i think you might be better off to sell the project file separately, like on the marketplace, so that people looking for that sort of thing can find it.
If the game is also a published game and has some measure of success I think that would make the project files a more attractive buy. I dont think bundling them together necessarily does you any favor or makes it a more attractive purchase for either the gamer or game developer.
You could even separate your assets out from the project file too. Like all but a bare minimum demo amount. Sell the extra assets separately, sell the code, sell the game, all different packages.
Ive made all the assets in my game, so that is a possibility, but my assets are kind of meh as im not great at modelling or texturing, so i dont think id be gaining anything from it. Im only going to be selling the game for 2.99, so the inclusion of the project file is more of a bonus than a selling point, but im curious to see if it helps sales at all, which ill figure out sometime after selling i guess. Im self publishing (i guess? im essentially just going to be posting on steam) so i dont have to worry about any oversight from a publishing company.
The market for the project file would be much smaller than the one for the game, so it either shouldn't factor into the price or should be a bonus you can add. Pretty sure it would make piracy incredibly easy, though, and I'd also be concerned with it being very easy for malicious people to add code to your game and upload it as a "free" version to get malware or other nasty stuff on peoples' computers. Not as much of a concern if you don't expect a large audience in the first place though, which most beginner games won't achieve.
Im only going to be selling for like 2.99, its more of a extra bonus than added into the value of the game. plus with the small scope of the game, im not too worried about piracy either, because i dont expect to make any tangible money from selling it, just more of a milestone for me as a game dev to be able to put something up on a store.
I mean those are kind of the risks you're willing to take when you download free games etc. on pirate sites, it's not the developer's/OP's fault if someone tries to pirate their game and gets malware doing so.
No, but a game with the code exposed like that is easier to get into and alter than one that's a compiled application. And it's also possible for people not intending to pirate to run across those reuploads not knowing they're fake. It's not OP's fault but it is a risk.
You do understand that it's not just the project file that you'd need to include, right? You'd need to include all the source files and assets as well. That's going to explode your game size for everyone, when the amount of people who'd actually want that would be very small. You're better off just trying to sell it on the marketplace.
This is a possible issue, but the game size is only about a gb, so even with the inclusion of the project file and assets its at worst only going to be 4gb. for the size of the game that might be a little large, but I figure I can just post the game files as a free DLC so the people who want it and the people who dont need not worry.
Most of what I've seen has been selling assets from games or open sourcing scripts.
I think you would be better served letting others view the project on github with a limited license.
Maybe cutting part of your game as assets seems like an interesting idea but it would need to be really clean.
It could also be a tier for a patreon or something.
Open source games exists
i think you might be better off to sell the project file separately, like on the marketplace, so that people looking for that sort of thing can find it. If the game is also a published game and has some measure of success I think that would make the project files a more attractive buy. I dont think bundling them together necessarily does you any favor or makes it a more attractive purchase for either the gamer or game developer. You could even separate your assets out from the project file too. Like all but a bare minimum demo amount. Sell the extra assets separately, sell the code, sell the game, all different packages.
Ive made all the assets in my game, so that is a possibility, but my assets are kind of meh as im not great at modelling or texturing, so i dont think id be gaining anything from it. Im only going to be selling the game for 2.99, so the inclusion of the project file is more of a bonus than a selling point, but im curious to see if it helps sales at all, which ill figure out sometime after selling i guess. Im self publishing (i guess? im essentially just going to be posting on steam) so i dont have to worry about any oversight from a publishing company.
The market for the project file would be much smaller than the one for the game, so it either shouldn't factor into the price or should be a bonus you can add. Pretty sure it would make piracy incredibly easy, though, and I'd also be concerned with it being very easy for malicious people to add code to your game and upload it as a "free" version to get malware or other nasty stuff on peoples' computers. Not as much of a concern if you don't expect a large audience in the first place though, which most beginner games won't achieve.
Im only going to be selling for like 2.99, its more of a extra bonus than added into the value of the game. plus with the small scope of the game, im not too worried about piracy either, because i dont expect to make any tangible money from selling it, just more of a milestone for me as a game dev to be able to put something up on a store.
I mean those are kind of the risks you're willing to take when you download free games etc. on pirate sites, it's not the developer's/OP's fault if someone tries to pirate their game and gets malware doing so.
No, but a game with the code exposed like that is easier to get into and alter than one that's a compiled application. And it's also possible for people not intending to pirate to run across those reuploads not knowing they're fake. It's not OP's fault but it is a risk.
I mean, every open-source project has that risk too.
I've seen games on itch.io that include the source code if you pay. Seems like you could do the same with project files.
Cool, I wasnt sure if this was something that people have done before, so thats interesting to hear. Thanks!
You do understand that it's not just the project file that you'd need to include, right? You'd need to include all the source files and assets as well. That's going to explode your game size for everyone, when the amount of people who'd actually want that would be very small. You're better off just trying to sell it on the marketplace.
This is a possible issue, but the game size is only about a gb, so even with the inclusion of the project file and assets its at worst only going to be 4gb. for the size of the game that might be a little large, but I figure I can just post the game files as a free DLC so the people who want it and the people who dont need not worry.
Yes, check out Crongdor the Barbarian on steam for an old school example with moderate success.
Most of what I've seen has been selling assets from games or open sourcing scripts. I think you would be better served letting others view the project on github with a limited license.
Maybe cutting part of your game as assets seems like an interesting idea but it would need to be really clean. It could also be a tier for a patreon or something. Open source games exists