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Hmmm. An indie RealArcade relying in comissions. Good idea!
Recruiting Developers For Game Savant Launch
We're looking for developers who want to be involved in the launch of a new application that I'm developing called Game Savant (www.gamesavant.com ). We are shooting for a launch sometime in April, 2005. The application/web site will be 100% free to use - Game Savant will make its money from affiliate commissions.
Game Savant is an application that users will download and run either in their system tray or as a regular window. It will alert them to new games being released, special offers being presented by participating developers, and other game centric news.
Users will see a list of games within the Game Savant window and can choose to download the demo, buy the game, or send a rating/comment to the server for others to see (providing they create an account with Game Savant - accounts are free and are used only to track ratings/preferences for game recommendation purposes).
Game Savant will offer easy access to games (downloads, screenshots, offers), community based features (chat, forums, rating system), as well as many personal features like recommendations (the application will keep track of which games you've liked in the past and use that to recommend games for you to download).
As a developer signing up to take part in the Game Savant system, there are only a few requirements:
1. Games. You need to have games for us to offer to users.
2. Affiliation. Game Savant relies on affiliate commissions and will need to form a relationship with your company. All that means is that we will set up accounts with Plimus, RegNow, etc. and you agree to accept our offer to become an affiliate for you. Any sales that are generated through the Game Savant application will need to have our affiliate ID attached to them.
3. Buzz. Game Savant needs distribution to be a successful marketing tool for you guys. Offering downloads of it from your web sites, mentions in your newsletters (after launch, of course) and offers/sales geared specifically to Game Savant users will help us all in the end.
Why is this a good system for you developers? Several reasons:
1. Exposure. Anyone who downloads the Game Savant application will be ready to receive your marketing messages. New games, special offers/discounts, etc. This means that within the hour of your releasing your new game, every person who downloaded the client will receive a notification. The more downloads the client gets, the more exposure your games get.
2. Customers. Game Savant doesn't want your customer list. We will send people to your buy page at your web site. All we ask for is affiliate commissions in return.
3. No "What's New?" syndrome. While Game Savant will have a "What's New?" page, the ratings feature will ensure that quality games will stay on top (if users feel it belongs there). If users are digging your game, it will always live near the top of the game page.
4. Security. Game Savant will contain NO spyware or adware of any kind, nor will it piggy back with other applications. It is a completely clean, stand alone application that has one purpose - to make you money.
Any developers interested in more information about this program, feel free to contact us at devrel@gamesavant.com . Feel free to post questions in this thread as well!
Looking forward to working with you all!
Hmmm. An indie RealArcade relying in comissions. Good idea!
Gabriel Gambetta
Google Zürich - Formerly Mystery Studio
Question is how do you plan on marketing the Game Savant?
I think it is definately a nice idea, but getting exposure for a RealArcade style system isn't that easy unless you have a huge marketing parent company.
Why use this over RealArcade? Obvious to us that it is more good independant games that don't reach other portals, but most consumers don't care who makes the games. Not sure people would want both...
It is a great idea though so hope this works out...
Directly competing with RealArcade is quite the challenge. I'm also interested in how you are planning to atract users. Besides that it sounds cool.
This reminds me of a comment I saw once about RealArcade - that all it is (Game Savant too) is a glorified browser. I did not see one feature up above that just couldn't be on a webpage. In fact, that's probably what it is - a webpage inside of a mini-browser app. The thing RealArcade does get you that's non-browsery is the download/install/play pages (but that could be done as an ActiveX control). I'd much prefer to just have a real website and use whatever browser I'd like.
I'm so sick of software that wants to install icons in my system tray and run constantly in the background. After somewhat recently putting an OS install and much of the software I use on to a then-new laptop my system tray was bursting with like 25 icons! Does Quicktime player really need its own icon in there? Jesus... Most of it is gone now thanks to registry edits and other tweaks, but .. ugh, just ugh.
Sorry, done with my rant.
Bear in mind that this isn't for you guys ... it's to sell your games. You won't need to have it installed.
Like the others, I'd like to know how you plan to get customers.
I'd also be interested to know what affiliate percentage you require, or if it varies.
It's an uphill battle, no question, but I don't think it's impossible. If Game Savant differentiates itself enough from Real Arcade, I don't see any reason it shouldn't be able to exist alongside of it.Like the others, I'd like to know how you plan to get customers.
Offer games that can't be found on Real Arcade, offer better community features, lower prices, etc. There have to be a dozen ways to improve upon what RealArcade does...
Maybe Game Savant should focus on specific genres. RPGs for example. I haven't thought through the entire process yet but I think the core idea is sound.
I was thinking of a small number (with the hope being that it gets made up in volume). I don't know what the portals typically charge, but I was hoping to keep it as low as possible.I'd also be interested to know what affiliate percentage you require, or if it varies.
Could be a big problem not to know what to sell and how to sell it.Maybe Game Savant should focus on specific genres. RPGs for example. I haven't thought through the entire process yet but I think the core idea is sound.
Planning everything in great detail might be a good first step before you gather developers. The initial idea sounds nice, but your last post doesn't rais my interest. I would like to see a solid and detailed plan.Originally Posted by Savant
Absolutely. The concrete is still wet here, but I think the foundation will hold.Could be a big problem not to know what to sell and how to sell it.
I'm not any different than you guys. I know basically what I want to accomplish and am working towards it. I don't have a detailed battle plan covering every aspect, that's true, but I think I have enough of a bearing that I can begin steering towards my destination.Planning everything in great detail might be a good first step before you gather developers. The initial idea sounds nice, but your last post doesn't rais my interest. I would like to see a solid and detailed plan.
I have enough games signed up now to make for a very decent launch library so if you want to take a "wait and see" attitude, that's certainly your perogative. I'm really hoping to have as many games as possible available on the day of release though.
Really, if you think about it, there's no risk to you as a developer. You submit your game to my library and sign Game Savant up as an affiliate. That's it.
I'm not asking for exclusive contracts or locked in deals. If I move units for you, you win. If I don't, you're no worse off than you were before. You really have no loss scenario here.
Well... You're second-guessing your business plans after you've developed the app. You don't know HOW you're going to improve on the RealArcade model, you just know "there have to be a dozen ways". It doesn't exactly fill a guy with confidence.I'm not any different than you guys.
I agree that GameSavant seems like a pretty safe bet for developers, and the fact that it's an indie venture makes me feel more eager to associate myself with it than with corporate portals, but I would like to know exactly what the game plan is before commiting to it. For all I know, you could turn to adware to raise funds, and I end up having my games associated with an adware pusher. Not saying you will, but who's to say it won't ever happen?
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