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From: deadman@garnet.berkeley.edu (Ben Haller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Solarian II
Message-ID: <1991May4.211138.3512@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 4 May 91 21:11:38 GMT
References: <1991Apr26.175655.11136@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <1991Apr27.004240.8537@news.iastate.edu> <1991Apr30.135427.16076@mmm.serc.3m.com>
Sender: root@agate.berkeley.edu (Charlie Root)
Organization: Stick Software
Lines: 46

In article <1991Apr30.135427.16076@mmm.serc.3m.com> pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) writes:
>  When I sent in my cash, I asked Ben why it
>wasn't a commercial game.  I haven't gotten a response, but I suspect
>that Spectrum Holobyte would snap this thing up if he wanted to sell
>it.

  Well, since I get this question so often, perhaps it's of general enough
interest that I should post a reply.
  When I first wrote Solarian II, I tried in various weak ways to find a
publisher.  I had absolutely no idea how to contact a publisher (little did
I know that most of them have phones :->), like asking friends, calling Mac
magazines, etc.  With hindsight, I am amazed that I was so clueless that I
never managed to actually get in touch with a real honest-to-god software
publisher.
  By the time I got a clue, Solarian II had been posted for some time, and
therefore all of the publishers who talked to me said things like "We'll
publish it, but you'll have to produce a substantially improved version so
all the people who bought the shareware version will buy our version too",
or alternatively "We'll publish it, but you've got to make a Mac Plus -
compatable version", which I didn't want to do.  A lot of them also wanted
things like a CritterEditor (which may be trademarked by whoever Patrick
Buckland sold Crystal Quest to, I wouldn't know, sorry if it is), which I
feel *strongly* is a bad idea if not done very carefully - game design is
not trivial, and the "parameters" of a game are very carefully tuned.
  But the main reason I haven't gotten it published is that:
   1. Publishers are flakes.  They don't return your calls, they have
      absolutely no incentive not to milk you for every last penny you
      own, they want control over packaging, etc., whereas I want total
      creative control, etc.
   2. I make enough money to consider it worth my effort right now, which
      is all that really matters.
  Due to these two reasons, I intend to distribute everything I write that
isn't written under contract to someone else, as shareware.  I heartily
recommend that others do so too; I've had a lot of success with shareware,
quite possibly *more* than I would have had going the commercial route.
And as more people get access to online services, shareware's viability
continues to rise.
  Sorry if someone doesn't think this appropriate posting material for this
list; it seems at least marginally relevant (distribution & publishing of
games, etc.)  If people tell me not to post such things, I'll abstain, but
I've never gotten shouted at yet (at least not for this particular
trait... :-> )

-Ben Haller (deadman@garnet.berkeley.edu)
"Passion is an art form
 It is not sex, it isn't fashion..." - The Horseflies