Game Publishing/Business

Is there an easier way to install your game on other computers.

Sschoen2 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:54:58 GMT

I'm currently considering a small project where I'd make a simple game for a company to use for training.

I've looked around for how to publish the game, and it's getting to be rather frustrating.

For an end user who might not even know what XNA is, Is there a way to play an XNA 3.0 game without making them install "strange program A" e.g. xna 3.0 distributable?

How I got art for my game.

Radek Koncewicz — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Just thought that some of you might find this post interesting:

"What I asked for were two illustrations in a painterly style — one for a boxart mockup, and another for the game’s title screen. I had some rough ideas for their compositions, but I didn’t dwell on those. Instead, I focused on details such as: theme, compensation ($200 USD, half upfront and half after completion), due date, payment method (PayPal), and delivery format (Photoshop PSD files, with the title screen divided into various layers).

Now $200 USD isn’t a very large amount, so I wasn’t expecting too much interest..."

http://www.significant-bits.com/how-i-got-art-for-my-game-part-1

what if a xblig game is called Dante's Inferno?

Running Pixel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:36:17 GMT

Obviously I'm not asking for legal advice and I'm not planning a game about Dante's inferno, I want just know what are the feelings of the community about this, because I think it is a good example representing dozen of similar scenarios.

The sentence "Dante's Inferno", despite there is an actual AAA game called in this way, is not a trademark. It can't be a trademark cause there's a poem written by Dante in 1304 called "Inferno" that is the italian word for hell. The name, the main structure and the background of the game is inspired to this poem (go to read it if you don't know it, it's wonderfull).

So, if I become mad and I publish a game inspired to this poem called "Dante's inferno" how you, the community, would react?

Unreal Engine 3 now free!

tdk08 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:45:13 GMT

The Unreal Engine 3 was just released free by Epic games here, they are calling it the UDK. I just thought I'd let everyone know about this cause it's pretty awesome. I'm just downloading it now and haven't even looked at it yet but what are some thoughts?

Payed for Indie games?

Spl33n Master — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:24:46 GMT

Hello everyone!

I was just wondering if you put up a really good game for 800 ms points, if 1000 people buy it, do you get any money for your game? Is there some "For everytime someone buys your game we give you $5 back or something like that?

Also,

Are you allowed to make a 1st or 3rd person shooter with avatars as players? It would be a cool multiplayer feature and you could make clans and all have the same gear on?

Thanks.

Payment

Mouse88 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:13:00 GMT

I have sent off my W8-BEN form and have filled in all my bank details in the my 'my business' section. How do i know if everything goed through ok or not?

What is your game development budget?

Chapel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:19:03 GMT

There have been some interesting discussions going on around the forums about build vs. buy (specifically when it comes to products like the TorqueX game engines).

The posts seem to indicate that people are happy with the expense of a 3rd party engine product as a function of their overall development costs.

IMHO, I couldn't justify the cost of some of these products which got me to thinking...if I can't spend say $1000 on building my game, then how could I ever expect it to generate any real interest?

I've read forum posts in the early days of folks that really seemed to be "betting the farm" on their Indie Games project.

I'm just kind of curious, what are community members investing in their games? Are we giving up our day jobs? Are we taking out small loans?

When have we "crossed the line" from being indie developers to being small studios? Are any Indie Games projects being funded by 3rd party capital?

I suspect I've been on the conservative side...building cheap and putting only my "spare time" into my project. That has been reflected in the game's less-than-mediocre performance in the Marketplace.

I'm just curious...thanks for any responses.
--Chapel

A reason to not submit apps to XBLIG

Jim Perry — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:16:13 GMT

"OXM: Will Community Games ever have Achievements?
Scott Austin (MS director of digitally distributed games): It's something we're considering. The challenge is that not all Community Games are actually games. Some are applications, and applications giving out Gamerscore and Achievements goes against our goal of keeping the system purely about gaming. needless to say, we have some more homework to do on this one."

August 2009 Official Xbox Magazine

There you have it! Make it easier for them to make a decision by not making apps! :D

CL2010 on GameSpot

Carlo Sunseri — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:54:51 GMT

Hey Guys,

We made it to GameSpot.com!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6240548.html

Carlo

Help witj XNA game

j4y 5tunn4h — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:28:16 GMT

Hi guys,

I have created a game in xna which i have tried to publish then send to some freinds for them to try and play. The process ends up with their PC's downloading some files to result in the computer telling them error application must close.

I wanted to know if theres some thing im doing wrong and if any body could help me with this problem. Just need people to test my game before i put it out there and not every one i know has XNA installed!

An XNA PC Game forum

TheHomicidal — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:32:15 GMT

Howdy,

If I were to open a forum dedicated to XNA PC Games, firstly, would I be allowed to advertise it here and secondly would anyone be interested?

Homicidal

Trial Game

Mouse88 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:10:19 GMT

If i submit a game and it is accepted how do I go about defining how long the trial game will last? Is this something that MS will do? Also whilst the game is in play test whoever downloads to play test, will they then have the full version for good?

