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[J-Snake]

And how do you fucking solve shelter?

There is a very difficult way and there is an elegant way. It is all about creativity and cleverness, man. Watch the trailer to see the elegant way.





The game is not made for the casual crowd but I might consider a visual revamp somewhen in the future if it doesn't do well enough.

[Tazi]

I'm sad to hear that Desura doesn't do so well.  
I'm planning to quit my job and go full time in development, with some saved money, and I was hoping I could get enough sales via Desura with my future finished game to cover my cheap costs of living, until I make my next game... Never mind that, I'll take the risk, and do it anyway.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i have heard that every single xblig game makes back the 100$ fee, so i think it's worth it just to get your name out there to a few more places. some games on xblig do very well. remember "jforce"? not to be confused with jsnake (haha). they used to be members of this forum, but derek banned them due to some sexist comment they made. now they have the top-selling xblig game ever: murder miners, which is a mix of minecraft and halo

also, you can port your game to monogame and then put it on other platforms (phones etc.)

[J-Snake]

Yes, I know Jforce. They are more matured now and less illusioned. I also provided them a technical advice to improve their game-loop back then. But they are going more for the casual crowd. You cannot compare them to me in this regard.

Actually I am in the process how to set up my future when it comes to my future games. Now that xna is gone I need a relyable multiplat framework. For 2D games monogame is in consideration.

[J-Snake]

But thanks for the advice, I will consider all that.

[Ant]

Did you get much press with TrapThem? That's what surprised me most when releasing Ilamentia, out of the 20+ indie sites I emailed not one bothered to post about its release, which is kinda supposed to be the whole point of a news site. I got a couple of reviews later on but generally nobody knows my game exists.

I think what I'm going to do is just spend all my time focused on making decent games instead of worrying and wasting time on marketing, so you build a bit of a following and are less reliant on news sites and portals like Desura. Weirdly it seems news sites only take any notice when you're already noticed, I started getting journos following/messaging me on twitter only after the kickstarter for my next game done decent.

Actually I got some messages on Desura from supposed reviewers/journalists. All of the messages have the same format. They claim to work for big sites like ign/gamespot or biggest russian sites.

Now it smells just like a blunt cover to get the game for free. Has someone heard about deals like that?

I got some dude from germany emailing me asking me for a couple of copies. I was sceptical but he linked to decent news site and nobody had talked about the game at that point so gave him a release copy. A week later I got exactly the same email.

[J-Snake]

TrapThem is a baby, it hasn't leaved the door yet. But regarding the fake journalist, this is how I did it: I demanded his email-address on the site he is claiming to work for verification. From then on no reply was sent.

[rrTea]

Edit: don't want to turn this into discussion primarily about TrapThem, but since half of the thread is alredy dedicated to it…

If you're curious, I can tell you why I didn't buy TrapThem despite it looking like a game I'd like (some of my fav games are Chip's Challenge, Boulderdash, Boulderdash EX, Tetris Attack (nothing to do with Tetris btw), Drill Spirit, Zoo Keeper etc). First thing that put me off was that it's on Desura's client: I don't even have a Steam account and am not planning to have Desura either. Then I wanted to at least see the demo, downloaded it from Dropbox (the link you have in one of the threads) but it wants to install Microsoft stuff. No thanks.

Price is pretty reasonable IMO, that is not a problem.

I can see how it might seem that adding bling might increase the sales but in my experience people that love this kind of games usually like graphics to be super starightforward and TrapThem pretty much looks like it (judging from what I've seen in trailers). For example Pushcat's presentation was really good (much much better than the game mechanics) and I didn't get the impression the game set the world on fire, hopefully I'm wrong.

I am a bit concerned that TrapThem's level design went too far (reading the various comments on this forum) but I guess I could still have lots of fun with the rest of the levels.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

all xna games have to install "microsoft stuff" -- it's how xna works. fez, breath of death VII, and other xna indie games all have to install the xna distribution package in order to run. there's nothing he can really do about that aspect of it

i do agree that he should at the very least sell it from his own site with a demo however. that's standard for indies. going desura exclusive is the worst idea ever

[Gregg Williams]

You should also be able to offer a direct download from Desura, allowing people to just buy the game, and download it. This removes the need for them to use/have the Desura client. The direct download is also needed if you provided Mac/Linux versions, given the Desura client doesn't even exist for those platforms.

[rrTea]

all xna games have to install "microsoft stuff" -- it's how xna works. fez, breath of death VII, and other xna indie games all have to install the xna distribution package in order to run.

I know, thanks. I also didn't buy any of the games you mentioned if this meas anything.

[Gregg Williams]

Porting to MonoGame (may not even be a port really) and bundling Mono with the game, could remove the need for an XNA install, as well as .NET install if not present. Of course you'll add a few megabytes to your download in order to do this.  You'll also be ready to add Mac and Linux support.

[moi]

no way out plz
wtf hax

[henzenmann]

[...] The direct download is also needed if you provided Mac/Linux versions, given the Desura client doesn't even exist for those platforms.

