Shareware successes?

[ChukB]

I didn't see another post on this topic here, so I figured I'd start one. If I'm missing a bigger discussion, please point me in the right direction.
For the sake of conversation, I have a very simple game I've been working on that I think would be worth a few bucks to a few people, and I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen. More generally, though, I'd love to just learn more about how this is done.
So, I'm thinking about my options like...
Shareware
Make a demo version and a paid version, set up some payment method (Probably PayPal or somesuch,) fill the demo up with nags, get the demo on as many sites as possible, and send the full version to purchasers.
I'm seeing comparably appealing listings on MacGameFiles (Just for example) that are getting 2000 to 3000 downloads in their first month. I'd be pleasantly amazed to get 1% of people who download it buying, so at $5 a pop I'd be looking at between 100 and 150 dollars in the first month, and probably a steep drop-off once it fell off of the front page lists on download sites. Right?
Pros: Easy, and probably the cheapest way to make customers aware of the paid version.
Cons: Gambling that a limited version will sell buyers on the full version - doesn't work if the demo is enough to get tired of OR isn't enough to get hooked on.

Panhandle-ware (for lack of a better term)
Complete the game, put it up on download sites, and include in about panels/readMe's etc. a solicitation for donations.
I have no idea how well this would work - I don't think I've ever sent money for a game distributed like this, and don't know how many people would. I assume this would get more people downloading and playing it to begin with than a shareware distribution would, but I assume there would be a lower rate of people sending money, too.
Pro: Probably the cheapest way to get the game to customers.
Con: Probably makes the game look a little less valuable to potential customers. Plus, they sort of cease to be 'customers', to my thinking.

Distribution through another company
Find someone in the business of selling shareware compilations and such, see what and how they'd pay.
I can imagine this is like selling any product for distribution - Success hinges on tenacity and willingness to knock on doors.
Pros: Becomes someone else's problem, hopefully with a lump payoff.
Cons: Involves bathing, dressing and walking, hard to budget potential payoff against investment of time.

Does anybody have anything to add or subtract, there? I'd love to find some clear numbers, but surprisingly few shareware mac game companies are publicly traded. ;)
Geek on,
Charlie

[monteboyd]

Hi Charlie,

I myself only have experience in selling shareware via one method, but I'll give you my advice anyway.

I sell Slope Rider using a method similar to your first option, the difference being that I don't send purchasers the game, I only need to send them a code which they type into the registration box to unlock the full game. Slope Rider has been quite successful for me so here's a couple of pointers I have noted about this process:

Write a press release for your game and send it to every damn Macintosh site there is, and then send to more. Almost all of them will at the very least publish your press release as a news item.

Include Apple themselves in the list of people you send to. I myself didn't actually realise how receptive they were to shareware but Slope Rider ended up on their games page with a logo and everything, without me even realising it!

Suggest your game file to all download sites like http://www.macgamefiles.com, http://www.macupdate.com, http://www.versiontracker.com.

But, perhaps more important than download sites are magazine cover CDs and compilation CDs. Send out press releases to any magazine site or other site which distributes CDs with shareware content, e.g. http://www.insidemacgames.com.

Despite the apparent popularity of download sites I always found a significant spike in sales occurring after Slope Rider had appeared on a CD which someone bought. I found that a lot of sales were coming from families, people who probably don't have the time or inclination to go browsing through download sites for new games. They pick up a magazine or get a CD delievered with a whole lot of new stuff and find what they like on there. Remember that the majority of your sales will not come from the most vocal, hard-core game market.

It is not hard to get your game in these places. The Mac game market is desperate for content and don't be surprised if magazines contact you in order to ask permission for your game to be included on their CD.

Releasing updates to your game will bring it back to the front of news sites. So if you can easily add additional content (level etc) then do so whe you can.

So, all of that is advice if you plan to go with your first option.

My advice about your second option (not ever having tried it myself) is don't bother. You won't get as many sales as with your first option.

Your third option, distribution through a well established company like Ambrosia or Freeverse, is also one I have not tried but I'd say that if your game is good enough for them to want to publish then you should try this route. At the point of signing a contract you might feel put out by the fact that you will be receiving a much smaller percentage of the sale from a single unit than you would if you used your first option. However, in general games that are published by companies with experience with marketing and a well-respected name will sell a lot more units than if you were doing it alone.

