Making successful games on Kongregate and the World v1.5

Added links to other useful topics
Added achievement section
Fixed small sqelling spelling errors

And also...
Bump!

There are some quite useful tips here, though one thing intrigues me...

Release to Kongregate (and probably NewGrounds) LAST so you know what players like/dislike about it and resolve from there - preventing having to add more things to Silux list :-p

I'd like to have a golden list of other gaming sites (the main problem with Kong is that it covers pretty much all my gaming needs, so I didn't really have the urge to check for other ones ^_^'). Also, perhaps knowing some sites where you can upload your game to review (there are such sites, right? O.o') would be useful as well, to make game more knowable.

Games are an art-form, you make them, they suck, but you get better and learn with each one. A style of your own will emerge when you make the games that you're making simply because you think "damn, this is cool!", and it is something that other people will relate to - people who like similar things to you - your "fan-base".

People have a tendency to see something successful and go "wow, they have so much success! I can do this too, ill just copy the formula!" but this just doesn't work. What you aren't seeing are the many failures, scrapped projects and lessons learnt beforehand. Copying stuff just results in terrible, soulless, poorly designed games. Games like these aren't valuable, personal or interesting.

There's been times when i have been pulled in by this false thinking, and tried to imitate a formula for success, but it just made me miserable and confused because i felt like shit when i was supposed to be doing what i loved. Forget about success and money; just enjoy what you do (the money and success will come later)

While I agree on most of thing, but in some games don't need upgrade trees etc. So the true wisdom isn't to adhere to a formula, but know when to adhere and when not to

Interesting list, but I think there's an easier way to make a successful game, without a long checklist: Make it fun to play. If you want to get a sponsorship: Make it look polished... and if you want to make it a really great game: Make it unique.

I made a game called Moby Dick that got more tha 15 million play worldwide (more than a million on Kong). Many players asked for a sequel, so we made it. We added a lot of stuff, that players asked for: upgrades, larger stage, more enemies, longer gameplay, checkpoints... but it got less than 8 million plays... Somehow the game was better without all that stuff.

I don't believe in formulas, but I will check your list for my next games.

I made a game called Moby Dick that got more tha 15 million play worldwide (more than a million on Kong). Many players asked for a sequel, so we made it. We added a lot of stuff, that players asked for: upgrades, larger stage, more enemies, longer gameplay, checkpoints... but it got less than 8 million plays... Somehow the game was better without all that stuff.

The amount of plays a game gets isn't an indicator of how good a game is. There are several factors that contribute greatly to how many plays your game gets, such as when the game was released, what other games were released at that time, what people wanted to play at that time, the thumbnail of the game, coverage the game got, marketing, etc. Your sequel could have very well been better than the first. There are great, polished, fun Flash games that don't get a lot of plays.

I have a question about Kongregate- I made a non-Stencyl Flash game and I really think it would have a chance of getting sponsored by Kongregate. I've sent them an email, do you think there's a chance they'll play it? Further more, is there a chance I'll hear back?

I have a question about Kongregate- I made a non-Stencyl Flash game and I really think it would have a chance of getting sponsored by Kongregate. I've sent them an email, do you think there's a chance they'll play it? Further more, is there a chance I'll hear back?

I believe they have a policy of only contacting you if they want to talk terms. If they have no interest, you'll probably not hear from them.

I believe they have a policy of only contacting you if they want to talk terms. If they have no interest, you'll probably not hear from them.

OK, thanks. How will I know they played it?

If the game has a chance of being sponsored, why don't you try FlashGameLicense?

If the game has a chance of being sponsored, why don't you try FlashGameLicense?

FGL has a 10% fee added when you sell a game through them, so I'm going to try my hand at contacting my favorite portals first.
Basically it's Kongregate or bust- if they don't want it, we'll publish it ourselves and look move on to iPhone for making money on it. (Like Canabalt or Solipskier)

A Kongregate's sponsorship is hard to get. Through FGL you will reach a lot of potential sponsors and if your game good enough to attract the interest of 2 or more high-profile sponsors, a bid war could get you a 4 or 5 figures sponsorship. I make a living thanks to FGL, so I think the service worths that 10% fee.If you are not happy with any bid, you can self-sponsor your game without paying anything. About for the iPhone version, you can find a sponsor for the Flash version of your game, and keep the revenue from the AppStore because you are not selling your IP.

Is there a reason to use FGL as opposed to just emailing sponsors?

Is there a reason to use FGL as opposed to just emailing sponsors?

Definitely (I know this is going against what I'm doing right now but I've used FGL before). Sponsors can see what other bids have been placed on the game. This can create "bidding wars" and really jack up the price of the game!

It's competition! I think Ron Paul would like it.

Well, first of all it's safer to have your game at FGL (if you use their Kidisoft free encryption service) than hosting the game yourself.

Second: Auction system. If you tell the sponsor "Sorry, but if you want this game you will need to raise your offer, because someone else is offering more than you"... He might think you are bluffing. At FGL the sponsor knows when he has been outbidded, and he can even read the terms of all the other bids. That makes it faster and easier to start a bid war. I have seen medium-quality games sold for more than $5,000 just because it got 2 stubborn bidders, and good quality games sold for $40,000 or more.

Third: Reaching the right sponsor. Big sponsors get a lot of mails from developers, sometimes they read them, sometimes they don't, but when they are looking for a game they use FGL search engine, or read FGL custom recomendation mails. They might be looking for a certain genre, or a high-quality game, or just browse the game lists. If you send mails, there's a good chance that your game will be buried or lost in the spam folder. At FGL if your game is good it will be highlighted, and those big sponsors will know your game is there, and I mean ALL the big sponsors, because all of them have an account at FGL, and they use it frequently. You know there who has played your game and for how long.

I can find many other reasons, but I'm not a fanboy... I know FGL has a lot of flaws, and that it won't work for many developers, but I have made 2.5x more money using FGL than outside. For "Days of Monsters" we tried to find a sponsor by ourselfs, because we had contact with some big sponsors. We got a good offer, but my partner wanted to try the auction, and at the end we got 4x more money.

However, if you start an auction, that doesn't mean that you can't email sponsors, but you will have to pay 10% anyway.