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Becoming an independent computer game publisher is not a get rich quick business.

If you are serious about becoming an independent commercial computer game publisher, you should start out as a hobbyist and later transform your hobby into a for-profit enterprise. By doing it this way you will avoid the hardships, frustrations, and failure that many have suffered by starting out as a for-profit enterprise from the start.

Many who have started out as a for-profit enterprise from the start did so unaware and ill-prepared for the challenges that were ahead of them. Many of them failed within 24 months of their startups. They failed from combined factors. Those combined factors were “unreal expectations of financial performance, lack of knowledge of the many aspects of being a commercial enterprise, paranoia and being impatient.” Starting out as a hobbyist financial performance will not be an issue because you are not expecting to receive a large sack of money on a daily basis. As a hobbyist, lack of knowledge is not a problem but rather a challenge to be overcome. In other words, your hobby is the learning process for overcoming lack of knowledge in the many aspects of being a commercial game publisher. As a hobbyist, you have no competition to be fearful from. As a hobbyist the growth of your activity of your pursuits are not confined to self-imposed timetables that could cause you to quit in frustration.

The benefits of starting out as a hobbyist computer game publisher are many; however, there are some drawbacks. The main drawback is as a hobbyist computer game publisher is you will be unable to claim any tax deductions for being a computer game publisher. As a hobbyist computer game publisher, your expenses will be far less than that of someone who has a hobby of coin collecting, stamp collector, etc.

Other than the cost of a PC or laptop and Internet connection, your main expenses will be for a web hosting service and a file hosting service. A quality user-friendly web hosting service with no restrictions as to the number of HTML and graphic files and no bandwidth restrictions costs under $200 a year. A quality file hosting service that provides for direct link downloading with unlimited bandwidth as well as providing you with one to two terabytes of disk hosting will cost you under $100 a year. I almost forgot to mention that a quality web hosting service would do your yearly domain registration for you for a small fee. Smart advertising that will actually get results for you can cost you $100 to $1000 a year. As a hobbyist, you will still need to promote your computer game publishing website where you will be selling or giving away your games. Any other costs you may run into may involve purchasing inexpensive software that you may find to be useful. Some may think that the expenses I had just mentioned may be excessive, however, compared to the aforementioned other hobbies above and combined with what people spend on other recreational venues the expense of being a hobbyist computer game publisher is proverbially paid out of pocket change.

You are probably wondering when the best time it is to transform your hobby computer game publishing into a for-profit enterprise. It is my opinion the best time to make the transformation is when your hobby is consistently making the equivalent of 150% of your monthly income of your day job. However, I do not recommend you quit your day job at this time. Think of your for-profit game publishing enterprise as a backup in the unfortunate event that your day job is downsized or eliminated due to circumstances beyond your control. However, should you be one of the fortunate few where your for-profit game publishing enterprise is consistently making three times the income of your day job on a monthly basis you may consider making your for-profit game publishing enterprise your full-time vocation.

As I mentioned above you will have to be the distributor of the games you create to the intended end user. The reason for this is the large chain stores that sells PC computer games buys PC computer games from a very small number of wholesalers. Those wholesalers will not want to purchase your game unless you have already sold 1 million copies of your game you would like to sell to them. It is my opinion if you have sold 1 million copies of a game you created and sold each one for a mere $9.95 you would probably be now sitting on a sun kissed tropical beach with a chilled Mai Tai in your hand joyfully watching beachgoers frolicking in their skimpy swimwear rather than reading this post.

The first thing you are going to need is a game creation wizard application. I am going on the assumption you already have one or maybe more than one. It may be FPS Creator Classic or FPS Creator Reloaded or GameGuru or one of the many other legacy game creation wizard applications that were sold through The Game Creators. Should you have more than one game creation wizard it is my opinion that you should use the one you personally derive the most enjoyment from using.

Should your intent to become a for-profit game publisher I would recommend you acquire a second PC or laptop to be exclusively used for your game publishing. By this, I mean it should only be used for game creation and the creation of assets for the games you create and your financial record keeping files, managing your website, uploading files to your files-sharing host service and downloading digital products for your game creation from trusted websites. I strongly recommend that the aforementioned should be the only time the system should be connected to the web. This will discourage you from using the system for non-productive activities and cluttering the hard drive with non-applicable software. Be sure to routinely make backups of your hard drive. You can use either a cloud service or an external hard drive for your backups or both.

You may be wondering what would be the best operating system to be using for game creations. Any PC compatible operating system from XP through Windows 10, 32 bit or 64-bit. However, if you are going to be using GameGuru your operating system will have to be 64-bit regardless if it is XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10.

If it is your intentions to be a for-profit game publisher you should be aware that the end user license agreement for Windows 10 gives Microsoft permission to copy your files and redistribute them anywhere in the world without having to pay you any royalties. Should you have any doubts about this and you are using Windows 10 read your licensing agreement for Windows 10. Should this be a concern for you, you can always purchase a PC with an older operating system. Before anyone flames me about security risk of older operating systems keep in mind that over 95% of hacking attacks are accomplished through malicious e-mail attachments. As for Malware and computer viruses there are many safeguards against them such as Anti-Malware Bites, Comodo, McAfee and McAfee Site Guard, PC Madic, Zone Alarm as well as many others. Purchasing a system with an older operating system that is factory fresh is easily accomplished by going to your preferred search engine and type in the search field “buy refurbished Windows 7 computer”. If you prefer Windows 8 use Windows 8 instead of Windows 7. You can also use Windows XP or Windows Vista as well. Last month my neighbor purchased a refurbished desktop with the Windows 7 operating system from Walmart. He only paid $89 for it. He did it by purchasing it through their website and then picking it up a couple of days later from the store. He also added on a 2 TB external hard drive for additional disk space.

There is one other thing to consider if you should choose to purchase a new system using Windows 10 is to make sure you do not buy a new system with “Windows 10 S version.” FPS creator classic and GameGuru as well as cloud services such as Steam cannot be installed on Windows 10 S. This new version of Windows 10 restricts the user to only applications installed through the Microsoft Store and imposes other limitations like only being able to use EDGE as your default browser and you are forced to use BING as your search engine. At this time Windows 10 home edition, Windows 10 Pro edition and Windows 10 enterprise edition are not walled garden boxes like the Windows 10 S version. For more detailed information about “Windows 10 S version” I refer you to the YouTube video link below.

Everything you need to know about Windows 10 S edition
Video duration time 00:18:52
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlWwIBwExaI

As I stated earlier you will need a website. If you do not know how to create a webpage for your site, you will be pleasantly surprised that many of the quality web hosting services provide users a webpage creation utility. Many geeks refer to these webpage creation utilities as cookie-cutter website builders. The terminology they use is not derogatory. The cookie-cutter website builders do have their limitations, however, they are more than sufficient for your needs. To find a quality web hosting service go to your preferred search engine and type in the field “web hosting review”. Do not be surprised at the large number of results you will receive. You could also go to YouTube and watch video reviews about web hosting services and the website tool builders they provide.

