indie publisher

[coconut76]

Hello & Happy new year !

I want to know who is the best publisher for indie developer ?
What is the percentage for royalties for indie ?


Thanks

[alfie]

The best publisher for you will depend on the game/it's genre and also what platform it can run on. If you could give some links/more information then it would make it easier to try and help with your questions.

[cliffski]

there are enough posts here that answer such questions . if a question is asked that has been discussed so often shouldnt it be removed to preserve the signal/noise ratio here?

[ERoberts]

there are enough posts here that answer such questions . if a question is asked that has been discussed so often shouldnt it be removed to preserve the signal/noise ratio here?

Yes, I think it should. As should marketing/selling advice from people who haven't released any games yet (we seem to be getting more and more of this. If you haven't been there and done that, your opinion is worth less than nothing).

[terin]

While I see your point(s) I think deleting posts is a bit of a nazi move. Alfie answered this post just fine, it probably took him the whole of 1-2 seconds to write it and we all move on with our lives. The point of this forum is to give people advice. The point of this thread (from the veteran perspective) is to make the new guy A) feel welcome and B) realize he is asking the wrong types of questions.

So, you German pig (no offense to germans), relax. As for newbie opinions, a lot of business things are either common sense or something they MAY have been trained elsewhere for. Not every new poster is a highschool kid with a dream... sometimes you get a seasoned vet who also has a dream... or a highschool kid with a good idea ;-).

I suggest leaving posts like these to be answered by people who want to help, rather than letting it get to you.

-Joe

[ERoberts]

Oh, did I step on your toes? Sorry! I rephrase that to "If you have no prior first hand experience in marketing, don't give advice about marketing".

It gets to me because it brings down the quality of the forum. This used to be a place where people could go to learn what people with experience have to say. Back then, the information was useful. Now, you don't know what information to pay attention to. Too much noise. And that's why it gets to me.

[Bluecat]

What about someone who has worked in a company unrelated to games or software. Why is their experience, first or secondhand, worthless?

For that matter, who says anyones opinions are valueless?

[svero]

Well normally its the main reason to setup some good faqs. I guess the board needs one. And then Id feel ok about deleting threads well covered in the faq.

[Ricardo C]

Yes, I think it should. As should marketing/selling advice from people who haven't released any games yet (we seem to be getting more and more of this. If you haven't been there and done that, your opinion is worth less than nothing).

Wasn't your first post a request for "no programming necessary" 3D engines? Have you "been there and done that"?

And since the last few threads on marketing and sales have been of the brainstorming type, I don't see why anyone should not be able to participate. Lord knows there's enough "pros" with plenty of programming talent, but all the business sense of a drunken gnat.

[Sybixsus]

Oh, did I step on your toes? Sorry! I rephrase that to "If you have no prior first hand experience in marketing, don't give advice about marketing".

It gets to me because it brings down the quality of the forum. This used to be a place where people could go to learn what people with experience have to say. Back then, the information was useful. Now, you don't know what information to pay attention to. Too much noise. And that's why it gets to me.


I'd like to hear what people with experience in other fields have to say. I don't want to get trapped into only hearing the opinions of people in the same industry with the same ideas over and over. New blood and new ideas are healthy, and I don't know about you, but I'm perfectly capable of putting a "weight" to what they say, according to their job, experience, industry, etc.

I'd also like to hear what people with no experience have to say. They'll be the ones with the weird and wonderful ideas that traditional businesspeople who spend every spare hour reading marketing books will never think of. Most of them will be stupid, but there will be gold in there too.

[GBGames]

I'd like to hear what people with experience in other fields have to say. I don't want to get trapped into only hearing the opinions of people in the same industry with the same ideas over and over. New blood and new ideas are healthy, and I don't know about you, but I'm perfectly capable of putting a "weight" to what they say, according to their job, experience, industry, etc.

I'd also like to hear what people with no experience have to say. They'll be the ones with the weird and wonderful ideas that traditional businesspeople who spend every spare hour reading marketing books will never think of. Most of them will be stupid, but there will be gold in there too.

Last year it was determined that we need someone to be the dedicated marketing person in order to get the word out on our events, but no one wanted to be the one to do it. None of us knew what to do and our marketing efforts were by committee and ineffective. This year, I volunteered. I'll be applying what I've learned in the past year.I have no experience doing marketing for a game product, but what I've said here is leveraged from what I read from marketing experts. I do small-scale marketing when I apply for jobs or help inform someone about the benefits of using Gnu/Linux, which is something I've done for a few years. With the information I've learned, I can focus and be more effective at it. But I don't think it is fair to assume that someone who doesn't have a product to sell doesn't have marketing experience and is just producing "noise". I sell a lot of things, as do most people. It just isn't normally called selling.

[halodrake]

Yes, I think it should. As should marketing/selling advice from people who haven't released any games yet (we seem to be getting more and more of this. If you haven't been there and done that, your opinion is worth less than nothing).


That is a very strange statement, mainly being that you are taking this information from what you know of the people posting. If the person is new here (or rather just lurking, and then posting) that doesn't mean his new to publishing, marketing, or game development.

And besides, shouldn't that be released any games released that sold for lots of money? Because if someone releases a game, it doesn't mean they are going to sell it, or even market it properly. I really don't even see how the two are connected- releasing a game and being an expert on marketing.

