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How To Find a Mobile Games Publisher?
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Nov 20, 2008 08:45 PM
from the take-me-away-from-all-this dept.
from the take-me-away-from-all-this dept.
n01 writes "In the last few months of my spare time, I've been implementing an abstract strategy board game (that I invented) along with a decent AI. The game resembles TwixT in that it is also a connection game, and could be played without the need for a cellphone or computer. The implementation on the Java 2 Mobile Edition platform will soon be finished, with only some minor usability and sound issues to fix. While I enjoyed working on the game (actually more than on my day job as a programmer) I would still like to earn some money from selling the game, so I can work more on such projects in the future. What experiences have Slashdot readers had with selling their applications/games for mobile phones? With which publisher will I have the broadest audience and achieve the highest earnings? Would you try to publish the game both as a mobile game and a traditional board game?"
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this being slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
the obvious answer is, of course, opensource it and make money from related services, you insensitive clod!
Re:this being slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:this being slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
On the open source note...
If it is popular then it will get knocked off on other platforms - or maybe even on your chosen platform.
The only way to make money then would be a lawsuit against the purveyors of said knock-off. Seeing as game rules have special designation under the law you would need to sue like the Scrabble folk did, focus on the actual board design etc.. and then you will just look like a prick to all the people who discovered 'your' game through the knock off you have now hounded in court.
Make a couple variations on game-play, open source the code, have a contest for free (donated?) stuff awarded to the best alternative implementation of game rules etc.., and then get an online game consortium to give you an interview based not on a CV, but the conversation their reps had with you at the game expo where you were hobnobbing with your new open source gaming friends.
Don't advertise on other game designer's comment threads without consent - hopefully you knew that already.
Have fun most of all, though, cause your idea is probably not going anywhere - most don't and it usually isn't cause they are bad ideas. Implementation is everything.
Parent
Sorry... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sorry Mario, but your profit is in another castle.
There's the cost of the developer SDK, getting your license, getting signed up on whatever development channel/website/thing the vendor wants everyone to play nice in, then you have to submit your work along with your SSN, DOB, and 3 drops of blood from your first born... Takes about 4-6 weeks to process your request, at which point... You find out that you violated some patent for using a contextual-menu based system utilizing the prefrontal lobes of sentient bipedal organisms for navigation and you actually owe them money.
There is no market for innovative games in the cell phone market-- There is only Zuul.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Android is where I'm planning to focus my efforts. The process for getting a j2me app distributed through the carriers is jsut a hair shy of futile for an independent developer. Sure there are other options to distribute J2ME apps through, but most of the market just goes throgh their carrier. Things like the Android and iPhone stores are a perfect match for independent developers.
Re:Sorry... (Score:4, Informative)
There is no market for innovative games in the cell phone market.
I beg to differ. [cnn.com]
-jcr
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe a PC would cost less, but you wouldn't be using a commercial copy of Visual Studio.
Visual Studio 2008 Professional is $679 on Amazon (or $375 through something like the Empower program), and you can easily get a decent PC for under $800. Then you can develop for Windows and Windows Mobile, both of which have a much larger install base than their Apple counterparts, and neither of which require some other company's permission for you to sell your software.
GPL it and sell it (Score:3, Interesting)
IMO, people who buy cellphone games for a dollar are not the people who will download and install GPLed games on their cellphone. Doing that you should maximize the number of people that uses your game without loosing money because of people that downloads the game and installs instead of just buying it. A paypal link (or similar) would also be a nice adition in the game web page.
Re:GPL it and sell it (Score:4, Insightful)
Nobody here is saying you can't sell GPL games. I believe he said that you can't make money doing it.
The team working on "Yo Frankie!" are donating their time.
Blender Institute is funding the project to improve their software, specifically to
It's a great idea, but it's disingenuous to hold it up as an example of a business model.
Parent
iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
iPhone apps are not based on java. He'd have to rewrite it.