Design your website to reflect the style of games that you will be making and keeping visitor navigation through the website user-friendly. I strongly recommend not placing any advertisements on your webpages other than the ones that promote the games you are selling or giving away or any services you may be providing. The reason for this is your website is to be promoting what you have to offer. To get a good insight on designing webpages there are many videos on YouTube on the subject. You will also see a number of videos available for viewing about e-commerce. The one thing that most of the videos miss about e-commerce is that it is basically mail order by electronic means.

As I mentioned earlier you will also need a quality file hosting service for direct download linking. This is where all your downloadable games will be kept. The reason for using a file hosting service is that nearly all web-hosting services have restrictions as to the size of individual files that are stored on their servers. The restricted file size for an individual file for many web-hosting services is between a half a megabyte to 5 megabytes, whereas a computer game can exceed several hundred megabytes. Be sure to place your game in a zip file before uploading it to the file hosting service. To find a quality file hosting service that will accommodate your needs you can use the same methods that were described on researching web-hosting services that were described above.

There are many services that are available as avenues for selling your games through your website. Some of the services are Amazon, ClickBank, eBay are just a few. From what I have seen over the years, ClickBank seems to be a prime intermediary for the sales and purchase of digital products. For the beginner it is my opinion that ClickBank would be an ideal intermediary for the sale of the games you publish. Just be sure to explore all your options before you decide on which intermediary you use. You can explore your options using the same methods as described in researching for a web hosting service as described earlier in this post.

During the period of being a hobbyist game publisher it would be a good idea to take a course in bookkeeping. This will be beneficial for you in keeping financial records when you transform your hobby into a commercial enterprise. You do not necessarily need to attend a brick-and-mortar university to learn bookkeeping. Your options can be to take online courses or a traditional snail mail, mail order course.

You’ll need to promote your website. I will first mention the free methods.

The first method for free online advertisement would be to use free classified advertising websites. The classified advertisements on those websites are very similar to classified advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Before you write your first classified ad you should learn how to write an effective advertisement. The best way to learn is to use your preferred search engine and type in the field “how to write an effective classified ad”. In the result pages you will find many useful articles on how to write effective classified advertisements. Once you have learned how to effectively write a classified advertisement you will need to locate websites that provide for placing free classified ads. To do this use your preferred search engine and type in the field “free classified ads”. The returned results will be in the thousands. Many of the websites that offer free classified ads have safeguards against submissions spiders so you will have to manually place your advertisement. With this in mind selectively choose which advertisement sites you intend on using wisely. If you’re wondering why many of the websites block submissions spiders it is because of abuses of multilevel marketing schemes of the past.

The second method for free online promotion of your computer game publishing site would be social networking. There is a Marriott of social networking sites. Facebook and MySpace are just two of many social networking sites. These social networking sites can be useful but to what degree is uncertain. At the time of this posting Facebook is reportedly the dominant social networking site. Should you be interested in using Facebook to promote your computer game publishing the link below is to a YouTube video that will provide you with more information. The duration of the video is 38 minutes and 18 seconds.

Facebook Marketing Made Easy for beginner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeMiLSZbMQ4

The third method is asking users of the games you have published to write reviews in their own words about them and post them online to review sites. This is also called the word-of-mouth method. The word-of-mouth method is one of the most effective methods for online and off-line promotion. It is my opinion that you shouldn’t use self proclaimed game critics to evaluate your published games. They have a lot in common with the professional critics of Hollywood movies in that many of them tend to be chronic complainers and malcontents. They can be detrimental to your enthusiasm for game publishing.

You could also make one or more games available for free and submit them to software index sites. You can find these websites by using your preferred search engine and type in the quarry field “Freeware” or “Free software.” You will find hundreds of freeware index software sites. Some of the sites you will be able to upload your game too. These sites use an installer to install the software on to the end-user’s system. Other index sites you may have to provide a direct download link. Many of the sites if not all of them will also have a link to your website. I recommend that you use the sites that also provide a link to your homepage. Before submitting your game to any of the sites be sure to read the terms of usage and all instructions.

One inexpensive off-line way of promoting your game publishing is to invest in professionally made business cards. I strongly recommend not using self-made business cards because in many instances they can appear amateurish. In my opinion, I recommend that you use raised letter text. This will give you an initial favorable first impression. I recommend that the name of your game publishing be prominently placed on the business card as well as a very brief description. Be sure to have the URL for your site on the business card. Should you choose to also offer a telephone number I strongly recommend that you use an inexpensive prepaid cell phone. Use the aforementioned cell phone exclusively for your game publishing.

Should you choose to use business cards be sure to always carry some with you. You can place some of them at establishments you patronize that you may have determined gamers patronize as well. These establishments can be convenient stores, fast food restaurants, Internet cafés and etc. Place a small number of business cards near the establishment’s cash register usually about 10 or 15 of them. Before placing your business cards be sure to ask the establishment for permission to do so. Should you encounter a gamer be sure to give him or her one of your business cards.

Another inexpensive off-line promotion for your game publishing is to use 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers. The 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers should be placed on public bulletin boards. The 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers can provide much more information about your game publishing then the business cards. It is my opinion the use of 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers in conjunction with business cards will enhance your promotional efforts. The 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers are most effective in urban and suburban areas on public bulletin boards. In rural areas the 8 ½ X 11 inch flyers will have limited results but they will still be effective.

Do not underestimate the effectiveness of using business cards and flyers. They may seem to be just local advertising, however, remember the Roman Empire began locally before it overshadowed the known world. The business cards and flyers have the ability to get others to get the word-of-mouth out about your game publishing.

After you have established yourself as a game publisher spend at least one to two hours a week learning something new in the field of game publishing. This could be anything from creating custom assets for your games, new strategies for game concepts, marketing your game publishing, etc.

My best regards to all.

Thank you bossisly, a lot of useful information here

Lots of great advice and nice ballpark figures on costs for those who are looking towards promoting their games!
One request however and not to be rude, but can you give some input on yourself? This way we see your accomplishments and not just blindly trusting you have had success in the industry.

Sorry for being a bit late with the reply.

I have been retired for some years now and I am unable to offer you any recent examples for you to see. I can give you a bit of my history and you can judge for yourself.

