Game Selling Strategy

You need a step that shows the conversion rate of Ap users to hard copy published game buyers. You'll probably want three things -
- Some sort of survey showing the game buying habits of your Ap users, stressing their purchase of published games. Be able to tell the publisher how much the users spend on hard copy games per year.
- Some sort of test sales, probably a prototype run of a couple thousand with varying price points and regional sales.
- Some sort of commitment from Ap users to buy the published game. Something in the form of requests for notification of release date and sales locations. Responses to an offer to mail (Snail mail, not e-mail) coupons to actual physical addresses holds up better than just an e-mail list.

The more interactive your fan base the better your sales conversion is likely to be.

I think there is probably room to "grow" (in terms of popularity) if you have an App Game. And I think instead of *charging* people for the App, it would be free to download and play BUT you add *micro transactions* which allow things to *improve* your game.

Some ways of doing this would be to "charge" a player to *level up* his character. Or to charge a player for *certain* equipment in-app. For example you could buy the "Iron Longsword" from the Forge early on in the game using "game currency". But at the same time you could have bought "Fire Sword +2" from that same Forge however it would require an App-Store *micro transaction* to actually BUY this item.

Basically you could progress your character *FASTER* if you use *micro transactions*. Sure you can play and earn "game currency" - but a "BUY NOW" feature gives players options! And some players will USE those options while other players might play the game for free.

Offering an App/Game of your Tabletop game is a way to build your "audience" of gamers. And it is perhaps one of the ways of *marketing* your game without the burdens of PnP (Print-And-Play)... Although it might be costlier to develop (in terms of programming hours)...

The one hesitation I have is this:

-Is this considered *self-publishing*?

Meaning that if you put out a free App and then as Corsaire suggested go to a $0.99 fee, squeeze in ads or my preference (which are in-game *micro transactions*) would this prevent the game from being picked up from a traditional *Game Publisher*?

We already know that publishers want to reserve their rights to *tweak*, improve and change a game (let's assume to improve it) and that's why some Kickstarters prohibit this. Not all the cases apply but for most games this is a reason to NOT consider the game for publication.

Could it be the same for a Game App??? Would the publisher say: "The game is already in consumer hands. We don't have room to correct or change the game - since consumers are already playing the game."

This is my *only* concern. Building a following is a great idea - but I'm wondering if this should be done in tandem with a Publisher who is ALREADY on-board with your product. My concerns are that publishers probably DON'T need an App to SELL your game. They have their own manufacturing and distribution deals to sell a game to brick and mortar stores. I think publishers can easily see volumes of 10,000 units in that model considering the amount of *traditional* distribution there is (in the U.S. and Canada for example).

So I do have my reservations about the concept... I too find it intriguing also.

Note: I am also interested in other development such as Nintendo DS gaming... But I realize that single player games require AI. This complicates matters further. So I would be looking at Internet play - which I have never been able to do with my DS...

Note 2: Ideally I would offer the game/app free and then charge something like a $5.00 *micro transaction* fee to get something like "500 in-game credits". And then players could spend the credits on whatever aspects of the game interest them, like leveling-up, buying better equipment, changing the look & feel of their character, etc.

I have seen this done in Internet games... Some are ridiculously expensive for what you get. I would be more reasonable in allow credits to be used to "unlock" different aspects of the game...

Note 3: I purchase TODAY the Nintendo Wifi USB Connector for about $60 (Shipping & Handling included). It *used* to be a good way to connect your DS to a local broadband connection via a Home PC. Obviously the DSi allows more flexible connectivity (WEP and WPA) but I don't have Wi-Fi at home. The USB connector REQUIRES that the Home PC ALLOW the DS (or DSi) connecting be authorized to have broadband access. This is good, nobody else can use your connection unless you MANUALLY authorize it.

Since I am interested in Internet (Wi-Fi) gaming with my DSi ... This was the *easiest* option (the USB Connector). I'm not sure if I will be able to program something or not (I have a background in Programming/Development - but not in gaming). There is still more research I need to do to figure out how to go about and "code" an Internet application for the Nintendo DS/DSi. One thing for certain, if I am able to connect and develop some test software - I'm not certain where I'll go with this.

To start, I'd just like to see some simple Internet "Hello World!" application that I develop work on the DSi (using some form of Internet connectivity)... And then I'll take things from there...

Well what I can think about in terms of *micro transactions* are EXTRAS to the "Video" version of the game. Like let's say you have a *Character* in the Video version... You can configure the character to your liking (appearance-wise). This could cost a certain amount of credits to get your character looking like you want.

In the tabletop version, there would be only *character cards*... So you could choose your character but you would not have the flexibility to customize them like in the video version.

Another possible aspect is *levelling up*. In the video version, you could have more stats that you could increase (for purposes of improving or altering combat performance). In the tabletop version, you would only have the *basic* stats required for combat. And maybe you CANNOT level them up. You can only rely on equipment that your character can use. Micro transactions can be used to *level up* the extended character stats, again a play on the character...

The other aspect of *micro transactions* would be like visiting the forge. You can use in-game currency, like gold to purchase weapons. But the more powerful weapons require diamonds (with a micro transaction credits). This would make the advancement of the game more rapid since the stronger weapons make the game easier to play... Things like that.