Parent
Differences with vendors, Java, BREW (Score:4, Informative)
Granted it's been about 5 years since I did cellphone development, but back then every phone was different and required tweaking or custom support, and each vendor had their own Java API. Some used BREW instead of Java, which is/was an entirely different language (I spent a couple weeks rewriting a game from BREW to Java).
That said, EA might be your best bet, they have a strong cellphone market presence now.
Re:Differences with vendors, Java, BREW (Score:5, Informative)
Granted it's been about 5 years since I did cellphone development, but back then every phone was different and required tweaking or custom support, and each vendor had their own Java API.
I have a friend who runs a PR firm catering to the mobile apps industry, and they've all told him that they plan on their iPhone products being the bulk of their revenues by the middle of 2010, and putting all their other versions into maintenance mode. The development costs for the other smart phones aren't worth it between the different APIs per vendor and different UI and menu layouts, etc, that vary per carrier.
The iPhone totally changed the game.
-jcr
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
>The iPhone totally changed the game.
And it is likely that Android will change the game much, much more (when it finally really takes off). Imagine writing once and being able to run on dozens of different handsets across several networks. It will be far more attractive for developers than a single, proprietary platform like the iPhone.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Imagine writing once and being able to run on dozens of different handsets across several networks.
Oh, imagine it by all means! Just don't expect to actually get it. Does the phrase "write once, run anywhere" ring a bell?
It will be far more attractive for developers than a single, proprietary platform like the iPhone.
Want to bet?
-jcr
Re:Differences with vendors, Java, BREW (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
GP It will be far more attractive for developers than a single, proprietary platform like the iPhone.
JCR Want to bet?
I'm willing to bet that back in the day you thought Apple offered a more attractive platform for developers to make money on than MS did too.
Re:Differences with vendors, Java, BREW (Score:5, Informative)
Yup. Android still has the same problems that drove my company away from mobile development for years. There are just too many variables. Sure there's only one Android phone now, but a year from now... Here's a short list of variables that need to be accounted for on an android phone:
Resolution
Aspect ratio
Anamorphic pixels (yes, really, on a few handsets)
Button placement and layout. (Nothing at all can be taken for granted. Not even the existence of buttons.)
System permissions (which are determined on both a per model and per network basis.)
Memory availability
CPU speed.
System events (incoming call handling, etc.)
Optional input (GPS, Motion, multitouch, microphone, etc.)
"Yes" you say, "But don't I have to take into account these things on any desktop application?" No. Not to this extent. It's easy to make an interface that works at both 800x600 and 1920×1080. It's a much greater challenge to make one that looks good at 480x320 work at 128x160. (Even class A publishers are guilty of making games that are readable in HD but not SD. Phones are a much greater challenge.)
Catching and dealing with all of these fringe cases in programming and testing is a nightmare and significantly drives up the cost of something that is, frankly, very low margin to begin with. We found even developing for Palm was a better decision than mobile phones. (Though we even decided against that in the end.)
As one example of the blah of the market, the only reason anyone developed N-Gauge games was that Nokia financed 100% of the development.
However we're prototyping games for the iPhone at the moment. The SDK, path to market, and hardware support, and handsets in the field make it much more attractive than we've ever seen the mobile market in any country at any time.
Parent
Take a look at (Score:5, Informative)
porting issue (Score:4, Informative)
Casual Games, Software Sites (Score:4, Interesting)
People apparently make a bit of money by uploading their games to casual game sites, like Kongregate. Anybody can do this, and if your game becomes popular, you get a taste of the advertising revenue. The problem there is that only Flash games seem to be supported. Perhaps there's a way to compile a Java program to flash bytecodes instead of Java bytecodes?
Ever since I got my first PDA, I've downloaded (and often bought) mobile device software from sites like Handango. Google for "mobile software". Their mainstay seems to one-programmer shops like yours. Don't know how you get your software there, but it can't be hard.
Third idea: just put the software on your own web site, together with an Amazon or PayPal tip jar. Sometimes you can make more money by using your invention to create good will than you can by productizing it. I think over the years I've spend as much money rewarding authors of innovative mobile device freeware as I have buying software for these same devices.