[BantamCityGames]

I think everyone should be allowed to post relevant information and it is up to the reader to ascertain whether or not the information is reliable or not. For instance when I am trying to gleam more insight on being a more successful developer I will always take advice from such people as davidrm, svero, hamumu, retro64 more seriously than I would from joenobody because they are successful in my eyes, but that doesn't mean that I completely ignore joenobody's post... there may still be useful info there. The one thing I don't like to read on forums is posts that seem to insult other posters or just arguing for argument's sake.

[Sybixsus]

I think everyone should be allowed to post relevant information and it is up to the reader to ascertain whether or not the information is reliable or not. For instance when I am trying to gleam more insight on being a more successful developer I will always take advice from such people as davidrm, svero, hamumu, retro64 more seriously than I would from joenobody because they are successful in my eyes, but that doesn't mean that I completely ignore joenobody's post... there may still be useful info there. The one thing I don't like to read on forums is posts that seem to insult other posters or just arguing for argument's sake.

Exactly. And one of those Joe Nobodys might suggest something which is of no worth as it stands, but it might be the spark that someone like the people you mention needs to come up with an interesting new idea. I often brainstorm with people who don't even know what I do for a living because their ideas can help kickstart my own thought process.

[baegsi]

I'm following this forum quite a while and for me it seems the tone is getting a little rude lately. I can't understand why.

C'mon: we're all in the same boat. We all have different opinions and views which is good because indie movement stands for diversity. There's no reason to start fighting about opinions. Lets cherish diversity and not fight it. There's no golden rule to be successful. For me this is one of the most important reasons I want to be an indie because I can follow my very own way. I'm happy for and get inspired by everyone who is successful but this does not mean I follow blindly because I still have to find my own way.

[cliffski]

I don't think I was suggesting that newbies shouldnt be encouraged to post, its just that commonly answered questions should maybe be handled by a faq. Its common courtesy on forums to do a quick search to see if your question is answered. If this cuts the number of new posts thats not a bad thing per se, I'd rather see fewer but more high quality posts than millions of repetitive ones, and it makes the task of anyone coming here for information easier if they only have to skim a few dozen posts rather than thousands.
Thats just my opinion, its up to the forum hosts how they run their forum.

[Nexic]

To try and answer the person's question:

There are not many decent publishers out there really, not that will do ALL the non development work (marketing etc). I did work with a publisher that was meant to do all the work, and I wasn't very pleased I had done it at the end. Remember if you sign an exclusive deal and they can't deliver, you lose out.

However there are many game stores and portals that will place you game on their site. They are not publishers, do they wont do anything other than promote your game inside their own site. But the upside to this is you don't have to be stuck with them, you can sell your game through as many of these portals as you like. Here are few:

gamehouse
bigfish games
real arcade
shockwave
yahoo games
reflexive arcade

There are many CD publishers out there, which will mainly go for an exclusive deal for their own country. This means you can publish with them, sell on the internet, and publish with other people from, other countries. So far I found that they tend to approach you, rather than you approach them. However you could do that.

[gmcbay]

FAQs are a nice idea, but in my experience, they rarely ever seriously cut down on the number of newbie questions. The only real difference is that instead of a couple of pages of "Should we make a FAQ" replies to a newbie question, there's usually just one or two replies which say "RTFF". This may seem like a benefit, but in reality I'm not convinced it is because it is just as easy for me to ignore 20 replies to the newbie question as it is to ignore 1 reply.

In any case, in a well designed forum that bubbles recently posted topics to the top, having someone ask a question like this every once in a while just isn't a big deal. If we got three posts a day asking the same question, well, yeah, that's different... otherwise (IMO), it isn't a real problem.

[Promaginy]

What is wrong with Steve P.'s FAQ? Why can't we just kindly direct people to read that...

http://www.dexterity.com/articles/indie-faq.htm

I would like to see a glossary of terms though. I think there is lots of confusion amongst newbies about what a portal is vs a online publisher vs an affiliate. Defining what a casual game is, etc.

[svero]

Well faqs + enforcement works. Steve P's faq is just fine but it doesn't really directly address the common posts problem. I'd envision something more directly attacking that. Questions like.. who do you use for hosting your server, who do you use to collect credit card info etc... Things that get asked a lot.

[arcadetown]

Well normally its the main reason to setup some good faqs. I guess the board needs one.
Yes it does... and big time!! Steve P's faqs are great albiet perhaps a little out of date and only addresses certain topics. Plus might be nice for admins here to have full control over their content.

[tentons]

Questions like.. who do you use for hosting your server, who do you use to collect credit card info etc... Things that get asked a lot.
Well, companies come and go, and maybe the FAQ doesn't cover every service in existence, much less stay up to date with changes in policy, pricing, and service. It also won't detail everyone's experience with those companies (be they web hosts, publishers, or whatever). Anecdotes are very useful.

There really is a noticeable amount of complaining about "the good old days" and outright arrogance on this forum. Just ignore questions you don't want to answer, because someone else may get something out of it. What comes around goes around.

A FAQ is a great idea, but it shouldn't become a license to censor or dictate what can be discussed.