So, in the end, my advice is to go with option 1 or 3. You can make a success out of option 1, but option 3 is probably a safer bet if you can find an interested publisher.

Hope this helps.

[ChukB]

Wow, thanks. I hadn't even thought about magazines.
I think you neglect to mention that Slope Rider is successful at least in part because it's so cool, but thanks a lot for the advice.
Speaking of registration codes, in fact: I was always sort of skeptical about using those out of concern that a code could be passed around more easily than a whole product, but the last company I worked for used a similar system for some of their products, with some logging in an online database thrown in, and I was amazed how rarely we had multiple products registered with one code - Probably one out of three or four hundred.
Thanks,
Charlie

[monteboyd]

Wow, thanks. I hadn't even thought about magazines.

Yeah, it's easy to forget what methods people use to get game demos etc if you don't use them yourself. In Japan in particular Mac magazines are very popular (Carlos will attest to this).

I think you neglect to mention that Slope Rider is successful at least in part because it's so cool, but thanks a lot for the advice.

Thanks. :)
Yeah, obviously an average game will have only average success, but a great game can go badly if it just doesn't get the name out there.

Speaking of registration codes, in fact: I was always sort of skeptical about using those out of concern that a code could be passed around more easily than a whole product, but the last company I worked for used a similar system for some of their products, with some logging in an online database thrown in, and I was amazed how rarely we had multiple products registered with one code - Probably one out of three or four hundred.

With shareware in particular it is hard to judge how much piracy is going on. My philosophy was this: we all have to live with piracy because it is just something that happens. You can take all the precautions you can to protect against it but in the end I think in the majority of cases there are the people who will consider buying the game if they like it, and then there are the people who will pirate it if they can, but not buy it if they can't. As I said before, in my experience a lot of sales come from families, and I don't think they're particularly prone to piracy.

[Bachus]

If you want to get the registrations, you *have* to limit the product and you *have* to nag the user with screens and whatever else. If you don't do either of those things then you'll see very few registrations.

Good stuff:
Explains exactly why you should limit your software: http://www.hackvan.com/pub/stig/articles/why-do-people-register-shareware.html
http://www.dexterity.com/articles/
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=69

[Najdorf]

Go on monteboyd, tell us how manty copies of Slope Rider you have sold (in how much time?) PLEAAAAAASE!!!!

[codemattic]

Originally posted by Bachus
If you want to get the registrations, you *have* to limit the product
[snip]
http://www.hackvan.com/pub/stig/articles/why-do-people-register-shareware.html

the most shocking thing in that article is not how much more people pay for crippleware than straight shareware. Its that the guy (if he is to be believed) was able to get people to pay $25 for a text extractor that "only took a couple of days to put together". And that he sold enough copies to generate $34,075 over a year. For a text extractor???

[ChukB]

I don't have any trouble believing that article, given that it was 1994. Shareware for Windows was a very different market then, from what I recall. The numbers are surprising, but I think the basic premise is sound.
On the broader question of 'crippleware' vs. 'donationware', though...
I'd hate to be in a situation where I was blaming customers for poor sales figures, or counting on 'honesty' to drive people to buy things. I'm pretty trusting of people in general, but I don't think honesty is what motivates people to make purchases, much less guilt.
Lord knows I'm unlikely to pay for something I get for free. And I don't think it's dishonest to accept the terms offered; If the license is 'free but limited', I assume the owner of the game is willing to accept that I might play the game in spite of the limitations and not feel a need to buy in.
I've enjoyed a few Budweiser, Ikea and Herbal Essences commercials, but I don't think that obligates me to buy their products.

But, I'd be very interested to hear the argument for 'zero crippling', if anyone feels like presenting it. Numbers supporting that as a business principle would be most influential to me, but I'm guessing the premise is more aesthetic than financial.

Geek on,
Charlie

[DoG]

Well, how about this: Those who don't have money won't buy your game anyway, and those who have will only buy it if its thrilling.

As for myself, I like a lot of games and shareware in general, and use it without paying. Fact is that I cannot pay, and if I could not get it for free, I would not get it all.

