So having more than 30 seconds could be good if that person wants to watch it, like on a game review site.

Keep in mind the trailer should be encouraging people to play your game - sometimes people do indeed want to see a longer trailer because they want to get the "game experience" over with so they don't have to actually play it.

The longer your trailer, too, the more chance someone is going to spot something they don't like and not try your game out.

Think "teaser" as opposed to "gameplay elements walkthrough".

Hey dudes,

I'm looking to do a secret project. For this I need an artist and a sound guy.

I don't particularly care about the level of talent - I mostly just need some stuff to get done. The work involved is less than a weekend's worth, and I will pay equal share to all involved.

I can't get into much more detail because it's so HYPER SECRET (mostly for marketing reasons, not game-idea-stealing reasons) so hit me up via email if you want to work with me.

[email protected]

I'm happy you chose a shorter trailer.

If TV has taught us anything, it's that 30 seconds is enough time to convey the most complex thing imaginable.

The only time a trailer should ever exceed 30 seconds (in my opinion) is if it is so edge-of-your-seat gripping that you don't even notice the time flying by. Like 4Fourths (mentioned above: http://mikengreg.com/4fourths/ )

I swear that trailer is only 10 seconds long, in my mind.

[lifetime revenue]

Hey!

You guys are talking about me like I'm not even here :C

I'm the Andy Moore in question. I think a lot of debate on this can be cleared up by me pointing out one little fact: I don't say the average game gets a primary sponsorship of $2K and is crappy - I say the average game gets $2K in lifetime revenue.

So the initial sponsorship can be $500-1500 or so, and then you get 6-12 months of ad revenue or whatever other bonuses that slowly add up, not to mention the occasional $200-500 siteLock license (if you're lucky, on a shitty game).

Now I'll further clarify that a bit: 50% of games [listed for sale] fail to sell, and the other 50% gets ~$4000 in lifetime revenue, meaning the average is $2K. But when the average game listed for sale only takes 2 weeks to make...

So crank out two games per month: and you'll make $2K/mo, which is enough to live on in any country in the world (you might have to sell your hummer and not go to taco bell anymore, but you can survive in modest comfort in even the most expensive cities).

To answer the original question:

There's not a lot of cross-market comparison going on. A few angry gamers will notice pricing differences, but they are a vast (albeit, vocal) minority.

Just take a look at World of Goo, my favorite example: When the game first launched it was $20 on their website. It was $15 on Steam. it was $9 on BigFishGames.

Do you have people lining up to say "THIS IS WHY STEAM IS A TRAINWRECK" and "OMG DEVS TRYING TO RIP US OFF"? No. Because BigFishGames customers don't have steam installed, and steam users don't ever go to BigFishGames. They are two completely different markets.

Likewise, 90% of XBLA purchasers won't even know what Steam is.

I will post our decision about the game once we sign a deal.

Can I ask why you didn't proxy the off-site bid into FGL? It might have encouraged more bidding.

Can you tell us some numbers? One man's "underwhelming" bid is another man's "awesoemmmm"

The first sponsor seems merely concerned with covering the second's bids with a little extra money.

This is perfectly normal, I wouldn't take it as an insult.

I don't doubt it is. I'm still more inclined to go with the sponsor that raised the game's value.

Also, I recently noticed I can set a bid as my best bid, with a message as to why. I decided to mark the bid I mentioned above, and I was honest as to why in the message. I'm wondering if that was a good idea.

Just keep in mind that this is an auction house; if someone went to ebay, saw a camera for 2 cents, and then bid "what they thought it was worth" instead, they'd be called "stupid" not "a good shopper."

I do agree with your perspective, though. If a sponsor bids more than just "the minimum to be on top" I do gain respect and trust in them.

However, your deviation from the "norm" may cause some harsh/hasty reactions on other people, and may damage future business relationships. I wrote a blog post along similar veins, when I thought some sponsors were getting upset at my bid-accepting strategy on FGL:
http://www.andymoore.ca/2010/04/value-explained/

Man, 3/4s full now. That's right, 30 people now confirmed! 

I think the preview program is a quick way to invite people to test your game, while hosted on their site, without having to setup a full fledged "Buyer" or "Creator" account. So like, if I wanted my mom to test my game, I could invite her.

I've not invited anyone to be a previewer though, so I can't say.

Yep, very first projects are usually done in the evenings/weekends while you work a day job (or attend school or some such).

If you are asking "how can I get a million dollars for my first ever game which will be on XBLA," well, erm, 

If anyone was on the fence: Half the seats are now reserved!  Signup before they're all gone!

I put links and details on the site, but to summarize:

Washington -> Victoria via:

The Clipper, downtown Seattle: 2.5 hours
The Coho, Port Angeles: 2 hours
Anacortez Ferry: 2 hours

Or you could drive to Vancouver (2-3 hours I think?), go through customs (1-2 hours at the peace arch), drive to the ferry (another hour), and then take it (1.5 hours). So that's an all day event.

