Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
portals
A
portal
is an online site that allows gamers to either download and sample
games with a try-before-you-buy strategy (shareware) or pay a subscription fee
to play any games available through the portal. There are also sites that offer
free games (freeware) and tend to earn their revenue through ads on the sites.
Big Fish Games is a portal site that offers a new game every day. Its model is
simple:
1.
Download the game for free.
2.
Play for an hour for free.
3.
If you like the game, buy it. After the purchase is complete, Big Fish
provides an unlock code.
Portal sites offer an enormous variety of primarily casual games, such as
match-three, hidden-object, card, board, time-management, strategy, adven-
ture, and puzzle games. The games they offer for sale are, for the most part,
developed and created by independent game companies that make a profit of
about 30 percent per sale.
This may seem like a big chunk of money going back to the portal, but these
sites handle all the sales and marketing, which can be a huge strain for a small
company to manage. For little indie companies, portals like Big Fish, PopCap
Games, and Newgrounds are a good way to market their products, particularly
because many of these portals have millions of visitors/subscribers.
Simply visit the sites, and review the posted submission policies. These sites
make their businesses work by acquiring new games, so their submission meth-
ods are fairly straightforward and simple to read.
B
IG
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Different sites have different guidelines, and the guidelines may change.
At the time of writing, the Big Fish Games submission guidelines were as
follows. Check the website for the most current guidelines.
s
u B m I t
a
d
o W n l o a d a B l e
PC
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do you have a new downloadable game?
Then please send us the following:
A short description of your game
2 representative screenshots of your game
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