Re: How To Find a Mobile Games Publisher? (Score:5, Informative)
When I was over there, I had to work with this publisher called Airborne for supporting one of our flagship games on AT&T. We tried our best to essentially cut them off completely in order to go direct to the carrier instead, but like the parasites that they are, they were ready to turn the tables on us and affect already live builds out on the market by killing off our subscription based system that is at the heart of the game in question. So we had no choice but to stay with them and put up with their piss poor staff that were in my honest opinion, some of the shittiest QA testers I've ever worked with, always reporting non-issues thinking that they are showstopper bugs, hence they held back submission to the carrier due to false alarms.
On the other hand, there are times you will need publishers since some of them hold the necessary digital signatures necessary to use certain MIDP API's locked out by the carrier. Case in point: T-Mobile, which requires THEIR very own digital signature to use the network on a J2ME midlet. Problem is: that sort of sig is only given out to big time mobile distributors and developers, so a person like you for example that runs a small time operation will have to rely on a publisher. What's worst is that when I worked on T-Mobile builds, I also had to work with Airborne and constantly send the builds to get signed in order to run it on the phones, and that would either take hours, or in some cases, days to get back fully signed, further slowing down the development process.
Long story short, take your game directly to the carriers, cut the middleman, I say again, bypass him. Your game is near completion right, so surely you can easily whip up a demo that you can present to the carrier's product manager, and garner enough interest on their end to establish a business relationship with them. You're better off showing it to AT&T first since they're the largest J2ME phone carrier in the country, and most of their MIDP API's aren't locked down like the ones you need to playback video and sound. However, you're going to have to invest some money into things like digital signatures and more handsets to test it on, since once you get your foot through the door, they're going to want you to port your game to high priority devices like the RAZR and the low end LG's and Samsungs, so you have to make sure that your code is scalable to support these crappy, but high selling handsets. If I were you, I would just pool up some money to get yourself a few phones off of eBay, like a Moto RAZR, since the install base on AT&T is in the tens of millions, and a tiny screen phone like the LG CG225, which is slow as hell and has Jar size limits, but like the RAZR, is more prevalent among customers in the network. Pro-tip: the shittiest phones sold by AT&T are always the ones on the top of the priority list. Basically, the easy part was creating a working app, the hard is yet to come, where you have to port your code to various other handsets, which will mean different screen sizes, speed, and heap memory available, plus the bugs associated with them.
However, if you want to take the independent route, you could also try a site like hovr.com for example, which provides free games to users, but the devs get a cut of the ad revenues. Still, you would have to invest on at minimum a digital signature to ensur
Learn Objective-C (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't Bother (been there, done that) (Score:5, Informative)
Quite a few years ago I wrote a J2ME Bluetooth racing game (along with an artist friend). We secured a popular license and publisher for it, and the previews and reviews were good (in real printed magazines!). We then sat back waiting for the mountains of cash to be delivered to our doors. It didn't happen. The game didn't get the exposure we were expecting, for whatever reason.
Not to be deterred, we took an improved version of the game engine (since the license was tied to the publisher) and developed something new. Our previous lesson learned (don't tie yourself into stupid deals) we found a new publisher. A small one, but one who assured us premium placement on a popular brand of handsets. The testing period dragged out, much frustration ensued, but the game finally launched. Again, to good reviews [pocketgamer.co.uk] (not as good as before, since this time the game was starting to show its age).
It didn't really sell. Never mind, we said, we can take the it elsewhere. So we took it to one of the bigger publishers, who would give us less of a cut but a lot more exposure. The game by this time was no longer cutting edge. In 2004, when it was originally created, the renderer was impressive. Fast forward to 2007 and it looks shabby next to the other hi-end racing titles.
Anyway, reviews were still okay and the game sold in decent numbers. That smaller cut, when going through multiple aggregators doesn't amount to much per unit, but the rise in sales make up for it. Or they would have done if we'd managed to get any of it from the distributor, who a year after the deal was signed went into receivership without ever paying a penny.
Developing games anonymously for the big guys made money. Pushing our own stuff never did.
For the curious, you can grab the game's source code here [google.com]