I will never understand how to predict sales of games Look at this one: RACING GAME and this one SHOOTEMUP One doesnt seem to want to sell at all, the other has sold loads. I can''t work out why. Can you guess which is the seller? . . . . . . . . . Star Miner (Asteroid Miner) sells loads of copies, the other one hardly any. Yet one is techncially and visually miles ahead of the other. Is it really just lucky dip? I just dont know how to predict if I have a game till I get the sales figures! Anyone worked out the magic formula? http://www.positech.co.uk

I picked the right one...do I get a prize?

For some reason, I think space games have a certain mystique around them. Space = future, future = new, new = better? I dont know what it is, I just know a lot of people that play space games and only a few that play car games (with GranTuismo being the exception...everyone plays that it seems).



Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Coming July 2002

While everything about Kombat Kars is great! Except the keyboard controls make it impossible to control for me. That makes the gameplay no fun =(

If all that matters is what you get in the end, why go through life?
~Michael Sikora

cliffski, the magic formula is as follows:

Take the name of the game and convert the ascii values of the letters to integers. Add them all up, and multiply by Pi/2 (taken out to 15 places past the decimal). Then, divide by Kirchoff''s variable constant. That is guaranteed to give you the exact number of sales you can expect to have for a game.

On the other hand, if what Guardian_Light says about Kombat Kars is true, and it is difficult to control, that could be a major reason why it isn''t doing well.

Looking for an honest video game publisher? Visit www.gamethoughts.com

cliffski,

you need to look at your customer orders
for each type of game you sell
and try to figure out the type of buyers
you''re getting for them...


regards,


GarageDeveloper International
the independent''s publisher!tm

http://www.garagedeveloperinternational.com/

The formula for what sells and what doesn''t seems to be a complicated and fragile one. You left out a couple of factors that could have an impact on the formula:

1) Star Miner is $5 cheaper.
2) While on the surface it seems that you''re comparing a simple shooter against a simple driver, the info page for Star Miner tells me that there''s at least *some* level of depth there which is not present in Kombat Kars. You collect minerals to sell to upgrade your ship and weapons. May not seem like much, but that makes it a step above the (apparently) simple gameplay in Kombat Kars.

Another thing could be the marketing. I mean, KombatKars looks good but the screen shots are, well, boring (star miner though less graphic intensive has a nice feel to it. Can''t explain it.) second, KombatKars is 7MB where as Star Miner is 2MB (demo atleast) which means more people will download the second. Then you add in the price difference and a few other factors (like pure dumb luck and the controls, etc.) and its actually pretty logical.

I''d go to your customers and ask them (if you have records of who bought, etc.). They could tell you better than any of us could really.

Thanks for your feedback guys, its interesting to hear other people compare your games. I think depth of gameplay seems to be quite an important factor.

http://www.positech.co.uk

Hi cliffski

Was just wondering how many games you sell in an average month, and how many of those sales are the two games you mentioned?

I''m writing my first ever shareware game and would like to know if it''s likely i''ll be able to give up the day job!!

BTW Star Miner is in my opinion more FUN to play, that could be your magic formula right there :o)

I have to agree with ThePRMan. For example..I noticed you have a similar game to kombat kars, called Rocky Racers, now did Rockey Racers sell enough units for you to make a similar game?
Also do the to games have enough differences ( I didn''t read the description) for the player to spend the extra $10 to buy Kombat Kars?

Also do you have some of the marketing tactics written on articles published at www.dexterity.com?

If starminer is doing well, why not create a sequal or an addon pack... etc.

John Hsia