My first-time publishing efforts are still unsuccessful. I have submitted to quite a lot of companies. I figured anyone out there in the same predicament might be able to use this list I've come up with: -GarageGames (good option, but my game got rejected) -Manifesto Games -Shrapnel Games -Matrix Games -IndiePath -Alawar Entertainment -iWin -PlayFirst -Big Fish Games -ArcadeTown -Stardock -Packom Interactive -GameZone (?) -GameHouse -GameTrove -Reflexive Arcade -TotalGaming -WildTangent -Trymedia -Realore Granted, these are not all strictly publishers (some are portals) but I'm getting desperate. Are there any other options out there?

What type of game are we talking about here? I mean in general terms (hardcore FPS, flash-based arcade...), if you don't want to release specifics yet.

Edit: Never mind (remind me that google is not omniscient), I assume you mean CellZenith. So: Windows based top down shooter.

Quote: Original post by synth_cat
Granted, these are not all strictly publishers (some are portals) but I'm getting desperate.
Are there any other options out there?

Greg (is that your name? I forget),
Desperation is futile. I'm not being cute, I'm perfectly serious. You must not make any important decisions while in a state of desperation. You have to have some other pursuit as your main focus, then you can continue pursuing this endeavor as a side activity.
In case I have not previously pointed you to FAQ 60, here's the link: http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article60.htm
Making the game is the easy part. Getting it published is what's really hard.
And if nobody is buying your game, then you need to look critically at ... your game. Pick a date beyond which you will stop trying, on that one. In the meantime, start applying the lessons learned towards making another.
Good luck.

1. What did they say about the game?

2. If they didn't send any reply then phone them up (don't email) and ask them what they thought of it.

I just tried to download it from the page linked to by swiftcoder but the link is busted.

PS - I second what Tom said.

Quote:
I just tried to download it from the page linked to by swiftcoder but the link is busted.

The GGE demo is very outdated anyway. The final demo is at devimg.net

Thanks tsloper - I distinctly remember looking at that article. I think I now understand its tone better.

Quote: You must not make any important decisions while in a state of desperation.

What do I have to lose, exactly? (Besides my IP, special rights, etc.)

Quote: And if nobody is buying your game, then you need to look critically at ... your game. Pick a date beyond which you will stop trying, on that one. In the meantime, start applying the lessons learned towards making another.

These are good points. Of course, I don't really know what the problem with CellZenith is (I'm assuming on inspiration that there is something fairly critical about it which people have a hard time with), but I do know how to do things better when/if I ever make another game. It'll be a bit of a wrench to have spent years making this game to have it flop at the end, but that's life, I guess.

I am not surprised that the portals are not working out for me. I have gotten three or four letters from these companies, each of which lays it out fairly clear that my game doesn't really fit the market demographic which portals cater to. What I have learned: "hardcore" games won't make it onto casual games sites. I expected this, but I figured I might as well give it a shot.

If you want some criticism, I would recommend you overhaul the entire UI.

I took a quick look at the screenshots, it looks like an interesting game. The problem is that with that UI it just looks unfinished. The plain green boxes look very blah and need more shape and texture. I'm not trying to be mean here but just trying to help you get it to a level which publishers will take more of a look at it.

*edit->looked at the screen's some more* Looking at the health bars, it looks like you're using the same texture for all of them and it looks very stretched and distorted in some area's. I don't know if this is just because the screen's were taken from the game running at a very low res. You might want to retake your screen shots at a higher resolution. Remember first impressions are everything, the publisher's are more then likely going to make an initial decision on the game based on the screen's, as I'm sure they can't test every game which gets submitted to them.( I could be wrong on this one. )

If you're very serious about this game I would recommend trying to find an artist to help you with some of the assets and the UI. Try making friends with local art students. I'm sure there's artist msg boards out there where you could find someone to help.

I hate to say it but in the end, you could have one of the most fun games around, but if the graphics don't look polished you're not going to get anywhere with it. Not something I agree with, but something I've found with experience.

Good luck

Yeah,

Concur with Dancin_Fool. You need a new font too. the one you have just looks like courier or something vanilla; for that spacy look you want a font that matches you game style. And you need to use much fewer words on the HUD as well; if you need text saying that what each bar is, the the UI doesn't work. All that info should be completely apparent or use icons rather than words to explain.

I'd look at giving your textures an overhaul also. The ones I see in the screens look very low rez and stretched.

This is just stuff that makes your game looks unprofessional and which should be pretty trivial to swap out.

Visual Appeal == $$$

-me

Thanks for the comments!

The HUD in the screens is somewhat outdated. It is now much less cluttered, though the same textures are used.

The UI in the menu screens has been overhauled recently as well. Obviously it wasn't enough, though.

The next time I make a game I will pay much more attention to graphics. They really do seem to be the one important factor in a game.

Don't rule out self-publishing. Although you're not going to make it into a store, you may have moderate success publishing on your own. If nothing else, you'll learn a ton. I think the most important thing is to ask yourself...would I buy this game? Maybe self-publishing isn't something that you're interested in.

For me, I finished my most recent game with the full intent of getting it published through a specific publisher. They liked it enough to request a demo, but ultimately told me that there were too many games of this nature in stores (it was a puzzle game). So, that basically means that it wasn't unique enough or didn't hold their attention long enough that they thought it was worth publishing. Bottom line was that I asked myself, how good is this game? I decided I wasn't ready to take it to any other publishers and that it wasn't up to my standards to tackle the difficult world of self-publishing.

Bottom line...don't give up. If it's not fun enough...spend some more time on it. If it still sucks, write a new game. If you think it's a lot of fun and would buy it, there's probably somebody else out there that would too. As the other people said, maybe it just needs some polish?

I wish I could do self-publishing, but it's almost definitely impossible for me. For one thing, I'm in college right now and don't have servers/time/etc. And pretty soon I will be doing missionary work for two years (during which all this kind of stuff will be put on the back burner.)

I wish I knew how to see my own game objectively. It's difficult for me to judge it as a prospective customer because I created every bit of it and after a few years the fun has kind of worn off for me (I made another thread about this under Game Design.)

Anyway, is there anything like a "hardcore" portal out there? I doubt I'm ever going to have any luck with these casual game sites.