What's your first reaction when you received your first sales

[Escapee]

What's your first reaction when you received the first sales for your 1st game?

Here is my reaction
I jumped up and yelled "Whoa !!!!Whoa !! in disbelief ( as if i hit a 100 million jackpot in lottery ) ..... " ..... yes it happened this evening , 17 August 05 6:30 pm .

[Adrian Cummings]

Bugger me I'm rich!!! :)

[cliffski]

I took a color photocopy of my first check and kept it. it was for $35 as I recall. I still cashed it though :D.

[Escapee]

Frankly speaking, I have never felt this kind of "estatic feeling" in my day time job before eventhough sometimes i did something wonderful to please the management (yea not myself ) ... arggggggg .
Wish i could go full time on this indie stuffs.......

[digriz]

I'll let you know when it happens *sigh* :o

[svero]

I have to say the first game you sell is a really wonderful feeling. It's really something to take a product from conception, to development and finally right to the customer yourself. I felt great. Course nowdays I just scan the reports and grumble when the average numbers are too low.

[Adrian Cummings]

Like everything once you've done it about umpteen times it looses it's shine, but better to have sold than never sold at all!.

Adrian.

[ChilledOut]

I learned of my first sale right as I was headed out to drive somewhere. I was so excited, I got in my car and took off recklessly. Before I was out of the driveway, I slashed my tire against a concrete step... really took the wind out of my sails! Not to mention the tire cost a lot more than the $20 I made from the game. Man, game development is expensive!

[DanMarshall]

Wait. People pay for these things?

[ggambett]

I felt really happy :) The first sale is the validation of the whole thing : you can actually design, develop and market something! It's proof that you can do it. It's the qualitative jump. From that point, it's quantitative improvement :)

[Ska Software]

I quit my job as fish-monger at the local grocery.

Then I discovered that steady work still pays more...

[Kai Backman]

It was fantastic. Anthony keeps talking about how this game development stuff feels make-believe sometimes. Getting that first sale made everything very concrete. Somehow that validates you as a developer and business owner. I remember it very clearly, and I'll probably remember the player by name for the rest of my life.

Oh, Gabriel says it nicely with the jump. Yeah, then you are suddenly a game developer who has completed a game ... :D

[Hiro_Antagonist]

What's your first reaction when you received the first sales for your 1st game?
I'll let you know quite soon. =)

-Hiro_Antagonist

[lakibuk]

The first sale. It's also somewhat surreal. Like you can't believe that someone actually bought the game.

[DavidRM]

What's your first reaction when you received the first sales for your 1st game?

Here is my reaction
I jumped up and yelled "Whoa !!!!Whoa !! in disbelief ( as if i hit a 100 million jackpot in lottery ) ..... " ..... yes it happened this evening , 17 August 05 6:30 pm .

"Cool! Now...I hope the check clears..."

(It was 1996, and I was still a couple months away from implementing credit card handling.)

-David

[sparkyboy]

What's your first reaction when you received the first sales for your 1st game?

Here is my reaction
I jumped up and yelled "Whoa !!!!Whoa !! in disbelief ( as if i hit a 100 million jackpot in lottery ) ..... " ..... yes it happened this evening , 17 August 05 6:30 pm .

Oh yeah remember it well, was working in a pig farm at the time doing some block laying and rendering..... :eek:
It was in the middle of March 1998........bloody great feeling that was (only a check for 10 quid but hey........somebody paid money for something I did on a bleedin'; computer!!!) Just too :cool: :cool:

All the best

Mark,

[C_Coder]

WOOOOHOOOO! YEEEEHAAAA! <put the F word here> I sold my first copy! *jump* *jump* *jump*... I think I lost 5 kilos that day! :D

The best feeling ever!

