With an engaging new Store that now features traditional desktop apps and new ways to generate revenue, there has never been a better time to find your success in the Store.
Find out why Microsoft Store should be your new favorite way to distribute your traditional desktop apps. Learn why development teams and business decision makers are transitioning from native to PWA and listing in the Microsoft Store. Learn best practices for setting up your Windows app listing for success. We were pleasantly surprised by how easy and convenient Microsoft has made publishing apps. Good documentation, a well-thought-out-developer portal, and fast review cycles made a stress-free effort.
This will not only let the team know how much effort will be required to develop this game, but it will also help them to decide what development approach to choose -- cross-platform or porting. Moreover, knowing who the target audience is can get a significant influence on the art direction, UI, gameplay, and miscellaneous mechanics.
There's one last thing that's incredibly important to include in your game concept: your monetization strategy. Whether you plan on utilizing buy-to-play, premium services, in-app purchases, advertising, subscriptions, or a combination of these, this information is essential if you are planning to attract third-party investors like publishers, entrepreneurs, or friends.
As soon as your concept is ready, it's time to think of something more material. I'm talking about the money, of course. It is impossible to work just on your enthusiasm. Developing a game requires devotion, skills, and of course, a lot of money.
Unless you have enough money to finance the entire project yourself, you will need someone perhaps an investor or a publisher to fund the game. But nobody is going to open up their pockets and hand you their money just because you tell them you are about to make an awesome game.
Your project can only hope to meet its budget needs if your investors see a high probability that they'll get a satisfactory return on their investment.
If your concept cannot prove that to potential stakeholders, then you might as well throw it away. It sounds harsh, but that's just the way things work. You won't get deep pockets on the hook unless your concept is thought out and convincing. Sometimes, indie teams aren't aware of what they're getting into when they start hunting for investors and don't quite understand how much of a say those investors will get in the final version of the product.
So consider yourself warned -- when you conclude a contract with the investor and take their money, you're selling the ownership of your game partly or completely. From that point on, even if your name is credited with head development accolades, you're not the only one who will be making decisions about the game.
To summarize, getting money often means sacrificing creative independence. It's not ideal, but it's often a necessary compromise. Once you're prepared to make certain concessions, you have to figure out where to look for investors. Luckily, there are a number of places you can start your search. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Patreon, and IndieGogo can be really useful in terms of non-refundable funds. You might be surprised by how many people are willing to donate some money to help prospective projects see the light of release.
You can also apply for start-up launch platforms that provide information, research, and assistance with all aspects of getting a gaming business launched -- including ways to connect with investors. AngelList, for instance, is a great way to learn about potential investors and let them learn about you. Create a profile that includes specific info about the company, and explain your game concept if you want to increase your chances of getting noticed.
Business accelerators and incubators could also be useful for your game to enter the market. Incubator programs are focused on conceptualization, the formation of a team, and creation of a prototype; meanwhile, accelerators help indie teams develop a marketing strategy and put a game on the market.
Both programs provide consulting and mentoring services, conduct various master-classes, internships, workshops, and even occasionally assist with arranging offices and technical equipment. As much as you might want to, you obviously can't do everything yourself. So you need a team of like-minded individuals who are willing to collaborate on your project and make sure it's the best that it can be. You should build partner relationships with each team member, understand the skills and capacities they have at their disposal, and make sure everyone is on the same page with regard to what game you hope to have at release and what audience will be playing it.
The team should work as a holistic mechanism. In order to achieve this, you'll need to study your team members to identify their strengths and weaknesses and gauge the scope of their knowledge. If you're working on a larger scale project, you may also want to consider hiring professional managers who will help you control and administer the team, as well as experienced marketers who will be in charge of tracking the latest trends and help you promote the game. One alternative to this is to outsource most of that work and find a team of specialists to handle different aspects of the game's development or even promotion if needed.
Many publishers and game development companies such as Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Namco, Nintendo, and even Blizzard outsource the creation of their popular titles to outside studios.
Sometimes different parts of the game are crafted by different teams depending on their skillset. Outsourcing companies like Game-Ace , a Ukrainian-based game development company, usually provide a full range of services from developing game concepts to implementing monetization strategies.
But if funds are a limiting factor, this obviously won't be something you can do. The game engine is a program component that allows for creating and launching games. In other words, the game engine provides developers with tools and frameworks to create most of the components for a game and put them all together. Just as games are diverse, there are many game engines that can simplify and facilitate your development process. Even though some teams prefer to create proprietary engines that satisfy their specific needs, the market still has a lot to offer.
The choice depends on the goals and objectives you set when creating the game concept. Here are a few critical questions to ask when choosing a programming environment that will point you in the right direction:. Early on in development, you want to reach out to gaming publications - don't bother with the big names like Rock Paper Shotgun or Game Informer - they don't have enough time to write about every indie project that gets mentioned to them.
Look to the smaller sites like ind Immediately they won't help you. They might generate a slight uptick in traffic to your website but otherwise they're not going to do much that you'll notice. They will however become a concrete backlink to your website as far as search engines are concerned so this will essentially act as your manual SEO optimization. Anything you mention in the article pertaining to your game and your game's "search terms" will help improve your ranking on google and others and over time this will help you to get noticed more.
The more websites linking to yours, the greater your ranking. This will take more than a year to have any useful effect, but you're likely to be developing your game for more than a year anyway so you have time. Same goes for talking about the game on various gaming forums, reddit, twitter etc. Make sure you always include a link back to your game's website when you talk about it and it will pay off in the long run. Also the word of mouth that you're generating will take more than a year to have a useful affect but its getting your game into the consciousness of as many people as you can.
Eventually when you do land an article in RPS or GI or what have you, more people will think "Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that game" and you'll likely get a better response than a game being reported on for the first time. Finally when your game is ready for release, especially if you're on steam send out a few hundred keys or copies to various twitch gamers, youtubers, reviewers and anyone else you think might be interested in the game and would like it.
Don't ask for anything directly, just explain that you've made this game, and you think they'd like it and if they do, you'd love to hear their opinion. Again, go to the little guys first before you approach any big names. If 10 little guys are talking about your game, its more likely to catch the attention of one of the big ones. I will say that someone people think you should be very direct when contacting potential promoters on youtube and twitch and ask them to post about or review your game.
My theory is that they already get hundreds of people asking them for favors so if you're simply sending them a copy because you're a fan and they're awesome, they might appreciate it more. Leave it to them to decide whether or not they think its worth promoting. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.
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Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 5 months ago. Active 5 years, 5 months ago. Viewed 12k times. Improve this question. Jacob Neal Jacob Neal 1 1 gold badge 1 1 silver badge 6 6 bronze badges. And thanks for not making your question an advertisement for your game : Good luck Jacob! Congrats on finishing your game! Don't hold your breath. Otherwise, it's unlikely any publisher will be interested either. Welcome to the real world. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes.
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