Kickstarter, 8Bit and other crowdfunding sites are awesome for funding “ideas”, but what about projects that have already made progress and have fans wanting to play them and support the developers? Alphafunding fills this void, as the basic purpose is we give fans early access to games which are not complete, but will be frequently updated, in return for their purchase. Developers win because the money allows them to make bigger and better things, and the players win because they get to feel good about themselves and help their favorites get the love and polish they need (whilst playing of course!).

-Scott Reismanis, Founder of Desura

Alphafunding basically means paying the developer for a game that is still in development, and in exchange get instant access to the (often buggy) game. All future updates are included when you alphafund a game(most of the time). Minecraft is the best known example of Alphafunding. People pay to play a game still in development, and Mojang gives out a new update every once in a while, adding more features to play with.

Desura, the STEAM for indie games — as it has been called, has recently launched a new project: Alphafunding. Desura users get to support indie developers in the development of the game, get regular blog updates about them and of course: get instant access to them. Desura users all around the globe are wildly enthusiastic about this, here are some comments on Alphafunding on Desura:

“Look at the clock, get the demo, look at the clock again.
Did you see how long you played?”
-Pogswarts

“Great initiative and good use of Desura. I will surely support some games this way over time.”
-Chriz_86

“Awesome. LONG LIVE INDIE GAMES!”
-Ennui

I couldn’t agree more. The games currently being alphafunded on Desura, can be viewed here. One of them is Project Zomboid, a review which can be found on IGM. To read about the recent burglary that seriously pushed the development of Project Zomboid back, read this article.
Scott Reismanis, Founder of DesuraNET(IndieDB, ModDB, Desura)

I recently had a chance to interview Scott Reismanis, the founder of Desura, about Alphafunding. In it, we talk about the why and how of Alphafunding. Give it a read, if you like.

DB, IGM: Me, Dale Beerling, IndieGameMag
SR, DNET: Scott Reismanis, founder of DesuraNET

DB, IGM: How well is the alphafunding on Desura going? Is it working out as you expected, or are there any problems?

SR, DNET: There are tons of digital distribution services which just do releases, which is cool but we like to do things a little different, “the indie way” I suppose you could say. If we can help some developers make better games and eliminate the hassle / stress of Paypal and other problems then that is win/win, after all, we want these people focusing their effort on making a great game. Plus, I feel we are all about bringing developers and players closer together, and having developers blog about their progress and then allowing fans the ability to play the alpha and see the progress is pretty cool I reckon.

DB, IGM: It sounds like you’re really focusing on helping the indie developers, but then why are there just a few games in the Alphafunding category at the moment?

SR, DNET:Handpicked because they are all a little different, all awesome, all alphas and well suited. We are going to be quite picky about who we choose for alphafunding, because like crowdfunding, it works best when you have fans and supporters ready and willing to help.

DB, IGM: Oh okay. Do you think that Alphafunding could be a big change in how (indie) games will be published in the future?

SR, DNET:Whilst it isn’t for everyone, I think you’d be crazy as an indie to not consider it. The way I see it is, it takes years to make a game, and then when you release, you get maybe a week of coverage in the form of reviews on other sites. To depend on that week to earn your money is a massive risk and any number of things can go wrong – especially as marketing usually isn’t a strength of developers. Imagine then, that over the 2 years you make your game, every time you post an update you have a chance to reach more fans and more sales? If you’ve got someone wanting to support your project you’d be crazy to ignore them – let them, because when you do eventually release in 6 months, they may have forgotten or missed the release. Besides, look at how damn well it has worked for Minecraft, Overgrowth, NS2 and others.

DB, IGM: I think we’ve covered most aspects to cover, so let’s move on! What else might we expect to see from Desura in the future?

SR, DNET:Essentially anything that is good for developers, good for our users and is different. Steam kicks ass, so we are just continually going to try different stuff. For example, right now Linux is a big focus of ours; as is alphafunding. We’ve got some cool stuff coming soon so I wish I could share more, but you will just have to wait and see.

DB, IGM: Too bad, I can’t wait! Anything else to say before we wrap this up?

SR, DNET: Virtually all of the alphafunded games are $5 to $10, all of them are awesome (guaranteed) so show them your support and purchase. It’s a cool initiative and something we’d like to see happen more and more.

DB, IGM: Okay, thanks for your time!

