Ways to Market

Now that you've reviewed how players pay for your game, you can look at exactly how this translates into cash for you as the developer. To get your game out the door you can do one of two thingsdeal direct with a distributor (or carrier) or go via a publisher.

Distributors

Distributors are the direct channels to market. Basically, anyone who deals directly with an end customer is a distributor, although this definition can become blurry sometimes. This includes carriers (or carriage-related companies) as well as Internet portals or other direct sales systems. Some of the more popular distribution channels are Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Motorola iDEN/Nextel, and Handango.

The good thing about using a distributor is you're dealing directly with the channel. This translates to more contact with end customers, fewer delays, and usually a higher percentage of the revenue in your pocket.

To deal with a distributor, you need to establish a direct relationship. Most provide facilities to do this through a developer Web portal. To make your application available, some distributors require you to have your application certified. Nextel is a good example of this; if you choose to deal with them directly, you need to get the game certified. (This costs in excess of $1,000 per game.) Don't worry, thoughnot all distributors require this.

Keeping all this in mind, take a look at the more popular distributors out there.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is a massive mobile network provider covering many countries in Europe and the United States. Being a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, they have a German heritage but have managed to extend well into many other countries. Given their size and reach, T-Mobile can be an excellent distribution method.

You can access the T-Mobile US developer portal at http://developer.t-mobile.com. From here it's free to register and then access a host of information on the J2ME partnership programs available.

Motorola iDEN/Nextel

Nextel is another massive mobile phone service provider based in the United States. Together with Motorola, they pioneered Java-based gaming in the United States in 2001, so they're old hands at it now. Since then, they've continued to provide excellent support for J2ME-based gaming across their product range.

Nextel lets anyone have a game appear on the network. To get started, you should visit their developer portal at http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/developer/developer_home.jsp.

From here, you can register and gain access to materials that describe what's offered. The basic process is that you first need to check whether the game meets the technical criteria. To do this, you should download the Motorola iDEN SDK and check the game against their emulators. When you've finished any required tweaking, you're ready to submit the game for distribution.

There are two ways you can deal with Nexteldirectly or via a publisher. If you choose to go direct, the next step is to get your game certified. This is done through a company associated with Motorola (called Quality Partners), and it costs approximately $1,000 per game. Once you have their stamp of approval, you can submit the game to Nextel. And here's the catch: Nextel has to approve your game before they will make it available. If they like the game enough, you can proceed to reviewing and signing a Software Distribution Agreement. Once you've done all that, the game will be ready to go live.

The other method is to go via a publisher. Instead of dealing with Motorola/Nextel directly, you can leave all that work to a publisher. Although you'll have to give up a portion of your revenue, this method is typically far easier in the long run. You should check the Motorola Web site for a list of current publishers.

AT&T Wireless

AT&T Wireless lets J2ME developers create applications for distribution through their mMode brand. You can check out mMode at http://www.attwireless.com/personal/features/mmode/index.jhtml.

To assist developers, AT&T has a dedicated site called devCentral. You can register and join the program free of charge at http://www.attwireless.com/developer.

The first step to getting a game on mMode is to work through AT&T's J2ME style recommendations. Complying isn't very hard, though; everything is pretty reasonable. When you're ready, you can submit the application for review. AT&T will then evaluate your game's potential to fit within the current mMode selection. For example, if they already have a host of side-scrolling action shooters, it's unlikely they'll want yet another one. An application has to add to their selection.

If the game is selected, you'll enter into an agreement with AT&T and then carry out work to integrate the game for distribution in the mMode portal.

Cellmania

Cellmania is a little bit different than other distributors. They provide a system, known as mFinder, that lets carriers manage the delivery of mobile products. The system is in use by many of the largest operators in the world, including:

• AT&T Wireless

• Telstra

• Cingular

• AirTel

• M1

• Orange

You can find out more information about Cellmania's developer opportunities at http://corp.cellmania.com/developers.

Submitting a game to Cellmania is extremely easy; you just complete an online form. However, note that you cannot upload a JAR or JAD; you need to supply a URL from which Cellmania can download the JAD and JAR files.