From the early 1970s up until the mid-1990s, I was involved in mail order offering information products. In the early mid 1990s when personal computers became user-friendly with the advent of Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 I became a computer enthusiast. Shortly after that, I immersed myself into the field of personal computers and the Internet. Let me clarify, I found a way to make applications for PC compatible computers and I also found a way to make websites without knowing how to write one line of code.

I soon was making custom applications for small firms. The software I was producing was being sold for a fraction of the cost from that of a corporate software publisher. I also had the advantage of tailoring the software for a specific firm’s needs.

Many of those small firms were considering promoting themselves via the Internet. I let them know that I could create a website for them and burn it to a CD-ROM for storage until they found a cost affordable web hosting service. At that time many of them used their Internet service provider as a web hosting service. In those days there was no such thing as an inexpensive web hosting service like they do now. At that time services that coded for HTML were charging anywhere from $50 a page to $100 for an individual webpage. I was only charging $10 a page. All the client had to do was provide me the text and graphics for a specific page. Once I had the text and graphics, it took less than five minutes to produce the web page.

In time, e-commerce was becoming a popular topic. Clients were asking me what I thought which of the methods the e-commerce experts were recommending should be used. My reply was their recommendations were foolhardy. I then told them how I would do it. What I told them was suggestions of methods I used when I was involved in mail order; however, I did not tell them that they were actually mail-order methods nor did I tell them that e-commerce was nothing more than mail order by electronic means.

I knew something the experts who had diplomas in computer science did not know. I am now going to let you know what that is. E-commerce began long before the Internet was available to the public at large. It began in the 1980s on electronic bulletin boards known as BBS's. Some of the BBS’s were operated by computer enthusiasts who were also independent mail-order entrepreneurs. The majority of the BBS’s of the 1980s were operated by associations of computer enthusiasts of that era.

To access a BBS you needed your own computer and a modem connected to a phone line and have your computer dial-in to the BBS. A BBS had its limitations as to how many people could access it at one time. The limitations were as to the number of modems and phone lines the BBS was equipped with. Computer clubs that had paid membership had multiple modems and phone lines servicing their BBS’s. The mail-order entrepreneur who had his or her own BBS usually only had one modem and phone line attached to their BBS. They promoted their BBS’s using flyers and posting them on public bulletin boards at community colleges.

The mail-order entrepreneurs offered free information on their BBS’s. The information they offered with tips and tricks on how to use the products they sold. What they did was offer a downloadable text file with all the useful information and at the end of the text file would be the information for ordering the product. Let me give you a hypothetical example. Let’s say the entrepreneur is selling metal detectors. He would have a downloadable text file with useful tips and tricks on how to find lost coins and jewelry. The entrepreneur would also pepper the text file with exciting antidotes on treasure hunting with a metal detector. Naturally all the information would be pertaining to the exact model of metal detector the entrepreneur is selling. At the end of the text file would be the pricing information as well as how to order one from the entrepreneur. In those days people who could access a BBS with their personal computer downloaded anything and everything that was free. Hardly anyone at that time figured out that the help file they downloaded was actually a clever advertisement.

Now you know what I knew that the consultants with the degrees in applied computer science did not and still do not know.

When the Internet was becoming publicly accessible the mail-order entrepreneurs took things to a new level. They also became the most prolific writers of how to e-books that was distributed for free on the Internet during the mid to late 1990s. They were largely the ones responsible for the creation of the dot-coms that thrived until 1999. The entrepreneurs were offered ridiculously large sums of money for their sites. Naturally they took the money and turned over their websites to the investment groups that had more money than brains. The investment groups hired people who excelled in applied computer science; however, these same people had no formal training and practical experience in the business models they were employed to oversee. Due to their lack of understanding that the free services and features the websites offered were nothing more than to generate traffic in order to sell product and space for banner ad impressions at the top of each page. The new CEOs who took over from the entrepreneurs began charging for the free services and features. This led to an abrupt decline of traffic to the websites which in turn led to plummeting sales of product and the sale of space for banner impression ads. By the year 2000 once profitable websites were falling like dominoes due to non-profitability.

I eventually became a consultant to entrepreneurs who were aspiring to enter the field of e-commerce. In addition to being there consultant I also made Digital Products for them. If you’re wondering how I was able to make Windows applications without knowing coding and how to make websites without knowing how to write one line of HTML code I can tell you now. I did it the same way you are making 3-D computer games. I bought applications that did the hard work of writing the code for what I wanted the applications to do and I bought an HTML editor that wrote the coding for me. I still have both applications; however the one I used for making Windows applications is no longer usable only due to the end application it creates will only work on a 32-bit system. Many of the PCs today are 64-bit. If you’re wondering what the name of that software creation Wizard name is, it is “Computer Magic”. The application is no longer available for sale because the developer who sold it passed away. The application I used for making websites is called “Web Express”. For unknown reasons MVD no longer offers it for sale.

My success as a consultant is due to many years of practical experience in the mail order business. My success at making Windows applications and websites and 3-D computer games I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to the talented geniuses who create software creation wizards. The Game Creators are on that list of appreciation.

Now that I am in retirement I can offer my personal trade secrets. I am not selling my trade secrets, however I am revealing them as suggestions on appropriate forums. I hope this answers your question. My best regards to you.

Thank you for further information on yourself and your career. You seemed to have accomplished quite a bit and are very knowledgeable on the web side of things. Are there any programs that you use today and recommend for people who are barely starting up and don't want to spend huge licensing fees? What costs can you expect as your company/game development grows?
On the other hand what are some ways to get some extra cash from your website, I know about ads and sales but ads seem a bit tacky and can deter visitors?

I am happy to answer your questions. As you have noticed, my replies can be somewhat lengthy. In order for me to properly answer your questions, I will post each answer to your questions in separate replies. I am doing this for two reasons; the first reason is that I do not know if there is a word-cap for individual posts and replies. Should there be one I could easily exceed the cap limit. The second reason is by giving the answers to your questions in individual replies would make it easier for you and others to digest the answers I provide. I will answer your questions in the order that you have asked.

Yes there are a number of programs I still use. These programs I no longer use for commercial purposes, however, I now use them on hobby projects.

The following list is freeware that I am still using. I can’t recall the URL addresses for any of these programs so use your preferred search engine to find them.

Art Weaver and Gimp. I use both of these graphic arts programs. I use Art Weaver for simple projects that need to be done in a hurry. I use Gimp for deeply involved graphic arts projects. Gimp is open source and free for anyone to download and use. Art Weaver comes in two versions the free version with some limitations and the full version without the limitations. If you download Art Weaver and install it, and you only want the free version, during the installation process un-tick the option for the 30 day trial version and leave the option for the free version ticked.

