85 replies to this topic

[pedrosorio]

Yes, Brazilian Portuguese and "Portuguese Portuguese" are quite similar. In fact, a law was passed recently that puts the Ortographic Agreement of 1990 in effect, combining the two orthographic standards (European and Brazilian).

We, Portuguese, have plenty of contact with the Brazilian Portuguese orthography so, long story short, even though they are different, I would recognize a correct spelling in the Brazilian standard even though it would be wrong in the European convention.

I had already PM'ed you about translating/proofreading it, do you remember?

[rinkuhero]

Yes, Brazilian Portuguese and "Portuguese Portuguese" are quite similar. In fact, a law was passed recently that puts the Ortographic Agreement of 1990 in effect, combining the two orthographic standards (European and Brazilian).

We, Portuguese, have plenty of contact with the Brazilian Portuguese orthography so, long story short, even though they are different, I would recognize a correct spelling in the Brazilian standard even though it would be wrong in the European convention.

I had already PM'ed you about translating/proofreading it, do you remember?

Oh! I think I remember actually! Sorry for not remembering your name. Did I even reply? Or did I forgot to reply?

I'll check my PM's and see.

[desertdweller]

Just wanted to mention that the last link in your post is broken. You need the [/url] tag inside the parentheses.

My favorite quote from your little Shareware Game Tutorial:

Some people are naturally jerks

Too true.

[rinkuhero]

Thanks, fixed!

[Milo-]

Nice thread, just a word of warning though: Like some people already said, don't expect to sell your game without inverting a single dime on it and absolutely make SURE your game isn't bad before inverting money in it. I can't stress this enough, if you are not sure if your game is good enough, go to forums (Preferably, not here. People will criticize you more as a GM programmer instead of criticizing your game. You want the later.), upload a demo, let people criticize it and if you take their criticism and improve whatever is wrong with your game, go to ANOTHER forum (People tend to not be as harsh the second time you ask them for criticism) and repeat. I remember this guy in another forum that wanted to sell a game maker game that quite honestly sucked, he had inverted about 1000 dollars in it and the only thing he got was a few laughs and probably one copy sold to a guy that just wanted to laugh at the game some more. Either that or he was a good troll, but my point stands.

So you have experience with selling games, then? Who says you NEED to spend money on your game? Some people are great at graphics/music and use these to advantage along with simple gameplay. You don't always need to invest money into your game when you can easily do the whole thing on your own.

As for selling games, I'd have no clue.

Uhhh, yeah, now, let's take a quick look at reality and realize that most of us, game maker users, often lack enough skill in at least one of the 3 main game design areas (Programming, audio, graphics). Sure, I suppose people like rinkuhero exist and may manage to make a comercial game without investing much on it, but if it really was that easy for everyone we'd see a lot more commercial GM games.

[rinkuhero]

Well, that's why you can work as a team (I mention teams a bit in the tutorial). Immortal Defense wasn't just me, it was many people: I had someone do the portraits and enemy sprites and cutscene graphics, I had two people do the music, and I had someone help me write the story. The profits didn't all go to me, they were split up among the team, in proportion to how much work someone did on the game.

[Dan1995]

Not to be.... mean.... but, did you ACTUALLY sell 385 copies of your game? Or was that just a little.... demo number?

(Not that I find it hard to believe that GM games can sell)

[rinkuhero]

Not to be.... mean.... but, did you ACTUALLY sell 385 copies of your game? Or was that just a little.... demo number?

(Not that I find it hard to believe that GM games can sell)

Yes, I wouldn't just make up a screenshot like that. And it's actually fewer sales than other GM games -- I believe Magi, Fatal Hearts, and Cute Knight all sold more than Immortal Defense. Getting a few hundred sales really isn't that hard. If you want a month-by-month total, here: http://pics.livejour...ku/pic/000wp8kf

Notice that most of it was in the beginning, especially the first month. I wasn't kidding when I talked about that part in the tutorial

There was also an increase during December and January, perhaps people are more likely to buy a game for someone for Christmas? Not sure.

Edited by rinkuhero, 28 November 2008 - 06:53 PM.

[xot]

Thanks for posting this, rinkuhero. Many indies are way too secretive about their sales. Even me. So, for the record, my one highly derivative shareware title made less than $100 in four years with zero marketing.

[YoMamasMama]

Rinku knows what he's talking about.

I went to him for some pointers on selling my next game.

