Game publishing site....

[savage]

As an aspiring independent game developer I have been extremely unhappy with the lengths one has to go through to get a game you've written into gamers' hands. To that end, I have decided to create a simple site to sell indie developed games.
The URL for the site is http://games.savagesoftware.com.au.

As this will be purely a downloadable content service, we plan to offer attractive royalties to developers and we only plan to lock in developers for 3 saleable months, though the contract could be rolling, if both parties are happy with how everything is going.

I would really like a fairer business model between developer and publisher, with the idea that this will make money for both parties. Think of it as FairTrade for developers.

All payments are handled securely via Paypal. My company, Savage Software Solutions Ltd., is a registered company and has been in business for over 2 years now, though mainly as IT consultants up until now.

Currently we have 2 games for sale and hope that by posting this here other indie developers will feel inclined to talk to us.
Our aim is to get the reputation of offering excellent games for the money you pay. We are looking for interesting ( well what we think gamers will find interesting ) games ( on Win32, Linux and Mac OS X ) that have a maximum download size of about 50MB ( subject to change ), that would be priced between $5 to $20 US.

For those that are interested, I have created a developer document that outlines what you can expect from us and what we expect of the developers as part of this relationship as well as how we handle game registration codes. PM me if you would like me to send you the developer document.

[Desktop Gaming]

As an aspiring independent game developer I have been extremely unhappy with the lengths one has to go through to get a game you've written into gamers' hands.Don't wish to pee on your bonfire (although I'm sure I'm going to) - I only see two games on your site at the moment and neither of them are particularly attractive to look at. Not saying they're bad games - but they don't look that nice and they haven't encouraged me to download them.

It isn't such a chore to get your game released - IF you have a game that the big players think is going to sell. If everybody is turning it down, then go take another look at your game. Its probably not as good as you think it is.

If you've been in business (whatever it is that you do) for two years, I certainly wouldn't set up a site for games that have failed to reach an audience anywhere else. Your reputation will stick to you like glue for a very long time.

Good luck with it anyway - just my $0.02.

[lennard]

Site is down.

Just about all of us have affiliate programs you can join - Rusty Axe games are on BMTMicro and I pay a 40% commission. The real issue is how much traffic you are driving to your site. The reason the portals believe they can make the demands they do is that they drive massive numbers of players to their sites.

[Desktop Gaming]

Site works here.

Have to say, though - there's something about sites that tell me what my IP address is that makes me go "eww". Why not stick CometCursor and a hit counter on there as well and be done with it?

[Maupin]

At least put a little more effort into your site if you're trying to get exclusive contracts with developers. No offense, but look at any game portal - even cookie cutter prefab affiliate sites - to see better examples of fun sites that look reputable enough to buy games from.

[savage]

Thanks everyone for your feedback.
We plan to improve the site so any feedback is usefull.

@Desktop Gaming : I'm not familiar with CometCursor, what is it?
I understand your concerns about IP addresses we were just being up front about it. Most sites are keeping track of IP addresses just as part of security, but I suppose lots of visitors find that off putting. That option has now been turned off.

At the moment we are keeping the site as simple and straight forward as possible as I find most game sites quite cluttered. We will also be improving the presentation of the products in the coming days. We don't plan to have things like Google Ads as I don't think they add value to a site even, though they probably bring in revenue.

I'm not saying I have all the answers, but all I can do is give it my best shot and time will tell if my strategies will prove successful or not.

@lennard : Hmm, the site should be up. Can you confirm it works for you?
As you can imagine we are fairly new right now, so currently I am trying to get the word out. Once I see that we are getting more consistent traffic, I'll be sure to contact you about your affiliate program.

[Desktop Gaming]

Most sites are keeping track of IP addresses just as part of securityYep, they keep track of the pages I visit too but I don't want a bloody great list at the bottom of every page. ;)
@Desktop Gaming : I'm not familiar with CometCursor, what is it? Its a hideous JS thing that makes twinkly things come out of your mouse pointer. At one time, everybody was using it under the illusion that it was adding something to their site. Mostly, it was people who inhabited Geocities.

OT, Some things I really hate on websites:
1. Custom mouse cursors (eg, CometCursor)
2. Compulsory music/sound of any description
3. Hit counters
4. Pointless information (IP address for instance)
5. Colour schemes that look like David Blunkett designed them
6. BMP format images
7. 25 different fonts on the same bloody page
8. Frames
9. Animated ads taking up 80% of the page
10. Tiled background images

Not saying your site has all of those - just having a general rant. :D