Game Over (now what?)

[Carlos Camacho]

This thread is dedicated to shareware developers and how they can increase sales.

As I use various applications, I notice more and more of them let me know there is a new version available, and allow me to download the new version, or in some cases, this is done automatically. I started thinking about this the other day and wondered why don't we see more of this in shareware games in terms of content?

For example, your game has 10 levels. The player finishes all 10 levels, what do you usually display at that point? A big "Good Job!" type of message? Perhaps a message to remind them to check out your other games? To me, this is a great time to press them to purchase more content for their games. Content == new levels, weapons, textures, etc etc. But don't just tell them about what is available, why not make the whole process seamless? This way, the player selects additional content within the game, pays for it, and continues.

With the APIs of various payment gateways available, this is possible isn't it?

Are there any examples (on the Mac) of this type of in-game marketing?

[diordna]

Sounds like this could be done pretty easily, but you'd have some trouble on the server side. How do you make a download-on-payment thing?

But other than that, all that would be required is for you to download a compressed file and open it (or read directly from it, because BlitzMax has very good zip file support).

[skyhawk]

I'm assuming you mean after the fact... (a year down the road), cause new levels and such are not always a very easy thing to make. It takes lee at least a good day (assuming we have all objects already done) to create a level.... then we have to spend at least 3-5 days testing it and making sure everything is right.... (3-5 days not including the massive amount of OTHER work we have to do). And new objects can take anywhere from 1-2 weeks to create. (usually we batch create them in groups of 4).

Now a good example I could imagine is Jake's Escape... something like paying a quarter to unlock a level (why isn't this game an arcade machine?).

[funkboy]

Is there any purchase service out there that would make online arcade games (quarter per level, perhaps) viable?

[Jake]

Now a good example I could imagine is Jake's Escape... something like paying a quarter to unlock a level (why isn't this game an arcade machine?).

I was just going to mention how Escape and GL Golf both have options to buy more content for $10. Escape has 35 levels standard for $15.00 and 100 total if you buy the expansion pack for another $10.00. GL Golf has 2 courses for $15.00 and 10 for $10.00. Because you get so many more levels/holes for less that you paid for the original game I am getting about a 50%-65% conversion for the expansions for both games.

Good point about the automatic update downloads. I added that to GL Golf and I think it is a good way to keep people more active and buying more courses!