Unfortunately, a lot of people who do have the money still don't pay, partly because they are greedy pigs, partly because a widespread view on software is that it is not even a real product, it is just taken for granted. Though, being uneducated is not an excuse for wrongdoing, be it pirating software or burning down the rainforest.

And with games, there is not even the incentive to pay for commercial use, since you don't use it commercially.

Well, I'm going off. What I wanted to say, I think, is that your market might be smaller than you want to believe. Of course, it looks better on the Mac than Wintel, since most people who use a Mac have more money on average.

[Zwilnik]

Zero crippling is ok if you do the game for the fun of it and don't expect to get a lot of money. We experimented with that for Bushfire and didn't make a lot, although it got us into the spotlight for when we released Airburst with a tweaked model of the registration system, in that 2 of the 12 (at the time, 15 now) games were fully playable, but to play the other games or edit the characters you needed to pay the $5 registration fee.
That system worked rather well, although when the 'tipping jar' pay site we used shut down and Freeverse partnered with us to sell Airburst through their store we put the price up to $10 to cover the costs of selling through a proper online store.

For ToySight we're lucky enough to be going for a full commercial release. Keeping our fingers crossed :)

btw Monte. What about a ToySight controlled version of Slope Rider ;)

[ChukB]

Good answers. Re:
Unfortunately, a lot of people who do have the money still don't pay, partly because they are greedy pigs, partly because a widespread view on software is that it is not even a real product...
Sounds like a good description of the problem I'd hope to avoid. If we're talking about a $5 to $15 product, I don't think you really have to divvy up your customers between the haves and have-nots. I think my wife and I spent at least a hundred bucks on video games last year, and none of that went to shareware. Granted, I'm not exactly the kind of customer I'm looking for, but I don't think it's quite right to call the problem greed.
I think the division isn't people who can or can't afford the product, but people who do or don't spend their money on video games, and the latter group needs a better reason to buy than 'look what I've done for you'.
And with games, there is not even the incentive to pay for commercial use, since you don't use it commercially.
It's funny - The logic in that argument is clear to me, but when I think about it, I'm sure at least 75% of my software purchases are amusements, of one kind or another. (Er, by products bought, not by amount spent.) I'm sure that my not being self-employed is a factor on that habit, but I also think that's one place where I am a lot like my target customers.

Thank you all for some good food for thought.
Charlie

PS to Zwilnik - I just read a story on MacCentral about ToySight. That looks like an awesome project. Best of luck. I would love to see something like that bundled with a webcam; It just might convince me to buy one.

[monteboyd]

Originally posted by Najdorf
Go on monteboyd, tell us how manty copies of Slope Rider you have sold (in how much time?) PLEAAAAAASE!!!!

I don't have an exact number with me (I'm at work) but it comes in at just under 1000 copies to date. It's been on sale since the 8th August 2002.

Charlie, since you're not doing this as a way to earn a living (and so not relying on the outcome) I'd say release it whatever way seems best for you at this time and consider the whole thing an experiment. No matter how well the game goes, just consider it a learning experience. And if you can make some pocket money with it then that's fantastic! :D

[ChukB]

release it whatever way seems best for you at this time and consider the whole thing an experiment.
My goal exactly. Living from this idea, though, I have a healthy respect for a well-prepared experiment. :)
Lotsa work left to do, but I'll let you all know how it turns out.

[BeyondCloister]

I hope you don't mind me throwing in my ramblings, but I too have had some experience in the shareware market, but PDAs rather than desktops.

About 3 years ago I released a couple of shareware games for the Palm, one was some patience card games and the other a version of Chromacell. The card games allowed a number of wins before requiring registering and Chromacell had a limited number of levels. Both sold at $10.

I did get some sales, mostly of the card games. Later on I released a revised version of the card games for $15 while still having the $10 version out there too. I still get sales from both. The strange thing is it goes all quite for ages then lots appear at once.

I have also released a title for the Pocket PC, but that virtually bombed sales wise. It is an indication of the thing between Wintel and Mac users. Lots of Palm owning people are willing to pay for a game - something they do not need in life which makes it very rewarding I find. However by the fact that you need a Windows PC to use a Pocket PC, Pocket PC users do not seem willing to spend. It is almost as if they expect stuff for free. Palm users are very often Mac users so I'll let you draw your own conclusions there.