[DaveMyers]

When we launched Orbz on GarageGames, the three founders of 21-6 jumped on Team Speak and started watching the sales stat page. Each time we got a sale, we drank a shot of our favorite liquor (in my case I believe it was bourbon whiskey). I got drunk pretty quickly. It was definitely a lot of fun. ;)

[tunca]

The first time I saw a sale, I played my game for about 3 hours. I thought how lucky person that was to get this perfect game for only $20. I was so unconscious that I had started thinking my game was the best of all games on the world.

Another felling was that the buy link was correctly set which relaxed my nerves.

Really, the first sale is worth 100 sales after.

[Nexic]

My first sale of Astral Phantom was an amazing feeling, although my happiness quickly faded when I had no more for several months.

[Adrian Cummings]

Info deleted...

[Escapee]

My first sale of Astral Phantom was an amazing feeling, although my happiness quickly faded when I had no more for several months.

I think this will be the case for the prodigious escapee as well :)

[SteveZ]

When I got my first sale, I laughed and told my roomate, "Someone actually bought that peice of ****".

It was the second sale that made me more ecstatic =)

[robleong]

Wow! It was an exhilarating feeling, just to know that there's somebody out there who would actually pay good money to buy a game that I had written. After that, I started wondering perhaps this guy will seek a refund in the future, but he never did! :)

[Gnatinator]

Like most others who have already replied, pure happyness and a great feeling of achievement. :)

The whole system just comes together and works.

[Martoon]

"Someone actually bought that peice of ****".
Now there's some marketing copy. :)

[Reactor]

Kind of a cross between lakibuk and SteveZ :) I actually felt like emailing the person and giving them their money back... not because I didn't think the game was worth it, but because it felt so strange having someone use their hard-earned cash to pay for something I'd help make, I just wanted to say, "No, go on... you keep it. I don't need the money that badly."

[Indiepath.T]

It's a fantastic feeling, we got our first order for Caboodle within 20 mins of uploading it (and no it was not my mum). Wait till you get your first fraudulent order - that leaves a bitter taste.

[Fry Crayola]

Pardon my ignorance, but what would a fraudulent order be? Faked credit card number? Something else?

[papillon]

A paypal order from a user with the name "HA HA HAXOR U" quickly followed by an email from paypal saying "We think this purchase may have been fraudulent...." :)

[C_Coder]

It's a fantastic feeling, we got our first order for Caboodle within 20 mins of uploading it (and no it was not my mum). Wait till you get your first fraudulent order - that leaves a bitter taste.

Yepp. My second sale was a fraud... :(

[arcadetown]

Mostly "whew finally" and some validation. Started try/buy games approx 2.5 years back. Had decent enough visitor #s back then so expected the sales to roll in overnight. Almost got completely discouraged as took a few days after first try/buy game launch (Retro64's ZBall) to see first sale. A couple games later as visitors got more used to it, saw multiple sales on first day's launch. That original trickle is now a nice solid steady stream. Very glad stuck with it. (nice... some sales as typed this)

[soniCron]

Mostly "whew finally" and some validation. Started try/buy games approx 2.5 years back. Had decent enough visitor #s back then so expected the sales to roll in overnight. Almost got completely discouraged as took a few days after first try/buy game launch (Retro64's ZBall) to see first sale. A couple games later as visitors got more used to it, saw multiple sales on first day's launch. That original trickle is now a nice solid steady stream. Very glad stuck with it. (nice... some sales as typed this) In hurry something? ;)

[Diodor Bitan]

I hoped to get one sale a day for my first game, if not better. I got my first sale after a month or two. Still felt good, like a treshold was crossed.

[Coyote]

I guess I was kinda in the disbelief - and - flattered category. "Someone thought this was good enough to shell out their hard-earned money for it. Wow."

[aiosup]

It felt at least special. In a way, it was like a LLL game (Lots of time, lots of happy thoughts, lots of help) getting a reward, so it felt special. It wasn't the money (heck, I don't expect living off this), but it meant: "your hobby is valuable for me too, The Customer". Great feeling, imho!

