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[droqen]

HERE IS FISHBANE

So I made a game called FISHBANE, a platformer based on one good idea -- I found some good playtesters to concur with me that the game is rather awesome and eventually I ended up with this beautiful finished product what with music and ten decent-length quests (it takes me over half an hour to beat the whole game knowing where everything is and how everything works).

I've received a couple of bids on FGL where it's been posted,
and my current highest bid is <an undisclosed number>.

People have told me I could get more -- I believe them, but the problem is I don't know how! Business is not my forte, really, and while I have done my best to garner some attention and make this game sound as good as it is, I'm apparently not doing a job that is quite as fantastic as I would have hoped.


Help me? :3

[BlueSweatshirt]

I don't know how the payment works out in comparison, but if you got a game sponsored on a site like Kongregate you could still own it and make decent money from ads.

[droqen]

I've heard things about ads, the revenue from them seems minimal in comparison to original sponsorship amounts.

In addition - I'm going to be doing that regardless of who sponsors me :) It's not an exclusive sponsorship!

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

if a game is *extremely* popular you'd make more with ads. but we're talking hundreds of thousands or millions of plays per month. very few flash games reach that -- one example is 'desktop tower defense' which reportedly made its owner 100,000$ just in ad money in the first year or something.

[moi]

If you want to make money on kongregayte, you HAVE to implement their API and hope that you'll be picked for badges. Players play just for the meta game of getting badges.

[bateleur]

Still, no matter what your assessment of ad revenues is, this is a non-exclusive sponsorship he's talking about, so he gets them anyway.

How long has this game been up on FGL? The bidding process there is really slow. If it hasn't been up at least three weeks, I'd advise just being patient. Also, make sure that:

* The game's icon is as interesting as it possibly can be. A dull icon means no views.
* You have a demo video (and make sure you set it as such in the game's profile, don't just paste a URL in the description). The video should be short and to the point. It should show the game being good, not explain why it is with lots of voiceover or captions.
* Playing the game gets you straight into the good bits of the gameplay. I implemented GameTracker on the last game I had up there and it's amazing how sponsors will play for only 2-3 minutes on average. Sometimes less.

Emailing potential sponsors directly might make some difference (I honestly have no idea), but that's not really how FGL works.

[droqen]

* Playing the game gets you straight into the good bits of the gameplay. I implemented GameTracker on the last game I had up there and it's amazing how sponsors will play for only 2-3 minutes on average. Sometimes less.

I think this is the part that really gets me; I have a couple of decent videos without any worthless explanations, and regardless of the icon (I think it's pretty good) I've sent lots of emails out to sponsors all over the place.
I'd rather not make the pacing of games too fast just because sponsors have no time ]:

It has definitely helped as without manual contact I would not have received this second bid!

[bateleur]

I'd rather not make the pacing of games too fast just because sponsors have no time ]:

It's not really about pacing though, it's about where your gameplay is.

You can have a slow, thoughtful game that does really well in this respect provided that the first interesting thing to slowly think about is right at the start of the game. Conversely, it's possible to have a fast-paced action game with ten minutes of filler before the first really worthwhile bit.

It may seem extreme, but actually this environment teaches good game design in many respects. Do not waste other people's time. Do not subject them to filler content. Do not make a half hour game which could compress the same amount of fun into five minutes.

[droqen]

Well, I understand that -- maybe I'm using the wrong words.

There's no filler, but there is some learning to be done that does not allow the game to accurately reflect the full range of what it really gets into in the first three minutes (unfortunately).

Maybe I just need a more strong and interesting beginning :p

The attention span of sponsors is probably as good as the attention span of a lot of flash gamers out there anyway ._.

[PNTR]

Maybe I just need a more strong and interesting beginning :p

There is some games that do this. For example Shadow Complex(Castlevania-like game) for Xbox Live arcade where you first start with fully equiped gear. And a few minutes later you have nothing.

If I remember tha MMO, Fallen Earth does exactly the same thing.

This lets the player try out many of the features that the player usually wouldn't try out untill later in the game.

 

[bateleur]

I just played this over on Newgrounds! It's fun! I hope you found a decent sponsorship.

[oahda]

It might not have to do with their (lack of) patience, that they stop playing so soon.
They might simply be stupid, and completely unable to beat an early level, like me.
I just couldn't figure this one out, and this is like... the second level?