Game developers 'How to': Drawing more attention to your Flash games?

As an independent Flash games developer, you should know by now, that marketing and exposure are the best ways, and the only right way, of making money. You might use Mochiads/GameJacket for monetizing your intros with PPC ads, you might use new platform swith Google Adsense abilities, and you might implement local API's like Kongregate's/NewGrounds's/HallPass's etc. Nevertheless, you'll always need the right amount of pushing and pumping skills and/or tools.

When you launch a new casual Flash game without any sponsor, you are probably using one of the mentioned methods for monetizing your art. Lets talk about them for a sec:

1. Mochi And friends: Mochimedia and its copycats, are serving a great service of mediating between companies how need ad space and companies how needs advertisers on their empty ad space. Simple yet powerful. You can make about ~$1 for 1000 gameplays.
2. Xpogames is actually NewGrounds, HallPass and Kongregate all together. They're all great within their own closed borders. However, there are great communities there. with millions of gameplays per day. So if you integrate their API and upload your games, they'll get the kick start you need, the testing (and hostile I might add) environment. From my own experience, they're mostly about "will give you cash, but we will be very happy if you could you spent it here", but you don't have to. The word says it's about $2 for 1000 gameplays.

Now, lets see what you can do to push you game farther, to the next step of exposure:
1. If you've implemented Mochi (or any other similar service of pay per click ads), boost it! Upload to all mentioned now! (Don't try Kongregate, they don't want others ads).
2. Share your avatar, update your status, describe you and your work, 'go down' to the community, be social.
3. After realising the first version of the game, use the community words to improve the game. Launch 'V.2' as a new different improved game.

"...and the worst casual games are..." (Flash developers guide for bad games)

There are lots of guides about making great games. Me, myself and my blog are trying for months now to explain our position regarding how to develop top chart casual games (with Flash technology), but this time, it's all about how to make the worth casual game you can.

- Add loud irrelevant looping sound effects.
- Create new navigation psychology, let users explore before starting the game itself.
- Drop all 'skip' buttons.
- Change the main character look every stage and/or minute.
- Design the enemies to look like friends.
- Add ads for the 'full version' along the game play.
- Drop 'pause' option; 'restart';and make the credits scroll after every game play.
- Proportions? Forget about it...
- Don't add any text for the instructions, game play or closing. Let them guess....

Well, I'll stop here before someone starts developing these kind of game. Remember - think of the things you'd like to find in new games, and let it be the basics of your new game.

The truth about online gaming industry

There are many gaming industry resource and studies but there's nothing like one person accumulated knowledge to revile the truth about the online gaming industry

Myth: Making money from developing Flash games is hard!
Truth: It's not। Making money from Flash games developing is all about your marketing skills – do your homework, check out sponsorships, in-game advertisement, 'pay per intro' methods and 'pay per intro ads click' methods. Don't forget to submit your game into as many game development contests as you can integrate into your game, they'll make your game exposed and might win some amazing amounts for you.

Myth: Getting my game sponsored is easy!
Truth: It's not. The price of sponsorships went from $200-$1500 for the average Flash game, to $1000-$3000 still it is harder to get the sponsor to spend these amount on your game. There are many 'let's make sponsors and game developers come together sites' (like my own blog –

Flash games money making), but your game must be a potential hit to hit the Jackpot।

Myth: Great games are only made by developing teams!
Truth: They're not। Developing teams can make amazing games, but that doesn't mean you can't…If you'll write down everything, you'll make a better game: 1. The name. 2. The feel. 3. The Sounds. 4. The Main character. 5. The intro. 6. The ending. 7. The scoring. As you can see, developing teams succeed for their good developing management, that's it.

Myth: There are only 3 ways to make money from Flash games – Ads, Sponsorships and getting prepaid.
Truth: There are more – Game developing contests; Google Adsense along the side of your personal games portal; In-game advertising; Revenue sharing programs with social gaming networks and more.

Developing game with microsoft Silverlight

Silverlight is microsofts 'new' technology for designing great and dynamic visual content for sites. As flash by Adobe, developers are creating great games with the silverlight technology and making money from developing great flash/silverlight games. This is the basics, for developing Silverlight online game:

1. You'll need Silverlight - Not the developing platform (or it's little sister - Popfly, the mini Silverlight developing platform), you'll need the player. Remember the first time you were trying to run Flash and the browser asked you to approve the Flash download? Well, SL is the same - go to one of microsoft official sites and download it.

2. Check out some great online games written in Silverlight.

3. Get inspired with some samples.

4. Get sponsorship and intro ads for your game.

5. Market your game.

Socialize and expose your flash game, in order to get sponsored and profitable Flash game in the long run

If you're creating a real cool Flash game, you should think of ways to monetize your game, which means - how do I make any money from my work? From the Flash game I've developed...
Well, first of all
1. Login to the social networks, gaming social network that is, for casual gamers and games developers.
2. Then, you can choose, change and update your developer profile. Take under consideration that many potential users(gamers) and games developing companies will see your page, make it cool, understandable, sell your self!
3. Upload games - you can use one of the site's contests or just upload your game and start making money for it's exposure..
4. Take advantage of the different businesses modal these sites/contests offers for Flash games developers: a. Sponsorship - they pay several (only pro's) Flash games developers in order to be the only link from the game open screen (as Armorgames does for many years now).b. They give you Google Adsense place for your ads, around your games (which is suppose to be the perfect online money making program ever).c. They let you advertise inside the game itself (Mochiads etc.).
Sounds great!?!Let the games begin...

Flash Game developers! Read the basic check list for making money by developing FLASH GAMES!

So, you've created a new Flash game. First off all, make a quick check list (which will follow you in your next developed games,and believe, me...after getting fine money for the first flash game, you'll never stop developing them - until you'll have some employees to do that for you):1. 'She's got the look'? Your game can make money for you, but as all selling things in our world, it should have a killer look, graphics etc.2. 'The sound of silence' Your game can make money for you, but as you'll read in all marketing methods books, it'll have to sound exactly as it has to sound.3. Marketing agenda - without marketing proven methods, others experience and brand new innovative marketing plans, your Flash game, will not make any dime for you.

How to monetize your Flash Games?

After being a Flash developer, Flash-sites developer that is, I've been working my aXX in the gaming industry. I love playing online, offline and in my back yard, so a figured - why not working in/with/among games and gamers?

Then cam Mochiads, ArmorGames, ArcadeTown etc, and gave sponsorships for game developers. Online Flash games developers that is.
The sponsors gave between $500 and numbers I don't want to write down cause you'll be thinking in your greedy mind: "Maaaann I'm going to develop a breaking Flash game" (It's about $60,000!!!). So, forget about the big money, most of the flash game developers make cents (which comes in total of $300-$600 per month) with pay per click systems (like Mochiads service).
"So that's it? I have to develop 5-10 flash games with more then 100 daily views to make $300-$600 per month?
And/or
Develop a hit Flash game and get around $5,000?"

No. If you're really a Flash game developer who want to make money form his work you'll have to combine three things:

- The pay per click systems
+
- The sponsorships requests sent to 2-3 'bug names' in the business
+
- Marketing
=
You can work from home, make a lot of money by developing Flash games. Online Flash games can make you money if you'll mix between the options and make you own marketing.

The first and the easiest way to start marketing your self and your games, is by entering Flash games development contests.
You can find them anywhere (Search Google for flash games development contests). Flash games contest will give you the right amount of exposure you need to begin with. Then to continue the magic, you'll have to follow my guide which is here, available for free in my new blog, depends only in the amount of time I'll have between playing and game developing.

Cheers!