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I'm trying to figure out if I should refurbish and refactor a game I and some friends have made. It's released on kongregate and wasn't a super hit but I feel there's a lot of interesting techniques and solutions going on that new or intermediate developers would like to see. The only thing that's holding me back is that I don't know if people are interested in it at all. Would you be interested in buying the source code and assets for this game?

Check it out and you'll see that there's a lot of things happening in the game. If we packaged it and sold it, we would of course tidy it up a bit which would involve more work so I would really appreciate your honest opinion.

We've looked around and haven't found actual released games in the unity3d asset store. Maybe we just didn't look enough though. We're thinking of setting a price tag of between 150 and 200€. What's your opinion on this price?

And in general, what's your opinion on selling assets and source code? Should I be wary of any legal implications (like my customer licensing my stuff and then forbidding me from selling it)?

I posted this over at UnityAnswers as well but I know I rather go here for gamedev questions so I'm hoping other unity devs will drop by here too.

Edit: Reconsidering after getting some great advice we'll probably rip out the assets only and market those as space stuff or something. We'll then market the assets with the help of some free classes of code showing off some of the examples that were hard for us to do when we were (more) beginners. The unify wiki might benefit from having some of the code that we've done and that isn't all that hard but a bit tedious.

If we actually "finish" the game (it is indeed an asteroids spinoff and was never intended to be anything else, apart from some sandbox modes we've been experimenting with) we'll probably sell it with a decent price tag for an indie game like this.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You want to sell a game for 200 euros? What are you smoking and can I have some? \$\endgroup\$ May 16, 2011 at 17:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Have you looked at the game? There's a fair amount of work put in it and there are some solutions that are really hard to come up with if you're a beginner. Mind you, the package will contain all the source code and assets along with documentation. But I don't know, maybe I actually am smoking.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Phil
    May 16, 2011 at 17:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ I am probably wrong here (since I do not have Unity Web Player installed I cannot view it), but all I can see from the description is a slight twist on an asteroids clone. I personally would not value it at anywhere near what you have put. I have not seen the game and as such I can't make a completely accurate comment, but you're going to need a pretty big codebase to charge £150 for it. \$\endgroup\$ May 16, 2011 at 17:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ For what it's worth, Chrome hung the first two times I tried to play it. Worked on the third try though. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    May 16, 2011 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Your game caused flash player to lockup, then crash, then the game loaded :/ \$\endgroup\$ May 16, 2011 at 19:46

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We've looked around and haven't found actual released games in the unity3d asset store. Maybe we just didn't look enough though. We're thinking of setting a price tag of between 150 and 200€. What's your opinion on this price?

Without actually being able to see the code and source assets, et cetera, it's hard to actually evaluate whether or not the whole package would be worth the price you're asking. From playing the game briefly, however, my initial opinion is that the product isn't worth the price.

While it seems like an interesting spin on Asteroids, that's all it is -- a spin on Asteroids. The gameplay you've added to the system isn't terribly unique, and the code to achieve those features shouldn't be all that clever or complex. Examples of such are likely to be found all over the internet already, for free. Perhaps you could argue that there is some value-add in that you're offering an example of the code already packaged up, implemented and integrated, but I personally don't believe that source code (alone) is a very valuable learning resource (certainly not one I'd ever advocate paying for).

The most interesting thing the package contains is the source assets (the art in particular, which is quite good for the price). However, you aren't clear on what the licensing restrictions for that art would be -- or indeed, for the rest of the source material. If you're granting a license to re-use the art/code/etc in whatever manner the purchaser sees fit, without further compensation (except perhaps giving credit to the original artist), then from the perspective of an art pack it might be something you could sell.

And in general, what's your opinion on selling assets and source code? Should I be wary of any legal implications (like my customer licensing my stuff and then forbidding me from selling it)?

I don't think there is much of a market for selling code, as I alluded to above. Art is another matter. You can draw up a license to restrict the purchaser in whatever manner you see fit, but do note that the licensing is something a potential buyer will consider in determining the value of the product.

Although it's always possible for somebody to purchase your product and then violate your license, so you need to be prepare to defend whatever license you use, which can be costly.

Also you should probably have a real lawyer (which I am not) answer legal questions w.r.t to licensing issues.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you, I was thinking along your lines already. Whatever we decide to do, we'll probably sell the art separately with or without the rest. \$\endgroup\$
    – Phil
    May 16, 2011 at 20:32
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We're thinking of setting a price tag of between 150 and 200€. What's your opinion on this price?

To my opinion, it's easier to sell 5000+ copies of a game sold 10-15 euros than to sell 100 copies of a game sold 150-200 euros even if assets and source code are provided with it.

5000 * 10€ = 50k€
5000 * 15€ = 75k€

100 * 150€ = 15k€
100 * 200€ = 20k€

As you can see with this example, low price can be really more interesting to make money than high price... And as selling "digital" copies doesn't cost any materials, you can sell an infinite number of copies without any cents more from your pockets.

Finally, if you fix your price at 150 euros, normals players for most of them won't buy your game even if it looks fun (there is plenty of fun games for less than 150 euros), thus you will target the micro market of people searching for sources codes and assets (for THIS kind of assets), and that mean probably very very few persons.

Personally, I prefer having lots of people playing my game even if I earn few money, than having a "cool" game that nobody plays because it's too expensive.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You've got some interesting opinions here. I'll definitely re-evaluate the situation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Phil
    May 16, 2011 at 20:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Valkea, Well put! \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel
    Sep 5, 2011 at 20:16
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I don't think this is worth 150-200 euros. A competent developer probably can make this kind of game without any outside resources, and incompetent/beginner is unlikely to shell out this much.

I know you want to earn money on your game, but Asset Store is hardly the place to do this. Now, if you offered your game on Asset Store for 5 euros or even free, as an example for less skilled developers.. that certainly won't bring any money, but is good for your karma! (-8

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