From: dpapp AT cs DOT ualberta DOT ca (Denis Papp)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp,rec.games.programmer,alt.comp.shareware.for-kids
Subject: Re: Publishing a game
Date: 11 Feb 1997 03:24:32 GMT
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Lines: 40
Message-ID: <5doopg$10t4@pulp.ucs.ualberta.ca>
References: <5bqo19$58 AT news DOT cableinet DOT net> <32E1F436 DOT 453A AT netcomuk DOT co DOT uk> <32E28623 DOT 4841 AT cam DOT org> <5butbq$e86$1 AT news DOT sas DOT ab DOT ca> <5dn2de$t7c AT www DOT punkt DOT de>
NNTP-Posting-Host: sawnlk.cs.ualberta.ca
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

ry90 AT www DOT punkt DOT de (Juergen Egeling) writes:

>jonklipp AT freenet DOT edmonton DOT ab DOT ca wrote:

>: Should be, but it ain't :)  It kinda sucks actually, the publishers
>: usually make lotsa money and the author doens't get that much.  Think
>: about this:  If your 10% (for example) is $50,000, then the publisher has
>: made $450,000.  Ouch. :)

>This is true for games like DOOM, but ask your local newspaper how
>much it costs to advertise, to give technical support, to try
>getting a *finished* product (some hints are booklet, boxes, ...)

>On the other hand: Consider what is 80 percent from 10.000 of a 
>poorly marketed product.

I don't think it's very true at all for games like DOOM.  I believe
iD did most of the work themselves (even technical support) and probably
received the majority.  A publisher like Interplay or EA however
is quite different.  They end up doing a significant part of the work
(tech support, book, boxes, etc), possibly even providing technical
assistance to the developers (missing libraries for hardware support,
sounds, etc).  Their share is large, probably larger than what
they deserve.  I just think DOOM isn't quite a good example :)
I wouldn't be surprised if iD's *previous* games (like Keen and
Wolfenstein) which were published by Apogee was more along those lines
though.

The way the big titles sell, if you know you are working on
something that is going to be big (eg. Diablo) make sure you
are getting royalties and not just a petty industry games
programmer salary.  My half-assed stats may be totally off but
there's a good chance most game programmers dont make what
some other programmers make.

--
Denis Papp				dpapp AT amisk DOT cs DOT ualberta DOT ca
					http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~dpapp
<tappity> <tappity> "Hello my baby, hello my darling, 
                     hello my rag-time gal!!" <tappity> <fade>