Audacity. Audacity is the best open source audio editing software I have ever used. There are hundreds of video tutorials on how to make studio quality sound effects. To find these video tutorials go to YouTube and type in the search field “Audacity tutorials”. You can narrow your search parameter by specifying a type of audio editing with Audacity. An example would be. “How to make a Borg voice with Audacity”.

Blender. Blender is a free open source 3-D modeling application. I have used this application to make 3-D models for FPS Creator classic. I like the simplicity of this applications ability to texture map the 3-D models. There are hundreds of tutorials on model making and UV and texture mapping available on YouTube. The tutorials focus on using the application with keyboard shortcuts. Be advised that some keyboards on some laptops are incompatible with Blender.

DDS to JPG converter and JPG to DDS converter. I have used these two converters extensively on customizing entities for FPS Creator classic. By converting DDS texture to JPG I can then easily customize the texture and then use the JPG to DDS converter to transform JPG texture back into a DDS. The JPG to DDS converter supports many image file formats that can be converted. The reason I use these to converters is because they are quick and easy to convert file formats. As I recall both of these converters are offered by the same developer as freeware.

If you have an entity that does not appear or if you have a segment where parts of it or all of it does not appear it may be that the entity or segment was created for an early version of FPS Creator. I have used the JPG to DDS converter to convert their JPEG, TAG or PONG texture maps to DDS. Should you have the problem of entities or segments not being visible you can convert the texture map to DDS. After you have converted the texture map, open up the FPE file and change the extension for the texture image to DDS. Then delete both the BIN and DOB Files. By doing this your entity or segment should appear correctly, as it did for me.

Domain Checker. I have used this application many times to check if a domain name has been taken. The application takes very little disk space on the hard drive. If you download this free application and use it, your system will have to be online in order for the application to check the availability of the domain name.

Entity workshop. Entity workshop is a freeware application that was developed to work with FPS Creator classic. I have used this application numerous times to rescale entities and repair entities. The application comes with numerous features, some of which I do not know how to use. I do have a URL link you can download it from.

http://games.alyssar.nl/entityworkshop/

Free Coffee Cup DHTML Menu Maker. I have used this application numerous times to make some outstanding menus for websites. This application also works well with my copy of Web express that I used for making websites. The menus you create with this application are very user-friendly for the visitors to your website.

Free YouTube Downloader. I use this application regularly. I can download videos in the MP4 format and I can download videos as an audio file in the MP3 format. I have downloaded many video tutorials using this application. I have also been able to download royalty-free audio sound effects as well as ambient background sound effects. Should you use this application for downloading sound effect files be sure to check the description on the YouTube page to ensure that the sound effect you are downloading is royalty-free. You can convert the MP3 in to a wav file or a ogg file. If you are going to use a continuous loop sound and the file is less than 1 minute in duration convert the file into a wav file only. Any sound files that are less than a minute in duration that will not be looped can be converted into a ogg file. You can convert the files by using Audacity.

GIRDAC Free PDF Creator. This is an excellent application I use for converting documents into PDF files. The first time I used it I was astounded at how well it worked.

Install Creator. I have used this application many times for a setup installer for games I have created. It comes in two versions the free version that has the nag screen and the paid version that does not have the nag screen and the paid version comes with a few extra features.


Java Script Collector. This application is a library of Java scripts. The scripts are divided into several categories. In addition to the scripts that come with the application you can add additional Java scripts to the application. The application also gives you the ability to test the scripts before you embed them into a page. I have found this application to be a proverbial God sent. The application is offered as freeware.

Junior Icon Editor. Junior Icon Editor is a freeware application I use for creating icons (ico files). I have found that this application is better suited for creating icons rather than using Gimp or Art Weaver

Microsoft GIF Animator. Microsoft GIF Animator is an excellent free application offered by Microsoft for creating your own animated GIF’s. I have lost track of how many times I have used this application.

MWSnap 3. This is a lightweight heavy duty static screen capture application that gives you multiple options. This is another application where I have lost track of how many times I have used it. The developer of this application allows anyone to download it and use it with no limitations. However, the developer does ask for a donation but does not require anyone to make a donation.

Panopreter Basic and Swift Talker. Both of these applications are text to speech applications that saves the files in wav and MP3 formats. Panopreter Basic comes in two versions the free version and the paid for version. Swift Talker comes in an allegedly paid version only, however, the developer does offer a limited use free version. The limitations are it only has one voice. The David voice that is used in many of the anonymous videos. Panopreter Basic uses the Microsoft Betty voice. If you download and install both applications the Panopreter Basic application will also use the David voice from the Swift Talker application. It is my opinion that the Panopreter Basic application gives both voices better pronunciation. After you have created a sound file using the David voice you can use Audacity to transform it to sound like a robot voice that was used in the original late 1970s Battle Star Galactica television series by using the Vocoder in Audacity. To learn how to do this go to YouTube and type in the search field, “how to make a robot voice using Vocoder in Audacity”.

Screen Recorder. Screen Recorder is a freeware application for video recording your desktop screen. The only shortcoming of this application is that it does not record sound. If you have ever seen any of those tutorials on YouTube that has no voiceover narration to the tutorial it is a safe bet that the publisher of the tutorial is using the Screen Recorder application. They are the ones that type out in notepad what they are doing in the tutorial or worse yet they are just playing loud obnoxious music while you’re watching their mouse clicking on buttons all over the video. I’ve often wondered why they did not use the moviemaker application in Windows to add a voice narration to the tutorials rather than taking an absurd approach.

Sqirlz Water Reflections. Sqirlz Water Reflections is a unique photo editing freeware for creating special effect water reflections in an image file and transforming it into an animated GIF. Sqirlz Water Reflections application does a far superior job than Gimp and Photoshop. And it is much easier to use for this purpose.

Tree Pad. Tree Pad is an application for creating text e-books or help files. It comes in two versions. The free version which has limitations on image files that can be used and there is a paid version without the limitations. The developer also has an application to transform your text e-book or self-made help file into a standalone EXE. That application is freeware and can be used with either the free or paid for version of Tree Pad. The standalone EXE has the look and feel of the help files that are used in many applications.

Video to GIF converter. The Video to GIF converter is an excellent freeware application to transform a video into an animated GIF. The Video to GIF converter can transform many video formats into animated GIF’s. I have used this application on numerous occasions.


Web Site Zip Packer. Web Site Zip Packer is a freeware application can best be described as an e-book creator that compiles HTML or web pages into a standalone e-book that requires no Internet browser as a reader. The application can create an e-book with several thousand pages along with images. The application will accommodate animated GIF images. The application does have some limitations. The limitations can be considered as minor inconveniences. The limitations are is that the built-in reader of a newly created e-book will not accommodate Java scripts nor will it accommodate embedded videos. It is as I said these are only minor inconveniences when you consider the application is freeware.

