The Return Of Shareware Games 314
An anonymous reader writes "CNN has a new column up looking at the re-emerging trend of shareware as a means to distribute games. With development prices soaring and space on retail shelves getting scarce, smaller companies like PopCap Games and GarageGames are returning to gaming's roots - and making money in the process."
Making money? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Making money? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Making money? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Making money? (Score:2, Funny)
How good are the current protections Re:Making mo (Score:5, Insightful)
The bottomline is that it does not matter whether the publisher calls the game or program shareware or not. It is by default shareware, till I decide to convert it to payware or freeware. It just goes to show how the shareware philosophy is no longer on the fringes but it is the mainstream.
With so much of warez, crackz and serialz, put out by some brilliant minds, I think there is no real difference between a shareware and payware today, esp. in this superconnected space of internet. You can try anything, whether shareware or payware, for almost as long as you like, and if you really like it, then you pay for it. It is the same philosophy that I use for music files too.
From many programs that I try, I choose only a few that I eventually buy. Thus, from my point-of-view it makes no difference whether the publisher calls it shareware or not. With all the crackz and serials every game/program is shareware for me till I decide to convert it to either payware or freeware. It is nice that some publishers are waking up to this reality.
Re:How good are the current protections Re:Making (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a very good point
The term "shareware" has been bastardised over the last decade. Back when the concept first arose, SHAREWARE was software you could share with your friends and, if you felt it warranted it, you sent the author a donation. There was nothing crippled, there was nothing missing. You could freely copy it, and the developer might make a few bucks.
This new usage of the word now means nothing more than game demos put out by developers who can't/won't get their games on the store shelves.
In short, it AIN'T SHAREWARE, not by the correct definition.
Re:How good are the current protections Re:Making (Score:3, Insightful)
The basic idea here was: you'd join a commons with some other programmers. Then, any useful software you write, you share with the others; in exchange, you get a share of all their software. Thus, software was effectively freely distributed among the commons, in anticipation that its value would be "repaid" by the users' contributions to the same commons.
Of course, this was only really useful back in the very, ve
Re:Making money? (Score:2)
Re:Making money? (Score:2, Funny)
gotta love shareware.
Beginning of a successful Linux gaming industry (Score:3, Insightful)
huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
PopCap isn't succeeding because of shareware, PopCap is succeeding because their games are like heroin!
Like heroin? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This is totally incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This is totally incorrect (Score:5, Funny)
And that, by the way, is the first time my cat has ever stepped on my keyboard and successfully posted to Slashdot.
KDE Games (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:KDE Games (Score:4, Funny)
Secretly, he regrets switching from Windows...
Snood (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Snood (Score:5, Insightful)
~Berj
Re:Snood (Score:3, Funny)
Don't worry. I don't think that statement will ever be mistaken for an insult.
That's fantastic (Score:4, Insightful)
If designers price the games properly (i.e. don't charge me $50 for a downloaded puzzle game) then I wish them the best of luck.
Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah...to 'try-before-you-buy' warez games before spending your hard earned cash on them.
I mean, I tried it for part of one level, and just deleted it from my HD; same-ol', same-ol' fps shit. GTA3:VC I played for ten minutes and then ran out to buy it (well, actually after 5 minutes of playing I knew I would buy it, so I played on for the rest of teh night and bought it the next day, but you get the picture
Then a week later I installed Alpha Centauri again (from my original cd) and have been playing that and Vice City in turns, between work, beach and going out.
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:5, Funny)
You're lying.
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:5, Funny)
Playing UT taught me that I hate teenagers. I'm amazed that more parents don't eat their young.
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:4, Insightful)
(*) your argument holds true with something else that comes up here a lot - music. Everytime there is an article about the RIAA, people start going on about how you should ditch anything mainstream for local/indie bands. Well...just because they're indie doesn't mean they are good either...most of it (like mainstream) is crap.
