Just wondering what your thoughts are when developers offer you the chance to pre - buy the game while its still in the early days of development ? Obviously Minecraft would be the big success story, and why i wanted to make a post discussing this, but just wanted to know how, or if, it has worked for other indie developers. Im starting my first real 2D game that i would like to eventually sell and just wanted to test the water about this sort of idea.

I think it's more viable for indy games where having money now is better than having money in the long run.

I wouldn't look to Minecraft as a legitimate example for a business plan though because what happened with minecraft probably won't happen with your game. No offense to you or your game. Even amazing indy games don't have the explosive success that Minecraft has had; even games that I'd consider far and away better than Minecraft.

Well you surely will get more buys if you make a demo version, for example making a demo with limited features and a full game wich also lets you play multiplayer.
Making a beta might help you make your game better and fix the bugs faster and maybe work as some kind of a demo too...

I agree; Don't look at Minecraft, because Minecraft isn't a realistic example. The guy accidentally made the right game at the right time and profited immensely.

Look at Mount & Blade for a better example. The original game was basically paid beta. They kinda pioneered it, before it got alot of attention.

Also keep an eye on Spyparty while you make your game, because it is just about to enter paid beta in a week or two. (The waiting list for the paid beta has been available for sign-up for about two months now. I'm roughly number 1400 in line)

Also keep an eye on Spyparty while you make your game, because it is just about to enter paid beta in a week or two. (The waiting list for the paid beta has been available for sign-up for about two months now. I'm roughly number 1400 in line)

I was wondering when this was coming

The key point with a 'paid beta' is to make sure that before you even mention it you've got a decent community going who are intrested in the game.

If you just turn up one day going 'hey guys, I've got this game, give me $5 to be in the beta!' most are going to walk away or say "I'll wait for the demo'

The key point with a 'paid beta' is to make sure that before you even mention it you've got a decent community going who are intrested in the game.

If you just turn up one day going 'hey guys, I've got this game, give me $5 to be in the beta!' most are going to walk away or say "I'll wait for the demo'

What M&B did was to have a level restricted demo and a full (unrestricted) version of the game during the alpha/beta stages aswell and rather than selling beta access they sold the serial key for the full game which could be used for any version of it (including the final release), as the price started low and was raised as the game improved and got closer to completion customers who bought early (and thus funded the development) got the game extremely cheap.

It is but it's more a popularity contest. You need to start marketing and building your base to get buzz about your project. It doesn't hurt if the project is also good / great. Minecraft, Cortex Command, Unnatural Selection 2, etc.. there are lots more examples of this. They didn't start banking the money right away ofcoruse, at first you'll get just a few people until you offer substantive progress, they "buy in" and you start attracting a core following.

For indies this is a great way to fund their development, what do u have to lose? There are a million ideas out there, it's actually executing them which is what people value.

Good Luck!


-ddn