Regards,

Alex

[Tertsi]

While I didn't act like it was as special as some of you thought, it definitely was the greatest feeling of achievement I've ever had. Soon after, a 7 sales in less than a day peak felt pretty good too.

[iopred]

First Sales are awesome, I still get that feeling nowadays, but I prefer the 'First Reaction', I want to hear what people have to say, that gets the adrenaline pumping (do they love it?).

Wait till your game is pirated, then you feel the pain. I hate that feeling that hoards of people are getting your game for free. Its much worse than a fraud CC.

[Mike Boeh]

My first sale came in 1993, for an Amiga called "Artillerus". It's so long ago that I really don't remember how I reacted.... In the "modern" era, my first sale didn't come until a few days after Bugatron was released- and it was more relief than joy....

Some time later, I set up my e-mail program to make a cash register "ching!" noise for each sale that came in. Fun Fun :) Now-a-days I use web based email, so I don't get to hear that glorious sound anymore....

[StefanM]

I recieved my first sale today (self produced game), I just stared at the screen not believing my eyes for a good 10 minutes :). Then it started to sink in and now im really happy and awaiting the next sale which will probably have me react in the same way. It´s a great feeling.

[shoecake]

I started selling (Amiga) shareware around 1991 so also don't really remember it too well. If i remember rightly it was a $20 note, so my first reaction (as a British resident) was probably "what on earth do i do with this!?" :)

More recently the web based sales have been more rewarding. The first sale was pretty cool, especially as a 2nd sale showed up within minutes after it and I thought how amazing it'd be if that just carried on all day! :D Sadly it didn't! :p

I still get excited about the first sale of any new game. It's a good reassurance that some total stranger appreciates what you've been doing all those weeks/months/years.

I also had a "ching!" sound setup in outlook but soon got sick of it, especially at 4am in the morning! I still do have an SMS message setup to inform me of each sale, which I don't think I'll ever get bored of ;)

Paul

[terin]

My virgin sale was to Jack Norton... I think.

I think I charged him 30 bucks or something to do a press release for UBM. It took me a lot longer to write and release press releases (even though my list was only like 250 names back then). so my reaction for spending 2 hours of work with my first sale was "Hey, 15 bucks an hour ain't bad!"

This was followed by a short jig up and down the hallway and my ordering out for pizza for our apartment to enjoy my prosperity.


Now over 60 press releases later...

Thanks Jack (or if it was someone else, my mistake... but Jack was still real close to the first)!

It still averages me about an hour of work to write and release a press release, not counting how much time it takes me to find new people to add to it... Most Recent Addition: PC Authority, the largest PC Magazine in Australia.


-Joe

[cliffski]

It doesn't end with the first sale. Other things that are cool include:
The first check!
The first check thats worth more than the currency charges!
The first boxed product with your game on it!
The first standalone boxed copy of your game!
The first review of your game in a magazine!
The first time you buy something big (in my case a car) with your game earnings!
Your first mention in a national newspaper!
The month your indie game sales exceed your day job earnings!

Those are the ones that have really made me smile a lot. And I'm sure there are more ahead. Apparently my boss knew he had made it when he ordered an aston martin from his seat on concorde. I reckon I would probably have realised it before then.
And knowing games industry stories, thats probably twaddle anyway :D

[lakibuk]

First sale: Got it at work. Told a co-worker that i got a sale. He said i should contact this guy and thank him for buying the game. :)

[James C. Smith]

It starts with:

First Sale
First sale that was not to a development team member testing the order processing system
First sale that wasn’t to a family member trying to support the company
First sale that wasn’t to a friend trying to support the company
First sale to a stranger

Eventually you get the funs ones like:
First mail order customer who paid with foreign currency in cash
First mail order from a person who didn’t have a printer and copied down the order form with a pencil and paper

And then you get the refund requests:
First person who accidentally bought the game twice
First person who though he was buying a game for his palm pilot
First time a mother called to demand a refund because her son user her credit card to purchase the game without her knowledge

[arcadetown]

Love that list James, particuarly the part about first order that wasn't a test, employee, or friend.