Kinda like the college music attitude of the late 80's, early 90's...it could be someone farting on a bucket, but as long as it wasn't mainstream they would consider it as golden.
Re:Low budget != automatic quality. (Score:3, Insightful)
Delete them. That's like, the whole point of shareware.
As long as you don't have to pay for crap games, who cares?
Re:That's fantastic (Score:2)
Full motion video?
I think the only major game to use much of that in the last three or four years was the recent Enter the Matrix. There are probably other exceptions, but as a rule it just isn't done any more- the game engines look good enough for convincing cut-scenes and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than video, not to mention
Mutant Storm and Ricochet (Score:3, Interesting)
Shareware = Demo on release (Score:5, Insightful)
Nowadays you get games that are released without demos or in the cause of Unreal 2003 a demo months after the game is available retail. Is it just me or does it make more sense to either release demos/shareware prior to launch rather then waste development time weeks after launch when most people have demoed it at a friend's house by now.
Just my observations
Oh and another great thing about shareware is it can be freely ported and released on different platforms without it being considered piracy. Its nice playing Heretic Shareware on my Dreamcast.
Re:Shareware = Demo on release (Score:5, Informative)
You can still do that. Many games usually have a downloadable playable demo.
Oh and another great thing about shareware is it can be freely ported and released on different platforms without it being considered piracy
Eh? Perhaps you are confusing shareware with, say, open source.
Re:Shareware = Demo on release (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Shareware = Demo on release (Score:4, Interesting)
Then again, back in those days the gaming industry was a lot smaller and a lot less driven by hype machines. Could you imagine a game like Daikatana selling in the glory days of shareware, when sales were driven by word of mouth and 'gaming personalities' such as John Romero, Kilcreek, and Cliffy B were non-existent? Back then, they relied on a good shareware first episode to hook the player, not slick magazine ads or fancy movie tie-ins (*coughenterthematrixcough*).
But then again, maybe I'm just looking at the past through rose-coloured glasses here...
Re:Shareware = Demo on release (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Shareware = Demo on release (Score:2)
Still remember getting hooked on the demo to Ultima Underworld though.
I wonder why (Score:5, Interesting)
Most development houses are pushed these days by publishers to get games out in peak selling periods, and often these games are lacking in more than a few departments. Thats why shareware could work once more, especially with ease of purchase over the internet and bandwidth these days.
Hollywood and the rise of the "blockbuster" game (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hollywood and the rise of the "blockbuster" gam (Score:2)
Millions of dollars? Really? I'm not saying you're wrong, but could you give an example? I haven't heard of game dev $ reaching that high . . . (then again, I kind of left keeping up on the gaming scene a while ago . . .)
Re:Hollywood and the rise of the "blockbuster" gam (Score:2)
Re:I wonder why (Score:2)
That's what we live for. Those peak selling periods. Sell, sell, sell. Everything must go now.
I think this is yet another symptom of our system of monetary exchange where we value the money more than the process of exchanging. What is important in life is to exchange those goods, but we lose sight of that and go for the money every chance we get, sometimes forgetting about the goods we're exchanging
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I wonder why (Score:3, Insightful)
OTOH, get an amd, a vortex sound card (yeah, better 3d positioning [hey it at least has a z-axis!], but the gravis ultrasound was better than anything in it's time, too [still is better than most cards out there now!]) and a matrox gfx card, and have fun with those BSOD's.
Re: (Score:2)
whats the difference? (Score:3, Interesting)
Just like Doom....
ambrosia (Score:5, Informative)
I've bought more than a handful of their titles, and have had more fun with them than most commercial releases provide.
Re:ambrosia (Score:3, Interesting)
EV:Nova will be my reintroduction into the Ambrosia family. (Now if they could get more ports, I'd buy a few of their other games...Office Harry was a lot of fun).
