Advertisement Model
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Advertisement Model
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| ive been considering moving my project to an advertisement model and free to all players. ive been talking with a few ad companies about trying this out, , knowing im a virtual deadzone of players currently, they would also have to advertise my game. My design would load a few advertisements between maps loading, and cycle them in game while playing onto billboards, each billboard would have a teleporter under it, driving into the tele would take you to the advertisements website. Back to the point of the post though, has anyone here every done this from within a B3D App?? Does anyone think this would be a good idea ? example  |
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| I wouldn't have it take you to their website, that would be distracting (and probably annoying) to the players. The billboard itself should be enough. If the user is enticed by the offer they will go to the website themselves; I think it would be bad to "trick" the player into going to the website. Keep in mind I say this as a player and have no experience doing this sort of thing as a developer. |
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| the game is windowed, it has to take them there or I wouldnt get click credit. The idea would be to have this as a standard in the game, players would know that the teleporter under the ad would lead to the site. They would be propery labeled and color coded as such. No trickery edit;the example screenshot is just a demo scene, a link teleporter will not look much like a tele used for gameplay |
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| Personally, I hate ads. I hate people encouraging me to give money to not see them. I think I'd hate more paying money to see them anyway. It's as if you never deserve a moment's rest from some hype/bs- and now we've evolved to where you can kick back with a fun game, and... Oh. look... This is your own 'ethical' consideration (imo)- no one else can tell you what to do with your soul (as if it were all that). Ultimately, though- you have to eat, so do what you have to. It's a simple business decision, right? 'more money' vs 'some money'. Just remember that if you're one of those people that thinks this is 'selling out'- well, you can't 'buy back' your 'integrity'. |
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| Not sure about all that soul talk, and integrity being on the line ect, but I appreciate the input. |
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| Well, if the consideration you're concerned with is 'Can my game make more through ads, if I remove the cash 'barrier to entry', then no one here can say- it all depends on your distribution and advertising plans as well as potential partnerships- maybe even 'branding' on some kids show based TV website. That could be quite good. Just you trying to outdo the internet's signal to noise? Good luck. Somewhere in the middle as you seem to be? With random potentially untargetted ads? Who knows? If you do go that route, a paypal 'donate' button (which also removes ads) might be a good plan. I wouldn't say 'shareware' works, but if you have 'retention' incentives, and low buy-ins, you might be closer to free-to-play & get that kind of crowd. You'll need more content of course, but hopefully it'd pay off. I think you should check out Gunbound. It's been around forever and always retains quite a following. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gunbound-multiplayer-worms-like-shooting-game/ |
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| I see nothing wrong with having the ads in game(I'm likely to ignore them anyway if I were to play a game with ads) which you can drive into to see the webpage. The only concern I have is that is it possible to accidentally drive into the webpage? |
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| matty, no. The idea for ad teleporters is that the player would have to be at rest on the teleporter for a few seconds to visit the site. |
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| RifRaf making your games dependent on an online connection for game play is a bad idea no matter how you try and justify it. |
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| Except I think RifRaf's game is only playable online anyway? Last time I checked (which is a while ago) there was no single player or LAN play. |
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| I was playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2 a few months ago and as I was playing on the Theater level I saw a movie advertisement for the newest Final Destination movie. It confused me because the game isn't brand new and the movie is. I thought it was pretty neat seeing it inside the game. Also, when I see billboards in games advertising stuff it's not like it's the end of the world. It doesn't effect gameplay. It doesn't effect anything really. It's not like it's on a cramped 2D page and the only way to get it out of your site is to scroll or close the page. |
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| Except I think RifRaf's game is only playable online anyway? thats right, its like TF2 & Quake3 arena |
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| I'm thinking you shouldn't make the billboard rounded like it is now (to avoid any distortion), just straight. Also, to avoid having to open the internet browser, you could just make a platform that shows an overlay on the player's screen, containing the logo of the company, a description about what they do, and a link to their site (with something like "PRESS F5 TO GO TO THE COMPANY'S WEBSITE"). You could also have a powerup being given at those specific platforms, just to entice players to go there. |
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| An alternative to the ad teleporter would be to have the user interact with the ad in some way (right click on it, etc) to indicate that they would like more info on the subject, and which would result in the ads being added to a list. When they are finished playing the game, the list of clicked ads could be displayed, possibly with some more info about the ad. The user could then click the ad link to take them to the ad's website. This way, their game is not interrupted, and the opportunity to visit the game occurs at a time when they are probably looking for something new to occupy their time (websurfing, etc). |
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| thats right, its like TF2 & Quake3 arena That is a different scenario. I still wouldn't make it go to the web site though, even if it is connected online. It could be distracting for the player. I would not be shocked if it eventually became problematic for the focus to be shifting from a DX window to a browser window. Windows has been known to be problematic when it comes to DX windows and focus, especially with DX7 under 7 and Vista.It would be interesting if you could find a way to render the site on the actual billboard if it is clicked on. In game advertising, is not new and I see nothing wrong with it as long as it does not interfere with gameplay. |
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| I have a very harsh view on advertising in games, sellout... thats not to be "mean" I just see it as giving up your creation. But fair enough if its good for you but I wont play it. |
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| fair enough, I wont ask you to :) I appreciate the feeback though. I know some ppl have this view and I expect it. However if a few leads of mine dont work out, its ads or scrap the whole thing. |
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| You could get a basic html loader going in blitz surely? Wasn't their code going around to do such a thing? God knows if it would work though, with the changing landscape of web pages. |
