Easy ways to publish games

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This tutorial is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Please refer to the license text if you wish to reuse, share or remix the content contained within this tutorial.

Published on 28 May, 2013. Last updated 19 Feb, 2019

There are different ways to publish games. There are some simple.

Publishing to own web-site

Publishing to own web-site is pretty simple these days. You can publish to your web-site using free or paid web-hosting services. If you have no web-site, you can make it in Construct 2 using HTML5 exporter. Just create it like games, using some buttons, listboxes and logos. Then, you can buy your domain name (and use your computer as server), or buy services' host. Then place a link to the game to this site, or just host your game.

Storing

If you want to sell your games, you will be marked as indie game-developer (for now). Note that only 2% of indie games are sold in the real shops. To make your game disk you will need Visual Studio 2012 (no programming reqired) with Install Shield plug-in. In start screen click "New Project" and find Install Shield plug-in. Create your install file (it is pretty simple and fast), and find "Compiling" listbox. Click "Compile project". Wait a minute. Then close the programm. You will find your file in /Documents/Visual Stiduo 2012/Projects/(name)/Disk images/DISK 1. Copy data from this folder to your CD or DVD and rename setup.exe to autorun.exe. Now, as you insert this disk to a computer, it will automaticly launch setup dialog. Place disk in some CD box. Here we go - youitalic text herer first disk.

Storing v2

The best way to store indie games is internet. I mean internet stores. The best perspective now is - tictail.com -ad-free, free and fast online-store creator. And this is also the best way to gain profit from your games! Cash-in-pocket!

Publishing to Steam

Yes, Steam! It is pretty easy. You'll just need 100$ for a Greenlight license. Then, you will need some little ad. Search YouTube for some popular let's-players. They will like if you send 'em an e-mail like: "Hi! We like your videos, and we'd like if you make a video about it.". Remember to mention Greenlight thing. Wait, untill some likes are posted. When your game is chosen, Steam support will contact you.

Publishing to Play Market

You will need to make your game for CocoonJs system. Export project to CocoonJs, and start cloud compiling. You will need to have an CocoonJs account. When everything is done, start compiling. Download .apk file with mark "release_unsigned". Sign it, and go to Google Developer's Console. License for it cost 25$. Then upload .apk file.

Publishing to Desura

Desura is a big online-indie-market. Publishing to Desura is free. First I want you to have IndieDB account. It is free too. Then, just sign in and go to "Developers" page. Click on "start a company". Finish steps that are described there, and wait for confirmation e-mail. When your company is confirmed, it will also appear on Desura, ModDB and SlideDB.

Then go back to Desura and sign in with your IndieDB account. Then go to "Developers" and click "Submit game". That's all folks!

My experience

As for me, I have used all of those ways. First 3 ways are pretty simple. In this section I want to describe all stuff I wrote earlier, all aspects and problems.

Steam Greenlight

Steam is a place for gamers where more than 5000 games are stored, and where more than 1 million gamers log in every week. Unlike Steam Store, Steam Greenlight is a place where only 65000 people are reviewing games. If you want your game to proceed to Steam Store, you will need at least 5000 likes. The problem is - ratings are too slow. If you don't have big fan group, your game can be reviewed for up to 5 months. And only 20% of games are chosen to be stored. On the other hand, you can try as many times as you want...

to be continued...

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