You can't forget... (Score:5, Informative)
Freeverse Software [freeverse.com]
Freeverse is one of my all-time favorite shareware companies. Games that work well, play well, can be as addicting as all heck, and often have an odd sense of humor.
Between Ambrosia and Freeverse, most Mac users don't need any other games. Okay, maybe some others, but those are usually enough for many people.
-Jellisky
Re:ambrosia (Score:2)
W00t. Ambrosia is an old Amiga demoscene group. Sat with them on a demoparty once, nice guys.
Re:ambrosia (Score:2)
Re:ambrosia (Score:2)
Karma whoring for fun and profit... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah baby (Score:2, Interesting)
And whatever happened to "The Incredible Machine"? That game rocked. Simple concept, but great in terms of developing analytical and problem-solving skills - My younger brothers and their friends (all in the eight to 12 age range at the time) were seriously hooked.
These days most of the games that keep kids that age entertained are FPS (violent) or massive multi-player (not good if you don't have a 'net connection (and, yes, there are people out there who don't)
Re:Yeah baby (Score:5, Funny)
It's a pity, cause I agree that game was great.
Re:Yeah baby (Score:2)
My family got a P120 with 16MB (oh yes what a power-house), and seeing what you'd achieved was getting pretty hard without a very, very complex machine.
Re:Yeah baby (Score:5, Informative)
I haven't tried to install any of them yet, but I grabbed v3.0 and the original. Getting old DOS games to run under XP can be tricky, but there is always DOSEMU, which usually works. There are some tips on the site if you have trouble.
Bochs (Score:2)
Re:Bochs & Project Space Station (Score:2)
Is this good news for developers ? (Score:5, Insightful)
- Limited version : when you pay, you get a key that unlocks the full product
- Full working version : the author asks you nicely to pay, or send a postcard, coin stamp
Concerning the former, at first, people who know how crack it (tracing with a debugger and NOPing away the final key test), others reinstall regularly or play with the system time to get the program to continue working, and some do pay. Finally, if the program is successful enough, there'll be a key on a crack site eventually anyway.
For the latter, it's like spammers : authors hope for a 1% return rate, knowing full well most people won't nicely send them money for their hard work once they've installed the software.
Most people aren't honest. It's sad but it's a fact, and it's especially true for software users. So, the real question is : are current times so desperate for gaming software shops that developers revert to releasing shareware instead of selling their work as regular products ?
Re:Is this good news for developers ? (Score:4, Interesting)
The registration fee was fairly nominal, I'd written the game for my own use and it was only the fact that it could be neatly divided into game and editor that prompted me to try a shareware release. A few people even sent more than I asked for on the basis that it had given them as much playing time as any commercial game.
Mind you, all this was in the days when recieving a registration meant sending out a floppy containing the new content. Being able to do everything on-line makes the whole business a lot easier, but it has also killed off the concept of public domain libraries, which were the primary way of getting the unregistered version out there in the first place.
Re:Is this good news for developers ? (Score:5, Funny)
That is a ridiculous scheme, doomed to failiure. I quake thinking some might want to do as "unsucessful" as Commander Keen!
-- MG
Re:Is this good news for developers ? (Score:3, Informative)
I think you are looking at it entirely the wrong way. I have one shareware game out there doing reasonably well Shameless Plug [dexterity.com] and I have another finished about to be released. When you sell shareware you aim for a good conversion rate (downloads to orders). A good conversion rate is around the 2% mark for games. So only 1
They WERE making money before Slashdoting! (Score:5, Funny)
"Please be patient and try again in a few moments.
GarageGames.com is currently experiencing an extremely high volume of traffic. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
--GarageGames"
Well... (Score:3, Insightful)
I find that this approach matches extreme programming to some degree if releases are done fairly regularly, and you can get a good read on the pulse (or lack of a pulse) on what the game should have above and beyond your original intentions.
The game I'm working on I release every two weeks if possible, and it has been a motivator to keep plugging ahead.
