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[True Valhalla]

On my blog, Touch To Start, I'm writing a series about my experience and earnings using HTML5. This is part one, for my game Sudoku Editions: Japan.

Snippet:

I made it clear from the beginning that my goal with Sudoku Editions: Japan was to try and find sponsors to publish the game – the idea being that these sponsors would pay a fee for the distribution rights. So we set up a deal, and got to work. Luckily, I’d already made the game by this point so the redevelopment process wasn’t too involving, which left me to search for sponsors (a difficult task to say the least).

Sudoku Editions: Japan made it’s first $200 mid-January 2012, but it wasn’t until April that it really started paying off. The initial effort it took to establish connections with sponsors and get set up with them was nightmarish. The process involved providing tax certification, solving compatibility issues, and implementing tedious application programming interfaces (API).

Read about my HTML5 earnings for Sudoku Editions: Japan

Questions and comments are very much welcome

[wg/funstorm]

Thanks for posting, was a good read. Btw, your link was broken for me. Try this.

We're about to start looking for a sponsor for our first html5 game and this kind of information is hard to come by. Have you ever had a flash game sponsored? The process sounds fairly similar. Any tips on actually finding sponsors to contact?

[True Valhalla]

Thanks for posting, was a good read. Btw, your link was broken for me. Try this.

Thank you And I fixed my link, not sure what happened there.

We're about to start looking for a sponsor for our first html5 game and this kind of information is hard to come by. Have you ever had a flash game sponsored? The process sounds fairly similar. Any tips on actually finding sponsors to contact?

Your game looks excellent (and so does your website) - and you're right, it's extremely difficult to come across information about HTML5 sponsorships. It took me months to build my contact list, and I don't share it publicly for that same reason (though I may share a few sponsors in the eBook that I mention at the end of the blog post, as well as some tips on how to find them).

I've never had a Flash game sponsored, so this was all very new to me. For my first sponsored game I think it did well

Thanks for your comment, and for reading.

[eyeliner]

Good read, homes. Glad to see you had success. More people should post their stories.

[Moczan]

How does such sponsorship works? If we compare it to Flash, do you license a lot of 'site-locks' (hence the 1200+ earnings) or one major sponsor and get rest of the revenue somewhere else?

[True Valhalla]

Good read, homes. Glad to see you had success. More people should post their stories.

Thank you I plan to post about more of my projects in the future, I'm just waiting for them to settle down.

How does such sponsorship works? If we compare it to Flash, do you license a lot of 'site-locks' (hence the 1200+ earnings) or one major sponsor and get rest of the revenue somewhere else?

Yes, I've been doing non-exclusive licensing between multiple sponsors. I'm sure exclusive licenses are possible with some companies but I doubt many can afford to match the collective earnings of the games.

My newest HTML5 game has so far made over $2000 in 2 weeks, from about four sponsors.

[Venks]

It's really cool reading about a game made with HTML5 doing well.

Do you think your game would have monetized better if it was a Flash game? Or is the reason you're seeing this success is solely because it is HTML5?

[True Valhalla]

It's really cool reading about a game made with HTML5 doing well.

Do you think your game would have monetized better if it was a Flash game? Or is the reason you're seeing this success is solely because it is HTML5?

I'd say it's absolutely solely because they are HTML5. If all of my HTML5 games were made in Flash, they would be lucky to make $100 combined.

[Eraser]

It's really cool reading about a game made with HTML5 doing well.

Do you think your game would have monetized better if it was a Flash game? Or is the reason you're seeing this success is solely because it is HTML5?

I'd say it's absolutely solely because they are HTML5. If all of my HTML5 games were made in Flash, they would be lucky to make $100 combined.

Yeah really the two games I've seen you publish are very tiny. What devices do your publishers target? Seems like iOS and Android only. Compatibility issues also interest me, for instance your games have no sound, and GM's HTML5 is pretty damn slow.

[True Valhalla]

Yeah really the two games I've seen you publish are very tiny. What devices do your publishers target? Seems like iOS and Android only. Compatibility issues also interest me, for instance your games have no sound, and GM's HTML5 is pretty damn slow.

I've published four HTML5 games, and they are all very small and simplistic. There is only really one publisher I know that makes creating larger games worthwhile...but it currently makes more sense to publish a bunch of smaller games rather than one large one since sponsors seem to have a limited price range at this stage ($300-$500) no matter how good the game is.

Publishers want the games to work on iPod, iPhone, iPad, Android phones, and Android tablets primarily. If it runs on a Blackberry or whatever that's just a bonus.

Correct, the games have no sound. This has only been an issue when posting them to FGL, who do not understand the limitations of HTML5 audio on mobile. No sponsor has raised an issue with lack of sound yet.

Since I don't develop from source, it's hard for me to compare GM HTML5 performance. My games have all been fairly static on purpose. I have experimented with more complex and dynamic designs and haven't really been disappointed by GM performance.

Overall, GM HTML5 has more benefits than limitations to me. I wouldn't use it if it didn't

[Eraser]

I don't know what happened to the Playbook, but it's browser took a dive making GM's HTML5 worthless for me. Just today I created a simple animated e-card for my dad and it had a lot of graphical issues on the iPad. I imagine writing a complex game would require a ton of repetitive testing on device to sort out problems specific to the browsers. There seems to be sound in Android in 2.3+ and on the Playbook, but the support for mobile browsers for it is so different it's no surprise there's no sound -- what I found amazing was that there was still a seemingly large market for these games. You've piqued my interest at least, but I don't have the upfront money to afford ~2 more Android devices and an iPad that I'd think would be necessary to ensure uniform support.

[True Valhalla]

Make no mistake, it's a very small market. Lucrative, but small.

[TeeGee]

My newest HTML5 game has so far made over $2000 in 2 weeks, from about four sponsors.

That's very cool. Thanks for sharing. How much time was spent on the development?

[True Valhalla]

Around 30 hours in total.

[TeeGee]

Oh, that's pretty awesome then. Congrats.

[True Valhalla]

Oh, that's pretty awesome then. Congrats.

Yeah, I'm very pleased with how the latest one is performing Thanks.

[Venks]

It's really cool reading about a game made with HTML5 doing well.

Do you think your game would have monetized better if it was a Flash game? Or is the reason you're seeing this success is solely because it is HTML5?

I'd say it's absolutely solely because they are HTML5. If all of my HTML5 games were made in Flash, they would be lucky to make $100 combined.

So these games you sold were mobile apps made with HTML5? Do you find HTML5 to be the easiest/best way to do this? Did you learn HTML5 for the distinct purpose of making mobile apps?

[Pixelulsar]

I'd say it's absolutely solely because they are HTML5. If all of my HTML5 games were made in Flash, they would be lucky to make $100 combined.

Why do HTML5 games make more money?  I can't really see any reason why...

[Eraser]

I'd say it's absolutely solely because they are HTML5. If all of my HTML5 games were made in Flash, they would be lucky to make $100 combined.

Why do HTML5 games make more money?  I can't really see any reason why...

He's just talking for the level of quality game that his current HTML5 games are. Would you expect even $100 for a flash game with no sound, music, or almost any visual effects? I'd be surprised if such a game got a bid.

[mrj1nx]

Thanks for posting, interesting read, and congrats on the success.