Re: Inform Games in progress?


25 Jan 95 13:57:58 GMT

In article <GDR11.95Jan23160901@stint.cl.cam.ac.uk>, gdr11@stint.cl.cam.ac.uk (Gareth Rees) writes:
> Armande <furiop@cii3112-25.its.rpi.edu> wrote:
>> Are any other authors considering selling their games?
>
> I have a reasonably lengthy game in progress, and if it's ever finished
> I will distribute it for free. I will do this because I'm more
> interested in being played than receiving money - and anecdotal evidence
> (are there really 10,000 people who have played "Curses"?) suggests that
> *far* more people are likely to play my game if its free.

I agree, actually. It's much more fun to have been played. Incidentally,
having had a sneak preview of Gareth's game, if it does come out get it
whatever the cost.

I've had well over 1000 emails about Curses, and it's been distributed as
a cover disc on a magazine with a fair-sized circulation, and on a CD-ROM
going to many Archimedes owners, and now with XYZZYnews, and it's on
several bulletin boards. I've no idea exactly how many players there
have been, but a rough estimate suggests somewhere in the low tens of
thousands - though I doubt if more than a thousand have had a serious
go. Interestingly, these days most of those who give and take hints on
rec.games.int-fiction are not people who've ever emailed me directly.

> I suspect that the effort of trying to make money out of shareware will
> be disproportionate to the rewards. If I want to make money there are
> people who will pay me a salary to do research or write software.
>
> --
> Gareth Rees

Quite. Besides, the sheer physical hassle (printing manuals, duplicating
discs, accepting payment internationally, etc.) would make my real job
impossible!

Graham Nelson