Introduction

Joe Lieberman is the head of business development for ArcadeTown, a large part of the Demand Media Games Division. He also authored the recent book The Indie Developer’s Guide to Selling Games. See the GameDev.net review here

I’m sure you’ve seen it: A great game: fun, challenging, nice art, good sound… and it just doesn’t sell. I’m certain you’ve heard the mantra, “If I build a good game it will sell because it is a good game.”

I’m not here to shatter your hopes and dreams or anything like that. A good game will sell. I’m here to give specific examples and ideas on how you can get your good game to sell more.

Ok so the term everyone likes to use is “polish”. That is like the shine on your dining room table, not a person from Eastern Europe. It referrers to the level of shine on a game that transcends what is necessary and enters the realm of superfluous fluff… but gosh people really do love fluff. So take some advice: Make sure you have some fluff… not too much, not too little… but make sure your fluff is the stuff clouds would look up to.

Extended analogy over, lets get down to it.

Beyond the Demo