Not like the shareware of ol (Score:2, Interesting)
Economic Cycle? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe this is a sign that we are in the last phase of the recession, and into the "pre expansion" phase of the business cycle.
I wonder how many of the people writing these games were layed off and decided to pick up on some ideas that weren't worth exploring during the boom.
Here's hoping that some of these guys get into hardware and innovative business ideas too. It could spawn the "next big thing".
I also wonder if these guys are old school shareware authors-- no crippleware (at least not severely*), no spyware, no adware, no nagware. Just "guiltware", which is pretty effective, despite all the crackerz out there. Best of all, traditional shareware was uncrackable because it was already cracked!
*Judgement call. An HTML editor that can't save is crippleware. An HTML editor without the advanced features or a "lite" version is not such a bad thing. For games, having just the first few levels is acceptable. Classic example: Quake.
A few things I love about shareware (Score:5, Insightful)
- Instant gratification. I can download a demo, decide I like it, place and order and receive my liscense code within a matter of minutes. The days of waiting for your registration to be processed are coming to an end.
- Price. I can get most games for $20, $30 tops. This, coupled with the faster registration times I mentioned above make shareware more of an impluse buy than ever.
- Developers generally have a better attitude. This is purely subjective, but in my experience the developers are much more interested in what the community thinks of their product and how it can be improved than the "boxed" developers. The "release and forget" mentality is simply not that big of an issue in the shareware community.
- More complex games are showing up as shareware. In the past, simple Tetris-like games have been the mainstays of the shareware industry. Escape Velocity, and the Mac version of Uplink are good examples of this. More users with high-bandwith connections are making epic-scale games easier to distribute.
Escape Velocity (Score:2, Informative)
Fortunately, Ambrosia Software [ambrosiasw.com] is porting Escape Velocity Nova to Windows [ambrosiasw.com] so a wider audience can enjoy it as well. I look forward to being able to play it on my computer at home instead of having to find someone with a Mac.
It's true; my friends are working that way (Score:5, Insightful)
Everything is geared towards big-money projects, which you can't get into unless you're one of the X thousand people already into it. No one gets these gigs; even if you do, you can make a successful game and still come out owing money to the cartel. Of the $50 you pay for a game, it's split (very roughtly) 50% for the store and 45% for the publisher. You have to have a megahit to get ahead.
Ahem. Meanwhile, back in the real world...
There are interesting avenues in cell phones (but our shitty regulatory system set that back about 5 years in the U.S.). Handheld gaming is tantalizing, at least because you don't need 10-20 million minimum to make a handheld game, but even there you get into the same kinds of issues with the platform vendor, their favored publishers, and the mafioso retail system. So in reality most "garage shops" are locked out of that too.
This is a big bummer, because you can produce some pretty amazing games on sub-million budgets (even sub 200,000 budgets) and this is where the real innovation happens - not with the polycount skyscraper competition but with whole new gameplay ideas. Check out shops like Large Animal Games [largeanimal.com] - these places have amazing ideas, there is basically no channel for them to sell their wares.
Online vendors, micropayments, etc. are barely nascent; shareware is actually still near the top of a lot of lists. No game will be Wolf3D or Doom of course... None of these systems will make you a lot of money. But like with a lot of things the internet now allows smaller places to live on this sort of thing that couldn't have before.
There is a big market waiting to happen if we can figure out what comes _after_ shareware; if there's some way to allow the little guys to sell their goods in a cheap, secure way. To cut out the middlemen, in other words.
Re:It's true; my friends are working that way (Score:2)
Re:It's true; my friends are working that way (Score:4, Interesting)
This is where Sony can make inroads against Nintendo with their upcoming handheld. Include a 32MB+ CF card (or built in memory) that can transfer games you download online, via USB cable to the handheld. All of the big name games will be in the stores, but you will have tons of independent games to make the system more attractive.
