I'm in the process of getting a flash game done for one of my websites. I'm well aware that I will own the copyrights to it, but I know it will be posted all around the internet, so I want to take advantage of it. What would you suggest I do in order to "Brand" this game to my website? I was thinking a 1 or 2 second intro saying "Brought to you by Mysite.com". Any other suggestions?
You could have a demo and full version available. That way you could distribute the demo all over the internet with a short blurb at the ending saying that the full version is available only at your site. If your game is good it should bring you tons of traffic. JerrSun
Yea I think that's what I'll be doing at the very least. BTW, I just bought some of your clear rolling paper
Look into getting a re-direct link maybe after the game or level or when they die - automatically sending them to your site... I know you can do this with video software so I suspect it would work in a similar fashion with flash games. Out of interest; how much is this costing you and are you outsourcing with a site like Elance? Colm
Yea I'm outsourcing with GetaFreelancer. I've had my share of bad experiences with GAF, but it's not all bad. There are a lot of Indians that have a pretty good work ethic and know their Flash. They work for pretty cheap too. I'm paying the designer I'm using right now $200 for the game. I've had 2 other games designed for about $100, which is a pretty good deal.
If you don't mind my asking, do you have a particular designer you're really happy with? I'm in the market for a couple of games and could use a referral to someone who really knows what the heck they're doing!
Well, sure if you really want me to. My developer hasn't even finished the game yet, but so far he's doing pretty well. I'll PM both of you his information.
Try to take note of what places like miniclip.com do - have a custom intro created, for use on any and all original flash games that you own the copyrights to. Don't just stick your name and URL in there discretely; throw something into the intro like "Play this and many more free flash games at XXXXXX" Also, if your game has a menu, pop an option labelled "more games" on it, which links directly to your site; and depending on your actual site, you could offer high-score saving, which will only be available when the game is played on your site. As long as it doesn't impede gameplay, don't be shy about stamping your brand on it, and you should encourage arcade webmasters to add your game to their site, it should prove a good source of traffic for you; again, miniclip has been extremely successful through doing this - after all, looking at their site purely as an arcade, it doesn't offer much that other sites don't have - its the fact they create/brand their own games and have them strewn across all reaches of the internet that drives traffic their way.
I have wanted to outsource game creation for a while. any chance we could see the games you created? I haven't been impressed at all with the monetization of any flash games I've seen...I've probably spent hundreds of hours playing flash games and they probably haven't earned much more than a dime or 2 (unless getting paid by impression) my guess is that the best way would be to make a game about a very specific niche (one idea I had was like an internet marketing tycoon game along the lines of lemonade tycoon, rollercoaster tycoon etc...) and then have interesting links for that site. sort of like niche video game developement to interest a lot of people in one certain niche...something website owners in that niche would like and would link to or embed in their site. what do you think?
like stated before I would brand the game with embedded links. Seems to help spread the word as it spreads through other sites
I make games, my most popular have spread all over the internet. Search "dodge the lines" on google, the top 5 are all my game on others sites. My site dosnt rate anywhere for the term, as the link is on big sites, like newsgrounds and stuff. At it's peak my site was getting an extra 1500 hits a day just because of this game. The game is now on 455 other websites, and has been played 925,399 times. Games i've made for clients have done much better (but i cannot really post the links/stats for them) --- Your game has to be unique, fun to play, and will be talked about. You must get your programmer to put "www.mochibot.com" code in it, so you can track where the game is, how many time's it's been played. If the game is good -- put it on digg, newsgrounds, etc. (even if it's not good, but it on there Within a few days, all the arcade sites will have ripped your game off the big sites for their smaller sites. Really spread it around, make it into a format people with arcade scripts can use -- post it on here in the free content section. Get your game all over the net! Have your logo on the index, in a decent location. And on the page where your "game over" score is shown. (make the "loading.." screen take just a little bit longer to show your logo), The link back to your site can be thought of like placing an ad on a website, blend it so its clicked "accidentally" Make sure your game has a scoreboard!!! It adds so much to a game with people trying to beat each others scores. (of course, the scoreboard only works with the game on YOUR site) Hope your game does you well matey. $200 is very cheap for a game, i usally charge over $300. I'd like to see what you get for that price Cheers.
Remember, once you publish your flash game on the internet, watch EbaumsWorld. EbaumsWorld goes through your flash game [I don't know how, I'm not tech savvy] and removes all trade marks and adds his own tag. He's known to do this with videos, games, pictures [removing water marks on funny images] and more.
As previously mentioned a 'created by' intro is a good idea. Your logo and link on the welcome screen, and possibly a 'more game' link to your site. A visible logo in the actual game screen also works - if you don't have enough room on screen then a watermarked version is fine - helps get your brand noticed. The price seems VERY cheap - make sure you're actually getting what you want and that it isn't too buggy... I also make games, try googling 'blob wars' or 'blob twist' and you'll find some of mine... Bill