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[Nix]

So if I can make a decent action game, I can expect to earn ~ $1200?
Nix can you link to some of your friends games/portal accounts?

They wouldn't have portals because the whole point is that other portals buy exclusive rights, but the guy who made this (benologist): http://www.kongregate.com/games/5minutesoff/survivosaur (he also runs this site: http://playtomic.com/) has earning money on the Flash market down to a science. Psyflash also does quite well: http://aethosgames.com/cat/1/Our-Games/newest-1.html

http://armorgames.com/play/7050/professor-spelunkington this was made by a pair who makes Flash games often, and it sold well on the market (despite not being a huge success once it was actually released)

http://armorgames.com/play/6804/pixel-purge

You can just browse through this list http://www.flashgamelicense.com/report_top_accounts.php and look at this FGLopedia entry to see what those numbers mean: http://www.flashgamelicense.com/view_library.php?page=ml-cl-faq

Just to be clear, I don't really like the Flash market. It's restrictive and not conducive to boundary-less creativity and exploration. You can't just make games and expect them to be well received. You have to make and design games for the market with the intention of selling them, and being able to do that reliably takes practice and experience.

[tametick]

Just to be clear, I don't really like the Flash market. It's restrictive and not conducive to boundary-less creativity and exploration.

It's ironic then that exactly the games toted here (including a couple you just mentioned) actually pretty non-standard... Definitely more innovative than what we normally see in downloadables.

I would really appreciate it if you could share some more of your insight about the flash market if you have the time to expand some more!

[I_smell]

I'm on FGL all the time. I sold a game for $10k ONCE and have never really hit that since. I have no idea what these guys do to get over that!

Saying that, I've also give games up for a lot less. It's a great site, but however much money you make is completely up to your own dedication to the market.
I personally do not pay attention to the market at all. durp!

[mirosurabu]

My average game sells for ~$3,900 (sold ~10 games). But this is not so common, as you can see from average FGL bis which is around $1,500 - $2,000.

But, I'm pretty sure you will sell your game if it's:

1) good
2) stands out
3) not too hardcore, not too mature, not too serious

Most games fail at #2 and #1. There are literally bazillion games that are completely rubbish. Then there are bazillion games that are okay but nothing special. And finally, there are fewer games that stand out - these are judged by their theme and type of gameplay.

As for success stories, these are from TIGSource regulars:

- And Everything Started to Fall (Alexitron)
- Crazy over Goo (Banov)
- 10,800 Zombies (JW)
- Coptra (JW)
- Radical Fishing (JW)
- Atomic Super Boss (JW)
- Extreme Gardening (JW)
- Psychosomnium (Cactus)
- Defem (Scattle)
- Constellation Chaos (Scattle)
- In Another Brothel (Hideous)
- Air Pressure (Bentosmile)
- Tanaka's Friendly Adventure (Bentosmile)
- Tower of Heaven (ASCII)
- Boondog (Mambazo)

Without revealing individual numbers, the average is around $3,600.

Now, when it comes to fail stories, I only have one or maybe two. I know that nobody wanted Lightmare. I had another game of mine that I half-attempted to sell, but didn't bother much in the end.

Nowadays, my expectations for small, few-weeks games are at around $1,000 - $2,000.