[Nexic]

The test orders I got from Plimus fooled me. I was so excited as I thought my game had sold like 10 copies within an hour of releasing it on my website, then I realised they were all test orders from Mr. John Doe. Hah!

Also:

Person who requested a refund because they wanted to buy a game by someone else but accidentally bought your one instead.

[Emmanuel]

Once in a while I get an order for Garden War that would push it above the normal 1 sale per month, then I wait a bit, and get an email that says the person bought GW by mistake on plimus's online shop page thing, but really wanted Atlantis :)

Best regards,
Emmanuel

[Ricardo C]

Hey, at least it's a sale for one of your products, imagine if they said "Oh, sorry... I was trying to buy Bejeweled" :D

[Kai Backman]

Eventually you get the funs ones like:
First Mac only person who buys your Windows only game with the intent that it would make porting faster
First person buying an upgrade to your game (hey, they really liked it).
First non-internet person buying your download only game... :)

[gamemaker]

I felt truly ecstatic!...until I remembered it would take about 4/5 months before receiving any money!....still waiting :(

[Adrian Cummings]

Hey Gamemaker!,

You STILL waiting!!! jeez that is lame bud :/

Mobile stuph going ok with you?. I've been doing a fair bit since July on mobiles and have just signed a cool deal actually, so things are starting to look up for me a bit more these days at least - maybe - perhaps!?.

Cheers,

Adrian.

[gamemaker]

Hey Adrian and yep, still here :)

We've had development monies etc but no actual real-time revenues - takes a looong time to get the money from overseas - we're hoping before xmas we get an actual invoiced sales cheque, woot!.

Meanwhile, getting all sorts of contracts and invites and interest together on lots of things, so kinda busy and, we've learned not to expect revenue from any release for quite a while each time, whereby, it makes reasonable sums of money given at the time, seem rather thin when having to be stretched over a longer period of time to survive - but we're still here and making noises.

Thanks for the interest :)

[Adrian Cummings]

Hi again!,

Ok all cool then but that's a long wait!?...

All the best then,

Adrian.

[gamemaker]

Haha, we live and learn :)

In fact, one of their main guys has left and went to EA, so there's hope we can follow ;)

On the waiting side though, it's opened our eyes as to when to expect revenues now - it's just a pain waiting for revenue to get to the publisher first before we can get our cut...meanwhile, we're doing our own seperate deals which can be a bit frightening as a question always in the back of our minds is 'can we trust these guys?' and, in the end, we have to if we want to get our games out there.

It's still exciting to be on the road we're on though, even although it's very worrying at the same time, but, it's what we chose to do and we're not dead yet...amazing!.

[Fry Crayola]

This thread makes me cry.

Maybe I should actually release a game, mind. I can't wait for all these feelings. Some of cliffski's would be nice, particularly those towards the end...

[AVataRR]

Well, I'm in exactly the same position, but this thread makes me smile and warm and fuzzy inside. It tells me that that getting into the indie market isn't impossible and it's only a matter of time, work, talent (verified by feedback of course :p) and a bit of help. :) I just feel like hugging everyone.

/me hug.

[Falcan]

It happened midnight today after 5 days of waiting! I couldn't believe it, because I didn't get any e-mail notification from Plimus...as I thought. After few minutes of big confusion(incl. writting to Plimus support), I found it in spam basket of course :rolleyes:

[Jack Norton]

When I got first sale was in chat with my friend patrice... was unbeliveable! I started to write "hurrah! champagne!" etc.
Was a guy from USA, still remember his name (but won't post here of course).
The feelings? marvellous. After so many months of sweat and screams (because of blitz debugger hehehe) finally a satisfaction.

...but even now after almost 2 years... luckily sales email are quite frequent, still from time to time I receive emails like "I was waiting for such a game for all my life, thank you" (really!! got that one) or more simply "thanks for the game, it rules!" make your life better even if you don't sell millions.