[TeeGee]

And it's actually fewer sales than other GM games -- I believe Magi, Fatal Hearts, and Cute Knight all sold more than Immortal Defense.

No longer true. MAGI sales declined a lot after the last update's hype went down, while yours remained pretty much consistent along the way. Right now I'm very close to your figures. The only real difference is that most of my sales came in bursts (which made few months really good ), while yours were more static.


[Shameless plug]

By the way, I'm making a sequel to MAGI, which is also a commercial game (and of pretty high quality, I hope) and is done with Game Maker. I'll probably let people here know how well it sells after it will finally be released.

[/Shameless plug ]

[Ebonic_and_Nightwisp]

And it's actually fewer sales than other GM games -- I believe Magi, Fatal Hearts, and Cute Knight all sold more than Immortal Defense.

No longer true. MAGI sales declined a lot after the last update's hype went down, while yours remained pretty much consistent along the way. Right now I'm very close to your figures. The only real difference is that most of my sales came in bursts (which made few months really good ), while yours were more static.


[Shameless plug]

By the way, I'm making a sequel to MAGI, which is also a commercial game (and of pretty high quality, I hope) and is done with Game Maker. I'll probably let people here know how well it sells after it will finally be released.

[/Shameless plug ]

haha...I seen px of arc magi...Looks nice cant wait to see how it does...Long time no c teegee ...anyway staying on topic maybe you should share some of your own proffesional wisdom dealing with the subject...after all your the one I myself confront for advice...

Edited by Ebonic_and_Nightwisp, 28 November 2008 - 08:57 PM.

[TeeGee]

Thanks. I think Paul really pointed all the important basics. You need to do further research by yourself. It's too much knowledge to pass in few posts or guides, but it's pretty easy to find over the internet, if one is willing to learn. I would start from the forums Rinku posted - lots of great stuff there.

And still, the best advice is always to just make a cool game. By the time you are able to finish something really good, all the other problems suddenly appear less complex .

[Ebonic_and_Nightwisp]

I just said that to stay on topic lol

Edit: I research all the time and keep my eyes open for potential investments or skills I can learn.

Edited by Ebonic_and_Nightwisp, 28 November 2008 - 08:56 PM.

[hpapillon]

I generally avoid public figures because I'm paranoid of being harassed about it, but I can say that many of my games have sold way more copies than that... but not all of them. The first GM game I ever put on sale has only sold about 300-some copies and it's been out for five years. And some games have done much worse than that, and one product was such an utter disaster that I've scraped it entirely off the site and tried to pretend it never happened.

Win some, lose some. If you go into game-making as a business, you'll also need to judge when you have a game that could do really well with some polishing and when your idea is a disaster and you're better off moving on...

[Ebonic_and_Nightwisp]

I generally avoid public figures because I'm paranoid of being harassed about it, but I can say that many of my games have sold way more copies than that... but not all of them. The first GM game I ever put on sale has only sold about 300-some copies and it's been out for five years. And some games have done much worse than that, and one product was such an utter disaster that I've scraped it entirely off the site and tried to pretend it never happened.

Win some, lose some. If you go into game-making as a business, you'll also need to judge when you have a game that could do really well with some polishing and when your idea is a disaster and you're better off moving on...

and Once you realise its potential thats when you start investing a little more than time and programming right ...

[Mr.Chubigans]

What I'd love to hear rinku is the amount of downloads your demo has gotten since release. If I'm not mistaken, sale throughs of games typically hover around 3-6%...meaning you should have around ten thousand downloads or so? If the number is lower, then that's quite an achievement!

It's great to have such openness on sales numbers...I wish more users would take the lead like rinku.

Edited by Mr.Chubigans, 28 November 2008 - 11:49 PM.

[SilentxxBunny]

Did you work with a team on "whatever game it was that you were selling" or did YOU personally get to pocket 7000ish dollers? Because that would be epic. And just because my curiousity is teasing me, what game was it?

???

Edited by SilentxxBunny, 28 November 2008 - 11:57 PM.

[Zezuken]

Did you work with a team on "whatever game it was that you were selling" or did YOU personally get to pocket 7000ish dollers? Because that would be epic. And just because my curiousity is teasing me, what game was it?

???

Re-read the first post maybe..?

And I believe he made it all himself..?

[SilentxxBunny]

Re-read the first post maybe..?

And I believe he made it all himself..?

Haha, I did read the first post, I just didn't see the "product" box in the image, sorry.