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[tametick]

<something about pottery class and students who made the most pots turning up better results than student who tried to make one perfect pot/>

[Leroy Binks]

With the boom in the gaming market for PC and phone platforms, is an indie game that sells for $20-$30 still going to be competetive? 

The game we are producing is a lot of heart, sweat, and beers and when we finish, (6-8 month total), it will ure feel like we deserve that for our efforts and all the costs of development, but I simply cannot justify anything more than $5-$10 download in order to be competitive. 

[Tuba]

It's sad but, I don't think an indie game can be successful on the App/Android Store if it costs more then 10 bucks. The highest priced games on the AppStore cost $15 and they're mostly from big companies like Square-Enix and EA.
 
Just don't give in like a lot of people do and sell it for $0.99. If your game is costing something like 5 bucks and not selling well, you can try to lower it, but if you're already at the minimum price, there's nothing you can do.

Make sure to have a free demo, it can help convincing people that your game deserves more then $5 bucks

[Klaim]

With the boom in the gaming market for PC and phone platforms, is an indie game that sells for $20-$30 still going to be competetive?

A big enough or worthy game that have a "just" price of $20 or $30 should have no problem. The problem is getting the right quality with not too much cost.

[Destral]

Unless you have a pretty large amount of hype or word of mouth already, selling an indie title for $30 might be pretty tough. If you happen to already be an established indie with a rep for amazing games, it's a little easier.

That said, the amount of time needed to create enough content that buyers will be inclined to buy your game for $30 is likely unfeasible for an indie developer. You'd be better served creating a smaller, more compact experience, and going for a lower price point.

That is, unless you have an established audience that buys all your games already. That earlier bit about being 'an established indie with a rep for amazing games' will likely help build that audience.

[FrankieSmileShow]

I am kind of curious here. I hear that exposure is more important than quality for sales a lot. I think it makes sense, and I would definitely work on both ends if I were to make a commercial indie game, but...

Does anyone here have examples of indie games that were definitely of very high quality but were a train wreck economically because of lack of exposure? Not counting freeware games of course. I cant think of any off the top of my head, but I don't know much about which indie games worked out or not. Having some examples would probably help the points made. I guess the problem is, people are more prone to showing details of their profits and revenue when the project wasn't a horrible failure economically...

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I am kind of curious here. I hear that exposure is more important than quality for sales a lot. I think it makes sense, and I would definitely work on both ends if I were to make a commercial indie game, but...

Does anyone here have examples of indie games that were definitely of very high quality but were a train wreck economically because of lack of exposure? Not counting freeware games of course. I cant think of any off the top of my head, but I don't know much about which indie games worked out or not. Having some examples would probably help the points made. I guess the problem is, people are more prone to showing details of their profits and revenue when the project wasn't a horrible failure economically...

the spirit engine 2
noitu love 2
armadillo run
space giraffe
weapon of choice
shellblast
the oil blue

probably more but these are the ones that come to mind immediately

[jack_norton]

Just saw this thread, nice read, though some tips are a little outdated, not sure if the tips about sales are so valid with the Appstore and Steam being so accesible..

What 
Accessible? on appstore is easy to get, you have exposure for 1-2 days and then the next wave of games comes and your small little app is buried instantly.
As for Steam, I know very few indie who have a game in it. It's really hard to get in, and some top games like Gemini Rue, Democracy 2, Burn the rope and more were refused for no reason given 

[Tuba]

Just saw this thread, nice read, though some tips are a little outdated, not sure if the tips about sales are so valid with the Appstore and Steam being so accesible..

What 
Accessible? on appstore is easy to get, you have exposure for 1-2 days and then the next wave of games comes and your small little app is buried instantly.
As for Steam, I know very few indie who have a game in it. It's really hard to get in, and some top games like Gemini Rue, Democracy 2, Burn the rope and more were refused for no reason given 

They're certainly more accessible then any console out there or putting your game on retail

Sure, your game will be buried under the next wave of games on AppStore, like on any other distribution channel people your game will eventually lose visibility, but that's why marketing is so important!

Steam might not be as accessible as the AppStore where they accept Mario clones, but there's a lot of low budget simple games there. Now, why those games weren't accepted there goes beyond me.

[jack_norton]

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

[Zenfar]

I can confirm that I have been treated this way by a "retail" publisher, it was a long time ago, but be careful out there.

[cliffski]

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.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

+1

i find it baffling that every indie doesn't sell directly from their site. some indies don't even *have* a site and just sell from portals, it's crazy, it's like throwing away money

[ANtY]

+1

i find it baffling that every indie doesn't sell directly from their site. some indies don't even *have* a site and just sell from portals, it's crazy, it's like throwing away money

how is this exactly? I'm pretty sure that if ppl won't buy my game on Desura then they won't buy it from my website too

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

well, for one thing, desura probably has less traffic than your site. it's a pitiful portal in terms of sales; i think its sales volume is like 0.07% of steam's or something, haha

anyway, all i can say is learn how to sell indie games the way people have been selling indie games for decades. it's tried and true, and works. selling exclusively through portals isn't really being an indie at all, it's not self-publishing, it's being reliant on a corporation that can take away your source of income at its whim. whereas if you build up a site, a community, a mailing list, a fan base, nobody can take away your sales

[Ant]

it's weird how indies are so enamoured with Steam yet it mostly stands for all the publishing crap indies are supposed to loath

also indies please stop selling exclusively through Steam, let me buy direct pls

[ANtY]

well, for one thing, desura probably has less traffic than your site. it's a pitiful portal in terms of sales; i think its sales volume is like 0.07% of steam's or something, haha

anyway, all i can say is learn how to sell indie games the way people have been selling indie games for decades. it's tried and true, and works. selling exclusively through portals isn't really being an indie at all, it's not self-publishing, it's being reliant on a corporation that can take away your source of income at its whim. whereas if you build up a site, a community, a mailing list, a fan base, nobody can take away your sales

Sadly it's not true about the traffic so I think that with 20 views/day isn't worth setting a shop on my website, without community/fan base it's harder to sell on my own than with Desura me thinks

also indies please stop selling exclusively through Steam, let me buy direct pls

NEVER 

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

even 20 views a day is throwing away sales; let's say you get one sale for every 100 views. that's one extra sale every 5 days, or 6 sales a month. it's better than nothing, plus you keep a much higher percent (around 95%) of direct sales vs portal sales, which tend to be around 60-70%. and you get their email so you can announce future games to them, so every sale on your site is a potential sale of that game's sequel or your other future games

people would then also have more of a reason to visit your site, so it'd probably go up from 20 visits a day to a higher amount over time. especially if you add exclusive content to your site that they can't get on a portal: like a FAQ for your game, forums, a blog, wallpaper, soundtrack, stuff like that

[ANtY]

Hmm, I think you made me change my thinking, thanks

it's kinda late to add direct sales after almost a year from the release ^^

[Mister Dave]

I'm pretty sure that if ppl won't buy my game on Desura then they won't buy it from my website too

Very not true, so long as you sell DRM free. The hurdle with any portal is the portal itself. Lotsa folks have Steam because they have no choice (and many never actually lauch the client). If you're on Desura or whatever, the user has to install another client. They don't want to be bothered. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "I'd buy it if it was on Steam" and I ask why not Desura, this is what they tell me.

Beamdog has all but died since Atari put BGEE on Steam. Their main userbase cried out for Steam keys, and have since abandoned the service as they were mostly there just for that game.

Sell it DRM free on your own and this is not an issue.