Yahoo Site Builder. Yahoo Site Builder is a website creation wizard released by Yahoo as a free download. The website creation wizard develops a webpage using a layering technique in the construction process. The application accommodates Java scripts and Java applications. The application also accommodates the embedding of MID files for music to be played on a page. The application also accommodates the embedding of videos on a webpage as well. The learning curve for this application is a short one for many. The only drawback to this application is that some web browsers do not display the pages correctly. This is due in part that those browsers were not developed for reading web pages using the layering technique. For a long period of time, I used the Yahoo Site Builder in conjunction with Web Express when creating e-books with E-book Express. Yahoo Site Builder was used for specific pages that absolutely had to have the layering technique for the visual effects. When the developers of the Internet explore browser blocked many standalone e-books from using the Explorer browser as an e-book reader e-book express was no longer usable as a creation tool for making e-books that is when I had no further use for the Yahoo Site Builder.

The Yahoo Site Builder in my opinion is an excellent tool for the newbie of game publishing for creating their own website. With this website creation tool, one can take their time in building their website off-line. When the user completes a page or website, they will need to use their web hosting service PTF to upload the web pages and accompanying files for the pages to the web host server. The built-in up-loader in the Yahoo Site Builder will only upload the website or pages to the Yahoo hosting servers. This is why the user will have to use their web hosting service PTF to upload their websites from the Yahoo Site Builder.

To get the Yahoo Site Builder go to Yahoo and type in the search field, “Yahoo Site Builder download”. The page you are looking for will be at the top of the results page. If anyone is interested in getting this free application I strongly advise that they get it now. Because Vision just acquired Yahoo. What changes Vision will be making at Yahoo in the near and far future is unknown at this point. There is a possibility that the Yahoo Site Builder may no longer be available in the future.

As you can see the applications that I use could be beneficial to anyone starting out in their own game publishing entrepreneurial pursuits. I should have the answer to your second question by this weekend or within the next day or so. I wish you and everyone my best regards.

The reply to your next question, “What costs can you expect as your company/game development grows?”

As an independent game publisher, acquiring additional software will be an expense that occurs throughout your game publishing entrepreneurialism. You will be able to acquire a great deal of beneficial freeware software; however, there is software that you may deem necessary that you will have to purchase. This is the nature of all successful business models these days. Fortunately, many of the useful software that can be used by entrepreneurs in my opinion are a modest cost. Those costs can range from $20 to $100. It has been my observation that many of the software that cost over $100 are extremely complicated with a long difficult learning curve and they tend to be extremely demanding on your systems resources. To keep your acquisition of new software for your game publishing efforts to a minimum I advise browsing through the freeware indexing sites. You can find these indexing sites by using your preferred search engine and typing in the search field, “Free software” or “Freeware”. You will find that these indexing sites are easy to navigate through. The software is indexed in their appropriate categories. Be advised, some of the software on some of the sites are shareware or trialware. Acquiring beneficial freeware can save you thousands of dollars over time.

Maintenance and acquiring new hardware will be an ongoing expense. Preventative maintenance cost is extremely low. Usually, under $20 a year. System maintenance applications can be found on many of the freeware indexing sites. Over time it may be necessary to replace the power supply to your system. The cost of a replacement power supply can be $45 to $90. If you are using a laptop, you may need to eventually purchase a new battery for it. You can increase the longevity of the battery of your laptop by letting it run down at least once a month and then fully recharging it. I know it sounds crazy but that is the way it works to increase the lifespan of a laptop battery.

You may need to replace your system’s CPU battery in a couple of decades. The manufacturer gives the CPU battery a five-year lifespan. In my opinion, this would be true if you never turned your system on. Your system has a built-in charger for the CPU battery which dramatically increases the lifespan of the CPU battery. Should your CPU battery fail you will need to replace it and use your restoration disk to restore the setup files in the CPU. If you do not have a restoration disk you will need to get one. You can get a restoration disk for your make and model PC or laptop from a vendor that sells restoration disk. You can find a vendor that sells restoration disk by using your preferred search engine and typing in the search field, “buy restoration disk”, be sure to add the make and model of your PC or laptop in the search field. Many of the vendors also supply a driver’s disk with the restoration disk for your PC or laptop. When you run the restoration disk, choose the option for “repair”. When it is doing the repair process it will appear that it is reinstalling the system so do not panic. What it is doing is going through the entire operating system and making all repairs. This includes restoring the CPU boot files as well as cleaning and defrag of your system’s registry. The entire repair process can be lengthy depending on what the repair operation encounters. Another benefit to having a restoration disk and driver disk is that if you ever need to do a clean reinstall you will be able to do it. Depending on the make and model of your system, the cost of the restoration disk can range from $25 to $60.

At some point, you may need to acquire a replacement monitor. Today’s modern monitors have a six to seven year lifespan if you are using your system on a daily basis. At the time of this posting modern monitors range in price from $95 to $150. Side note, if you should at any time see an old picture tube monitor at a yard or garage sale and it is still operational get it. It should not cost you more than five or $10. For doing graphic arts projects these old style monitors are far superior to the modern monitors. Freelance Digital Graphic Artist use these old-style monitors extensively. That is why computer shops that sells the old-style monitors for up to $500.

An all-in-one printer, scanner, fax machine usually cost around $89. The problem with these all-in-one machines is when you install the software for them you have to disable your firewalls and antivirus software when running the installer. Another problem is when one aspect of it malfunctions it usually affects the other functions of the all-in-one machine. In my opinion, you would be better off acquiring a dedicated flatbed scanner and a dedicated printer. The combined cost is the equivalent of an all-in-one machine. As for the fax, Windows operating systems from XP through Windows 10 have built-in fax functions.

Your home office supplies (printer paper, pens, staples, printer ink, graphics paper for doing off system design for the games you’ll be making, AA battery for the wall clock, etc.) should not run more than $150 a year after you are established, however, if you are a heavy coffee or tea drinker then add a hundred dollars to that figure.

Below are some suggestions on how to keep your home office expenses down.

*Download free online forms instead of buying them at office supply stores.

*Offer catalogs and brochures as PDF downloads to cut printing and shipping costs.

*Check every invoice and verify charges before paying.

*Double-check addresses before shipping to avoid costly mistakes.

*Shop around for better rates on printing, shipping, and office supplies.

*Use free shipping materials from USPS, UPS and FedEx.

*Sign up for free business directory listings online.

*Buy used office furniture and equipment.

*Share your expertise in public appearances, blogs and social media and get free exposure.

*Join a networking group and find a mentor with more experience to advise you.

*Use free teleconference services.

After you are an established game author and a publisher, and have extensively studied shrewd marketing techniques, your annual marketing and advertising should not exceed $2,500. Most likely, you will be spending under $1,000. The true expense of marketing and advertising is the time and effort you put into it. Target your niche to get the most for your ad and marketing expenditures.