So if you're in Seattle proper, the Clipper is probably your best bet. The Clipper and the Coho aren't Washington State Ferries, they are private companies.

[Victoria, BC]

SignUp is now open!

While on my North American Continental Road Trip, I twitched in fits of jealousy because of all the well organized events, groups, and people I met. Up here in the Pacific NorthWest, we have a lot of developers but we're apparently all too apathetic to actually meet each other.

NOT ANYMORE!

OrcaJam is being held in Victoria, BC... The closest thing we have to Indie Island! A beautiful venue for beautiful people like you[rselves]. September 17th-19th, 6pm-6pm, a full 48 hour gamejam!

It's only 2 hours away from Vancouver AND Seattle, so all you chumps have no excuse. Everyone else from around the globe: Make our inaugural event memorable by bringing your lovely faces! And the rest of your bodies!  

Check out the official OrcaJam site for travel details and hints, maps, discounted hotel rates, and everything else you'll need to know. Seating is limited, signup now!

 

I would buy it if it came on a dozen floppy disks and came with a huge manual, AND came with a download link. I won't bother to use floppies (or CDs/USB sticks for that matter, physical media is for chumps), but I'd love to own it just to say I did.

And also reading the manual.

Found someone! thanks for all the responses. 

It was a physical talk in meatspace, they don't have URLs for that kind of thing

Oh yeah, that's totally what it is. It's not that the act of testing makes things better; it's the attitude behind development.

Customers may wait knowing that they can hold out for the next pay-what-you-want-sale and charge 50 cents instead of the full price. It may work as a one-off thing for those companies if customers understand not to expect another one, but otherwise it may be harmful.

I totally thought so too, but it's just not the case.

Steam loves doing their weekend sales, not because they move a lot of units (though sometimes they do). It's because once the discount ends, the sales spike remains for WEEKS afterwards. Even when customers know full well that Steam has discounts every goddamn weekend, they still can't wait and buy at full price if they "want it now". The bargain shoppers are a rare (but vocal!) breed.

Saw an interesting talk at Casual Connect;

- Games that get "free" user testing (friends/family/coworkers/etc) are baseline

- Games that have paid-for user testing (spending $50 on a street corner even) generate anywhere from 2-8X more money than baseline.

- Games that have no user testing (just developers/girlfriends/roommates/others close to the developer) get a quarter to half as much revenue than baseline.

I always knew user testing was important, but it was good to see someone actually analyze all the data out there and be able to make some rules like this. Whee!

I agree with Raitendo and think Moi is being silly. I guess none of you came out to Casual Connect in Seattle? (Writing this from the hotel room!)

They don't make figures public, but you come out to events like these and just ask Jim Greer/Chris Hughes/Etc how much they're making these days. Stop sitting at home and speculating; get out there and just ask!

During my talk on Tuesday (it'll go watchable online for free in about 2 weeks) I talked about how SteamBirds' success wasn't luck; it was designed from the ground up to correct all the "common mistakes" programmers like me make when making games. I highly recommend you all watch it once it comes out.

ArmorGames made back all the money they spent on SteamBirds, and then some. In fact, anytime I bring it up with Dan, he kinda gets this Scrooge McDuck glint in his eye and practically trips over himself with excitement for the amount of revenue SteamBirds has made him. It wasn't burning through VC. And I do believe they deserve the lion's share of the profits from the game; they're the ones that took a gamble on an untested IP, after all. Sometimes portals lose money on titles, sometimes they win, and mitigating that risk is the name of the game. This is also why I don't make my own portal; it's waaaaay too much BS when I just want to make games. I'm happy to have others do all this risk management stuff without my input.

Keeping this on-FGL-topic: I also mentioned during my talk that I could have done everything FGL did for me, but I hate shopping things around, marketing, and doing the shady "bidding war via email" stuff. I would have paid 20% to hire someone to do that for me; they do it for less, so it's a no brainer. Other people think 10% is too much, and that's perfectly fine; I just want to focus on making my next game.

SteamBirds had no marketing and I sent out no emails or anything; it was completely sold by the FGL team.

I think, Moi, that you show a lack of even basic research into the industry by saying $200 is "normal" for Flash Games. The average game sells for $2000 (on FGL), and in my experience (and everyone else I know's experience) it's very true. If you're "only" making $200 normally, that means two things:

(a) FGL is a better market for your games, or
(b) Your games suck.

It'll take a lot of soul searching and being brutally honest with yourself, but (b) was the problem with all my pre-steambirds failures. I actually discovered that I absolutely suck at being objective about my own games, and I had to start collaborating with others to get anything decent done. Sucks that I can't be a lone operation, but at least I'm mildly successful now.