Since Sauer's mentioned my 'name' above, I thought I'd just make a few comments.
Firstly, Tank Universal was worked on for 4+ years afterhours and on weekends. A lot of work.
I sold only a few copies through my website direct. It didn't seem to matter how good/bad the game was, unless people knew about it, it wasn't going to do good business. For example, one of the best weeks I had, was when Fileplanet featured the game on their front page - I sold 2-3 per day. Inevitably though, the game was rotated off their frontpage and sales dropped back to 1 every 2 days or so.
I spent time submitting it to shareware sites using an automated submission software package (robosoft). Thought this would boost sales hugely - but it didn't.
I got it onto a couple of computer gaming mags. Didn't seem to boost sales too much.
Fact is, I just couldn't get the word out. Part of it was my own inexperience in marketing, part of that is that there are 'gatekeepers' even in the indie games world and unless you are 'adopted' by these gatekeepers (e.g. Steam with Audiosurf), it's likely to be slim pickings. For example, I emailed Steam, GarageGames, any number of the big portals and heard nothing back from those guys. Nothing.
In the end, I signed with a publisher. The publisher had existing contacts in the business, could make PR announcements, would pursue distribution leads that were not open to me as a private individual and sure enough, reviews started rolling in. They even got Steam's acquiescence after several rejections (remember that Steam hadn't even bothered to reply to my emails) and other portals also took the game on, on the strength of the reviews and the publisher's credibility.
Sounds great right? The downside is that the publisher takes a major cut. A major cut. And the game's being sold at a price point much less than what it was on the website. Certainly there's the glory in having a sucessful indie game - but the biggest benefit so far has been the recognition that the game has established something of a 'brand' and that since people have enjoyed this first title, they're likely to purchase a sequel as well.
Firstly, Tank Universal was worked on for 4+ years afterhours and on weekends. A lot of work.
I sold only a few copies through my website direct. It didn't seem to matter how good/bad the game was, unless people knew about it, it wasn't going to do good business. For example, one of the best weeks I had, was when Fileplanet featured the game on their front page - I sold 2-3 per day. Inevitably though, the game was rotated off their frontpage and sales dropped back to 1 every 2 days or so.
I spent time submitting it to shareware sites using an automated submission software package (robosoft). Thought this would boost sales hugely - but it didn't.
I got it onto a couple of computer gaming mags. Didn't seem to boost sales too much.
Fact is, I just couldn't get the word out. Part of it was my own inexperience in marketing, part of that is that there are 'gatekeepers' even in the indie games world and unless you are 'adopted' by these gatekeepers (e.g. Steam with Audiosurf), it's likely to be slim pickings. For example, I emailed Steam, GarageGames, any number of the big portals and heard nothing back from those guys. Nothing.
In the end, I signed with a publisher. The publisher had existing contacts in the business, could make PR announcements, would pursue distribution leads that were not open to me as a private individual and sure enough, reviews started rolling in. They even got Steam's acquiescence after several rejections (remember that Steam hadn't even bothered to reply to my emails) and other portals also took the game on, on the strength of the reviews and the publisher's credibility.
Sounds great right? The downside is that the publisher takes a major cut. A major cut. And the game's being sold at a price point much less than what it was on the website. Certainly there's the glory in having a sucessful indie game - but the biggest benefit so far has been the recognition that the game has established something of a 'brand' and that since people have enjoyed this first title, they're likely to purchase a sequel as well.