Price of new PHP Game Script.

[compuken]

My team and I have been working on a couple of php games, we are almost done the framework, the artist is just getting me some of her concept art, and for some reason I thought of selling the whole game instead of investing time into maintaining it. Well I thought of something better, selling a few copies of the script like http://www.mypimpscript.com/
If I made a new game like kings of chaos and sold 35 copies, how much do you think I could charge for them? or if I only sold 10? or 1?

[Zeggy]

Well, it depends on how well the game is made. If you are going to sell a game you will also need to provide support, and a well-made script installer and other features.
If you mean that you are only going to sell limited copies, I think you can sell it for quite a lot, but you will need to motivate visitors to buy a copy though.

[compuken]

I imagine I would set it up like phparcadescript.com with a whole community giving tips on the game mechanics to help improve areas, add new things, and find security holes. Now I also imagine I could sell it around $600 if I only sold 15 copies or $250 with 35 copies. Does this seem reasonable for a game like kings of chaos, or legend of the green dragon, or a pimp game, or mafia game?

[Zeggy]

I don't think there would be much of a community if only 35 copies were sold or less.
I think you may want to start out a little cheaper.
You need your game to be popular first, maybe by running your own copy and getting a large user base. The arcade scripts sell quite well because they have proven to be good money-makers. If your game couldn't show that it made money, it wouldn't be worth buying the game.
If your game could achieve this kind of reputation, I think that price would be alright


btw, don't take my word for it. I have never mass-sold php games.  ^_^

[codestryke]

If you compiled your PHP codes first and sold them in a compiled form then ya charge away and you'll get it. Most likely what will happen is someone will buy your code, change it a bit and then call it theres and re-sell it. You're game would then be as saturated on the web as all the other pimp games out there... You should read the Apex Web Gaming web site forums, there is a guy going though the same problem right now... Once the code is released out into the "wilds" of the internet it would be up to YOU to prove that someone is running your code and it costs a pretty legal penny to get that process started and resolved in court.. Most of the time it won't even get that far, the person who is running the stolen script will just shut it down get a new domain name and start running it again from there.

Never played kings of kaos.. Most of Pimp and Mafia games that I've seen the code for are not worth $50! Legend of the Green Dragon well when it first came out it wasn't worth much (more then the pimp or mafia games though). Now though in it's current state it's worth a lot more then that because it's a well crafted script and has all the tools necessary to get it up and running.. However LoTGD would of never gotten that far if it wasn't open source

[Zeggy]

You could try using a licensing program or using encryption to make sure your script isn't stolen.
I'm sure that would work nicely against theft, although it would have an expensive start-up cost.
And if you use a licensing software you could also charge them monthly or yearly, and cancel their license if they don't pay. Then their script becomes unusable.

[Cripple]

wouldn't u be better running ur own game and incorporating a turn buying system?

[toto]

A good licensing program would be phpAudit, although it slows down the loading of pages.
About encryption, the problem is that people like to modify the source code, and some customers may choose not to buy it if the script is encoded.

[Zeggy]

Just using a licensing program should be alright too I guess
It would be like IPB. You just need to include a license saying that copyrights cannot be removed, and other necessary stuff. If people start removing the licensing code then it will be warez, and you should be able to do something about it. (I'm just guessing here )

[toto]

Yes, you would be able to do something if people removed the copyright notice.
However, the problem is that it would mean looking for a lawyer, etc. most probably. This is a long and costly process, and is usually not worth the time involved.
However, including legal documentation usually makes most people respect what is being bought.

[sanlands]

Encrypted scripts turn people off. Since everyone wants to have the complete liberty to easily modify a script how they see fit.

And you typically don't need a encryption anyways. If they purchased an illegal copy, just email them and they'll typically take it down. If they wont, their host will or somebody will.