does shareware without limitations work?

[Najdorf]

I finished a nice, original, addictive and fun little game. I don' t think I will bother to use on- line payment systems and game limitations, but I' ll just say something as: "If you like it, send me a five dollar note".
Does that work? (I' m sure it doesn' t, just hoping 1 out of a hundred pays...:D )

[skyhawk]

not as succesful as limting shareware. Or games that at least nag you. You MIGHT get some registrations, but not many at all. a couple if it is a really good game.

[kemalyun]

That doesn't work. Maybe if you're lucky 1 of 1000 pays. To get some money you have to

1) Limit the features as long as it's unregistered
2) Make registration as easy as possible, i.e. using KAGI

[FCCovett]

I am of the opinion that if someone can afford to spend $10 to watch a movie or have dinner in a restaurant they don't know whether they will enjoy, they can afford to pay $15 to try my game. There's plenty of information on the web-site and a couple of reviews out there on the net to help customers make their purchasing decision.

I received ONE hate mail for not distributing my game as shareware and for not offering a demo. The sales peaked in the first couple of weeks and then slowed down drastically for months. Nonetheless, the sales peaked again after a favorable review had been released.

I even stripped the game from the registration dialogue that appeared on the splash screen, but I kept a button that links directly to my online store in case someone gets a pirate copy but decides to buy a license to be able to use the tech support and download the free upgrades.

[Bachus]

There's been a couple of different studies on shareware and the consensus has been the honor system does *not* work. I remember reading an article where a developer made it so half the downloads of his product had a nag screen and half didn't. The nag screen version sold many more copies than the non-nag one (if anyone knows of the article I'm talking about I'd love to read it again).

Check out this article for more on creating incentives: http://www.idevgames.com/content/article.php?id=83

[codemattic]

Originally posted by FCCovett
I am of the opinion that if someone can afford to spend $10 to watch a movie or have dinner on a restaurant they don't know whether they will enjoy, they can afford to pay $15 to try my game.

I strongly disagree. Why force an old way of doing business onto a new medium - software is different than hardware. I found my way to your site a number of times (before I knew who you are from this site) - the game always looked interesting to me but when I couldnt find a download link - I just moved on. You may of only got ONE hate mail - but I bet many sales passed you by too. Whether it would of compensated you for the extra bandwidth or possibly added piracy I dont know.

You may be of the opinion that I can spend $15 on entertainment software I may not like - but I certainly dont feel that way - and Im the potential customer. The problem is that almost all of the shareware out there is of really poor quality - so Im just will not buy unless I get to try.

Ultimately it is your work you are selling - and your decision. I think its a bad business decision - but I admit that I dont have hard data to back that up - just the feeling is that it is the wrong way for shareware/software/game developers to do business.

-Codemattic

[macboy]

Originally posted by FCCovett
I am of the opinion that if someone can afford to spend $10 to watch a movie or have dinner on a restaurant they don't know whether they will enjoy, they can afford to pay $15 to try my game.Yes, but they can go back to the movie and the restaurant and enjoy it again... wait... did that make sense? :???:

[w_reade]

Originally posted by codemattic
I found my way to your site a number of times (before I knew who you are from this site) - the game always looked interesting to me but when I couldnt find a download link - I just moved on.

Likewise.

[jamie]

For the record I would absolutely never buy a shareware product without first being able to try a demo of it, even if I had read good reviews or heard good word of mouth. Just like movies and other forms of entertainment, opinions are very subjective and I would want to try it for myself first.

I too had found the website for your game FCCovett before I knew you were a member here. I this case there was enough information that I could tell it pretty much would not be my kind of game. No offense, just doesn't sound like something I would get into enough to find the value. But that being said I have thought that way about other games in the past just from reading about them but on having tried a demo my mind has been changed.

So I guess the short story is a demo is never a bad thing!

:)

[FCCovett]

Don't get me wrong, the demo is a good thing, but I realize that most customers make their decision based on reviews and good PR alone.

A number of larger publishers don't released a demo for their games anymore until after the release excitement has subsided. According to what I've read from other publishers, if you make a decent promotional effort, you'll need a demo just to push residual sales.

I would like to release a demo at some point, but there are a couple of things keeping me from doing so. First, there are too many demo hogs out there that will download a demo when they have no intention in purchasing the game at all; that can translate easily into 1 Giga/month of bandwidth fees. Second, niche games like mine don't sell a lot anyway, and the hardcore fans of the genre won't mind investing mere $15 based on an accurate review; I would do things differently if I were selling some Tetris clone though...

