and it really needs music and sound effects. Also, you shouldn't need to post the key controls on this board - they should be built into the game itself. Imagine people are downloading the game without reading this board or visiting your website, they should be able to work out how to use the game without running to your website for instructions.

If it's something you really want to do and you're prepared to put in the necessary hard work, then there's no reason it can't be a success. Constant development, refinement and improvements will be the key.

You said what I was planning on saying SyneRyder, only a whole better :) I'm glad I waited a while before posting.

Yep, what you have at the moment isn't even an alpha version. I have no idea why, when falling off the bottom of the screen, your game wanted to reset the refresh rate on my monitor again. That isn't good. Games shouldn't need to reset things like that again and again, every time you go to a new screen. You'll need to avoid that in future versions.

Platform games do sell well, but they really need to be good. They need to be a cut above everything else to get noticed (Gish, for example). What you have at the moment is the makings of a plain-old platform game, but not anything more. You might want to aim a little higher when you keep on creating your game.

Well here's some of your competition in the platformer genre:

Bud RedHead
http://www.space-ewe.com/bud_redhead.html

Gold Miner Joe
http://www.arcadelab.com/miner.html

Gish
http://chroniclogic.com

Cletus Clay
http://www.squashysoftware.com

And of course my game, ;)
Pow Pow's Great Adventure
http://www.outsidetheboxsoftware.com/games.html

As you can see, there aren't a whole lot of platformers. The last two I listed aren't even released yet. However you can tell just by looking at any of the above games, it takes a lot of effort to make a good platformer. It's not something you can just whip up in a few weeks. You also have to give your game a nice visual appeal. There's tons of little freeware and flash 2d side-scrollers, so your game needs to separate itself from them.

I agree with SyneRider, your current game is more of a proof of concept rather than a beta. Since it's in such a raw form I don't want to unfairly critique it. But like Reactor said, you need to create something that separates itself from all the others. A defining quality. Gish has its physics gameplay, Cletus has its clay graphics, and Pow Pow has a fusion between 2d and 3d graphics. That's simplifying it a bit, but those games have a different look or feel, which causes people to take notice. Gold Miner Joe and Bud Redhead are more classic side-scrollers, but they're polished to the "T". Both games contain beautiful color paralex scrolling backgrounds and etc. Your singular green tile scrolling background isn't going to cut it against those two titles. :)

Art and level design are going to be your biggest challenges. That's the main barrier to entry for the platform genre. If you're good at art or you're willing to pay someone for quality art, then I definitely say go for it! However, if you're not willing to invest in art or invest a lot of time into level design and play-balancing, then you might want to tackle an easier genre first. Maybe something a bit simpler to get your feet wet with the shareware business.

Don't forget Charlie the Duck (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/ch2)

Pow Pows is looking very nice btw ;)