In article <3.0.32.19970303132633.006b7058@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, you wrote:
>That's fine, but I wouldn't sell games on the fragile tape format, rather a
>PC floppy disk.
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Fragile tape format? I don't know what brand of cassette tapes you've been
buying, but I've never had much problem concerning "fragile tape format".
Infact, of my vast collection of cassette tapes only two have gone bad on me.
One was a soundtrack for "A Clockwork Orange" and the other was Debbie Harri's
"CooCoo" album. The emultion on the tape come right off after about 10 years
of heavy play.
Now could I claim to have as good a record with floppy disks? No a chance.
I don't think there's any need to fear the durability of analogue data storage
on cassette tapes.
And when it becomes as inexpensive and convenient to release CDs as it is
cassettes, well then I'll release my stuff on CDs.
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>Plus with these games you have to worry about piracy since
>audio or bin, it can all wind up as traded bins so it becomes problematic
>to exclusively _sell_ new wares.
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To heck with piracy. It's a non-issue for the way I plan to release any games
I come out with.
The Atari 2600 is different from things like PC-Software, etc.
It's a collector's market. When people buy an item for the 2600 they're not
neccessarily buying it because they can't get it pirated. After all, many
game BINs are available readily off the internet. They're buying it because
they want it for their collection. Bob released Okie Dokie to the public
domain on his webpage. If you want a copy of Okie Dokie you can just go
ahead and download it, then run it from an emulator or your Supercharger.
Did this affect Bob's ability to sell the game as a cartridge? Heck no.
The demand for the game in an official, collectable, released form
outweighed his supply of Okie Dokie carts
So If you were to release a limited run of original supercharger games on
cassette, in a nicely produced package, you'd most likely sell the lot
even if you made the .BIN freely available on your webpage.
It's like the Supercharger CD. People didn't buy it because they wanted
the games. People had been and continue to freely trade copies of the
original supercharger games on cassette tape. No doubt someone will set
up a webpage in the future with all the games available on it.
No, people wanted the CD because it has value as a collectable. Even if
people pirate the CD, the original will still be valued as a collectable
and will still be in demand with collectors.
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>The shareware concept makes more sense to me based on my experience with
>the Atari8 and Amiga camps.
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I don't think the conventional shareware concept applies to the 2600 market.
I think you'll do just as well making your programmes available as
Freeware and then making an "Official" limited release of your product for
the collectors to buy.
Let's face it. An Okie Dokie .BIN on a 3.5" floppy won't be worth anything
5 years from now, but I'll bet you those Okie Dokie carts will fetch a
pretty impressive price in an auction. So piracy doesn't affect the
official released form of the programme in the least.
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>Easy mass distribution on the internet with an ASCII
>registration form attached, then hope and pray for the money to come in.
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Or just release the .BIn as freeware, and then make a limited "Official"
release of the product on Cassette, CD, or Cartridge and you won't have
to hope and pray. The money will come in.
Plus this release method has an added advantage for the collector commuity.
1) If they buy the official limited release, they'll have a product that's
certain to appreciate in vale.
2) Authors will have to continuely write and release new products if they
hope to continue to make funds from limited releases. This means more new
games for collectors.
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>It's a complicated issue with several factors involved:
>
>1) How many potential buyers
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At least as many as there are people who want the Supercharger CD.
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>2) How much manufacturing cost (color or xerox manual? Labels?)
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Depends on what equipment you, or a close friend has. I have a colour inkjet
so I can easily print up my own matterials for any cassette release.
A box of cassette labels for an inkjet printer isn't all that much.
Heck I do that currently with my home-spun cassette albums and there's
almost 1000 copies of "Marketing From Hell!!" floating around out there.
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>3) How much do you sell it for (and what will the market bear)
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Well I sell "Marketing From Hell" for $10, including shipping. Shipping
is the biggest production expense since I live in Canada and most of
my sales are outside my country. The Canadian Postal System is a crown
corporation so it's not subsidized with tax dollars. As a result, Canadians
pay considerably more for postage than Americans do.
It's certainly not a price I can "retire" on, but I don't lose any money.
Since money isn't my motivation for releasing my work (I make my money
playing for other people) I don't mind not making a huge profit just so long
as I'm not losing my shirt.
So I'd say that $10 including shipping, for a well packaged, limited edition
Supercharger Cassette release would probably be reasonable. You're
not going to become rich, but in a hobby such as this, the important thing
is to not lose any money. Releasing a Supercharger Cassette should be done
more for the love of the hobby than for any possible monitary gain it may
bring. Just make sure you at least break even.
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>4) How many do you make (relates back to 2)
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For me, I'd say the magic number is 100. You have to keep in mind that people
are buying the product as a collectable. If you oversaturate the market then
it's not going to be worth much as a collectable.
100 copies is a nice managable number and it'll keep it rare enough to have
a value as a collectable.
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>According to my business experience in this area, I don't think selling
>tapes is a wise risk.
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Tapes have the least risk of ANY media because you can easily produce the
entire package yourself. Everything from the J-card to the cassette label
to duplicating the tapes themselves. You can make each individual cassette
as demand dictates. If you advertise a limited release of 100 carts, and
you only get orders for 20, then you don't lose anything because you only
make 20 cassettes. It's not like burning carts or CDs where you have to
make your entire run all at once to make it cost effective. Cassette
production is much more flexable and risk free.
CRACKERS
(Cassettes from hell!!!!)
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Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\
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