Hi there. I was wondering if anyone has had any success with any games that were made
with AGS? If so, then what games were financially successful?
Fatman was released as commercial, and I think it sold about 30 copies, but some reviews were unfavorable on it, and it's now abandonware, so I'm not sure it qualifies as sucesfull...
Even commercial adventure games with large teams have a hard time getting considered successfull. I believe fatman was the only commercial AGS game, but I know some people are developing games that are meant to be sold, or plan to release free games on CDs with extras (and in the case of Apprentice, a voice pack). CDs and shipping cost money, so I assume that's considered selling. GarageGothic's Shadowplay, if i'm not mistaken, is going to be commercial, or am I confusing something? *edit* Well, guess not then, :D. *edit*
Also, there's TerranRich's By the Sword, but he posted about all his data on his lapotop being last, so I'm guessing it'll take a while for that ;).
No no no, Shadowplay will be free! Although any donations will be appreciated ;)
Fatman sold a lot more than 30 copies if I remember correctly. he even started making a profit
If I wanted to make a decent hourly wage for the time put into Shadowplay, I'd probably have to charge 10.000$ per copy. Might as well do it for free and hope that it leads to a real job.
I've been thinking that when I eventually finnish MRC3, I'll remake graphics and sounds and all for the first game, and release a CD version with talkies and sketches and all... but I haven't concidered about how to deal with it when the time comes... as that is such a long time.
Yes, By the Sword was going to be commercial due to its large filesize and quality and whatnot. I have enough of the data left to restart it (I'd have to completely re-do the entire first half of the rather large game), if only Gravator would reply to my emails. :P
I am considering making 1 of my current projects a commercial AGS game.
I'm trying to think of a coupon system (or something similar) where all the forum members here could get it for free (I certainly wouldn't want to charge you guys!) but everybody else would pay for it.
I was thinking of 2 versions.
1) online version - downloadable and cheap, something like 4.99 USD
2) DVD/CD version - I ship it to you, comes with a neatly designed package and manual but would be more expensive 24.99 USD (or whatever the cost of producing the materials and shipping would end up being)
I was thinking that when the game is released I would start a thread saying, "If you want it (for free) sign up in this thread - offer expires on [insert date here]" and then e-mailing everybody (who signed up) a 'coupon code' for the website.
Then, when they login to the site, they can enter the code for a free download.Ã, (and of course regular forum members would get the free download even after the deadline if they just missed signing up on time!)
I've thought about this a lot ... I would feel like a total bastard for charging you all [AGS forumers] because that's not what I feel AGS is (has been) about.
It's funny though 'cause if any of you charged for a game, I would gladly pay for it (if it was good quality of course!).
Just like Gmail!! :P
wow, good idea Darth Mandarb, i have 2 question:
how many days will you have a chance until it expires? like 1 day or what.
second one, in which forum will you post this? obivios here, is it?
I figured I would post the coupon offer in the Completed Games post I would make for the game ... and it would probably expire after the first month after the game's release (the coupon code would be good until you use it but you can only get a coupon code for the first month).
That way, only those who read about the game on the forums (the AGS forum members) would realize it was there.
Not really sure if I want to do this ... because if you charge people for it:
1) People will expect/demand it to be commercial quality (no bugs, fully animated, full soundtrack, etc.)
2) You must support it (maintain websites, solve download problems, track shipping, packaging, etc.)
It's a lot more work to release something commercially then a lot of people probably know.Ã, I still think it CAN be done ... just not sure I want to do that much extra work.Ã, I already have a full plate!
I was thinking of putting some kind of donations button on the download page of my next game. In that way the game would be free, and the very rich or very excited could donate a few bucks to inspire possible sequels. I'm considering this because having to pay (even having to register) for downloadable products is one of my personal turn-offs, I often instinctively forget about it and browse somewhere else. On the other hand I would happily donate something for a great game once I played it, if it raised the probability of future games from the same developers.
Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing or know of any good programs for setting up a donations button? And does anyone know what kinds of (tax) rules apply to donations as compared to buying/selling games?
Paypal....
Donations are tax deductable btw