Following review, Cellmania will list your game in the directory within a few weeks. For the majority of sales then made, you'll get around 70 percent of the revenue.

Handango

Like Cellmania, Handango is not a carrier; they're a portal for applications. Once you register your game, it will be available for sale at http://www.handango.com. This is a pretty heavily trafficked site with more than 6 million visitors a month.

Handango also operates the application storefronts for many other companies, such as Nokia, Palm, Sony Ericsson, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Casio, Handspring, and Psion. These companies basically re-brand Handango in order to sell applications for their products.

Like with Cellmania, you can expect around 70 percent of the revenue generated by your game. You can find out details about making your application available via Handango at the Web site. This is an extremely easy exercise because Handango does not do any quality assurance on the application.

The main problem with Handango is getting lost in the crowd. Because it's so easy to make an application available, there tends to be a great many in any category. Even a very successful title sold through Handango will only result in a few thousand sales; average games only sell a few hundred. If you're thinking of going with Handango, you should apply to be included in their further distribution to carriers and other portals (such as Nokia).

Using a Distributor

Using distributors to sell your game can be very effective. However, to make it work you'1l have to devote some serious resources to establishing and maintaining relationships with multiple carriers. You need to work through the idiosyncrasies of each different channel and then spend time figuring out the best way to maximize its potential. If you just throw the application up, I can almost guarantee it will be quickly lost in the crowd, resulting in very little revenue for you. You have to work a channel to make it effective, and unfortunately this is rarely possible on your first title. With some experience and a better relationship with the distributor, you can work toward a position where your games start to sell well. To do this properly, you need to have a distributor who goes out of his way to help you succeed. Establishing that type of relationship requires building mutual trust and respect, and that takes time and effort. This is the only way you'll get those special deals such as premium placement and the opportunity to participate in promotions.

A slight step forward is to use one of the "aggregators" such as Cellmania or Handango. They'll take care of many of the details of working with the different carriers and other channels to get your game out the door quickly. Unfortunately, these guys deal with so many developers on so many different channels that it's hard to stand out from the crowd.

If you're a small development house, your best chance of success is to have someone who understands the business take care of all this for you. This role is filled by the publisher.

Publishers

Publishers are rather new to the J2ME marketplace. Up until recently, there just wasn't the diversity or revenue for the marketplace to be dominated by a publishing channel. Oh how things are changing!

Nowadays having a good publisher with the right influence and knowledge of the market can easily make the difference between success and failure of your games and your com-pany. As the J2ME games industry continues to expand, you'll see the industry getting much more complex to manage. The number of distribution channels will increase dramatically, as will the forms of revenue you'll receive. Managing this without a publisher will become increasingly difficult.

Like in traditional PC game development, the role of the publisher is to bring a game product to market. This begins with the vetting of developers and their games to sort out the good (saleable) from the bad. The publisher then endeavors to build a strong relationship with you (even becoming part of the development process), providing a constant flow of ideas (including criticisms) to keep you on the right track. After the game is ready, they'll take care of getting it to market, as well as details such as translation into other languages. Because publishers only make money when people pay for your game, it's in their best interest to get the game selling as well as possible.

Typically it won't cost anything to form a relationship with a publisher or to have them take your game to market. Be suspicious if they start asking you for fees. The publisher will take care of getting the game out to the different channels and then collecting all the revenue. You will receive a portion of the revenue (a royalty) usually between 40 and 70 percent of the net proceeds (revenue minus direct costs).

Royalties aren't the only method of gaining revenue from a publisher. Once you have an established relationship, the publisher might offer you contract work to develop a new title on their behalf, clean or expand the functionality of an existing game, or port a game to other platforms. Revenue from this type of development tends to a fixed amount based on milestones, with the potential for (typically small) royalties.

Now that you have an idea of what publishers can do for you, take a look at the players in the market. One thing you might immediately notice is the absence (so far) of any publisher from the traditional games industry. Don't let that turn you off; there are some very professional, mature organizations out there doing great things for the industry.

