About distributing a game

Hi,

i was wondering a bit about how's it all going to be, when our game will be finished. I want to be selling the game, but i'm not interested in distributing on Steam, i can't just sell the game on Steam without going throug the GreenLite and if they takes about 30% from the game, i think is crazy. I plan sell the game on our website through some payment Gateway such as Paypal, and it would generate a download link after the payment, but here it comes the problem.

I read the topic about beta-testers and even i would test the game really in deep, it could always happen that some bugs shows up after putting the game in sell.
I can upload the new version instead of the old one of course, but it would be just for the people who didnt already buy the game.
So my questions is, if there is any option to make actualization for the game, that the game would be connect to the internet somehow, or creating some patch?

how are you dealing with this stuff?
Thanks!

When you build/compile your game it is recommended to compile each thing into individual files rather than all of it going into one massive .vis file. This way if you replace anything or fix any bugs then you only need to copy the .vis file & the relevant files that have been updated into an installer which will add or replace the necessary files.

You could post a bit about an update in a news section or maybe via an newsletter. I also believe that you could actually implement a news system into your game menu too, seeing as VS supports Lua Socket which gives you various methods for accessing/updating online content - not an auto-updater obviously but it could be used to access some news feed, website, a database etc. I don't actually know how it works as I've not seen it in action, nor tested it. David implemented it a couple builds back I think.

In regards to steam: nearly all distribution services will take a large cut of your game; usually around 50% of your sale profit. It's same in the music, video & code sharing distribution industry too. I recently looked into Code Canyon as a platform for selling scripts I write & they take approx 50-60% of each sale.

Another thing to consider is that, you will more likely than not get more sales on steam than anywhere else, especially if you consider taking part in some of the game sales they often put on, as they tend to generate/renew interest in games.

There are other places you can sell games from too, such as: desura, humble & gog. I don't know how much commission they take per sale mind, but they are all good places for getting exposure for your game. Just think of it as a form of advertising/marketing. Sure I don't particularly agree most of the time with the ridiculously high commission percentages, as all they are doing really is sticking your game & files into a database on the server which people can then buy.

Right, i didn't know about that, it seems crazy to me, they would have bigger part of sales than me, and i'm working on that almost everyday. I just want to keep the price low, just sell the game for a few dollars/pounds.
So that people could buy it without any troubles, but i'm still forced to raise the price. The budget keeps growing, and the game still takes more time.

Steam is surely good place to present your game and to be visible, but i don't know i just can't stand those percentages, i believe you cant get a lot of sales without those services.

About that patch.. thanks, it's quiet simple, cool I actually already read something about that lua socket thing, although I still don't understand lua so well, it looked interesting.

Don't forget about that crazy EU VAT legislation valid from 1.1.2015. A lot of EU indies can't handle that so they won't sell their games over their websites.
Check out: http://store.cbe-software.com/index.php

Btw GOG is also 70/30 I believe.

Em.. i'm not sure if i undestad.. So it means i have to pay VAT differently depending on who bought it?

But why should i pay VAT? I think i dont need to pay it. I will pay only income tax

If you're not an accountant you have only two options: hire an accountant (which would cost a lot more then 30% for stream/gog) or you can do the paperwork by yourself and spend around five hours a day with filling forms and begging every one of your customer to provide you his/her name, birth date, address and other informations. Or you can take the risk, don't do anything of that, but maybe you will end up in jail... So that's it, thank you, dear EU!

Well, i'm confused now, so i will read about that more later on. I won't take any risk, i wanna do it right, i just never sell something before. Thanks for info Gusty.

I really think that digital distribution servers like Steam, GOG, Desura, Humble Bundle is way to go. You don't care about any paperwork, you don't care about marketing, you don't directly deal with customer's problems and so on. Maybe you think that 30% is a lot, but I think it isn't, because as I said, those guys will do a lot of work for you so you can stay what you are - game developer.

So i was thinking a little bit about that and i decided to use Steam. I read about Steam more and it actually has a lot of advantages, and it just looks more profi, and it's more comfortable for the customers. If they takes 30%, i'm happy with that.

The thing with distribution service platforms, is that they are providing marketing/advertising for you too by posting your product on their main page (every so often if you take part in their promotional sales/offers etc) as well as posting about your game through various social media platforms - I mean it's also in their best interests to sell as many copies as they can, as it's money for you & them.

Quick note: It's probably a good idea to get on a few distribution platforms if you can because this will potentially generate more exposure & sales traffic for your game, seeing as not everyone uses or likes steam. Some people prefer the DRM-free providers like GOG & Humble.

You have to use DRM when you are distributing on Steam? I wouldn't like have protections in our game.