Going Commercial
Filed under: Distribution
A shortened version of a lengthy feature about the different ways of earning money from games you have created. This was written for the 7th issue of MarkUp (released August 2007).
A history
Game Maker, its community, and the games people are creating with it have certainly come a long way. When I first found the Game Maker Community in late 2002 there were very few commercial games that were made using Mark Overmars’ software, in fact had someone suggested creating a commercial game back then they would probably have been laughed out of the forums.
Jump forward to 2007, when after a couple years spent away from Game Maker I returned to the community. I see a much larger number of games are now being released commercially - albeit with a varied degree of success. There has also been a huge increase in the number of Game Maker ‘teams’ who now have their own domain name, suggesting to me that the users of Game Maker have certainly grown up.
With many people believing that Game Maker itself has recently becoming more commercialized with the advent of YoYo Games it looks like the growth in the number of commercial Game Maker projects will only continue. In a world that is favoring more open-source and freely available software this may be surprising, but once people see that there have been successful commercial projects it is natural that they too want a piece of the action.
As well as what you might think are the traditional methods of making a commercial game, i.e. selling physical CDs or digital copies of the game there are other methods available to enable a game creator to receive monetary gain from their software.
Although people who have decided to go commercial may not like to share the facts about the success of their projects it is obvious that it has been varied. One anomaly to this rule is StudioEres who have been very open about their commercial project entitled “Immortal defense” posting updates of the game’s progress on their forum. Revenue generation methods:
Shareware
Shareware is one of the oldest and most popular distribution methods out there. The user gets a chance to try a program for free before deciding whether or not to purchase the full version. The free version of software is offered normally with feature or level limitations or a gameplay time limit. The difference between shareware distribution and the use of a demo is that shareware can be converted into the full version by entering an activation code whereas use of a promotional demo would still require the full version of the game to be installed on your computer.
Shareware games are often accompanied with ‘nag screens’ which encourage the user to purchase the full version of the software. WinZip is an example of a popular shareware program offering a ‘free trial’ version of their application. Game Maker itself is shareware as the pro version of the software has additional features which can be unlocked by paying a fee.
Adware
Software supported by in-program advertising is known as Adware. Once the game has been installed or is being run adverts will be displayed on the user’s computer. Often the adverts are downloaded remotely from the Internet.
Advertising software is bundled with an application and earns the game promoter small revenue for each installation. If a piece of software is popular the advertising revenues can quickly add up.
A benefit of adware is that the programmer can be rewarded for their work without the user having to purchase the software, however this isn’t always that case as some software producers ask people to pay a fee to upgrade and remove the advertisements.
Many people see adware as intrusive as the sponsored messages displayed can cause a nuisance if they disrupt their activities. Adware has had a bad press due to the misleading and deceptive tactics various companies using the method have used to distribute their software.
Other methods
It’s may not be seen as commercial but some developers are rewarded by asking for donations to support their products future development. They may also choose to sell merchandise related to their product enabling consumers to choose whether or not and to what degree they would like to support the project. Likewise traditional internet advertisements can be placed on the creator’s website. These methods cause minimal annoyance to users who are able to use the software for free, whilst enabling those who choose to support the product to do so.
The best way to see the different methods used to distribute commercial games is to look at specific examples. So I set about cataloguing a handful of Game Maker made creations which have tried (successfully or otherwise) to generate an income. I also caught up with the creators of some of these games and asked them how they choose which commercial path to take. If you are considering making one of your future creations commercial listen up to what the people who have already tried say.
Next Page: Magi (Shareware)
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