SR, DNET: Been awesome, thank you!

–

Thank you for taking your time to read this article, but if you’ve got more time, I’d like to hear your opinion on Alphafunding, so leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Read any of my other articles at: http://www.indiegamemag.com/author/grafixgfx/

• Aztaka
• City Rain
• Puzzlegeddon
• Bob Came in Pieces
• Vizati
• Lylian

You can check out the sale at the Indie Games Pack Website.  It’s only available for 12 more days.

Don’t get frustrated when your game doesn’t sell thousands of copies on day one.  There’s a lot of Indies out there who say, “My game has been out for a week and I still have no sales!”  Sometimes it’s because the game is lousy, but more often than not it’s because nobody knows about the game.  Marketing is paramount!

We have already talked about how to build buzz for the game while you’re working on it, but don’t just forget about your game after you release it.  Here’s a few marketing essentials.

Website – This was touched on in Lesson 2, but obviously creating a website and using it to interact with customers is a no brainer, so do it.

Email Blasts – If you don’t get the press to cover your game, then nobody will find it and you’ll be whining about your lack of sales.  After your game is done, think about your audience and target the websites, magazines, etc. that make sense to contact.  My overall advice for your email is to come across as a real human being.  The press is a lot more likely to actually read your email if you have a concise subject line, introduce yourself and talk about your game.  The gaming press gets blasted with press releases all the time that are impersonal and corporate.  You’re an indie developer so use your personality to stand out from the crowd.  If you don’t get a response from someone about reviewing or featuring your game, don’t lose hope either.  It is okay to send a follow-up email…just don’t go spam crazy.  Don’t ask if they’re interested in a review copy either; just send it!

Game Trailer – Creating a game trailer showing your game in action is a great way to garner interest and encourage downloads.  Be sure to send emails out about new trailers and post the video around the net.

Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. are all great ways to interact with fans, link to your website, announce promotions, give away free copies etc.  They’re great marketing tools that are free to use.

Newsletter – Collect email addresses through promotions and sneak peeks at your game.  Once your game is out, email these potential customers about your game release.  You can email these same potential customers about future games or upcoming promotions and discounts.

Forums – Register for appropriate gaming forums and provide links to your website and game demo in your signature.  Every time you post, there will be a way for readers to check out your game.

Attend Conventions – Attending IGF, GDC, PAX and other conventions are great ways to meet other game developers and gaming press.  Network and create partnerships so that you can market your game more effectively and build links and traffic to your site.

Advertising – Indies have had mixed results with paid advertising, but it’s worth mentioning that there are ways to pay for web traffic.  Some people have found that they can be very successful with pay-per-click and other low-cost advertising campaigns.

Don’t Give Up, but Don’t Go Overboard Either!

Marketing is a full time job.  Instead of sending one press release when your game is finally completed, think about sending a press release announcing your game, announcing the free public beta, and then finally announcing the game’s release.  Continue marketing your indie title with relevant announcements about game updates and more.  A good tip is to break up the monotony of marketing your game by doing only a few marketing tasks a day.

There’s no magic bullet to marketing an indie game, but if you’re personable and have an interesting product, you should be able to get some press coverage for your game.  Marketing is an ongoing process.  Stay with it and give your game time to grow.

Your game is done and now it’s time to make some money (hopefully). Instead of walking you through every possible combination of release scenarios, I am just going to outline some of the key release avenues that most indies utilize:

Self-Publish
If you’ve successfully been marketing your game throughout the development period, Self-Publishing and releasing your game on your website is a no-brainer. The advantage of selling downloads through your website is that you, the developer, collect the majority of each sale and have control over the website itself so that you can adequately support, feature, and sell your product. The disadvantage is that most indies have measly traffic and will not be able to reach their customers as effectively.

Portals
Before you release your game on your own site, it’s probably a good idea to contact some portals and see if they would be interested in selling your game. What’s a game portal? Well, it’s a site that collects a bunch of games and sells them through a unified website. Some prime examples of portals are: Valve’s Steam, Big Fish Games, Impulse, Reflexive/Amazon, Real Arcade and Direct2Drive. Every portal is different with different audiences and some even act as publishers. There are exclusive and non-exclusive deals and tons of other particulars that I won’t get into. Generally, getting on portals is a good thing since your game will be in front of new eyes. However, since a developer has less and less control over their game’s price on a portal, it is usually best to sell your game at a premium on your own site initially and then boosting your game’s sales by releasing on several portals over the next year. Some deals may be too good to turn down though.

