Point me to your game demos - I want to host them

[FetaBoy]

I've recently launched a site I've been working on in my spare time:

http://www.justgamedemos.com

I would like host your indie game demos (up to 50MB) and will provide you with free bandwidth (up to 100 downloads).

I’m looking for authors to upload their demos to get it going. My current plan is to start marketing the site once I about >100 demos.

To upload your demo, simply register for a free account so that you can track your demo's stats, and upload away. Check out the Author FAQ if you have any questions. Demos will be subject to review before being posted to the live site.

You will have access to a personalized page to track your downloads, comments, and user ratings on the demos you’ve uploaded.

If you don't feel like setting things up yourself, I'll even do the work for you. Simply send me an email (use the contact us link on the website) and point me to your demo. I will upload the executable, screenshots and descriptions for you and send you your login information to track your demo statistics.

I am still adding features almost daily as I also work on improving the cosmetics of the site.

Thank you for your time.

[papillon]

Only 100 downloads? That doesn't sound like much...

[FetaBoy]

Only 100 downloads? That doesn't sound like much...

I'm offering it for free so I'm not sure why the negativity. In the end however, the problem is bandwidth. Assuming an average demo is 25MB (1/2 the limit I've set): 100 downloads x 25MB = 2.5 Gigs bandwidth for 1 game. Multiply that by only 100 demos and thats 250 gigabytes.

The webhost I'm currently with only has plans up to 300 gigs / Month. Anything more than that, I will need to get a dedicated server which is several hundred $$$/month.

Currently I do not bombard the site with ads/keywords/banners...in fact there are zero ads on the site, and I may end up keeping it that way.

I am an individual working on this in his spare time. I thought 100 free downloads per demo was a decent offer worth consideration. Aside from the bandwidth, I provide a customized account page to track your demos. Do others also feel that this is not enough?

[Adrian Cummings]

OK, but what happens when any given demo goes over the 100 download limit you have set - do you charge the developer a fee or something?

Yes I understand bandwidth is not free of course for most of us but I just want to know what happens in this instance above first ok.

[Desktop Gaming]

Why limit every game to 100 downloads? That's silly.

Why should a 50mb game be allowed 100 downloads, when a 10mb game is only allowed the same? Why not allow up to 5gb downloads, per game? That way, smaller download size = more downloads available.

[FetaBoy]

OK, but what happens when any given demo goes over the 100 download limit you have set - do you charge the developer a fee or something?

Yes I understand bandwidth is not free of course for most of us but I just want to know what happens in this instance above first ok.

My plan was the following. After 100 downloads, the demo would no longer be available for download, or you could choose to pay 5 cents per download. Once you reached 400 downloads ($20), you would have unlimited downoads for the rest of that month (for all the demo's you host with us).

At 5 cents per download, your demo conversion rate would need to be .25% to break even for a $20 game. I thought that this was fair being from all the research I've done, the average conversion rate is 1% - 2%. Do you guys disagree? Is asking 5 cents per download something that no one would be open to?

As for the other poster suggesting adjusting free downloads to the size of the demo. Thanks for the suggestion. That is something that I will definitely consider. Since the database already stores the size (in KB) of the file, add a calculation to adjust # downloads to that size is trivial.

I appreciate the feedback so far, as this site and idea I have are still in its infancy. I'm definitely open to suggestions from the community to try and make this a win win situation for everyone.

[Adrian Cummings]

OK thanks for updating me for now regards that.

[FetaBoy]

One other thought before I leave for work:

My whole premise on this idea was that I would not be taking a cut of downloads that get converted into sales. Users are directed to the author's site to make the purchase. As an author, if I knew that I only needed a 0.25% conversion rate to break even on my game and anything after that was all profit, I would think that my game would be able to generate such a percentage and would have nothing to lose by giving my service a try.

So basically, my theory was instead of paying 5 cents (or more) per click on some google or other ad to direct users to your site to sell your game, you would be paying 5 cents (or less) to have someone actually download and play your demo. If they don't download your demo, you don't pay. If 2000 people download your demo in a month, the max you would pay would be $20 and all profits from any sales would be yours to keep.

[jcottier]

...the average conversion rate is 1% - 2%...

Nope, this is good (very good) CR. Average CR is most likely 0.1%-0.5%

JC

[Karja]

Not to be all negative, but... I pay under $10 per month for webhosting which gives me 100 or 200 GB/month (I can't remember exactly). Paying $20 per month for just downloads is a complete rip-off in comparison - I get e-mail and website space and other stuff for my $10, in addition to all the downloads I (currently) need.

[Adrian Cummings]

This is the problem here I agree also and why it might not work for FetaBoy down the line.

[FetaBoy]

Not to be all negative, but... I pay under $10 per month for webhosting which gives me 100 or 200 GB/month

That's exactly what I'm paying right now. The problem is when do all the math and figure as a goal you want to host several hundred demos, each with the possibility of being downloaded several hundred times, 100 - 200 GB/month isn't nearly enough for a site where uploads/dowloads is the primary activity. I would need Terrabytes, not Gigabytes, and for that, my web host and the others I've checked out, all require a dedicated server.

Paying $20 per month for just downloads is a complete rip-off

I'm not sure if you misunderstood my posts. I am not charging anybody for downloads. The $20 (max) per month would potentially be charged to a game author who has me host however many games he/she wants, AND has over 400 downloads/month. No downloads, no charge. Again, I am not taking a cut of converted sales, so I'm not quite sure how this is a rip off. One purchase out of 400 downloads and you break even.