Other expenditures that you may incur will be furthering your education. I strongly suggest you take a course in small business management and take a complete course in paralegal studies. Taking a course in paralegal studies I recommend to all aspiring entrepreneurs. You do not need to attend a brick-and-mortar university to take any of these two courses. You can take a online or by mail order correspondence course. A quality course in small business management can cost as much as $1,200. A complete course in paralegal studies can range between $1,500 and $2,500

By taking a course in small business management, you will ultimately be able to run your game publishing business in a more productive and cost efficient manner. By taking a course in paralegal studies, you will drastically cut your overall legal expenses in your entrepreneurial pursuits as well as in your lifetime.

I do realize that taking both of these courses can have a combined cost of $4,000 and too many this is a lot of money. Keep in mind that many of the mail-order correspondence schools offers installment payment plans that are a kin to a pay-as-you-go plan. The two courses I recommend you take will pay for themselves in savings several times over during your lifetime.

My next reply will be to your third question. to you and everyone my best regards.

TL;DR post, please

To Madcow02, I did indicate earlier that my post and replies are somewhat lengthy. I’m sorry you did not read my earlier post in its entirety. Remember, another had asked me three sincere and valid questions and I am answering them. The answers I am giving that individual can also be of use to others. I wish you my best regards.

Now it’s time for me to get to the third question, “What are some ways to get some extra cash from your website, I know about ads and sales but ads seem a bit tacky and can deter visitors?”

The best way to make some extra cash from your website is to offer more products (games you have created) to your potential customers who visit your website. Remember your website is your advertisement for the sale of the games you have created. A good example is by re-examining The Game Creators home page. The first thing you notice is they are promoting their own digital products using a method that is a kin of display advertising at the top of their own page as well as subsequent pages of their site.

I am going on the assumption you are looking to earn advertising revenue from others. It can be done providing you do it correctly in a manner that will not denigrate your game publishing reputation. If you have 100,000 unique visitors annually and each unique visitor revisits your site on a regular basis (four to five times a week) contacting a banner ad agency could earn you some extra money. In order to make money from a banner ad agency you have to have a high volume of traffic to your site on a daily basis. You will only be paid five to twenty cents for every 5000 page view banner impressions.

There are some banner ad agencies that will pay as much as a dollar for every 5000 page view banner impressions. If you value your good name and reputation you will not want to deal with these banner ad agencies. These banner ad agencies promote pornographic sites and sites that sell body enhancement placebos. They also promote websites that display fraudulent notices that a computer has been infected by a virus. They do this in order to get the victim to call a toll-free number and then be advised to call a number the charges the victim over five dollars a minute for the duration of the phone call. As you can see those banner ad agencies can ruin your reputation as well as getting your web hosting account terminated by your web hosting service.

Should you choose to make money from banner advertisements it is my opinion that you should go the route of getting a sales commission from the products or services that are offered through the banner ad. There are a number of Internet marketing firms that specialize in servicing advertisers and owners of websites in the manner I have just described. Many of these Internet marketing firms are reputable and just as many are not. Back in the day, I have dealt with both types of Internet marketing firms.

The non-reputable ones operate like the fabled “Ferengi” from the Star Trek television series Deep Space 9. They victimize the advertisers and the owners of websites both. There are two reputable marketing firms I can recommend. They are actually affiliate Internet marketing firms. The first one is Clickbank and the second one is Commission Junction.

Clickbank affiliate marketers primarily offer digital products. These products can be anything from e-books to security tools. In years past I have seen computer games that were sold through the Clickbank affiliate program. The Digital Products offered through click bank are divided into their appropriate categories. The payout to the owner of a website can range from 20% to 85%.

Clickbank handles all transactions from point-of-sale to pay outs. As I recall Clickbank has a threshold level when it makes payments to affiliates, the payments are made on a monthly basis.

The only drawback to using the Clickbank affiliate program is that no banners are offered for each marketer. At least they were not when I was in the business. If they still do not offer banners you can easily use any one of the free online banner creators to make the banners you will need. However, if you have a graphic arts program like Gimp, Photoshop, or one of the many other graphic arts programs you can make your own off-line.

Great consideration should be taken when choosing a digital product that will be sold through your site. The product(s) you choose should be of use and interest to your niche gamer market. Examples would be a RAM defrag tool, systems diagnostic tools, Registry defrag tools are just some.

I should also mention that Clickbank provides support for marketers and affiliates. Should you choose to use Clickbank I recommend you thoroughly read their terms of service and only then sign up after you have fully comprehended what you had read.

There are literally hundreds of tutorial videos for Clickbank available on YouTube. On the YouTube homepage in the search field type, “Clickbank affiliate tutorials”.

You can also use Clickbank as an intermediary for the sale of the gains you create. The advantages of using Clickbank are many. You will not need a credit card merchant account for the financial transactions. You can even have affiliates sell your games using Clickbank. All you have to do is decide how much of a commission should be paid to affiliates for each copy they sell through their site, newsletter or blog.

You will need to create your own landing page and you will need to host the location where your game(s) will be downloaded from. It is best to use a file hosting service for this. Be sure to place your game in a zip file before uploading it to your file hosting service.

Commission Junction marketers primarily merchandise non-digital products. Commission Junction marketers do offer their own banners for you to use. I would recommend the marketers you deal with through Commission Junction should be offering products that would be of use and interest to the gamers that visit your site. This would include hardware for upgrading PCs and laptops or the sale of PCs and laptops.

Be advised that Commission Junction does not offer support in the manner that Clickbank does. Commission Junction relies on a forum based support for users. Also there are many complexities that exist with the viewing of progress reports for affiliates. The learning curve for many is lengthy and laborious. Commission Junction also has a threshold for payouts, the payouts are made every 20 days. You can choose whether the payouts are to be made to you with a paper check or direct deposit.

Should you choose to use Commission Junction read the terms of service thoroughly as well as all the instructions and be sure you have fully comprehended everything you have read before signing up with Commission Junction.

Keep in mind marketers sometimes drop their promotions for varying reasons and this is true for marketers who use Clickbank and Commission Junction. This is why I am recommending that you keep the number of marketers you are affiliated with to a small number. You can use a JS external file that can be placed at the top of several pages in your site. Should a marketer choose to end their promotion all you have to do is change the properties of the JS file to a new marketer. So if you have a banner for a particular marketer on several pages you can change the banner and its properties on all the pages at one time.

Banner advertising in my opinion is the best way to advertise without annoying visitors to a site.

My best regards to you and all.

Here are suggestions on creating higher page ranking for your game publishing site.

