Traditional Publishing: Good Companies and Where to Start?

[HexMozart88]

So, I've been contemplating getting one of my games traditionally published (i.e. contacting a publisher) but I'm not familiar with any of this stuff, so I'm not even sure where to start.

Do I have to contact them or do they contact people?
Is my game going to get slapped with a massive EULA that's going to make everyone quit before the game even starts?
What are some good publishers who will actually look at an RM game?
Do they own my game once I decide to work with them or is it still my IP?
How far along does my game have to be to start a contract?

I'd like someone with some experience with trad. publishing to walk me through the process a bit before I commit to anything.

 

[SGHarlekin]

From what I've experienced, many publishers seem to have a "Submit game" or "Pitch game" button somewhere. Or you're told to send them an E-Mail.

I wasn't successful in getting any of the ones I contacted to publish my game. Mainly because it's too cheap. I feel most indie publishers go for at least 10 dollar games.

But getting in touch with them is rather easy. Google whatever publisher you want to check out, and shoot them your game. The other questions you'll have to ask them, as they can be everything in between what you asked.

As for finding indie publishers, google is your friend. You could even use the steam indie category to see what kinds of publishers are on there that might suit your needs.

Personally, I just went with self publishing. Wasn't worth the trouble for me, when I found out most take 30% and more from each sale. Count that to what steam takes and you'll be left with a measly 40% of your game's sales before taxes.

Of course you might be able to get different offers if you're lucky. Or you'll have to pay them. Depends on the publisher.

 

[Shaz]

Do you mean like getting your game on Aldorlea Games or something a bit bigger? You might want to talk with @Kes and @Indinera.

 

[HexMozart88]

I don't know much about Adorlea, unfortunately. Are they a publishing company or a platform?

 

[HexMozart88]

From what I've experienced, many publishers seem to have a "Submit game" or "Pitch game" button somewhere. Or you're told to send them an E-Mail.

I wasn't successful in getting any of the ones I contacted to publish my game. Mainly because it's too cheap. I feel most indie publishers go for at least 10 dollar games.

But getting in touch with them is rather easy. Google whatever publisher you want to check out, and shoot them your game. The other questions you'll have to ask them, as they can be everything in between what you asked.

As for finding indie publishers, google is your friend. You could even use the steam indie category to see what kinds of publishers are on there that might suit your needs.

Personally, I just went with self publishing. Wasn't worth the trouble for me, when I found out most take 30% and more from each sale. Count that to what steam takes and you'll be left with a measly 40% of your game's sales before taxes.

Of course you might be able to get different offers if you're lucky. Or you'll have to pay them. Depends on the publisher.

Yeah, the money issue is some of my concern too. I just like that professional stamp of approval when they put their name in the beginning. I'd really like my game to look as professional and polished as possible and to reach as many people as it can. It's a game I've been working on for a while and I want it to be the best it can be.

Oops. Just realized that was a double post. Sorry.

 

[SGHarlekin]

Yeah, the money issue is some of my concern too. I just like that professional stamp of approval when they put their name in the beginning. I'd really like my game to look as professional and polished as possible and to reach as many people as it can. It's a game I've been working on for a while and I want it to be the best it can be.

Oops. Just realized that was a double post. Sorry.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Nobody is going to care if there's a publisher name in front of your game.

Especially not when it's some small indie publisher. They don't do anything you can't do yourself either. Post stuff on social media. No indie publisher will go around and have your rm game on tv ads or anything.

And this "Professional stamp" idea of your's is also not true. The only way this would apply, was if you got one of the "Big" ones to publish your game. (Team 17, Chucklefish & so on), Publishers people have actually heard of before. Any other Indie publisher will not really do anything for you with their name.

My little 3 dollar game reached 40 sales within the first week of release on steam and all I did, was posting stuff on twitter & get it streamed by some small streamers. I don't even have a facebook account and I never used twitter before either.
Now, you can say that's not a number to speak of, but if I can reach that in a week, I'm sure anyone with a better social media understanding can do better, and that's pretty much all a publisher is going to do for you. It's up to you to decide if that's worth 30% of your sales.

If you want to pitch your game to various indie publishers regardless, I used this article to find some of them:

16 Indie-Friendly Indie Game Publishers — Ninichi

ninichimusic.com

(If you can't recognize any of the names listed there, other than Team17, what do you think the chances are that a lot of others know them, or even care?)

Adorlea is a webstore exclusively featuring RM games.

 

[Indinera]

I don't know much about Adorlea, unfortunately. Are they a publishing company or a platform?

I do both.
I can release on my website (preferably before Steam) but I've got a big backlog of games to release right now, so it would take some time. Also, classic fantasy RPGs (preferably long) tend to do much better than anything else, so if you've got that, great, otherwise, will be much more difficult to make waves.

As for Steam I can always publish an RM title, but don't expect miracles, the market is extremely saturated right now. I would however probably ensure your titles get many more sales than if you were to release on your own (unless you're already famous xD).

 

[HexMozart88]

@HarlekinLehl I see what you're saying. I guess I just see it that way because the splash screen at the beginning just looks professional. But I suppose there's nothing that says I can't just make my own splash screen, LOL.
@Indinera Yeah, when I emailed it says the game has to be done, so I've got a while to go before I can even think about using your site.

EDIT: Well, looks like I won't even need a publisher. I posted a demo of my game to Itch and it's getting so many views because of the adult tag it's hilarious.