To those who'd contact me directly asking for a demo, I've offered them a full refund within 7 days of the purchase date - in case they didn't like the game or it simple didn't work on their computer. That has worked very well for this unique case, even though just a few people are likely to contact you in that manner.

I really don't want to sell my games in the shareware format mainly because I've made this game just to show off my skills to prospective clients and to get some insight on this field. I can make more money out of one single contract job than from the sales of 1,000 units. Of course, I am losing some sales, but I don't believe that making games for Mac is a viable way of making a living, not for my standards anyway - unless your are Brian Greenstone... :)

[AJ Infinity]

Originally posted by jamie
For the record I would absolutely never buy a shareware product without first being able to try a demo of it, even if I had read good reviews or heard good word of mouth. Just like movies and other forms of entertainment, opinions are very subjective and I would want to try it for myself first.

I too had found the website for your game FCCovett before I knew you were a member here. I this case there was enough information that I could tell it pretty much would not be my kind of game. No offense, just doesn't sound like something I would get into enough to find the value. But that being said I have thought that way about other games in the past just from reading about them but on having tried a demo my mind has been changed.

So I guess the short story is a demo is never a bad thing!

:)

I agree. A limited demo that locks levels and special features off when it's unregistered. A demo is good. Although everyone likes the unlimited demo, people will most likely not pay unless they want to support the developer if the game is good.

[David]

I never ever buy a game without trying it, unless I hear VERY good things about it (i.e. MOHAA, which wasn't worth it because of the performance).

Random point: why does it seem like mac game reviewers never mention performance, or only mention it for a second? An fps game like MOHAA with great graphics, gameplay, etc. DOESNT MATTER if it doesn't consistantly run at better than 20 fps.

Anyways how will prospective clients hear of your game if you don't have a demo? Another thing a demo does is free advertising. People on macgamefiles.com/versiontracker/macupdate etc. can see that it exists. I had never heard of your game until I came here, and then noticed that you referred to it a lot but was disappointed that there was no way to try it.

The only possible reason NOT to release a demo is if your game is really bad and you don't want people to try it... otherwise the increased revenue would definitely offset any bandwidth fees.

[FCCovett]

David, a few days ago, I sent you an e-mail with the information on how to download a courtesy copy so you could see the game for yourself. I wonder if you got the mail.

I agree with you that the sales would offset the bandwidth fees IF (and it is a big if) the game would interest enough people to justify the investment.

However, a demo is NOT free advertising; a 1,000 downloads of a 10 Mb file may cost you $100 depending on your provider. The only free advertiting you may get is through press releases.

The point is that Yexi is a niche game that appeals only to a very small audience; the lack of a demo has nothing to do with the quality of the game, otherwise I wouldn't even offer the refund option.

Actually, I find your remark plain rude - if it was really directed at me; I have a history of producing web, multimedia, and print presentations for the largest companies in the world. I might not have the means to pull off a AAA title on my own in a reasonable timeframe, but my game does exactly what it claims to do.

Man, this was my first commercial game ever, and I am not even a programmer. It only gets better from this point on. Just watch me... :)

[David]

lol no that comment was not directed at you, I have no doubt that your game is very good and have heard great things about it, but did not get your email or have any way to try it out. Since your game sounds so interesting it is a pity that very few can try it... While it may be a niche game, it would surely gain more sales if people can actually see what it's like instead of making a leap of faith.

I'd just like to point out that with a 1% registration rate, you would get $150 from that $100 advertising... I think it would be worth a try.

[DaFalcon]

Actually, instead of offering that refund only to those who ask, why not advertise the refund on your site?

One approach is to offer a money-back guarantee. I've been offering a 60-day unconditional money-back guarantee on all my products since January 2000. If someone asks for their money back for any reason, I give them a full refund right away. I don't even bother with making the customer sign a letter of destruction. So what is my return rate? Well, it's about 8%. Just kidding! Would it surprise you to learn that my return rate is less than 0.2%? Could you handle two returns out of every 1000 sales? My best estimate is that this one technique increased my sales by 5-10%, and it only took a few minutes to implement.


That is from the article already linked to in this thread ( http://www.idevgames.com/content/article.php?id=83 ). What have you got to lose?

All the same, this message isn't really intended for you, as I understand where you're coming from and that you didn't create this game for the purpose of selling as many units as you can for as great a profit as you can make. I just wanted to make sure as many people as possible thought about that money-back guarantee, and have Steve's numbers (above) to help them in choosing to implement that guarantee.

As far as a demo goes, I am surely one of those who would have downloaded your demo because it looks like a well polished game, but the game would likely not have interested me to the point of registering it. Few games do, but I support those games that do.