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View Full Version : October Challenge = game jam + marketing



dislekcia
23-09-2010, 02:22 PM
http://www.toonormal.com/2010/09/23/the-october-challenge


Make a game ? take it to market ? sell 1 copy

Compared to the usual game jam and compo fare, this is a drastic change from the norm. Sales and marketing usually don?t factor in to the creative process of a Ludum Dare; Neither does filling out tax forms and setting up bank accounts. There?s a fantastic community of developers involved in indie, freeware and compo/jams. The compo/jam is the catalyst for many to take the plunge and start creating games regularly. After that, we leave it up to you figure out how to do more with it. I?m especially excited about this, not only for me (new game!), but for all those developers that haven?t taken the business dive yet. We regularly get many thank you?s after an LD, from developers that needed that little bit of external encouragement to finally sit down and do it. This wild diversion could be the seed needed by a handful of jammers to finally make the leap in to selling games. It?s crazy optimistic, but the one thing we?ve learned from LD is that deadlines are an amazing thing.

More at the link above... Awesome concept. With PayPal finally in SA, we can now totally enter stuff like this. So we should! ;)

FuzzYspo0N
23-09-2010, 06:27 PM
This is intriguing, but reading through all the pages and sites - there is not prize but the challenge itself right?

It says if you do manage to sell a game, you win.

Realistically, i think this is a little easier than it sounds if you are an existing app developer on a store for example... You can just make a quick game, polish it up and sell a copy in a matter of days. Do they judge the game as well?

dislekcia
23-09-2010, 07:56 PM
This is intriguing, but reading through all the pages and sites - there is not prize but the challenge itself right?

It says if you do manage to sell a game, you win.

Realistically, i think this is a little easier than it sounds if you are an existing app developer on a store for example... You can just make a quick game, polish it up and sell a copy in a matter of days. Do they judge the game as well?

I think the whole point is to get people to experience that whole "polish it up and sell a copy" thing. I mean, so far it's proving pretty hard for me personally ;)

FuzzYspo0N
25-09-2010, 09:10 PM
I think its definately a hard one for most people. I think it said it on the site "many of you have made games" but stop there, wanna buy a copy of my game D?

dislekcia
26-09-2010, 01:42 AM
I think its definately a hard one for most people. I think it said it on the site "many of you have made games" but stop there, wanna buy a copy of my game D?

I would totally buy your game at a LAN ;)

edg3
01-10-2010, 08:40 AM
Would it be fine for a "Buy it for whatever you feel it is worth, or have it for free anyway!"?

dislekcia
01-10-2010, 11:15 AM
Would it be fine for a "Buy it for whatever you feel it is worth, or have it for free anyway!"?

Provided someone buys it once, I think you'd be golden :)

Evolution
01-10-2010, 01:20 PM
It's one thing to make a game, and another thing to sell it. Most gamers don't even spend the money to buy AAA titles, unless they really like the game to fork out money on release. Indie games have to be different if they want to stand out, and not compare with AAA titles. Indie developers have to also do allot more with less so that they can sell enough to make a profit. Reputation also plays a huge role in the consumers willingness to support your game.