MacAddict CD worth it?

[Iceman]

So far I've only sold about 20 registration keys for my game. I'm looking for ways to sell some more registration keys. Would it be worth it to pay for it to be put on the Mac Addict CD?

[Jake]

Well me and Kemal payed 1000 dollars to get all of our game on the CD, and they really screwed us. Normally there are like 2-4 game per CD, but the month we payed they decided to make it a shareware extravaganza and put like 25 games on it, and bundle all of ours together to make it worse. We didn't notice any sales increases. I have something very important to say about the experience but kemal probably doesn't want me to post it here.

[FCCovett]

I think the best place to advertise in on Apple's web-site. We get most of our traffic from there. Maybe Penny-Arcade, PVPOnline are a good choice if you want mega-exposure in one shot, but I haven't tried them yet. Other than that, I would go for an ad on MacWorld. It may cost about $2000 for a full-page ad somewhere near their gaming section.

[funkboy]

Who's kemal? From MacAddict? And he posts here?

I myself wouldn't spend money there, and I don't think Penny-arcade is Mac-friendly enough for Mac games. I'd say an Apple ad may be the best thing - DanLab is the only one I know who has advertised on it. I may consider doing it myself once I get KTA Tennis running a little more smoothly. (oh, if only my dev tool ran better)

[FCCovett]

"DanLab is the only one I know who has advertised on it" - As far as I know, DanLab hasn't paid to advertise his games anywhere. One of his games was featured at the top of the download pages because someone at Apple decided to do so. Apple offers a very good deal for developers; they charge about a third of what InsideMacGames does.

[FreakSoftware]

$1000?! I remember it being free!

[Danlab]

i didnt paid anything. And i dont want to play this "game".
in most case magazine ask me to include my games and they sending me a free issue and in most case they forget to send it ;-)

if you sold only 20 registrations, you should stop spending your time on this product and try to make another one

[igame3d]

Of course actually mentioning what your game is would have at least done some marketing to the six people who responded to this thread.

Put the word out everywhere that you can for free, Versiontracker, macupdate, insidemacgames, etc.

I think if you check out the macAddict forums you might come to the same conclusion I did: "yikes, I don't need these people's attention!!!"

A versiontracker/MacUpdate combo should get you about 6,000 downloads.
It's post Xmas so people may be full up on entertainment, but each update
to those sites puts you in the public eye again and again.

[funkboy]

I'm sorry Danlab! I thought you had paid, I was confused. :wacko:

I thought the way you had a trailer meant you had paid for it, but I was most definitely wrong. Congratulations on making such awesome games!

[princec]

If anybody's got any pointers for me too I'd really like some help :( We don't seem to sell any games for the Mac, and I don't think they're that bad... we get plenty of people playing them, and playing them a lot, but no-one registering. This is a bit of a bugger because we're more or less abandoning Windows for the same reason and coming to OSX, but the situation is it seems no different - contrary to what all my peers tell me, which is that the Mac market is far, far better and sales are far, far better.

...or does all our stuff just suck too much?

Cas :)

[Max]

MacAddict subscribers no longer expect shareware games on the CD-ROM. MacWorld only pick the most popular shareware games. French magazine Univers Mac contacts the developers. Some foreign magazines immediately pick up games that are localized for their country.

[Max]

If anybody's got any pointers for me too I'd really like some help :( We don't seem to sell any games for the Mac, and I don't think they're that bad... we get plenty of people playing them, and playing them a lot, but no-one registering. This is a bit of a bugger because we're more or less abandoning Windows for the same reason and coming to OSX, but the situation is it seems no different - contrary to what all my peers tell me, which is that the Mac market is far, far better and sales are far, far better.
Cas :)

Your games are great but I think players don't register because...
1. You don't mention what's unlocked when the game is registered.
2. Your games work... in strange ways. I mean, files are downloaded, there's no folder with an application, it's all online... it's confusing. We don't have the feeling that we own something.

[ThemsAllTook]

2. Your games work... in strange ways. I mean, files are downloaded, there's no folder with an application, it's all online... it's confusing. We don't have the feeling that we own something.

Indeed! The fact that everything is streamed off the web at startup is a major turn-off for me, especially as a modem user...

- Alex Diener

[princec]

Points taken :) Don't worry, I've got ordinary zips in the wings. But just because it's streamed off the web doesn't make any difference to you - once it's downloaded, it's downloaded... if it ever downloads anything else it's because there's new stuff, or bugfixes.

About the upsell: you're quite sure about that? The nag screens pretty much explain what you get for buying the game.

Cas :)

[FCCovett]

There's so much free Flash stuff on the web that's similar to what we are capable of pulling off that it's not even funny anymore. On the other hand, you've got companies the size of the Cartoon Network selling mini-games based on their franchises that go for $19 a pop.

[Max]

Points taken :) Don't worry, I've got ordinary zips in the wings. But just because it's streamed off the web doesn't make any difference to you - once it's downloaded, it's downloaded... if it ever downloads anything else it's because there's new stuff, or bugfixes.

Is the game really downloaded? All I see is a typical java file that's only 4KB. Where's the rest? What if I want to backup the game? Streaming may not be the best solution right now, especially for shareware.

[FreakSoftware]

Especially for anything is more like it. Extra content downloadable from in-game is great, but the actual game shouldn't be downloaded from in-game.

[princec]

I've yet to come across a Flash game that's worth paying for. They're invariably very slow and beyond the first hint of gameplay that's usually "it" - no more substance.

The game is fully downloaded just like any ordinary download. Webstart just does the installation for you, and then keeps it up-to-date. I don't know (or even care!) where the files go. The downloadable versions will be rather more ordinary zipped app bundles.

I think Webstart is a great way to do a demo for downloadable software though - yes?

Cas :)

[ravuya]

There's so much free Flash stuff on the web that's similar to what we are capable of pulling off that it's not even funny anymore. On the other hand, you've got companies the size of the Cartoon Network selling mini-games based on their franchises that go for $19 a pop.

Therefore, spending time to polish your gameplay and make it worth the price of admission is much better. I have seen exactly zero games built in an RAD environment (VB, Flash, etc) that I would ever pay for. I have seen tons of Java WebStart games however, including the Alien Flux (I'll get my registration in ASAP!).

[FreakSoftware]

I have seen exactly zero games built in an RAD environment (VB, Flash, etc) that I would ever pay for.

You must admit, Armageddon is quite a nice game :)

http://www.codenautics.com/armageddon/

[princec]

Hurrah!

And I've tweaked the nag slightly ;) Will get Mac downloadable version up as soon as I can. Maybe tomorrow.

Cas :)

[FCCovett]

Therefore, spending time to polish your gameplay and make it worth the price of admission is much better.

Much better, yes; doable, I am not so sure. How are you going to compete with a bunch of console and PC games that take a team of professionals 2 years to develop and go for about $9.99 only 6 months after the release date?

[princec]

By being incredibly convenient. There you are, sat at your desk, trying to avoid doing work. Surf around for a downloadable game... click, play. No need to get off your arse.

Cas :)

[funkboy]

I have seen exactly zero games built in an RAD environment (VB, Flash, etc) that I would ever pay for.

I'm not getting defensive, but do you enjoy my golf or tennis game at all?

http://www.karlbecker.com

They have been relatively popular... not a whole lot, a very low conversion rate, but it has paid for some of my books.

[kodex]

I have had software appear on the macaddict CD and noticed a 20-25% increase in sales. Nothing i would really want to invest $1000 in, but when they do it for free its a nice little bump to sales.