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| Yes, more people would probably play. A list of ads you clicked on would be nice. I wouldn't leave a game in progress for an ad. |
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| Doh I wasnt calling you a sellout btw lol, what I meant was that if I play a game and see advertising all around it feels like it was just made to be a cashcow rather than for the fun. |
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| well some people have bills to pay and families to feed. so i don't think its to much to ask/expect people to click on some advertising adds once in awhile to show some appreciation and support for getting an awesome little free game. add in the option to buy an advertisement free version and even better. although i don't know if i like the idea of driving onto a teleporter to launch the webbrower. i guarrentee that pretty much no one is gonna use it while playing the game (to disruptive of the gameplay). an alternative could be to have a button on the main menu that launches the browser with a page of links to any of the adverts own webpage. and also maybe upon exit of the game that it launches a random advert link (kinda like you do with the demo now going to your own website). all in all i really don't think most people that play a game that relize soley on adverts for any kind of income, given the choice to click or not to click would actually click, its just human nature not too. i personally hope that you don't have to go down this route and that you can succesfully get it published because i know first hand that you've put alot of hard work into it and you deserve it. |
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| While click throughs are best, impressions matter as well, and nobody has to click on anything to get impression credits, but the option to do so needs to be there. What you may not realize is if I go the ad route I have to make them as present as possible to expect any sort of return at all, one ad when you leave the game wont yeild enough impressions for any major ad agency to want to allow me to hook into their bank of ads, and thats the only real way to go because their systems are pretty good in terms of sending targetted gaming ads ect. Ive checked with a few smaller agencies and their targeting systems were crap, they were after quanity and didnt care about proper targeting wich helps them sell impressions but doesnt help the ad publishers make any money. So im still up in the air on whether or not I should try this. I appreciate all the input, you've given me some ideas to consider for sure. |
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| Sell the game on Steam. |
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| Is there a specific reason you are considering the ad model as opposed to just selling the game on your own? Curious, not condemning. |
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| He probably thinks he is going to get millions from Coca Cola and McDonalds, etc. I already tried that with my Coca Cola screensaver and they never answered a single email. |
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| I already tried that with my Coca Cola screensaver and they never answered a single email. Puki, Nobody replies to emails with sausage in the title. Gary, Yeah I have a few things that come to mind while considering my options, such as. I dont think I can sell enough on my own really as ive picked a difficult game type to sell in general (multiplayer only), with an ad model I would be able to let it run its coarse for as long as I have an ad agency streaming into it and see where it goes without the worry of upset customers because there arent enough players in there often enough. Support would be a little less stressfull as well without anyone putting cash down for the game, I wouldnt have to maintain a seperate demo & full version release, nor would I have to worry about the demo getting cracked. multiplayer games have higher support requirements and require a lot of players to remain active in order for the product to be of value to additional customers, im assuming this is what publishers must be thinking about it since none have had enough interest to grab it without a single player campaign. edit: those are my pro ad reasons.. ive not determined if its the best idea yet, hence my post for advice. |
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| Ok, I know this is a 'different issue', but your website could use a bit more love. You have 3 pages, not counting forums, ans the 'servers' and 'leaderboards' pages are identical except for the data. Also, forum read access is denied to guests. Low post count and hidden content- people are going to think you have something to hide. To find out about your game play modes I had to 'read the manual'- which most won't do. They'll just assume your program... I dunno what they'll assume actually. You didn't really tell them what to. The 'buy game' button skitches for me- dunno what's up w/that, or your asking price. Some explanation would be good if you've temp disable this option. In a game like this you NEED to advertise play depth; # vehicle types # weapon types # power-ups # maps friends/guilds must be supported somehow too. This encourages people to advertise for you. I noticed shots with 1st person and others with 3rd person. Is this per map? switchable via preference? (3rd gives advantage). Download button should give min sys specs- then dl link screenshots should have their own page, though a few up front like you have is good. I like the flash vid. You also should seriously check out gunbound. They're making good money off f2p cash shop customizations & perks in a way that's probably quite adaptable whether you keep it pay or go free. Their website is pretty busy actually, but there are some concepts in there that you can adapt. Prob other games too, but that's all that comes to mind. I was turned onto gunbound long ago by a kid who played in in high school with a bunch of friends. I dunno how many payed for perks- but the servers were always full (and the game had CPU) players as well)- which you need (either way/both) to attract people to play. I dunno if you support CPU players/ how many people are currently playing. I just see two 'possibly dead' 'Demo Servers'. Not trying to pick at ya- just my impressions- hope it helps. I always liked your game, so (in my mind) success is just a few configs/polishes away. |
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| I know this is a 'different issue', thanks for the input, I wont respond in detail on that I dont want to track several conversations in this one post, but I do appreciate the feedback. ill check out gunbound thanks |
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| Forget advertising in-game. You have a few options though - 1) Design a game that people will pay for 2) or - design the game to be free but where registered users are granted additional privileges such as extra tank selection, ammo or whatever. Advertising seems to be the hardest part of a indie-games sucess.. People just don't know about it, usually if your game is rejected by the game portals for whatever reason, it has a hard time succeding due to the lack of product awareness. It would had been nice if blitz ltd had created a product section, like most languages/engines have, showcasing products that it had produced. Just some thought .. |
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| What about the reverse psychology trick, a free account only allows you to have a couple of in game items, e.g. trophies, awards, hi-score entries, guns, gadgets ect. So player would have the option to upgrade to subscription to keep things they have or lose them! People are more likely to pay to keep something they have that they value, apprently! |
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| I've gone totally free with the game, i have an adsense ads on my games website but that's it. |
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