Hell, I already get all of my GBA games that way [gameboy-advance.net]
Return? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Return? (Score:2)
We've been making money selling shareware products (really, just electronically distributed/sold products these days) for the past 15 years, and making money at it. Yes, with a real office, real employees, and real paychecks.
And you've been doing a good job too! Though I'm not a big player of games, I have played several of your games in the past. In fact, just reading this discussion has encouraged me to take another look at your recent offerings.
Would you be able to give me an insight into the co
Pompom - Space Tripper and Mutant Storm (Score:2, Informative)
Alright, I admit it, I used to work with the guys who wrote them, but they're still the most awesome Defender / Robotron-style (respectively) updates I've ever played.
Oh... they have windows, mac and *linux* versions, so I guess the slashdot crowd should appreciate that.
Does this mean.... (Score:3, Funny)
What sold me on Diablo (Score:2)
You know... after getting a 99cent copy of diablo the shareware edition, I payed full price for the game within a week.
S
A shameless plug, for someone I don't know (Score:3, Insightful)
www.spiderwebsoftware.com
I personally recommend Avernum II and III. Geneforge looks interesting as well. There, but for the cruelty of life, go you.
Re:A shameless plug, for someone I don't know (Score:2)
Statutory ad hominem: The grandparent who forgot to use the little <a> tag obviously doesn't have the brains of a chimp, so it's amazing that he was able to recognize good RPGs like the Avernum series. Oh, and it's spelled tragic. Moron.
Re:spiderweb software sucks. (Score:3, Interesting)
Angband and the many variants, Egoboo, and several of the games at the site you mentioned are nifty.
However, spiderweb isn't "ripping people off." Send in your money or don't. If it's half assed, you get to find out before you buy. No biggie, don't buy.
I paged through several of the games on the indie rpg site and saw alot of short episodes and demos developed in a week or a couple months. But, I probably just don't know what's good on the site. Can you list some
Shareware and piracy (Score:5, Insightful)
Coming back? (Score:2)
--- Shamless Plug ---
Try some of these games. Some are free (like the one I wrote (FrostByte Freddie) and some are shareware. Check them out at Dark Unicorn Productions [darkunicor...ctions.com]
--- End of Shamless Plug ---
I wish TrollTech would read this thread (Score:3, Interesting)
But here, even in the free software haven, shareware is considered viable and very much alive.
I am a shareware developer and had looked to license qt for a small run, low cost piece of software and they told me to go get stuffed. Full, insanely high priced, commercial license or GPL or go to hell is their motto.
Re: shareware vs GPL (Score:3, Informative)
The GPL does not forbid selling the software. Its main restriction is that source code must be available to everyone who gets the executable program.
2 bad David Addison wasn't making s/ware games now (Score:2)
Good little games (Score:4, Interesting)
These type of games seem to have dissapeared in recent years, and is it because the big download pages (download.com, fileplanet.com) are consumed with a flood of commercial demos from the big name game developers and these small games are nearly invisible because of the vast amount? Or have people stopped making these types of games, unable to compete with the desire for top graphics and gameplay.
I was on a Mac from about 1995-1999 and the quality of the shareware on the Mac platforms seemed to be far better than Windows shareware. The games were more fun, rarely crashed or didn't work. Anyone else seen this? Anyone have any reasons for this? Anyone care?;~)
All hail addicting games... (Score:3, Interesting)
Play before you buy (Score:5, Interesting)
Good thing about shareware include:
In many games, it should be hard to make a shareware copy. Just clip the game after X levels/scenes/items etc, and you've got a nice demo. Shareware could also be nice for hardware reviews, I seem to remember various hardware being tested on shareware versions of doom, etc - which provided a nicer "reality" benchmark than today's crackable Futuremark, etc
I did this recently.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Got hooked, finished what I could and proceeded to whip out the CC to finish buying it..