• Unpluggedhttp://www.unplugged-inc.com

• Fifth Axishttp://www.fifthaxis.com

• Digital Bridgeshttp://www.digitalbridges.com

• Mformahttp://www.mforma.com

• Tira Wirelesshttp://www.tirawireless.com

• JAMDAThttp://www.jamdat.com

There are plenty of others out there, so don't read too much into the exclusion of any of them from this list. However, you shouldn't go wrong dealing with any of these companies; they're all pure publishers with solid backgrounds and good connections in the right parts of the industry.

Now that you have an idea of who the publishers are in the market, the challenge is how to get them to take you on as a developer. Read on to see what turns a publisher on.

Turning Publishers On

There's no doubt that writing video games is fun. Unfortunately, that also means every nerd and his robot dog also want to be video game programmers. You can't blame them; it really is a great thing to do for a living.

Unfortunately, this makes for a very crowded and very competitive marketplace. Not only that, the industry is filled with people trying to break in professionally. Because of the sheer volume, it's difficult for publishers to sort out the pros from the amateurs. The next few sections will examine the things a publisher will look for in evaluating your game and you as a potential partner.

Game Concept

The first thing a publisher will look at is the overall concept of the game. Is it something that will get a potential player excited enough to part with some hard-earned cash? Does the game look catchy and interesting? Is it something players will understand?

They also look for originality of the game type. Writing a direct clone of another game is a surefire way of getting your game rejected.

If you're working with an existing licensee or brand, publishers will also evaluate its effect on the game's potential in the market.

Technical Capability

Next a publisher will evaluate you technically. But contrary to what many new developers think, most publishers really don't care much about how good you are technically; they care about whether the features you've implemented work well. The important thing is to concentrate on making a great game, not on showing off your technical skills.

Quality

Talking about technology leads us on to quality. Publishers put a great deal of stock into the quality of product. This means no bugs, ever. It might be acceptable to show off beta-quality stuff in the PC industry, but it isn't with J2ME. Most publishers expect a fully completed game with every i dotted and t crossed.

Make sure all your menu items work properly and that you haven't got any silly mistakes such as incorrect spelling or grammar. Most of all, play-test your game to death. There's no room for bugs.

If you think this is just publishers being picky, then consider their position. If a developer can't produce a quality product for the first game he submits, what will things be like down the road? The last thing a publisher wants is to have to constantly check your work and deal with angry distributors (and end-user returns) because of poor quality. This can jeopardize their relationships for all future dealings.

Presentation

A publisher will look at a game's overall presentation, starting with the quality of the graphics (and sound). Try to make everything as polished as you can; if it looks amateurish, then dump it.

They'll also look at how you present the game to the player, including any story elements. The game should immerse the player immediately and then keep him there. The interface should be simple to use and add to the game play, rather than detract from it.

Game Play

The next area is the hardest to get rightthe quality of the game play. Publishers will evaluate the overall playability of the game. This really comes down to whether it's fun and addictive.

They will also look at how intuitive the game is. A new player should be able to get going without having to read any instructions. The game's controls also need to take into consideration the limitations of the device.

Finally the game needs to show a certain depth in order to keep players interested for a reasonable amount of time. This will translate directly to whether a player feels he got value for his money.

The Company

Given the short development cycle of J2ME games, publishers want to establish a relationship with a developer for hopefully many titles down the road. Part of their evaluation will include looking at you as an organization. Having a professional-looking Web site will help you with this.

Publishers will also look at any other games you've developed in the past, as well as any plans you have about future development ideas.

Overall Professionalism

Finally, publishers put a lot into how you deal with them. Yes, this is the games industry and it's all pretty casual, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't act professionally in any dealings with publishers.

Try to respond quickly to their queries and always follow through on something you said you would do (or tell them why you couldn't). Take their criticism as advice and don't react badly. Above all, never insult anybodyever!

Okay, now that you have the lowdown on publishers, let's look at how you go about actually approaching them.