Hi everyone, I have a pretty decent (in my opinion) game that is nearly complete. So far, the total budget for my game is hovering around $0. I have done all the modeling, programming, etc. etc. and I would do it for fun regardless, so I don''t consider my time an expense. Anyway, I want to sell this sucker online and I was wondering if anyone had any tips as far as cheap marketing methods, as well as cheap ways of selling the game (I''d like to accept a credit card). Honestly, I don''t know if I will sell 1 or 1,000 so I would like to find something with very little fixed costs to start off with. Digital River will do it for about 25% of sales with no fixed costs, anyone know of any better ways to go? Or any good references to help me out?? Thanks!

Hi ya

I use Reg Soft for my games. (http://www.regsoft.com -just in case I did the link wrong).

It''s pretty easy to do with no up front cost. It charges 10% of the sale or 3 dollars.. whichever is more.

Good Luck!


-Tasm
Tams11 Software

>Digital River will do it for about 25% of sales with no fixed costs

There is a fixed cost, $1000. But it''s payed by the first sales, so it''s nothing you have to pay to get started. If you sell your game for $10 the first 100 sold copies will go to to pay this fixed setup cost (which is a one-time cost. Adding more games to your online sales site doesn''t cost extra).

Wow, RegSoft looks like just what I''m looking for (to start with, anyway). Although I don''t get why they pay YOU to mail out a CD... Thanks guys for the help! Does anyone have any marketing tips that are cheap and will work. I read in a previous thread someone saying that putting their game on AOL accounted for a large percentage of their sales. Anyone have any other tips? Will it cost anything to get my game on most shareware-type sites?
Thanks again!

If the game will be available via download from the Internet, you''ll do yourself a huge favor by getting listed on the major shareware sites:

ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com
CNet http://www.download.com
WinFiles http://www.winfiles.com

And there are others.

For payment processing, I''ve used Kagi (http://www.kagi.com) and DigiBuy (http://www.digibuy.com). DigiBuy is essentially a slightly less expensive version of Digital River, but it handles less "marketing" for you.

Good luck!


DavidRM
Samu Games

That''s cool, DigiBuy looks pretty good, too. I''ll have to look further into that one as well. (Obviously) I''m curious what kind of response I might get. Is anyone willing to share some general numbers about what they''ve seen selling their game on the internet? Respond as anonymous is you don''t want to give out too many details. Basically, am I way out there in thinking that a quality game can sell enough over the internet to support this terribly obsessive habit full-time for my company of one (plus wife who likes to shop!! ;-)
Later!

Do you have any screens/information/urls for your game that we can see?

Not yet, but I''ve been meaning to work on the website, so I''ll put up some info and post the link. Meanwhile, has anyone had ANY success selling their game solely over the internet??

OK, here is a link to a skeleton site that I made today. Feel free to bookmark and check back later (shameless plug). I plan to write a quick message board page (unless anyone knows of any free ones) and maybe a beta demo just for the GameDev people that know about it because I have learned so much from the community here. Anyway, it''s only my first game so don''t flame me about it :-) I''m still looking for anyone who''s actually sold a game on the internet to offer me some advice and maybe some general numbers of what I MIGHT be able to expect! I feel like I could make a truly great game if I was doing this full-time, anyone else feel like that?
Anyway, thanks everybody!

You can also use Amazons Z-Shops.

------------
Glen
Dynamic Adventures Inc.
http://www.zenfar.com