I do realize that many rely on the advice of self-proclaimed gurus, however, the advice they give is recycled tripe in my opinion. The harsh reality with the recycled tripe is that what worked yesterday does not work today and what works today will not work tomorrow. This is a hard cold reality.

The keywords in the media tag in the head of your webpage(s) has very little to no significance to the web crawler spiders used by today’s search engines. The web crawler spiders use the actual content that an actual visitor to your site would see as the keywords. The best way to make use of this information is to write your pages for your niche market. They are more than likely to use search words or terms that would be on your page for viewing by human eyes.

Do not do anything foolish like putting ill relevant keywords in white text on a white background in the body of your page. The AI in the web crawler spiders will spot this deception and dramatically reduce the ranking of your webpage(s) or even worse blacklist your webpage(s), which would result in your webpage(s) not being included in the search engine.

Another way to increase the page ranking to your site is to add fresh content to your site on a weekly basis and if possible on a daily basis. The search engines do place a higher priority and ranking on site’s that consistently adds new content. This may sound like a daunting task to many and it can be too many.

Link popularity to your site will definitely increase the ranking of your site providing if it is done correctly. Many of the self-proclaimed gurus will tell you to write articles for article submission sites and to be sure to place a link back to your site in the resource box that is to appear just below the article you have written for others to use. The problem with this technique is that link backs from article submission sites are rarely counted for link back popularity. If by any chance someone who uses your article and places a link back on the page to your site from the page they placed your article on the web crawler spiders will not include this for link popularity. However, if any bloggers use your articles whoever reads the article from their site may possibly click on the link to visit your site. This is a big if. However, if you like writing articles go for it.

You do not have to go to the trouble of asking webmasters of other sites to place a link to your site on their site. You may have noticed throughout this thread I have made many references to YouTube. Link backs to websites in the description of the videos on the YouTube page they appear on are counted by the web crawler spiders for link back popularity. You can start making your own videos and uploading them to YouTube and include a link to your website in the description box for the video. The more videos you make and upload to YouTube and place a link back to your site in the description of the video on the YouTube page of the video that the video will originate from will add more to your link popularity for your site.

I recommend that you make a video commercial for each individual game title you have made and are offering for sale. You can use the shared video feature YouTube provides. You will have to set the video for public access. To embed your video into your site go to the page it appears on and click on the share tab than click on the embed tab. The page will then show the code you need that is to be embedded into your page. You can also select the options and choose the ones you want and the ones you do not want by ticking and un-ticking the appropriate boxes. Then copy the code into Notepad and save it for when you create the advertisement page for your game. All you have to do is paste the code into your webpage.

You can also make public relation’s videos for your game publishing business. Should you do this be sure to add the link back to your site in the description for your video. The possibilities for the types of videos you can make are limited to your imagination and the terms of service of YouTube.

Keep in mind bloggers are like search engines. They are always looking for fresh content. Many bloggers are constantly searching for new videos they can use in their blogs. By setting your video to public access, the bloggers can embed your public relations videos as well as your advertisements for your games onto their latest content page or e-mail newsletter.

Making videos these days are easy to do. On some of the forms I have visited, I have learned that the best cameras and microphones for making YouTube videos are the ones that were never intended for video production for YouTube videos. The cameras with the built-in microphones are the inexpensive automotive dash-cams that are sold at Walmart and other retail outlets. All they did to turn the dash-cam into their own studio camera was they built a kind of a tripod using PVC piping for it and purchased a 12 V external doorbell power supply and hooked it to a automotive 12 V automotive cigarette lighter they purchased from an auto parts store and plugged the dash-cam into it. From many of the posts I have read they claim that you can make several clips, stitch them into a video, and maintain consistent audio quality in the video. It is my understanding that the cost of purchasing the dash cam and every thing else needed for this type of project costs under $100.

For the video commercials you will be making for each one of your game titles you will need a video screen capture application for your desktop. The application you use should be able to record the audio of the game play you are making. After you have made a video copy of the game play, you can use the Windows moviemaker that came with your system to add your voice over to the video of the game play.

Do not upload a large amount of videos in a short period with the link backs to your site. If you do upload a large amount of videos in a short period with a link back to your site, the AI at the search engines will construe this as an attempt to manipulate link back popularity and the AI at the search engines will not count any link backs to your site for link popularity. I recommend that you should only upload one video with a link back to your site once a week to YouTube if you intend to make several videos with link backs to your site.

My best regards to everyone.

Thank you for your time on giving me and others an informative reply (I read it all).
I'll be sure to check out some of the software that I am interested in, some I actually already use. It is a good idea especially when starting out to take advantage of all the free and powerful software out there.
As for expenses, now I feel more comfortable since I build pc's and know the costs of doing so. Thank you for providing alternative solutions to keep your costs low. One thing that I overlooked is the legal aspect of game development.
I don't think I will be taking courses for this but I will surely look further into it.
I like how you use the gamecreators website as an example, maybe before asking the question I should have looked at popular websites and see what they do. Nevertheless, you provided some good banner ad agencies to contact when your websites obtain a nice level of traffic.
Lastly, thank you for the tips on how to layout your website to not deter audience and the search engines (I just recently started learning about the dark web/search block in school).

One last question! As you mentioned before, selling games and products through your website should be one of the primary sources of income. How do you know when to offer sales on some of your products? I feel like TGC sends me sale emails way too often for the amount of products they offer. Should it be based on time/holidays/sales? What about free-to-play games what are the advantages of those style games.

The time when to offer your game title for sale is after you have thoroughly tested it and have confidence beyond a shadow of a doubt that your game title has no performance flaws. Due diligence on your part is critical when thoroughly testing your game title and making any necessary corrections to it before its release for sale.

As to the TGC advertisements that you have mentioned, this is normal during a special sale. In my opinion the amount of e-mail advertising they are sending out to each of their subscribers is not excessive for a special sale. After you have become an established game publisher promoting your own game titles you will have a better understanding of this. I would recommend that the advertisements you received from TGC you should save and use them as educational materials to be studied. Look for ways you can improve them to be more effective. This is a good intellectual exercise for creativity in copywriting advertisements. The benefits to you by doing this is when you begin writing your own advertisements the process will be comfortable and productive.

As to your question about advertising your game titles “Should it be based on time/holidays/sales?” The answer is complex. A marketing campaign based on time, by that I mean with a strict time limit for game titles that are being offered for substantial discounts, in my opinion you should have no more than two of the sales in a calendar year. This type of promotional campaign is known as a special sale. In the world of mail order print media the time limit is confined to a 30 day or 31 day duration. Whether it is 30 or 31 days all depends on which month the sale will occur in. In the world of e-commerce the special sale should have a limit of 14 days. Promotion and advertising for the special sale should begin 30 days before the sale starts.