Publisher
If you want to go Retail, you’ll almost definitely need a publisher. Publishers can also help get your game on a whole bunch of other distribution channels and portals. Publishers certainly help give a game the backing power of a larger company but it comes at a price. Publishers are often going to take a cut of sales. That’s the cost of using them and harnessing their marketing power. There are some horror stories out there of publishers who don’t pay royalties or don’t support your game at all. Generally, it’s good to request a marketing action plan and an upfront payment to make sure they mean business.

During the final stages of your game’s development, you should start putting together a release schedule, contact portals, distributors, and publishers and plan out your game’s release. Remember to use press releases and solicit reviews. Send a press release announcing your game’s release date about a month out and then send out review copies. Send out another press release announcing your game’s release on your website (or portal) and be sure to keep sending out releases when your game is available on new websites or distribution channels. Scream about your game’s release from a mountain top and be consistent and persistent. Dedication will result in press coverage which will help get your website visitors and your game demo downloaded.

Keep in mind that it’s a task in and of itself to get people to visit your website and actually download, install and play your game demo. Don’t get frustrated when you don’t sell thousands of units on Day 1. Remember that your game is not the next Halo and people haven’t been talking about it for months on end. Work to create excitement prior to release. Use player and reviewer quotes, put gameplay footage up on YouTube, and try to create excitement and inform people about your big indie game release.

More importantly, keep it up after the release. In the final lesson of this guide, we’ll touch on how important it is to continually market your game and push sales.

IndieDB.com launched yesterday.  In Short, it’s ModDB for Indies.  The longer version is: The aim of Indie DB is to connect independent developers of games with players, from the day they start developing their game to the day they release it. On Indie DB we give developers control of the site, allowing them to share details and behind the scenes insight about the games they are creating, in the form of news, images, videos and downloads.

If you’re an Indie Developer, IndieDB is a great place to start marketing and selling your game. Thanks to IndieDB for the shoutouts to IGM!

http://www.indiedb.com/groups/indiedb/news/introducing-indiedb

http://www.indiedb.com/#infowelcome

A bulk of your indie development time will be spent on coding and programming your game. Putting in all your features, designing levels, debugging the game, updating graphics, and inputting sounds and music is a major portion of indie development, but don’t think that just because your game runs and plays from start to finish means that its ready for release. You should spend about the same amount of time perfecting your game’s design and features that you spent coding the thing. Going thru the game with a fine toothed comb, working out all the blemishes and adding production value goes a long way. If you are finished programming and have finished graphics, sound, etc. in there, then it’s time to start the following:[This Content is Exclusive for Insider]

By copying an existing indie or casual game, you will be assured that there is an audience willing to pay to enjoy the game mechanic. You’ll even know which portals and websites to submit your game to for publishing and distribution once it is completed, but more on that topic later. Cloning cuts out a lot of the preparation, market studies, and prototype work and gets you right to coding and marketing your game. These are the two things that a successful indie developer spends the majority of their time on. It’s assumed that an indie developer does a lot of coding, but a lot of beginners miss out on the marketing.

Marketing can begin before you’ve even settled on what game you’re producing. These next couple tips aren’t required per se, but they certainly will help you if you plan to sell your game on your own website. Obviously, if you want that to be an option, you have to have a website. It’s never too early to create a website and start generating some traffic. Starting a development blog can be a great marketing tool as well since you can start generating excitement for your title by announcing the game (when you finally decide on it), revealing screenshots, or even releasing alpha and beta builds. If you want to make some money while you code, you could even sign up as an affiliate with a larger game portal or with other indie developers and sell games on your site. Don’t expect big sales, but if you’re decent at marketing and get a steady traffic flow you can make something.

Another reason to start your website ASAP is because that the longer a site has been in existence, the better its page rank will be, the more incoming links it will have, and the more time you’ll have to optimize your pages with the search engines. Starting your website now will give you time to get feedback and ensure the site looks professional; People won’t buy anything from a sketchy or unprofessional website. Building a website, expecting people to find it and releasing a game on it is never a winning strategy. A website is not a brick and mortar store; people won’t drive by it and stop in. You have to market it and it’s never too early to start.

