How to advertise / sell an Indie Game?

Greetings.

If you had or have had an own game, where would you try to advertise, sell it? If it can be run in an exe on PC, or if it can be run in a browser. What are those webpages where all these can be done?

Thanx.

You might like selling your game on Desura (it's like Steam, for indie games. Also made by the creators of the ModDB and IndieDB websites). Here's the link: http://www.desura.com/

You know, Steam is also like Steam, for indie games . No really, they distribute a crapload of indie stuff.

Er, kinda beside the point though I guess. It's highly doubtful you could get a Construct game onto Steam. I read somewhere that Konjak tried getting one of his games on there, but they didn't go for it simply because it was made with MMF2. So, um. Nevermind

and thats pretty racist if you ask me, what if a game is made with an instrument? when the game is great and competitve with other indie games?

thanks jayjay for this site, i didnt know it existed

I read somewhere that Konjak tried getting one of his games on there, but they didn't go for it simply because it was made with MMF2. So, um. Nevermind :)

Isn't Nifflas' Saira made with MMF2 too? I've been under that assumption. Then again he has recognition but so does Konjak so that doesn't make much sense to me. I've crawled through the Steam developer documentation and remember reading that one shouldn't primarily aim to use Steam as a release platform if one isn't able to meet a bunch of standards and API integrations on the application itself.

To me it seemed like integrating a lot of the required code would need you to be able to control the compilation of the executable to an extend that sounds like a lot of trouble to do with a piece of software like MMF2.

and thats pretty racist if you ask me, what if a game is made with an instrument? when the game is great and competitve with other indie games?

Hardly racist. It's easy to think that an indie developer wouldn't have the resources to provide localisation and support to meet the platform standards. It's not like you can just throw Valve an exe and expect to see the money flow.

Incase anyone wants a tutorial on how to post games on Desura, ModDB has one here: http://www.moddb.com/tutorials/publishing-on-desura

if its a great game, yea i have my right to expect a money flow, especialy if people are allready buying my game. especially when i see two games on steam who are absolutly horrible and they somehow magically made it into steam. kidding me right?

hey jayjay i wrote to desura, but do they need to approve the game, or i can upload it myself? (payed game)

a great way to advertise a game is reviews, you need to write to all the game reviewers you can find, but frankly i cant find anymore

> I read somewhere that Konjak tried getting one of his games on there, but they didn't go for it simply because it was made with MMF2. So, um. Nevermind

>

Isn't Nifflas' Saira made with MMF2 too? I've been under that assumption.

Indeed it was. Besides, there are also games made with Adventure Game Studio available on Steam. In other words, whatever tool you make your game with shouldn't be a limiting factor in regards to getting your game on Steam provided that your game is good.

> and thats pretty racist if you ask me, what if a game is made with an instrument? when the game is great and competitve with other indie games?

>

Hardly racist. It's easy to think that an indie developer wouldn't have the resources to provide localisation and support to meet the platform standards. It's not like you can just throw Valve an exe and expect to see the money flow.

It's not like Steam requires any localization from games, though. Indie developers surely aren't expected to do that. Neither do they really require the developers to give any more support to their game than they normally would, though I guess one could expect more support requests due to having more visibility thanks to Steam, but I don't think the developers would mind that at all.

> Isn't Nifflas' Saira made with MMF2 too? I've been under that assumption.

>

Indeed it was.

Oh yeah... hmm. Maybe there was more to the konjak story then.

if its a great game, yea i have my right to expect a money flow, especialy if people are allready buying my game. especially when i see two games on steam who are absolutly horrible and they somehow magically made it into steam. kidding me right?

I don't think Steam cares if you think your game is better than other games on Steam. It's not like being egotistical is a submission requirement.

hey jayjay i wrote to desura, but do they need to approve the game, or i can upload it myself? (payed game)

Nope, that's the beauty of Desura, you just need a video and around 10 (or 14? it's in that tutorial link I posted) photos of your game, and you can upload and start selling it!

However, Desura is still moderated, so if you need to clear up licensing for content and etc, it'd probably be best to write to them.

Actually, from the link you posted:

"It must be noted that only high quality content will be allowed on Desura. Thus please make sure that the content you are trying to publish is of the best standard and as free from glitches and defects as possible. Beta versions will be allowed only if they are of decent quality."

So in a way, they do need to approve it.

Actually, from the link you posted:

"It must be noted that only high quality content will be allowed on Desura. Thus please make sure that the content you are trying to publish is of the best standard and as free from glitches and defects as possible. Beta versions will be allowed only if they are of decent quality."

So in a way, they do need to approve it.

I guess, but that is post-submission moderation, compared to the pre-submission moderation that Steam uses. Probably because Desura represents homemade games while Steam needs to stay professional.

I think the best way to sell your own games is to open your own website and sell it from there.Isn't that what indie means?.Think about it When i use steam or another publisher to sell my games then the word independent falls away doesn't it ?.

I think the best way to sell your own games is to open your own website and sell it from there.Isn't that what indie means?.Think about it When i use steam or another publisher to sell my games then the word independent falls away doesn't it ?.

It depends on whether you define independent as "independently made" or "independently sold/distributed". If it's the latter, the person would probably need to be selling the game physically, on a table, outside their house, for the game to be indie

That said, I see what you mean, it adds a middle-man to the process who absorbs some of the income. But even Paypal do that I think?