Registration for Shareware

[Nick]

When looking at shareware are you turned off to purchasing the full version if you have to go to the website as opposed to in-game ordering? Is that a major issue?

[FCCovett]

Some people feel that it's safer to buy from the web-site, but some people like the convenience of buying from the application. I get a few more registrations from within the game than from the web-site.

[Nick]

So you think I should just do both for the best results (when I actually have a game worth buying)?

[Fenris]

Put a button in the game that'll send them to the website. Best of two worlds. Minimum friction, maximum safety.

[FCCovett]

Well, I am using eSellerate.net. They offer their own library that you can use in your game, which auto-updates when there's a new version of the registration engine.

DanLabGames uses BMT Micro, which has a slicker web-page system that can be customized to look like the rest of your web-site (eSellerate started offering that recently), but Dan gets quite a few e-mails because some people can't figure out how to enter the serial number to register the game.

My point is that when the customers buy the game from within the application, they don't need to type in the serial number, so I get fewer, or almost none, tech support requests.

[codemattic]

but Dan gets quite a few e-mails because some people can't figure out how to enter the serial number to register the game.
I remember when I registered a DanLab game (this was a while ago tho) - I was pissed that I couldnt paste the serial code in - then since it only ran full-screen (even though it would of made a nice windowed game) I couldnt just open the email in the background and follow that - I had to first write down the code, then start the game, then type in the serial code. Add to that a user who isnt a good typist - misses or inverts some characters - or if your code has 1's and l's or 0's and O's and the customer is going to be logging a support call.

So yeah - in game reg is there to make things easier for the customer *and* to reduce support costs for the developer.

FCCovett - how is the eSellerate engine? Have you found any cracked copies/serial #'s of your game on any serials site? I wish you could use your own formulas instead of theirs - it seems that with their system it provides a single point for hackers to attack.

thanks

[skyhawk]

I wish you could use your own formulas instead of theirs

you can

[Jake]

you can

I use my own, I just make 500 of them and write it to a text file and then upload that file. Although for some reason I ran out the other day at around 250 sales of GL Golf, its like they used 2 per sale?!?

[Nick]

Along these lines, do you make your software include the full version with the demo simply unlock when they purchase it or do you require a new download? Seems like a new download would deter piracy at least a little bit more being that they can't just download a free file and get a crack serial code.

[DoG]

Along these lines, do you make your software include the full version with the demo simply unlock when they purchase it or do you require a new download? Seems like a new download would deter piracy at least a little bit more being that they can't just download a free file and get a crack serial code.
That wouldn't be shareware anymore now, would it?

[Nick]

I guess not.
Let's try this then:
What is the general opinion: shareware vs demos?
I personally like getting demos more (usually smaller files). Plus in the development aspect they are harder to pirate than shareware where the whole program is just a serial number away.

[DoG]

If you are an indie developer, I doubt the size of your game is going to approach that of commercial titles. And I believe the harder-to-pirate argument is null and void, too, as widely available broadband makes it just the same to download a big file as a small one. Just keep that in mind.

[Nick]

I guess that is true. Any program I make will probably be 20mb at max. Even that is probably over-estimating. Another thing I failed to think about is the desire to pirate indie games. I don't think the demand is high enough to warrant piracy in the indie market yet.

[FCCovett]

One of my games got hacked because I didn't run strip on the executable, so one guy managed to figure out where the eSellerate calls where located and bypassed them with Resorcerer. As soon as I realized my mistake, I talked to eSellerate's tech support to get some details and put out a new binary. After that, the game hasn't got hacked again. eSellerate's engine works quite well and is pretty secure, but I also make the game disable itself if it detects the Terminal or some other hacking/debugging tools running in the background. Most of those developer/hacking tools run in the Terminal, so you get the idea.

With eSellerate's engine, you can have the game download the full version (or updates) and replace the executable automatically for you. It's pretty nifty, although I haven't really made use of this functionality.

Whatever you do, the best thing is to have your game contact a server for registration. Holmes created a in-game registration system for "Scruffy Gems" that was bypassed in a couple of days after its release and had to be replaced with something else. It's relatively easy to find the serial number check routines in the binary code and reverse engineer them to generate serial numbers outside the game.

[Steven]

I happen to like running Terminal processes in the background, that would be very annoying to me if I played any of your games... (just FYI)

[Baldock]

Along these lines, do you make your software include the full version with the demo simply unlock when they purchase it or do you require a new download? Seems like a new download would deter piracy at least a little bit more being that they can't just download a free file and get a crack serial code.
If it was possible to package the extra levels / sounds / etc in an extra file and have them download that as part of the process of buying the software that migth be handy.
5 MB download for the demo/shareware part of the game, spend $5 to register and download the extra 15 MB of game. Sorta like DOOM was, first episode free, next 2 cost $.
On the plus side it would help keep cost of distributing the shareware down since the d/l would be smaller.
You could then offer the full game download at 20mb and a demo/shareware at 5mb and a 15mb level pack. Let the end user decide how / what they want to download.