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[Derek]

"What do I need to think about as an indie game developer who wants to sell some games?"

Alright, this is the mega-thread that will consolidate and summarize all the information from all the other threads into a nice, neat package. Essentially a guidebook for anyone who wants to sell games... I think I speak for everyone when I say that it seems like there's a lot to think about. Kind of a quick run-through of all the basic topics and what your options are. It will also link to really good business threads that pop up as time goes on, so that they don't get lost.

Finishing Your Game

The last 10% of a project is the most difficult. Getting the core gameplay up and running ends up being the quickest part. But polishing that into a diamond ends up being the tough part  - tough enough that I think finishing a game is a skill in and of itself. It doesn't help that by the end you're exhausted and possibly a bit tired of your own work.

Here are some resources to help you with getting through that last 10%.

• Finishing a Game
• Why I Can't Finish Anything - a thread for people to discuss the fine art of finishing!

• Beta Testing

Starting a Company
Creating an LLC, articles of organization, etc.

• Starting a Company - a full-time indie developer relays his experience on starting a company (sole proprietorship, taxes, health insurance)
• Starting a Company (UK Edition)

• Business Cards - Good for networking. Also, just fun to have! Matthew Wegner (Flashbang Studios) recommends Overnight Prints.  Good quality and easy to set up online.  $15 for 100 double-sided cards. For some examples of cards made by TIGers, go here.

Websites
Where to find hosting, what to think about when setting up a site.

Copyrights and Trademarks
And other general legal issues.

• Open-Source, Copyleft, etc.
• EULAs (End-User License Agreements)

Publishers and Distributors
How not to get screwed by a giant company.

• Publisher Experiences

Packaging
Creating installers, CD's, etc.

• Sample EULA

Funding

• Kickstarter (US and UK)
• Indiegogo (World)
• 10 Business Law and Tax Law Steps to Improve the Chance of Crowdfunding Success
• Donation Figures
• E-Shop for Selling Merchandise

Selling

• Steam
• GOG
• Humble Store

Older threads:

• A Rundown of the Best E-Commerce Services
• Pricing Tips
• Indie Game Sales Statistics
• How to Get a Publisher's Attention

Marketing
How to get people to find out about your game!

• presskit()
• Press Release Distribution Services

For now, if you want to discuss a particular topic on this list, start a new thread for it. Keep the discussion in this thread related only to this guide. Suggestions for other topics much appreciated!

[Matthew]

I'm working on coalescing the same information for one of my talks at the Independent Games Summit:

The Indie Bootstrap Kit (Matthew Wegner, Flashbang Studios)
Tuesday - 10.45am - 11.00am
In this whirlwind lecture, Wegner (IGF finalist with Glow Worm) will talk about everything you need to take a hobby or personal project and release it as a bona fide for-sale indie product. This includes elements such as company setup, installers, DRM, payment processing, website setup, and so on - the specific but sometimes tantalizingly hard to trace information on how you actually sell games online.

The focus on my talk is how to transition from a "team with a project" to a "company with a product".  I'll post my notes later this week, but I'd love to get some good discussion going in the next two weeks (so it'll make it into the handout/talk for the IGS attendees).

[Derek]

Ah man, I'm definitely going to attend that talk!  Would to see your notes, also!  Is it really only 15 minutes long?

[Albert Lai]

15 minutes! You guys must be really punctual. Usually it takes 15 minutes for everyone to arrive!

On a more relevant note, however, I'd like to see some stuff about 'breaking into' the industry or, failing that, how to create, maintain and keep a group that is focused on 'working for free' until the alpha comes how.

[Icedemon]

well, i recently did a lot of looking stuff up in a lot of those subject, and the site that trumped all others was garagegames. I didn't even have to use their forums. (i signed up anyways though) while they were naturally marketing their products, there was also a lot of useful info there about publishing and the different levels of rights and such. I'll try to provide a more specific link and sum up some of the stuff when i get a chance. 

-ice

[medieval]

I seem to have done it the wrong way around.


I became so excited about my indie game business thing that I made a very pretty website and never even came near to finish a game.

[Massena]

• Why I Can't Finish Anything - a thread for people to discuss the fine art of finishing!

The link is broken!
Sounds like a great thread! Indie Game Guide Part 3?

[Derek]

Oi, that typo has been there for months.  Thanks!  I think I'm going to start working on expanding this section, creating some new Business threads, etc.

[Carefree games]

Even though I won't be needing this info for a while, it's all very helpfull so far.

[partymetroid]

http://www.copyright.gov/

Can't believe you didn't have THAT website on your list yet... .

[christine88]

Time for another update. Did a significant overhaul of the rasterization alg. and I am pretty pleased with the results. Before, the frame was being built using 1 byte palette indices which placed into a byteArray one pixel at a time. The byteArray was then pushed into a bitmapData and promoted to a 32-bit image using paletteMap. The real problem with that is you can never reach high resolution images, because the pixel fill rate is just too slow.

==========================

christine

[AndyWiltshireBPA]

^ Thats some pretty creative spam, you probably would have got away with it if you chose a better thread... :S

[moi]

^ Thats some pretty creative spam, you probably would have got away with it if you chose a better thread... :S

no probably wouldn't have gotten away with it ever, but still deserves some respect

[cloudy]

My husband is making a game and I am sure he will find this quite helpful. He wants me to do some marketing for him as I have a college degree in that field but I really don't know much about the world of indie gamers...this thread will be very helpful, thanks a lot!!

[Derek]

And thank you for reminding me that this thread needs a serious update!

[skaldicpoet9]

Wow, why have I never seen this thread before? This is great stuff Derek, thanks

[Richard Kain]

I have a question. From some of the people I've talked to, I have gotten the impression that the first thing you should do in developing your own game business is to produce a playable prototype. That seems to be job #1. If you have a playable prototype, then you have something you can present to investors in order to get venture capital for polishing that prototype up. Job #2 would be polishing your prototype into a more respectable game, and then possibly releasing a preliminary version for public consumption. This initial release might be free-to-play, and would serve as a beta test and as a marketing tool. If you are targeting the XBox 360, this release would be made in the Indie Games section.

Once you have a playable version of your game available to the public, you need to start thinking about drumming up attention and promoting it. A website specifically devoted to your game, and possibly one for your company as well, would be a good idea. If your game attracts enough attention, you might consider adding some message boards as well. Once you actually have a following of sorts, it is time to start pitching an expanded version of your title to major publishers.

Let me know if any of these proposals are off base.

[dubajj]

Overnight prints has really mediocre quality business cards.  Yes you will get your phone number and website and everything out to the world, but they feel cheap (probably because they are really cheap).  I have one that has been in my wallet for a few months and about 30% of the ink has rubbed off.  Also the last batch I ordered had about 5% of the cards off center, tilted, or unevenly colored.  My personal feeling is giving someone a business card like this is saying "i'm too cheap to even bother printing my own, and i have no understanding of quality"


I would recommend http://www.moo.com for business cards.  They are incredible, it costs about $0.50 a card, but its worth it.  They feel pro, and have excellent color.  They also will let you print multiple images per batch, so you don't have to get 50 of a single card design. 

Jasper

[Uncutrok]

this is actually very helpful now i don't got to pay like 60 bucks to staples yay!

[Vino]

Staples and Kinko's have terrible quality business cards in my experience. They curl up due to the heat of printing and the ink is shabby.