Hopefully I find Mac users as generous when I finally get around to releasing Chromacell for the Mac.

Shareware as a hobby is great when it works - nothing beats that feeling when you know someone has spent their hard earned cash on your creation.

[Najdorf]

hehe... my game Radical Rebound gets precisely 1 buyer every 1000 tryers: Cool eh? ;-)... so if I get infinite tryers, I also get infinite money!

[ChrisD]

Originally posted by Najdorf
hehe... my game Radical Rebound gets precisely 1 buyer every 1000 tryers: Cool eh? ;-)... so if I get infinite tryers, I also get infinite money!

Left a part out...

Over infinite time ;)

[FCCovett]

My game Yexi has sold a little over 100 copies in almost 18 months. It gets about 16 buys for 1000 tries, and sells a couple of units a month now.

And I though this game was doing bad enough. ;)

[Max]

Matthew Beedle, of Foxchange Software, and I made the puzzle game Cave Dig 3. The game got about 25,000 downloads in 2 years, a few hundred registrations and many great reviews. I think that's good.

A few months ago, Sebastian Wegner, of McSebi, and I released Pac the Man 2. We got like 100,000 in 3 months only. Unfortunately the game is freeware... perhaps that, and the brand name, explain its popularity. Oh, and the TechTV review of the game helped too. :p

Now we hope our next game, a shareware, becomes as popular.

[Najdorf]

My game Yexi has sold a little over 100 copies in almost 18 months. It gets about 16 buys for 1000 tries, and sells a couple of units a month now.

Hmmm,this means you only got 100/16*1000=6000 downloads!!!

16/1000 is a very good ratio, but your marketing is really poor! I got about 13000 download in 3 months only.

Market your stuff and you'll get rich!!

[Jake]

Lets see, Escape has had 58 mac registrations so far (at an average of about 7.50), and 20 expansion registrations (6 dollars). with about 20000 downloads thats a 3 per thousand registration rate.

[BeyondCloister]

Well I have had 52 sales out of 2745 downloads for a Palm game over the 3 years which works out at around 1 sale per 52 downloads.

Of course this is a specialised market.

[FCCovett]

Ah, I tried all the obvious venues to market the game, except putting down $99 to list it on Download.com.

The point is that the game lacks 3D models of the spaceships and GameRanger support. On top of that, it's really a niche title. People who bought the game wrote nice things about it, but it's clear it's not for everyone.

When I buy me a new computer, I'd probably work on a sequel, with full-blown 3D graphics and more animations of the crew. The problem is that the game would look an awful lot like ST: Starfleet Command, or ST: Bridge Commander I guess, and those games don't sell well on the Mac side. If I am not mistaken, ST: Bridge Commander sold about 10,000 units on the Windows side and the Starfleet Command line stopped being ported to the Mac years ago.

The indie guys who do best in this business sell very simple games through portals as RealOne Arcade (Windows only) mainly. I can't believe people still buy card games (lucky you, Freeverse :) ), but that's the world we live in. :)

[Zwilnik]

Space games are pretty niche (ie sci-fi fans) and become more niche the more they become a simulation (add in a ST license to alienate most true sci-fi fans and make them super simulation like and you can see why the Starfleet Command series did so badly, too Trekky for real sci-fi and too complex for Trekkies) (dons flame proof suit ;) ).

Escape Velocity on the other hand, built on various versions over the years (once people have heard of a series of shareware games, it gets easier to market them) stayed fairly generic in its sci-fi roots (still a bit space-opera like, but not stupidly) and kept control and playability to a level that most players would enjoy. End result, lots of sales and a successful series that can be built on.

With Airburst, we aimed for about 1% takeup from downloads. Although it's difficult to track the total number of downloads, we think we've hit somewhere between 1% and 2%. This of course was helped by people having heard of us through our first Strange Flavour Mac game Bushfire.

[FCCovett]

I agree. These sub-like simulations are really a put-off for most gamers. Well, I guess it had to be done by someone. Hopefully, I've made 100 people happy for a while.

I've just received a newsletter from my ISP featuring "Pac the Man" in the games corner. ;)