I could use a little help here. As many of you know, I have dedicated myself to the Game Inststry and specifically to helping out start p and indie game developers. I have been representing developers for some time now and contribute a great deal of time advising indie developers on basic business and legal matters including authoring a series of articles that appear elsewhere on GameDev.net and do a sporattic Q&A. I also speak at the Garage Games Indie Game Con every year, in addition to GDC and the other industry events. In response to a real need I put together the Game Dev Kit which is a compilation of info and forms for start up game developers. It contains a bunch of advise (which is cheap) and several form agreements including Unilateral and Mutual NDA's and the heart of the Kit - a professional Contributor Agreement. The Contributor Agreement secures all of the assets in the game to the developer and is really essential to being about to proceed in a competent manner. In addition I also have some copyright information and the government forms for registering a copyright that include instructions. Overall I think it has a lot of good stuff in it and is a great deal at $295...less than what it would cost for an hour of most attorney's time. Here's the problem...I am getting traffic, but no sell through. I know it takes more than a "Build it and they will come" mentality...but that's not the point. Their coming...just not buying...what's up wit dat? Tom B * * * * * * * * * * Thomas H. Buscaglia, Esquire The Game Attorney T. H. Buscaglia and Associates 80 Southwest 8th Street Suite 2100 - Brickell Bayview Center Miami, FL 33130 Tel (305) 324-6000 Fax (305) 324-1111 Toll Free 888-848-GLAW www.gameattorney.com www.gamedevkit.com * * * * * * * * * *

Hi Tom,
I think part of the problem may be the term Game dev kit. To most developers this term is used to denote the hardware you develop on for a particular platform. It may well be that many of those who google for game dev kit and then follow a link to your site are actually looking for hardware, rather than legal forms. Hence they leave again. A term/name similar to "legal starter pack" might get a better result.

Also in Google your sites descrition is:
"Welcome. If you are serious about starting out in the computer and video game business there is some basic business and legal information that you need to ..."
This is an extract from your front page. The page goes on to actually talk about the legal doc kit but as you can see the extract on Google doesn't get that far. It ends before it actually explains what the site is about. You might want to rewrite that first part so that it mentions the pack within the first 25 words.

perhaps a rename of the GameDevKit? Something that sticks to the mind and describes the legal purpose of the kit. I think the kit will be helpful to developers but when I think of GameDevKit, I think of a graphics library or something like that. I feel people looking for legal information will not immediately think of GameDevKit.

Also, some more info about how the kit can be used. Legal information publishers usually look for, methods of selling games (publisher, own web site) . how to use the kit in making shareware games, online games, etc. simple examples that show to a potential customer "hey I am in the same boat as this guy" and encourage him to buu the kit. potential trouble if you do not use the kit. game developers must understand the need for good legal support in making the game and risks the face if they do not have it (member quits and makes own game, getting into a lawsuit, copyright infringement, etc)

just general information in simple examples might help a lot.

Thanks guys...I see your point about the name. I guess I should consider changing the name... or at least using a different URL to host it so folks don't get there by misake.

Most of th reasons to get th Kit are there, or in the numersous articles that I have written...maybe I need to be a little blunter on the front page and not expect people to read the entire site to get the entire story.

The search engine optimization has not been implemented yet and will apply to everything from the meta tags to the folder structure and naming conventions used on the site. Unfortunatly, I don't presently have a lot of $ to throw at the site...and it is a slow process. But I will change the initial few words to better reflect what the site is about as soon as I can....thanks again!!!

Tom B

¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤
Thomas H. Buscaglia, Esquire
The Game Attorney
T. H. Buscaglia and Associates
80 Southwest 8th Street
Suite 2100 - Brickell Bayview Center
Miami, FL 33130
Tel (305) 324-6000
Fax (305) 324-1111
Toll Free 888-848-GLAW
www.gameattorney.com
www.gamedevkit.com
¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤

I understand why they are going and not buying, but at the same time, if you change the name, they may never come. If you leave it the same, when they get to the point of needing the packet and you have changed the name, they aren't going to know where to go to get it. I know that once I find something, I look under the same name and information in which I found it before.

You may have picked the wrong name initially, but to change it now isn't a very good idea. Change the first 25 words for the information packet, but leave the name the same so it can be found easily by the people that have popped in and seen what it is. That is my advise.

As a serious indie game developer, I can give you my interpretation.

From what I have seen, many of the people here on GameDev are not exceptionally serious about doing things professionaly, or the right way. Given that most of these people don't even have a game ready to sell it is unlikely they will spring $295.00 for somthing they do not yet need.

Even I who will likely need somthing like this in the future,(and will probably end up buying it, even though I consider it to be somewhat overpriced, given that I have connections to people who understand law, and can get my advice for free (who knows how good it is :-D)) haven't bought it yet because it isn't a trival expendature ($295.00 for most of the indies around here is serious cash), and as such I will wait until the last minute when I need it.

Now given that most indies never get to the stage wherin they would need legal advice (or think they don't), you are only going to get sales from those people serious enough to seek professional legal advice(and pay for it), which as I said before, from my interpretation.

I have seen the banner before, and looked at it briefly, but the price scared me away, if it has been $50 or $75, I would have probably bought it.

But overall I think it is an issue with the type of indie developers that are common to GameDev.net, that is, people who arn't likely to produce anything worth while, and thus don't need legal advice.

Just my interpretation of things =)

good luck with your sales,

Yeah...I guess the issue is whether I have sufficiently branded it to end up confusing folks. I think what I may do is start branding the company name (Dev-Biz) and set up a second portal through the dev-biz.com URL. I have bigger plans for the dev-biz.com site as a resource for game developers for all sorts of business and legal stuff. But it will be a while before I ever get around to it and I think that getting it up and using it as a secondary portal to the Kit is a pretty good idea. It just takes me so long to get any of this stuff done...and once it is done, tweaking it becomes a pretty low priority as well....

THX again...

Tom B

I've been working for a while on a project but nothing as of yet is official. Eventually I'd like to see this project being finished up and sold. Is the kit of much use to me as a person from England? I would have thought the kit was only tailored towards american business laws.

Given the fact that I would like to launch my indie. business in a years time (im 17 right now, figured I'd wait till I was 18 and had more financial independance), something such as the kit would be of great use to me and I'd be happy to put the money down so long as it would actually be of use to someone in my position (age and location).

Quote: Original post by AdamWebbIs the kit of much use to me as a person from England? I would have thought the kit was only tailored towards american business laws.

Good question...wish I had a better answer.

As a US attorney it was written with a US company in mind, though the Contributor Agreement does take into account potential off shore contributors to the game. The copyright stuff applies to US copyright registrations (in in the US, in the UK no formal registration is necessary to be able to enforce your copy rights). The NDA's are pretty much universal...and the broad scope of general business advice is solid anywhere. But I am honestly not in much of a position to judge...being a US attorney.

I sent a copy of the Kit to Obscure to take a look at...wounder what his thoughts are on this...Oh Danny!?!?!

Quote: Original post by Game Attorney
I sent a copy of the Kit to Obscure to take a look at...wounder what his thoughts are on this...Oh Danny!?!?!

I am part way through an article for my site on these very issues. I have had a chat with a UK IP lawyer about the sort of agreements needed. I just need to compare what he has given me with Tom's pack. I will post a follow-up once that is done.