I remember when I first started programming games as a hobbyist years ago, I found many excellent resources on all topics, from blitting to pathfinding algorithms, from polygon sorting to file compression. But there were a few subjects that simply didn't exist in any of the game tutorials I had ever read. Game timing was one of these subjects that was never discussed. Every tutorial made a point of mentioning that game speed would vary from computer to computer, and "That's something we'll cover in a later tutorial." But they never did. Only through long bouts of experimentation did I discover the various methods of game timing, a subject which is easily as important as blitting a pixel or sending audio data to the sound card. I could go on about the lack of discussion about game loop structure; something unique to realtime application development, nonetheless always omitted from even the most advanced game programming tutorials. There are, I'm sure, several important, but never talked about aspects of going "live" in the shareware business. These are topics that are never discussed, for one reason or another, on boards or through private conference and often left for experimentation. One of these seemingly "taboo" subjects is that of affiliation. Now, even the newbies here are aware of the basic steps: sign up affiliate, handle payments, etc. But I'm curious about several of the "in-between" steps and common affiliate etiquette. Here are a few of my questions: Do you handle affiliation manually or automatically? Is automation even possible? Who handles customer support? The developer or the affiliate? Is there an unwritten standard for game "icons" like this and this? (Source) Does the affiliate always host the download? What are common affiliate cuts? 25%? 50%? 60%? How is the affiliation commonly tracked? Are there unique builds of the game in which the in-game "Buy Now" link takes the player to the affiliate's website? Are there affiliate newsletters? If so, how often are they used? Is there a way for the affiliate to track their sales? Is that a part of the registration service (Plimus, Regnow, etc.), or something I have to provide? I'm sure there are many other questions I could assemble, but I'm also sure there are even more I wouldn't know to ask. Are there things that aren't often discussed when first launching that I, or anyone else, should be aware of? What words of advice would the experienced members give to a soon-to-be? Perhaps on subjects not related to affiliation?
Game affiliation seems to be a lot less well-set-up and automated than porn affiliation is, in my experience. Sign up with a porn site - or many software products made by the same kind of people - and you'll be immediately provided with a set of links to the product with your link code in it, banner graphics in dozens of different shapes and sizes, full page advertisements with copy text and html... just pick whatever suits your layout and you're good to go! Some of them you don't even have to host the graphics yourself! (Although usually you do. Just not any downloads of trial versions.)
Manually. The affiliate emails me asking for me to approve their regnow/plimus request, then I make them a custom build. With standard affiliates I end doing tech support. Some tech questions get sent to the affiliate, but they always end up being forwarded to me. With portals they will usually take care of the basics if they can, and then ask you if they can't handle it. Nope, different sites will use different sizes. I try to keep all of my game art in an easy to modify layered format, so building different image sizes is easy. Always. Otherwise, what is to stop me waiting a few days, then changing the build so the buy links go to my site? Depends on their size. Small ones I give 30%, larger ones I give as much as 45% There are more complex methods available, but I make a custom build for each affiliate upon request. If you mean "do affiliate sites advertise your game via newsletter", then yes, a lot of them do. Most will announce each new game they add (usually 3 or more per newsletter though). The registration serivce should send both you, and the affiliate who got the sale an oder notification email. Plus each affiliate (and vendor) can look up how many sales online.
Further Clarification and Questions So it's common to provide images of major graphical components of the games (title logo, characters, etc.) rather than pre-constructed "icons"? What's considered "small" and what's "large"? Actually, I wondered if the developers offer an affiliate-only newsletter to keep their affiliates informed of updates, new games, etc. Is this uncommon? Is this data available in an automated way so I can have an affiliate section in which they can view their stats in a unified manner? Thanks for the excellent reply, Nexic! @papillon: Have you got any links I can use to explore this? It sounds like a much more efficient machine, but it doesn't sound like it would be compatible with the way gaming affiliation is done. Thanks for the reply!
Hey wait a sec... Hey! Doesn't anyone else find it odd that Pap knows so much about this porn affiliate routine Nexic answered those questions pretty well. Not much I can add... except that "portal" affiliates take between 60 and 80%. Other affiliates, like Garage Games around 50% usually (the big guys). Other indie sites and minor sites tend to take 30%. You wont find many lower than that. -Joe
Heh, not really. =) Porn is big business. I looked at affiliate business models for a while, and since I was a enterprise dot-com developer, I actually had a couple of girls approach *me* and ask me if I could make a site/app for them. Honestly, the numbers are pretty good all around, and the concepts are very analagous to game affiliates. Except buyers are in far more plentiful supply.... It's only as taboo as you want to make it. At the end of the day, it's just another product that's being demanded (heavily, in this case) by a customer base. And believe it or not, it's even possible to participate and succeed in that market without resorting to shady marketing tactics (spam, misleading ads, etc.) In the end I didn't do it for my own reasons. But I certainly wouldn't blame anyone who did... -Hiro_Antagonist
Can you be more specific? I'm generally curious about explicitly adult-themed games and how well they do. Someone not so long ago posted here about their explicit chess game, and I was always curious if he was just hauling sacks of money to the bank each month.
I've freely admitted it in the past. I'm not much involved with it anymore, though. As for examples, the first one selling software that I can pull out of the top of my hat would be http://www.kittencash.com/ - (warning - mild 3d nudity, but hard to see, don't say you weren't warned. ) You can see this particular one has a whole website set up just for their affiliate program with instructions, encouragement, free graphics, etc. And that not only do you earn for selling it, you earn for getting other people to sell it as well. They're working to get you to WANT to sell their product, not just listing it in a catalog somewhere and hoping someone signs up for it. And they don't demand that you show how great and reliable you are before they allow you to sell their product - any sale is a good sale!
Nothin Wrong with it... I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, I worked for a guy who ran one too at one point. I just didn't expect Pap to know about such things! I always figured she was pure of heart and soul with the games she makes. My ideals are ruined! I, for the record, am still pure of heart and soul... honest! -Joe
>Do you handle affiliation manually or automatically? Is automation even >possible? Automation is possible but it takes some work to set up. Its better for those of us that have several games. I should have automated affiliation for my games a few years ago. Too much to do and little time. >Who handles customer support? The developer or the affiliate? Usually the developer but really its up to you and the guy who's game you're selling (or vice versa) to work out how it goes. For affiliation though usually the developer is making the sale directly so they also handle tech support and retain their support links in the app etc.. >Is there an unwritten standard for game "icons" like... Not that Im aware of. Varies per site/developer/publisher. I could be wrong here though. But I dont think its like the standard banner ad size etc... >Does the affiliate always host the download? This varies. Up to you and the developer. I've done it both ways. >What are common affiliate cuts? 25%? 50%? 60%? I've seen everywhere from 0-50% -- 15-30% seems quite common. Affiliate percentages can be negotiated. >How is the affiliation commonly tracked? Are there unique builds of the game in which the in-game "Buy Now" link takes the player to the affiliate's website? Different ways. Some people have automated special builds to include a special affiliate id number when their buy link is pressed. Other systems just use cookies by passing the sale through a tracking url. That's obviously not perfect as cookies can be deleted but many affiliate systems are not foolproof. >Are there affiliate newsletters? If so, how often are they used? Not sure what you mean by an affiliate newsletter. >Is there a way for the affiliate to track their sales? Is that a part of the registration service (Plimus, Regnow, etc.), or something I have to provide? Most affiliate systems have tracking for both the developer and customer built in. - S