Starting a Shareware Business...

[Black Hydra]

Hi everyone.

I've been going on these forums pretty regularly for the past few months. I've also been working hard on my first game I plan to release commercially. Although I'm only a month and a half into 'actual work' (i.e. not designing) I am already far ahead of my predicted schedule, probably due to my extreme devotion to this project.

Although it will be a while before I am done my game and need to really start setting up a website, business, ect. I would really like to look at my options and how I should go about this ahead of time so there won't be any surprises.

So I'd like to know what steps to undertake in establishing a shareware business, what common pitfalls I should avoid, and what routes there are.

Now, my experience is fairly low compared to most of you, however I am a quick learner and aside from reading every article I can (including all of Steve's about twice) I have also been trying to pick up on the secrets of success from you guys aswell.

I have some questions I'd like to ask so that I can get a better picture of what I should do to reduce frustration and avoid downfalls many of you experience.

1) Using portals? A month ago I didn't know what a portal was. Now it seems to be a very hard decision in my mind. I want long-term success over short-term, and it looks to me as if by using a portal you may increase your short-term revenue, however you will not build up the user base that will allow you to reach long-term success. I'm not exactly sure how portals work. Are they an exclusive agreement? Also, is there any findings that show you are more profitable from a portal? Seeing as the increase in revenue is offset by the huge cut that the portal takes from your sale.

2) What should I use to make my website. I have no web programming experience so I was wondering whether I should look into using a tool to construct my website. I don't know how well-known it is but a friend of mine used a tool called phpnuke to set up his website. As he isn't the greatest programmer, he managed to set up forums and a very pleasant looking website. I know those of you who have learned these languages would probably abhor, but I need to know if I should invest all the time to learn php right away, or use a tool to set up my website and eventually make it from my own code as I learn to set up a website and store faster.

3) Where should I get my server space? How much space is good? I suppose I could always increase my bandwidth if I am losing too much, however, I'm incredibly low on cash and paying for unused space is too inefficient until my business becomes a profitable endeavor.

4) What should I do to get my game noticed. I've looked at VGSmart for their promotional services, but what else can I do. Until I build a large enough fan base and get my name well-known I really will rely on these services to bring in customers. Seeing as it can take years to reach this status, I need some ways I can quickly make this business generate a positive cash flow.

5) How does filesize affect your downloads/sales. I'm seeing more and more games that are in the double digits for mb's. Do you see a drop off point where the downloads decline?

6) What sort of percentages should I expect? By percentages, I mean, what should my percent of downloads from website hits be? What should my conversion ratio's of downloads to buy's be. Of course I'll work my hardest to get them as high as possible, but I need to know what is average so I can detect what link in my sales chain may be weak.

7) Any other advice? Stuff you did wrong that caused frustration? Things to avoid buying? Must haves to buy? Services to use? Services not to use?

Thanks. Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

[svero]

1) Using portals?

I'd say it partly depends on what your game is and who it's targeted at. I'd say use them if your game is right for their audience. You don't stand to lose much. It's how you use the revenue you get that that might make a difference with regards to your long term prospects.

2) What should I use to make my website.

I would say, start really simple, learn html and code it all by hand. Maybe purchase a web template. I'd avoid using something like Nuke for a new site with only one game. A simple easy to maintain site that you learn to manage yourself is probably a more reasonable start. Nuke is something that people hack into, and it involves using databases etc.. It's really designed for a site with lots of content. If you're just starting with one game just a page or two of really slick presentation is probably a better idea.

3) Where should I get my server space? How much space is good?

You need very little starting out. If your game takes off and you cant handle the bandwidth, that's not a problem, that's a solution. I'd recommend using a simple montly plan with a company like Pair hosting, and getting an account with a company like fileburst to handle extra bandwidth if it comes up and then you can ramp up to a cheap server when the need arises.

4) What should I do to get my game noticed. I've looked at VGSmart for their promotional services, but what else can I do.

Portals will help if you use them even though you technically arent allowed to put links in etc.. Press releases are definitely a good idea. Use a service or automated tool to submit your app to download sites. Beyond that you need to advertise or do what's called gorilla marketing. This is the hardest part and there are no easy answers really. Everyone is trying different stuff and it will vary company to company what works. Depends again what kind of game you have. For instance I wrote Space Taxi 2, a game that was popular on the commodore 64, so I contacted commodore user groups that still exist, retro sites etc... that wouldnt work for a new original game. You gotta play it by ear.

5) How does filesize affect your downloads/sales.

These days you probably want to try and stay under 10mb. The lower you are the more downloads you get, but above 15 mb generally it doesnt seem to matter too much how big the file is. You'll get as much with a 17mb file as you will with a 25mb file. But try to keep it low. Low means more downloads and that usually equates with better sales.

6) What sort of percentages should I expect? By percentages, I mean, what should my percent of downloads from website hits be? What should my conversion ratio's of downloads to buy's be.

Expect anywhere from .1% to 10% on buys/downloads -- I don't have any idea what a good percent from the website would be.

- S

[PoV]

A 2nd opinion. :D

1.) Portals: Sure, as Steve pointed out, if you games fit, it couldn't hurt. Portals have the traffic, so if you can compete or compliment what's on top, you're laughing. Many portals are selective, so if they already have a product similar to yours, unless it's significantly different or better, you could be rejected on that.

2.) Web: Personally, I hate Nuke sites. Mind you, I come from a bit of a graphic design background, so I'm weird. A decent argument there you probably don't want to confuse a customer with a Nuke site and all it's crazy features. Simplicity is a powerful tool.

