[IGDA_indies] Seft dist (was] open source commercial games)

[Brian Hook]

>>
>>More directly, yes, they'll complain, vociferously, which would=
 be
>>a reason I would look towards self-distribution.
>
>Well, thats a different story. Does self distribution really=
 works?

Depends on what you mean.  Yes, it CAN work, but it's not easy,=
 but 
my position is that if you have a clue and are willing to put out=
 the 
work, then you'll probably be better off going that direction=
 than 
chaining your future to a third party that may not have your best=
 
interests in mind.

In less than two years we've shipped 3 titles with two more about=
 to 
ship, we're 100% self-owned, 100% self-controlled and we're 
profitable.  I know some people who left to start their own=
 companies 
about the same time as us, and they're STILL looking for a=
 publisher 
to sign them.  At some point you have to go with what you have 
instead of hoping for something better.

>I mean, for about 100000-200000 copies or whatever you need to
>recover investment and pay the lost free time?

I think those sales numbers are incredibly aggressive.  I would=
 not 
consider those even close to reasonable sales goals for an indie.=
  To 
achieve that, you'd have to have an incredibly polished game that=
 had 
either huge marketing or massive word of mouth.  I'm not saying=
 it's 
impossible, but if that's your initial expectation, I think=
 you're 
going to be extremely disappointed.

Brian