That is not true, the Desura client definitley exists for Linux at least. The download page only offers you the version for your currently running OS by default though.
 

[Gregg Williams]

[...] The direct download is also needed if you provided Mac/Linux versions, given the Desura client doesn't even exist for those platforms.

That is not true, the Desura client definitley exists for Linux at least. The download page only offers you the version for your currently running OS by default though.
 

Alright well it doesn't exist for Mac at least.

[moi]

the demo is too long. Most of the people who download the demo will probably not finish it after months. And then, why would they buy the game then?

[Xienen]

Alright well it doesn't exist for Mac at least.

Sorry to tell you, but there's a Mac version available, as well.  Also, with a CD-Key, users are able to bypass the Desura Client entirely by creating an account and visiting http://www.desura.com/indiegamespack

I do think that page should be easier to find, though, because I was only able to find it from a Google search, not straight from the Desura home page.

[J-Snake]

TrapThem is not intended to be a Desura exclusive. It is only that it is not out on other platforms yet.

[Gregg Williams]

Alright well it doesn't exist for Mac at least.

Sorry to tell you, but there's a Mac version available, as well.  Also, with a CD-Key, users are able to bypass the Desura Client entirely by creating an account and visiting http://www.desura.com/indiegamespack

I do think that page should be easier to find, though, because I was only able to find it from a Google search, not straight from the Desura home page.

I still can't find any type of Mac or Linux client offered from the Desura site, and the download link only offers Windows. Though I did see a possible open source Mac port on google. Oh well

[dcfedor]

Hey Guys!

Since I've been selling NEO Scavenger on Desura for a little over a year now, I figured I'd share some of my experience. Particularly, since it contrasts some of the other posts here.

First, a bit of big-picture info.

• NEO Scavenger's been in development since April 2011.
• I launched my company website (Blue Bottle Games), and beta pre-sales (via said site) in March 2012.
• Desura approached me later that summer, and I began selling there in September 2012.
• I participated in Groupees's Be Mine 5 Bundle in October 2012
• NEO Scavenger was added to Greenlight in August 2012, and Greenlit exactly one year later.
• IndieGameStand approached me this summer, and added NEO Scavenger in September 2013, corresponding with their store launch.

To-date, services which carried NEO Scavenger have produced the following revenues (rough figures, USD)

• Blue Bottle Games: $31k (FastSpring is the transaction handler)
• Desura: $12k
• Groupees: $5k
• IndieGameStand: TBD (only a 5 sales in the first week or so)

Looking at the above, Desura isn't insignificant. Launch month alone saw $3.5k in sales. On average, monthly sales are about $0.5-1k. Not quite enough to pay rent reliably, but definitely worth having.

In my experience, putting effort into selling (publishing interesting news, contests, etc.) seems to drive those monthly sales closer to $1k, while quiet months simmer down to $0.5k. My BBG website similarly drives $0.5k when quiet, $1.2k on active months, and spikes of $2-5k on major events like launch day, Greenlight launch/acceptance, big-name press, etc.

For reference, I'm still losing money month-over-month (even ignoring the year of early development when no copies were sold). We're a household of two, and Rochelle has returned to school, so it's mainly my income and our savings paying bills right now. However, NEO Scavenger is still in beta pre-sale, and I'm hoping launch day combined with Steam launch makes up for lost time.

So is Desura worth it? I definitely think it can be, though I wouldn't purport to know the secret to guaranteeing it.

As for the technical questions, Desura does have a Linux client. Two, in fact. There was an "official" one which I started using, but it was woefully broken. Later, asking for help on the forum tipped me off to Desurium, which is an open source, community-maintained Desura client. The compiled version can be found here. And, I dare say, it's in as-good shape or better than the PC client.

Finding it was less-than-intuitive, though, and I've heard rumors that Linden Labs is trying to address that issue.

I am unaware of a Mac client.

As for distribution, Desura offers both in-client and stand-alone methods for download on PC and Linux, and stand-alone on Mac. NEO Scavenger takes advantage of all of those, and I believe people use all of them. (Some folks are Desura users, others just prefer the established brand-name for order-handling and no client.)

There is an approval process for each new build and news item, which is something I'm not thrilled about. If I post a new build or news piece, it can take up to 1 business day to get approved, which makes timing a hassle. On the plus side, however, approved news items will hit Desura's front page. And often their twitter feed, too.

Finally, Desura is one of the few vendors that offers a Connect feature, allowing one to connect their order at Desura to an off-site system. I use this as a way to reward Desura customers with access to builds on my site. I also setup a reverse process (BBG site gives access on Desura), though there's a manual step there I must perform daily. (Through no fault of Desura, though. Lazy programming by me.)

This "Connect" feature is cool, but few other sites accommodate it. Thus, my lofty plans for "buy once, play anywhere" are blocked by that, even if I could figure out how to manage the permutations as the number of vendors increased.

Hopefully, this info sheds some more light on Desura for those who were wondering. It certainly can pull it's own weight, and then some. But I'd leverage other sales channels if you can.