Publishing on the internet.

[hoodrat3785]

Is this a good idea or no? I am not sure how I wish to publish my new game.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

And welcome to a pretty big topic ...

The first step is to get a better idea by what you mean by "publish," because it makes a big difference. The different possible meanings include:

1) Posting the game for all to see, or providing it as an easy download. (This is what Mike Sullivan has done with Munchkins, or what James V. West has done with The Pool.)
2) Offering it for sale, so that people send you money on-line and you send them the game as hard copy or by e-mail. (This is what Vincent Baker has done with kill puppies for satan)
3) Combining #1 and #2, so that a free copy is available but a more complete or detailed copy is for sale. (This is what I do with Sorcerer)

Which of these sounds more like what you have in mind? Or if you were thinking of something I didn't mention, let me know.

And perhaps a larger context is worth considering too. How developed is your game? Is it, right now, pretty much what you'd expect to see in a store-bought game, down to illustrations and layout? Or is it a playable set of notes, just the bare bones? Or what?

And finally, by "publish on the internet," are you talking about what you think of as the final step for the game? Or are you thinking of moving to book publishing later?

Best,
Ron

[lumpley]

Um, hey!

I wrote kill puppies for satan.  If it's the kill puppies for satan I think you mean.  If Tim Boser wrote some other kill puppies for satan, damn!  Two of them is too many.

(Oh, and actually how it works with puppies is people email me that they want a copy, I send one to them, and if they like it they say they're going to pay me and then never do.  Which is good enough for me.  The thing is still well within my gaming budget.)

-Vincent

[Ron Edwards]

I fixed it before you even posted, Mr. Premature Not-for-Family-Mentioning.

Meanwhile, back to the Hooded Rat-One's very interesting question ...

Best,
Ron

[lumpley]

hoodrat3785,

I've had a totally 100% positive and very cool time publishing my game on the web.  I've sent the thing to people as far afield as Ireland, Sweden, Italy and the Philippines.  The Forge library is awesome, I get hits off it every single day.  In fact, puppies is successful beyond my wildest dreams, thanks to web publishing.  (And despite my own lackadaisical attitude.  Amiel, others, I remember, it's coming...)

But if you want to make any money, for goodness sake don't send your game to random people without they already paid for it.

Ron,

Yep, I guess my (ahem) trigger finger was a bit itchy there, wasn't it.

-Vincent

[Matt Machell]

hoodrat3785,

I've had very good experiences with web publishing. To my mind it's a great way of "dipping your toe in the waters", you get a good audience and quality feedback for very little outlay (I can't stress how useful feedback from casual downloaders and places like the Forge has been). There's no wasting money on publishing a book that ends up not selling.  

And as has been commented, you can always move on to putting out a book when you feel ready, and have a prebuilt fan base (and Sorcerer is living proof this works).


Matt

[Clay]

I'd also like to mention that you don't need to be a computer guru to pull off the internet publishing thing.  I believe that Clinton has put together sites for several games, and nobody seems to have gone bankrupt yet because of paying him.