[lennard]

5 TB a month.

http://dreamhost.com/

Now, unless you are driving obscene traffic (and the #'s you are quoting against a 1% conversion rate suggest break-even after an author takes the time for setup) why on earth would anyone go to the trouble let alone expense?

[FetaBoy]

...in comparison - I get e-mail and website space and other stuff for my $10, in addition to all the downloads I (currently) need.

How do you get people to your site? Do you pay for google adwords, banner ads or anything else? I will be doing more than simply providing bandwidth.

The way I saw it, is when I complete the game I'm working on in the spring, the more places I can get it out there, the better. Getting your game onto the big portals will cost your around 40% of your profits, if not more. Selling from your own site requires marketing in some form. Personally, I would rather pay .05 for someone to download my game, than .05 for someone to click on an ad that takes them to my website.

I had just thought that people would gladly pay a small fee if I was able to do the marketing, provide the bandwith, provide custom reporting, if all they needed was one quarter of one percent CR or less to make a profit. If no one downloads your demo from my site, you don't pay a thing. The only way you lose money is if tons and tons of people download your demo and you convert less than .25% into sales...which in that case, there is a problem with the game itself.

[FetaBoy]

5 TB a month.

http://dreamhost.com/

Now, unless you are driving obscene traffic (and the #'s you are quoting against a 1% conversion rate suggest break-even after an author takes the time for setup) why on earth would anyone go to the trouble let alone expense?

If you read my initial post, I said if you didn't feel letting doing the setup, I would handle everything myself, just tell me your site and the games you want included.

Also, the CR I mentioned was .25%, not 1%.

I thought people would go through the trouble and expense because they had confidence their game would sell at a good enough rate and not want to pay a huge cut of their sales to the portals.

It seems to be that I am wrong in assuming a lot of things I have assumed as evidence from all the negative feedback I'm getting.

[FetaBoy]

For those who think my idea of .05 per demo downloaded (max $20/month) is a rip-off to the author, what would you propose as a fair pricing scheme in order to operate this new site as a primary business? Would taking a cut of actual sales as the portals do be preferred?

Thank you for the feedback.

EDIT:
Example of my current pricing scheme for an auther.

Let's say 400 people download your demo, and you convert at 1% (4 copies sold at $20 each).

Reflexive Arcade:
$20 -> $8 (only 40% goes to author) X 4 copies = $32 to author

Me:
$20 x 4 copies = $80 - $20 (for demo hosting) = $60 to author

At more than 1% cr (or if I hosted multiple demos from you) the difference would widen, at less than %1 it would narrow.

[lennard]

Many of us, myself included, have affiliate schemes. Mine is administered by BMTMicro and I pay a 40% commission. I would recommend starting with Real E$tate Empire from my titles as it converts well.

Speaking for myself I like to keep my traffic - I would rather pay 5 cents per visitor than 5 cents per download as that traffic becomes mine and I can monetize it in a variety of ways. They may even become hooked on reading my blog and start showing up every day :)

[Karja]

[Edited]Oh, never mind.

[FetaBoy]

Speaking for myself I like to keep my traffic - I would rather pay 5 cents per visitor than 5 cents per download as that traffic becomes mine and I can monetize it in a variety of ways. They may even become hooked on reading my blog and start showing up every day

Good point. I hadn't thought of that aspect.

With my current method, only the sale would come to your site, so I can see what you mean by losing potential revenue from other streams from casual surfers.

Taking that into consideration, as game authors, would you be willing to pay per demo download for a site to market and host your demo for any price? (rather than a cut taken from the final sale). Perhaps a low flat rate monthly fee for hosting/marketing wherein a certain amount of monthly downloads is guaranteed?

[Artinum]

I'm not sure I see any advantage here. Perhaps I'm missing something?

You host people's demos on your website, and charge them for downloads. Is this in addition to them having a website of their own? ("...I would handle everything myself, just tell me your site and the games you want included" - implies they have a site and you copy the demos across.)

Since the only advantage in this case is the potential of extra downloads, which is inherent on you gaining traffic to your own ubersite, where is the benefit in hosting the demo files again? Would it not be far simpler to have links to the demos on the original websites, thus (a) directing traffic back to the original developer with all the advantages therein and (b) avoiding the difficulties of 250Gb+ of bandwidth?

Of course, then you've got yourself an affiliating sort of site, which has been done before...

[FetaBoy]

I've actually went the affiliate route after receiving feedback from here and a few other places. While I did have several author's submit their demos, I realized with all the negative feedback, this wasn't going to work as I had originally intended.

I had thought the advantage would have been that when a customer decided to purchase a demo, they would do so from the author's site, thereby giving the author the full $20. The advantage was based vs selling your game via a portal, not via your own website. $20 games with conversion rates more than a quarter of one percent would have benefited over portal sales that only get $8 per sale. Also, I would be the one doing the marketing to find people interested and downloading the demos. I had figured (it appears incorrectly) that an author may want to pay .05 (at the most) for someone to try out their game, rather than .05 for a visitor to their website via a pay per click ad.

For now, I'll do the affiliate thing while I continue to work on completing the game I've been working on.

[Nexic]

Blarg, thought this was a new topic.