Tag Archives: transactions

Hi,

i wanted to write some posts explaining the ways to get money from the web development, and for this first article i going to start talking about flash games.

just a little warnings, all of the exposed here is what i learned from other blogs, forums and people that are in the industry, i tried some methods and other i do not, so, take it as an opinion and not as a fact, i learned with the pass of the time that anything in business is a fact, everything that you think going to go okay could go wrong and vice versa, the only thing you can do is read, learn and try it yourself.

Flash the low entry platform

in my opinion flash is one of the best tool to start with the game development, and here i going to list the most important reason:

1. learn curve is not too big as other languages
2. have a lot of tools and functions for graphics operation
3. exist  a market for the flash games today
4. you do not need to put a penny to develop in flash, you have great IDE and compiler to create your games
5. there are lots of libraries ready for your animation, physics, network etc.. management

Flash games, how to make money from it?

there exist several ways to make money from it, you just need to see what fit better for your capacity of development and the games that you are aiming to make.

game sposnor: the game sponsor consist in that the game portals, pay you a fixed amount 1 time to put her logo and link into your game. there are several types of licensing, exclusive, non-exclusive etc.. each of them have different amount of revenue and obligations from the developer, usually is a common agree between the portal owner and the developer. the only and best portal for this, is flashgamelicense.com, there you can upload your game and the portal are able to test it and send you a offer to sponsor it. also recently has been launched the Mochi Fund, a sponsor program controlled my mochimedia. this is usually the most secure way to get a good money from your games, maybe it take a while to find a good sponsor (up to 1 month) but it can worth the effort

micro transactions: this type of revenue come directly from the user, you offer the game for free but the users need to pay to access extra content (as levels, custom character etc..). it usually have success in multi player or premium games, and you have several already made solutions for this as, gamersafe and mochicoins. the problem with this system is that the charge you 30% to 50% of your revenue and at the same time is not easy make a balanced game with the enough free content and attractive pay content, is usually used for mid-big projects

outsourcing-clone game: maybe this is the most hated of all the way to make money. if you are just starting and need fast funding to continue or want fast money, this is the short path. is like working as a freelancer, usually the portal owners request you to make a game “like this” with new art and maybe some change, you usually have a low rate but is secured money why you are just doing what the portal want and he decide all the game design stuff.

in-game ads: if you want to make your own creations whiteout taking in consideration standards or already proved gameplay, this going to be maybe your only option to make profit from your game. there are 2 main ads network, CPMstar and Mochiads, i used mochiads and is very good but the problem with this type of revenue is that you need to have a lots of gameplay (we are talking about millions) to make some hundred bucks and if you released a game with ads, is difficult to find a sponsor that want to pay a license for it.

donations: maybe this is the most “indie” way to make money from your games. of course that from here you can’t even expect get any money, as it depends from the willing of the people and that depends in the target of people that is reaching your games. usually is very good used for non-conventional games (and not only made it in flash).

Conclusion:

basically here i detail the different revenue sources that you can get making flash games, but at the end just depend of what is your capacity of making games and what you are aiming (make original games or just make money from it). is proved that the art and the original ideas can make a lot of money, but is just proved by a few smart people that was able to find the balance between art and diversion.

i hope this post has been useful for you in some way

Regards,

Shadow.