Holiday sales for the game publishing business is predominantly for the Christmas holiday. The promotion and advertising for the holiday sale should begin 90 days before the holiday sale. However, crafting the strategy and marketing plan should begin 90 days before the commencement of the marketing and advertising of the holiday sales. In other words, you need to start your marketing plan for the holiday sale six months in advance of the sale. When making your marketing plan never forget the six Ps (Proper Pre-Preparation Prevents Poor Performance).

There are also seasonal sales. In the northern hemisphere the seasonal sale is known as the summer sale. In the southern hemisphere the seasonal sale is known as the winter sale. This type of sale last for the duration of the season (three months). The marketing and advertising for this type of sale begins at the beginning of the sale and ends a week before the sale ends.

Now it’s time to answer your question “What about free-to-play games what are the advantages of those style games?” The answer is many for an Independent Game Publishing Company operated by an individual entrepreneur. Freeware games attract potential new customers like steel to a magnet. It also promotes brand recognition.

The best way to use this concept to your advantage is to make two versions of each one of your game titles. The first version will be the light version that will be offered as freeware. The second version will be the standard version that will be sold. The light version of your game title(s) should have no more than four levels and not less than three levels. The standard version will have all the levels which was originally intended.

List all of your light version game titles on freeware indexing websites. Some of the sites may require you to upload each game title to their site. Those that do will make an online installer for it for the user that wants to download it. Some indexing sites will want the URL for your download page for the game title you are listing. Some of the indexing sites will require you to have a direct download URL link. All of them will require you to write the description for the game title that is being offered. Many of them provide you an opportunity to place a link to your site from the indexing site page your game title will be on. There is one downside to this, because you’ll be using the same game description for each game title on all of the freeware indexing sites, the URLs pointing back to your site will not be counted for link popularity by the web crawling spiders for the search engines.

Before placing the light version of the game title in a zip file, make a promotional document for the standard version as well as promotions for all other standard versions of the game titles you have ready for sale. I recommend you have two versions of the promotional document. The first one in PDF format and the second one in standard text format. Include the promotional documents into the zip file with the light version game title.

Allow and encourage other websites to give away copies of your light version game titles. The best part about this is you do not have to e-mail or call other webmasters to do this. Just place somewhere on your home page a link “For Webmasters.” The link will take the webmasters to a page where you will be generously offering to let them give away the light versions of your game titles. On this page informed the webmasters how it would benefit them having something to give the visitors to their site something for free. And be sure to impress upon the visiting webmaster this free service you are providing them will cost them nothing. This is a win-win situation for you and the other webmaster and the visitors to his or her site. Use the following description for the description tag in the head of the page that reads as follows, “This page offers free resources to webmasters.”

You will need to make a special download landing page for the other websites to use on your site. This page gives the description of each one of your light version games along with the direct download links that have the files that have the light version games and promotional materials for the standard versions of your games.

When you give the link for this special landing page for the other webmasters to use on their sites be sure to set the link with the extension blank instead of the extension self. The reason you want to do this is the visitor on the other website who clicks on the link the page will open in a separate window or tab. The other webmasters will be more accommodating to you by doing this. This is because they do not have to worry about their visitors leaving their site because their visitors used the link you have provided. Now when a gamer that is also a webmaster who visits your site will see that you have even more to offer them when they see your link “For Webmasters”.

Now take this method a step further. You will now want to visit indexing sites that list free dynamic content service providers for webmasters. It is these indexing sites where many websites go to look for dynamic free content they can offer their visitors to make their sites more interesting or as they say sticky. It just so happens that one of these indexing sites is named “Sticky”. These indexing sites offer an invaluable service that brings free dynamic content providers and webmasters together. The dynamic content can be anything from online news feeds, cartoon of the day image, online dictionaries and free download providers.

There are many free indexing dynamic indexing sites. To find them use your preferred search engine and type in the content field, “free dynamic content for webmasters” or “free dynamic content for websites” or “free feeds for websites”.

You might want to create a folder in your Browser's bookmark and name it “Content Providers.” You will want to bookmark the dynamic indexing sites into your browser to this folder in your bookmark folder. The reason I suggest this is because the dynamic indexing sites number in the hundreds. Register your game publishing business as a game publisher that offers free download content for websites. When registering use the same URL that you use for, “For Webmasters.” Do not spend more than half an hour to an hour each day registering with the dynamic content indexing sites. The reason you’ll want to put a daily time limit on doing this each day is to prevent burnout fatigue. This marketing technique does take time and effort. Remember, earlier in this thread I did state that your marketing and advertising expenditures will be more in the way of the effort and time you put into it rather than large expenditures of money.

You will not receive immediate results from the above suggestions I have provided you. However, over time you will have a powerful marketing network working for you. The information I have just passed along to you are based on the tried-and-true methods us old-timers have used.

My best regards to you and all.

I'm putting a pin into this. Good info; thanks.

Thank you for regarding the information I am providing to everyone to be of value in his or her pursuits to become an independent commercial game publisher.

In my last post on this thread, I fail to mention that the indexing sites that I was referring to are buried deep in the results pages in many of the search engines. The reason for this is the indexing AI with the various search engines algorithms misidentifies them as duplicate sites. This is in large part due to much of the content on these sites can easily be misconstrued as duplications. This is nothing conspiratorial it is what is known as a "Catch-22" for those indexing sites.

My best regards to everyone.

This is an update to an earlier reply in this thread on free software for your computer game publishing business.

I was recently on YouTube and in the recommendations for viewing videos was a recommendation for a video on the “My Free Website Builder.”

I watched the video and I was impressed with the My Free Website Builder. What impressed me about it were the similarities it has with the application I have been using for over 20 years. Where it differs from the WebExpress from MVD was that the My Free Website Builder has some features that WebExpress does not have.

I did download it and installed it. I found the application to be just as easy to use as my old reliable WebExpress, which has served me admirably through the years. To anyone who needs a free off-line website builder for developing a website for his or her computer game publishing business I recommend the My Free Website Builder over the Yahoo free website builder.

When I visited the download page for the My Free Website Builder it appeared to me that the My Free Website Builder is being offered free as an inducement to purchase services from the developer and possibly to sign up for a newsletter. However, no purchases are required and you do not have to provide an e-mail address to download the My Free Website Builder.

To view the video I watched I refer you to the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_TLpbd8id0

The URL to the download page for the My Free Website Builder is
http://www.myfreewebsitebuilder.com/start.html

Once you get to the download page scroll down near to the bottom to the link “download and install.” The download is just a little over 10 MB. You will also see some links to download free PDF files that have some useful information in converting visitors to your site into buyers.

My best regards to all.