Bastard addictive game it is too.. highly recommended for those that want a deceptivly simple challenge...
waste of effort (Score:3, Insightful)
Create something for the love of it and let it free. Don't waste time with shareware because:
a) you'll be disappointed.
b) no one will use it.
c) your work will be unappreciated.
The games are on OS X, actually. (Score:5, Interesting)
The first time I ran against an International Banking system, I actually started sweating as I watched the traceback get closer (so quickly) to my home system............ this will appeal to your inner hacker, perhaps as a guilty pleasure.
Most engrossing game experience since Half-Life. And at least six other games floating around the mac shareware sites of equal quality. Blows the hell out of anything commericial AND the noble offerings of Linux developers.
---------
Re:The games are on OS X, actually. (Score:5, Informative)
Garage Games and the Torque Engine (Score:4, Interesting)
Try before you buy (Score:2, Interesting)
A tryout for 30 days is the industry standard(Microsoft, Corel, etc.). âoeSharewareâ has always been âoealiveâ.
Availablity. (Score:3, Insightful)
Phrase Craze Plus (Score:3, Interesting)
No sound though. Hmm.
Anyways, Macs had tons of shareware and it was stuff you were free to use and encouraged to make donations if you enjoyed it.
Not usually shareware though (Score:5, Interesting)
The way I (and most people I know) define these terms:
Shareware: Software distributed in a fully functioning, non-limited version. A request is distributed along with the software that asks the user to send some money to the author(s). whether or not you send the money, the software will have all features and not disable itself at any time. The software may have a "nag" screen that asks for you to send the fee.
Demo: Software that is disabled or restricted in some way from it's full version. To use the software's full feature set, or to use it for an ulimited amount of time requires you to pay a fee. Not paying the fee will cause the software to disable itself, or to continue to operate in a lesser manner than the full version.
Freeware: Shareware that has no request for money. the software is free.
Free Software: Similar to freeware, but the source code is usually available and usable by end users.
There is a VERY large push today (apparently backed by sites like Versiontracker) to use "shareware" and "demo" interchangeably. Sorry, but I just don't but it. I pay shareware fees when I use truely shareware software. I've decided to boycott any software that claims to be shareware but is in fact a demo.
Some software (such as BBEdit on the Mac) sort of blur the line a little. BBEdit Light is freeware, you may use all the program's features for as long as you like. But Light is also a demo for the full BBEdit which is commercial software that has more features than Light. There is also a true demo version of BBEdit that is lauch limited, then refuses to operate.
Legal use for P2P sharing! (Score:3, Interesting)
Llamasoft and other bleatings (Score:5, Informative)
A prime example of this is Llamasoft, Jeff Minters old company. Back in the 80's and early nineties he produced what many people would say are some of the finest examples of really addictively playable games. Revenge of the Mutant Camels, and Llamatron being some of my favourites.
For many years since the Yak has put most of these old versions on his website for people to download and enjoy, claiming it wasnt worth the expense of trying to sell anymore, but with little or no new material available.
Now it seems he has relaunched Llamasoft [llamasoft.co.uk] and is releasing new improved games as shareware, with full versions available for about 5UKP, which is serious value for money for work of this high a calibre.
Re:Shareware's Back? (Score:5, Funny)
There's no ware to share.
Where o where is the ware to share? (Score:4, Funny)
Care to share where is the fair ware, if you dare?
This affair makes me beware of ware that is mostly air,
but I sit and stare, in my chair in my lair, at my monitor's glare,
and still I prepare a fare to pay for this wair,
but I am starting to wear of the blare
(the blare that this ware may really be brought to bear),
and now I swear that were this ware that is their care to share be in my very lair (though that would be rare),
even then, I would despair to declare that the ware is there,
for I really know that the ware will ne'er be, whether by share, or even prayer,
and that is most unfair to me, if I may dare to declare.
Re:Would these guys be taxed as well... (Score:3, Funny)
hrm, would make cheating easier i suppose
er i mean, would make it easier to transfer characters between games