As for when to start, you can play with it now, but I really suggest getting that game done, or at least in to the alpha/beta stage (testing, finding bugs, but feature and content complete). It's almost a waste to finish a site before you have a product, unless you really know what your doing. Key reasoning being you're going to have to redesign, or at least modify the site somewhat later to show off the game.

HTML is easy. If you're coding a game, then your just a sytax refernce away from having a site. If you spend some time learning the rules of XML, then you're really just a syntax reference away from HTML.

3.) Hosting: I've wasted a lot of money on hosting, when I actually havn't even started/opened my business. So on that note, I recommend going crazy cheap, or not at all until your ready for hosting. Snag a domain cheap for $8 from godaddy (http://www.godaddy.com). Some hosting suggestions (based on price):

http://www.deltawebhosting.com - $3 a month for 30GB Transfer, and the plans scale up nicely. POP3.
https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net - $1 per gig transfer, but your're only charged for what you use (so if you use only a few megs, you're charged only a few cents. Great for experimentation or other low traffic sites). No POP3.

POP3 is e-mail box support. Nearly Free Speech doesn't offer the service, so if having an e-mail address you@myindiecompany.com is of interest, then you'll want that. Though, NearlyFreeSpeech does support forwarding (I think), so if you have an existing address, you can go that way too, and save.

4.) Marketing: As Steve pointed out, if your game falls into a niche, you can take advantage of any related media as a platform for advertising. Otherwise, you're joining the others here either the portal way, finding a publisher, or trying to come up with creative ways to market.

5.) File Size: Yeah, larger sizes seem to be more acceptable today, which is nice, however, you can save money by finding ways to keep it low. If your download is 100 Megs, then your limit on $3 a month would be about 300 downloads, which might not push you over (unless you get some good press). Now if your game is 2 megs, then you're talking about 15000 downloads for a mere $3! Given that average conversion tends to hover around .1%, that's approximately 15 sales, versus maybe a 30% chance for 1. Assuming you did get that sale, at maybe a $12 gross minus the CC processing and/or replication/shipping, then both cases would cover the hosting, and the price of the domain registration. Of course, $12 x 15 is a heck of a lot more than just $12, not to mention chances for more registrations in 15000, as that is a lot of downloads. Given that it's your demo, you could make it smaller by not including some content.

[Black Hydra]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Do you guys have any recommendations for services that you found helpful? I was thinking of going with esellerate to provide my financial transactions service. Any word on them?

I would like to avoid portals seeing as for one, my game doesn't seem to fit with the portal classification of shareware games. And also I'd like to draw people to my own site so that I can get people to associate my game with my company, not the portal.

Are there other suggestions you have for game design/demo construction that I should be aware of in making my game? I've taken a look at a whole bunch of shareware games, so I do know how this works, but if there is anything that you guys have seen from experience that I should do/not do?

Legally is there anything I should be aware of? I live in Canada, if that helps, but I would just like to know if there is any specific legal things I have to do or should do when starting a shareware business.

Thanks again for your help guys, I'm off to continue work on my game. I look forward to your replies.

[FlySim]

I use eSellerate and have no complaints.
I have had only 2-3 fraud sales and they refunded the processing fees.
They also respond to questions very quickly.

[Emmanuel]

In terms of registration services, we use plimus and really love it, but if you want to promote your game on shareware sites, probably you should have it on RegNow as well.

Get your first game out there quick; it's part of the ready-shoot-aim approach. Now that Garden War is out, I get lots of help and advice from people that I'd never have reached before when the game wasn't public. Garden War is selling OK, but it gives me invaluable networking and data to adjust my aim and make a second game that'll be even better and better selling.

Emmanuel

[Black Hydra]

Thanks for the advice you guys.

I don't know whether this is the best move, but I'd like to focus on improving my first game rather than just continually to try to 'do better next time' with each new title. Unless the main flaws of my game are ones regarding the basic mechanics, I think I can hone my first game down into a really excellent product. Besides, it will be a great learning tool aswell, as I can try out all the ideas for increasing sales on it rather than wait to make a new game to see if they will work.

[Emmanuel]

By all means you should try every possible technique to sell your first game, that's not what I'm suggesting.

However in order to sell it, you need to complete it first :)

Emmanuel

[Black Hydra]

Oh, of course. I wasn't implying I was going to go for a quick release and fix my mistakes later. I just mean I intend to devote a lot of my focus to this game rather than just move to a new project right away.

[monco]

Would anyone here recommend doing a statewide company/product name search (so as not to violate any trademark/copyright) and/or acquiring a vendor's license in the state? I did both (well, an attorney did) but I'm not sure they were absolutely necessary. I think it cost a couple hundred bucks.

[Greg Squire]

Would anyone here recommend doing a statewide company/product name search (so as not to violate any trademark/copyright) and/or acquiring a vendor's license in the state? I did both (well, an attorney did) but I'm not sure they were absolutely necessary. I think it cost a couple hundred bucks.

IANAL, but my opinion is that is not neccesary to go to that level for an Indie game. Maybe for a company name, but not product name, but even then that might be overkill. You can do a basic trademark search yourself here (http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=vnid7m.1.1) on the web at the US patent and tradmark office. Of course, this would only be US trademarks. I'm not sure where to look for foreign trademarks.

[monco]

The other reason I got the vendor license was so that I could open up a business bank account (bank required a license), which is where my sales proceeds go from my payment processor.