Yes, I love my job :D

p.s. of course I receive hate emails too, but don't want to break the harmony of this thread!

[Sharkbait]

I got my very first sale today.. and the feeling is incredible!! :) After a couple of false starts I never thought I would get this far! So next weekend I'm dining out with my wife (using a gift voucher so the celebrations will not exceed the profits ;))

[Sharkbait]

...just turned out fruadulent. :mad:

[Ricardo C]

Man, that sucks :(

If I mayt point out a kind of silver lining, though: At least you'll get the first sale euphoria twice :)

[Sharkbait]

Heh.. guess would be the Pollyannesque way of looking at it! :rolleyes:

[DrWilloughby]

My first sale was to Josiah from Chronic Logic -- an auspicious beginning! We've had a small trickle of sales so far. Reactions seem to be really good so I hope they'll pick up once we get on the portals!

Edit- just checked sales... it's becoming more of a steady leak than a small trickle. I need another bottle of champagne!

[Sharkbait]

Good for you! :) You seem to have quite a novel game there!

[Tr00jg]

(This thread is old, but can I still post?)

Man, I really really cant wait for the moment I get my 1st sale!

I can imagine the euphoria. I remember when one of my games won an international game dev compo. I read it on my phone while I was in bed. I couldnt sleep! It was the first I actually got something from my games! 3 programming books! Whoo!

[soniCron]

I totally forgot about this thread. Thanks for reviving it, Tr00jg!

I was positively elated when I got my first sale! And even doubly so when I got my first check! I don't think there's any feeling quite like making your first sale! :)

[Karja]

My first sale was for a Windows application rather than a game, but if I recall correctly I felt ashamed rather than happy. Along the lines of, wow, what did I do? I charged money for something I just did as a hobby project - to learn stuff. And I felt even worse when enough people bought my stuff to pay for the hosting and domain and such.

Now I'm working on a wee sheep game, and it'll be the first game project where I'm hoping for (some) sales - and this time I won't feel ashamed of it. With Murphy's law alive and kicking, I'm sure that no one will buy the game since I have that attitude, though. :)

[Davaris]

I used to get hyper excited when I get a good number of sales in a row and I think at last I'm off! Then the sales dry up and its a real bummer.

[ragdollsoft]

My first game (maybe 3.5 years ago) was *shareware* in the sense that it said "If you like this game, please send 5$ to <my address>"

And one day I got a postcard from the UK that had 10 euros inside! (very wierd, euros, not pounds!) and thanks for my game.

Indeed that was awesome.

From that day I implemented a registration system :P ( much less satifying though ;) )

[tagged]

Was going to do a new thread but thought I'ld just reply to this one...

I just made my first sale!!! :D Took just under 2 weeks, not bad.

Very very happy, was a little worried that the game wasn't any good, lack of overall feedback still has me wondering a little. Now I'm not sure if I should have a drink or get back to working on an update and doing more press releases.

Little Speech: Thanks to the members of this forum, I've been a member for almost 3 years and haven't posted much. Although I did (do) get alot of help from lurking, still very much a n00b :p

[dma]

Originally Posted by SteveZ
"Someone actually bought that peice of ****".
Now there's some marketing copy. :)

Sounds exactly like the marketing one of the suits at Atari was quoted as saying during the later 2600 days. "Pride cometh before a fall," and all that. :)

[ChrisP]

Congratulations tagged! :)

I wasn't actually as excited as I thought I'd be from my first sale. I was pleased, certainly, but after all the anticipation and working up to the point it was a bit of an anticlimax.

It was the same when cashing my first royalty cheque. It was like... yay, money. I'll just add that to the savings pile. So, what next?

Maybe this means I'm not as money-driven as I thought!

I do get a nice little glow inside whenever I get a new order coming through. But then I get depressed when I realise how long it was since the last one. :D