Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!lll-winken!ames!ames.arc.nasa.gov!mike From: mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: marketing of programs Keywords: programmers marketing Message-ID: <43591@ames.arc.nasa.gov> Date: 24 Feb 90 19:30:46 GMT References: <9002160434.AA12227@cie.uoregon.edu> <1990Feb19.233223.11341@stb.uucp> <5194@sugar.hackercorp.com> Sender: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov Organization: NASA - Ames Research Center Lines: 37 In article <5194@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >For Tracers, we got 12% of gross receipts. Sounds good, no? None of this "net" >stuff. Trouble is, they got a second company to do all the production work, >which cut the gross receipts way down. They also promised they'd do ports of >the game. So here I am corresponding with the programmer doing the IBM-PC port >and she stops writing. So I call her up on the phone "Oh, they cancelled the >port, didn't they tell you?". > >Alternative marketing sounds more and more desirable. >-- > _--_|\ Peter da Silva . >/ \ >\_.--._/ I haven't lost my mind, it's backed up on tape somewhere! > v "Have you hugged your wolf today?" `-_-' Peter didn't mention the terms of the contract regarding ports, but always specify ports in the agreement. The contract should say if it covers licensing rights for just the Amiga version, or all versions. And if it covers all, make sure those scoundrels have a strong incentive to do the ports. That is, if a Mac port isn't completed within XXX months, they loose the rights to it, or perhaps the entire product. Never assume anything no matter how sincere the publisher is. The agreement should also specify royalites for ports as well. This could also be applied to foreign language versions. My previous publisher floundered around whenever the discussion turned to doing a German version of Galileo. I put a German language clause in my new contract and it shipped two weeks ago, only 6 months after signing. *** mike smithwick *** "E Pluribus Unix!" [disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]