Share your press releases

Kris Steele — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:51:24 GMT

I'm in the midst of writing up a press release for my game Nasty and just thought it would be cool to read some of the press releases for your games to help inspire me to create the best release possible (and help anyone else in the same boat too). So if you've got a press release you're willing to share (either for an upcoming game or a previously released one), I'd love to read them.

Rock Band Network and Creators Club Payments

Alt Strum Pro Erock — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:10:36 GMT

Just a quick question hopefully someone can answer. Do you need to continue creators club premium membership to get paid? For example: We chart music for a Band for the RBN. Create a premium account just for that band and they get paid for a year. Do they need to renew membership after the first year to continue getting paid.. If they do not continue membership will their song be taken out of the RBN store?

Xbox Live Indie Game Sessions

MarkMD76 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:27:47 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but thought that it would be worth mentioning as it could be good promotion for those of you whose games support multiple players across Live.

http://xboxhornet.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/xbox-live-indie-game-sessions-play-with-the-developers-play-with-the-sites/
http://xboxhornet.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/wanted-xbox-live-indie-game-heroes/

Thanks,

Mark

Marketing

Raining Talent LLC — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:30:24 GMT

Does anyone have any successful marketing tips that they would like to share?

Ex: Submission to reviewers, etc.

Game complexity - marketing waffle

DrMistry — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:32:39 GMT

With the numbers of games being released on the channel at the moment, it's been tough to keep track of every title, and their relative merits and features. I'm aproaching marketing time for my current project, about which I intend to make some moderately bold claims, and I want to check to make sure I'm not stomping on anyone's toes - this is a community after all :0)

For those of you who haven't had a look, Space Pirates is an Elite-esque 3D space combat, trading and mission game. There are (currently) 3,000 individual star systems, an infinite number of missions and races, and endless trading possibilities. I'm pretty confident that it could be called one of the most complex and comprehnsive games to be released (fingers crossed) on the service, but are there any contenders for the coveted "BIGGEST GAME on the service" title?

This isn't a call for "my dream project" posts, but I know there are a few of you out there who have more or less every game available to them (yes ZMan, I'm thinking of you!) who would be in a good position to at least give me a flavor of what kind of response using language like that would bring from the community.

Regards,
Mike

Dealings with overseas publishers

Mana Bomb Game Studio — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:40:58 GMT

Does anyone have any experience dealing with an overseas publisher (i.e. Akella) as a brand new indie developer shop located in the US?

We are in talks and I was hoping to hear any experiences anyone else has had in this situation. Specifically, did you feel the partnership was worth it? Could you speak to the royalty amounts you were offered? If this isn't appropriate for the forums, or would like to speak privately, please feel free to email me at jason@manabomb.com. Thanks.

Jason
Mana Bomb Game Studio

Setting up payment from the UK

ShadowRage — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:19:35 GMT

Hi all,

Right, I've been though the maze of instructions and forum posts for setting up payment in the UK. Can someone tell me if I've got this right:

1 - Fill out the W7 form for a ITIN. Attach the Microsoft statement (ITIN.pdf). Mail to the US and wait for the ITIN.
2 - Fill out the W8 form (with ITIN number) and send this to Microsoft
3 - Get a Swift code from my bank (Do I just ring my bank to get this?)
4 - Get a IBAN for my bank

5 - Put all this lot into the form in the 'my business' section and wait for the loot to roll in :P

I think this right. Can anyone confirm?

Many thanks in advance. I have a lot of sympathy for the devs that had to do this first!

Cheers,
Steve

Game Failures in Review Process

glavian999 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:21:05 GMT

Hi I don't quite understand the review process. So if someone decides to fail your game in the review process, but it's not a crash, or is a misunderstanding do you have to submit your game throught the whole review process again?

Thanks,
Glavian999

List of things we need to start an Indie game company.

SuedElf — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:49:44 GMT

What are the very basic things you need to start an indie game company? Anyone?

GAAP for game devlopment

jrmoore — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:52:10 GMT

I’m not sure if this is a legal question, so mods feel free to delete it.

Right now I am working with my partner on writing a business plan. I am currently going over long term budgeting and income. I was looking at FASB statement no. 86 on software development, and I was wondering if anyone knows the rules for licensed software? After reading the statement it was unclear, and I would like to know if licensed software gets capitalized or expensed? Or does anyone know of a source that I could use to look stuff like this up?

XBox Live Rewards good for Indies?

SimianLogic — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:32:43 GMT

Saw a link on Gamasutra this morning to Microsoft's new rewards portal: http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live/rewards/orange. I thought I'd throw it out there that this could be VERY good for the Indie Games channel. Though there are millions of Gold subscribers, I'd wager that some of them have never funded their accounts with MS points (simply wanting Netflix, online play, etc...). Giving them a small number of points for things they do anyway is going to get them to explore around for where they can spend them... and that will hopefully mean us.

I live in Thailand and want to create games to publish, is it possible?

Wonamik — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:55:38 GMT

I live in Thailand and want to create games to publish, is it possible?
if i am a member? i think i read somewhere that it was only for people in u.k , spain, italy, and more.
please tell me i missunderstood it

free or very cheap ways to toning down piracy your pc game

Metaltusk — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:34:00 GMT

I would like to release my game for pc as well as 360 and would like to know if anyone knows of any free or cheap was to tone down piracy of the pc version of my game?