Hi, just a question I've been wondering about, when it actually comes to the time when you've developed a sell-able product, how do you actually go about selling it? Specifically I mean if it was good enough for a proper release and you wanted it published by a proper publisher as opposed to putting it on CD yourself and distributing it. Do you sell the whole product itself or licence it out and get a percentage of total sales? Furthermore, in either case, is there any guideline to how much you should look to charge? Not that I'm at that stage by a lonnnng shot, but I have been asked to develop some software and asked for a quote but since it's the first time I'll have done this sort of thing I really don't have a clue what to charge, don't want to overprice myself out of the chance but at the same time it'd be nice to make some money. Thanks for any advice.

The developer doesn't sell it. The publisher sells it and handles the business end including the tech support. The publisher might even do bug testing.
If you are making a great game that will sell a lot, it may be to your benifit to split profit. If you have client that is looking for a development house, then they may want to keep all rights.

You might need a lawyer, one specialized in this, to do the contract.
If you are a lone programmer who is going to make something simple, just sell it for a few bucks.

You don't give any details so how should I know how much to charge and the rest.

Sorry, should've explained a bit more clearly. Currently I work as a programmer, nothing to do with games. I've been asked by a client outside of work to come up with a database to store information on his customers/stock etc etc as well as a front end application for accessing it and a way of accessing it across the Internet. I've never done work like this before, so wouldn't have a clue where to begin on charging, wasn't looking for an actual price, just wondering how others work out what to charge, e.g. (hours spent on development * hourly rate) + a bit extra on top;

As I'm hoping to move into the area of game creation, if (and I know it's a big if) I was to come up with something sellable I was wondering how you then take that game and go on to sell it? Approach an established development house, hope to sell on the idea/framework and let them make it all spangly so it could compete out there? If so would it be a wholesale buy out of the game or try and take a share of any profit? Or if I had a dev team capable of making a game that could cut it how would I go about getting it distributed and making money?

Not looking for a full on definitive answer, just guidelines that others have followed.

You are talking about two totally different businesses. The first is contract programming and the second is selling a finished product.

For the contract work you could calculate an hourly rate or you might quote a one off fee to the client. Depending on the current market conditions for the product type you might add on some extra just because that is how the market perceives the product. Ultimately that is for you and the client to negotiate. You just need to make sure you factor in ALL your costs (equipment, rent, rates, professional fees (legal/accounts etc) and then add on a % profit.

Yeah, sorry, I realise it's 2 different categories, it's just thinking about 1 led me to think about the other.

Thanks for the advice

Me wrote:
>when you've developed a sell-able product, how do you actually go about selling it?

Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article60.htm.

>Specifically I mean if it was good enough for a proper release and you wanted it published by a proper publisher as opposed to putting it on CD yourself and distributing it.

Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson21.htm.

>is there any guideline to how much you should look to charge?

Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson35.htm.

Just the sort of thing I was looking for. Cheers