I thought some folks here might be interested in this writeup:
http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/2014/03/01/game-sales-marketing-analysis-over-14-days/
Cheers

Here's my last game:

Gratuitous Tank Battles
http://www.gratuitoustankbattles.com
released 2012
price: $19.95 for most of the time.
total: $311,000 on PC. Some more on mac.

yeah, well its also a way of suggesting without text that this is a downloadable game and not a web or mobile game, because although people who have heard of the game know that, I'm not suggesting that anywhere else.

I'm not the programmer on redshirt, that's mitu khandaker. I just do publisher / biz / marketing stuff :D

Good points there, thanks for the feedback :D

there aren't any. the ads are in my post...

These are ads I'm thinking of using to promote my next game:
http://www.positech.co.uk/democracy3
What do you think?






I'm not sure if I'm picking the right 'angle' or style to promote the game (It's a pretty complex political strategy game, turn-based, pretty deep and stats-based).

I've worked with some contractors for a decade, paid them thousands of dollars, worked over many different games, and I've never spoken to any of them ever.

Personally, I'm a fan of selling directly from your site 

Indeed. This is so easy to do, and it's an insurance policy against being turned down/ignored/badly marketed by all the big online portals. Nobody is more motivated about selling your game than you, as you are the one with the most to lose and gain from it.

So this is what I've been working on for ages instead of making a new game :D
http://www.positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/outcasts.html
Interested to hear anyone's feedback on the look of the page/video or of course, the actual content :D



I'm especially happy with the way the ships look, and the decoy projector beam



I decided it was worth going the extra mile and adding new music and backdrops to this DLC, seeing as how popular previous expansions have been. As long as they cover their costs, I'm happy :D

heh, that ad's always there... :D

I typed this up:
http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/2012/11/17/cliffskis-2012-guide-to-advertising-your-indie-pc-game-online/
Which is basically my hints and tips from my own experience advertising. I thought it might be useful here.

it's sold a few hundred copies in the first day so far, so it looks like it has got some sort of market on steam, which is a relief. I wouldn't want it to bomb heavily and make me look useless :D

It's not as complex as it looks, once you get your head around the basic principle of the game. I think a lot of steam games (Hearts of Iron III, to name just one) are a hundred times more unwieldy as actual games.

To cut a long story short, I made a strategy game about running the country called Democracy 2. it sold very well, and still does, but it's taken me five years to persuade steam to carry it, and now it's gone on sale today!
Here is the steam link:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/218040/
and a trailer:



and interview.



I never thought I'd see this game get on there, and suddenly it's live. I'm still slightly shocked :D

I've had a LTD in the UK for 13 years now.
I think it's well worth it. people take you more seriously, and the additional costs are trivial. £15 a year to file at companies house. You pay corporation tax at the small companies rate until your profits exceed £300,000 a year, but if you pay yourself a nominal salary + dividend income, and you earn below the 40% tax rate, there is no tax to pay after the corp tax rate because there is an 'implied tax credit' equiv to basic rate tax, or something like that :D

Limited Liability is a nice thing to have. Being threatened by big multinational companies is annoying at the best of times (Yes I've had this...), but the thought that they can take your house and your car if they win a court battle must be way worse.

Also, being VAT registered can be a good idea, because most of your sales will be to the US, with no VAT charged, and yet you get to claim back all the VAT on business expenses such as new PCs, office furniture, even games and game magazines. Oh yes :D

Employing people & PAYE is a whole separate nightmare in the UK. I always use subcontractors. it's not just PAYE, you have the possibility of unfair dismissal claims, have to provide a pension plan yada yada. It's not worth the hassle.

I'd say LTD and VAT are worth it. PAYE is not. Also, an accountant shouldn't be more than £700. If they charge more than that, they are basically ripping you off. Plus you don't *have* to have one at all. I managed my own accounts for 4 or 5 years.

I've used almost every advertising network in existence.
I tried facebook but it was very very poor in terms of generating any interested traffic. It was quite a surprise, because you'd assume their demographic targeting would be especially good, but it turns out just using google adwords or other sites and picking specific sites to run banner ads on is just as targeted, and a lot cheaper.

I've found that you need to ship a game just about the point where you are either beginning to be sick of the sight of it, or you begin to panic that you won't get your investment back in terms of sales.
Basically you need to ship while you are still positive and motivated, because then comes all the hard work of promoting the game.

Another thing is that it does perpetuate the stereotype (and yes, it does exist) that indies are these weird guys who talk big words about their retro platformer.

I definitely agree with that. I watched the movie with a non gamer, and had to point out to her that indie game doesn't mean 2D side scrolling platform game, because although they are all great innovative games, SMB, Fez and Braid and even World of Goo and some of the other games mentioned are ALL that style of game. No arcade games, no strategy games, no RPGs...

Plus they are all made by fairly similar people in some respects, fairly arty people roughly the same age from roughly the same place. Indie gaming is VASTLY more diverse than that.

Hi, I'm looking for feedback on the GUI for Gratuitous Tank Battles. I posted a screenshot showing the kidns of thinsg I personally think need improvement here:

http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/2012/06/15/dissecting-my-own-design-the-gratuitous-tank-battles-gui

But to be honest, you may as well grab the demo and try the game rather than trying to interpret the wider GUI from a screenshot:

http://www.gratuitoustankbattles.com