Once you have a website, market the hell out of it. But a link in your forum signature, submit it to the free online directories, post about it on facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. Start networking and connecting with potential customers. You can build a fanbase and community for your game before it is even released. Your website is a crucial marketing tool. Generating traffic for your site and excitement for your game will assure better sales.

Is creating a website and marketing it effectively crucial to making an indie game? No. But to be truly independent, a developer shouldn’t rely on a portal or publisher to peddle their game. Distributing your game thru other channels can be great, but you pay for it. You’ll collect 90%+ of a sale on your own website, with a fraction taken out from the payment processor. Most publisher deals will only give you around a 40% cut because you are using their marketing power, web traffic, expertise, and brand. Don’t let the publishers and portals make or break you.

HOMEWORK:
Build your Website – optimize it, start a blog, make it look professional, start selling games on it by affiliating with a portal or other indie game developers.

Market your Website – build a fanbase and community for your game. Create excitement before it’s even released.

Click the Picture to Check it Out

You may have noticed the little link crop up last week on our homepage, but today we’re officially announcing our YouTube Channel. Here’s a quick breakdown of what to expect:

What is it?

It’s a place on YouTube that will compile and list all of the great indie game trailers and videos out there.  We’ll continue to highlight game trailers on our site, but there’s a ton of stuff out there and this will be 1 centralized place to see the latest indie game movies, chat about them, rate them, etc.

Why YouTube?

Pretty simple because they’re the biggest social video site and Vimeo sucks and removes indie game videos and such.

Will IGM be posting their own Videos?

We have a few ideas for videos that we may get to if the channel is popular.  No promises, but we may eventually post video reviews, indie play by play etc.

How do I submit my Indie Game Video?

For now, shoot us an Email with the Subject: Game Trailer.  You can also DM or @ us on Twitter (probably a little faster response).

Wakeup call, every developer thinks their game idea is genius. As confident as you are in your game concept, new indie developers constantly make the mistake of thinking they can produce, code and be successful with a unique game concept out of the gate. Have you even considered how you are going to market and sell this innovativegame? What’s your game’s demographic? How long will it take to produce? How much will art, music and other assets cost? What platform will it launch on? What engine will the game run on?

If you don’t know the answer to all those questions, it’s time to cool down. I’ve never met a game developer who doesn’t have hundreds of game ideas. The question becomes, which of these ideas will be the most profitable. The reality is that your innovative and groundbreaking game idea is expensive and risky to make. The hardest thing about making an indie game isn’t coming up with the concept; it’s executing and finishing it. Many aspiring indie game developers never finish their great game idea because it was too grandiose to start out with. You’re not going to come out with the next “World of Goo” if you’re new to the industry. If you’ve never worked for a big game publisher, table your great game idea till you get at least 1 profitable indie game under your belt. The innovative and risky game will always be there for later.

This advice has been given ad nauseam on so many indie game forums. Regardless, the noob is stubborn, doesn’t listen, and never completes their gaming opus. The other common scenario is that they do finish and the game is mediocre (at best) and could use a lot more polish. Trust me I’ve been there. It sucks to finish a game and have lackluster sales. Everybody wants to sell hundreds of copies that first day of release, but you’re not releasing the next Halo, Warcraft, or Nintendo title.

Unfortunately it’s tough to pay for all the art, music and assets that go into an indie game. And that’s not even taking into account all your blood, sweat and tears. Convinced yet? Are you so passionate about your game idea that you’re willing to pay thousands of dollars just to have it made? If you are, go for it. You may break-even or even luck out and make some money, just be prepared for the loss.

If you want to be a lasting indie developer, you need to make money. So now that you’ve let go of your illustrious game, what do you do? The next step is finding an established game genre that you’re passionate about or enjoy. Visit one of the casual portals, play some free demos and find a game that’s really fun for you. If casual is not your thing, check out Steam or Direct2Drive for some of the more hardcore indie titles. Casual’s the easier route if you ask me, but there’s a good niche with hardcore strategy titles, RPGs, sims, etc. as well.

Do your homework. Find that game. Study it and prepare to copy it. It sucks, but cloning an indie game is an excellent way to get some experience, learn about developing, and assure that your game has potential customers. Go for a subtle tweaked clone or original spin on a proven game concept rather than your ambitious, risky and expensive game idea.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
Download and play a ton of indie and casual games. Find a core game mechanic that you enjoy