Hello everyone!
Before i start i want to say that even from the begging my only goal in programming was to make an enjoyable game that maybe one day i could sell it for 1$ max 2$.So here comes my question.What if i want to publish my game and make money out of it,where do you suggest i should put it?Of course id like to let the user to decide if the game wroths something or not.Im planing on publishing it just on Desktop at the begining.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Try http://itch.io/
Lots of indie games there. It’s free to publish games and for the time being itch.io takes 0% commission.
When you say “Desktop”, what operating system/version?
Pc,Linux and Mac.Linux is not a must but i`d like to
@Murii5: the thing is, if you’re looking to make any money at all out of your game, you have to be ready to put hours of your time - and quite often a sizeable chunk of investment from your own money - into promoting it, regardless of what store(s) you publish on.
Unless you’re ridiculously lucky, just sticking a game on a store will not get you anywhere - your game will just drown under all the other stuff that comes in after it. Trust me, I speak from experience here! 
So you need to think how you’re going to make your game stand out from the rest - a Flappy Bird or Candy Crush clone won’t get you anywhere these days.
You also need to get out there and network - go to user groups, expos, conferences and so forth, and get chatting to people afterwards, as these are the people who can help promote you (or who know the right people to help). This is how I’ve made contact with people from Nokia, Microsoft and Xamarin - and, of course, Monogame Team members!
Get online and do your research: Pixel Prospector’s Big List Of Indie Game Marketing is a good place to start. Get posting on social media, put a press pack together and start building awareness.
If you’ve got the time and the cash and your game’s in a suitable state, book a pitch in the indie zone at an expo - I did GEEK in Margate earlier this year which was hugely successful (to the point where I am now launching my game on Xbox as well as mobile), and I’ve got GEEK in Birmingham and Play Expo to come just after I launch.
At the end of the day, where you publish probably will not make much difference on how well your game does - it’s all down to how much promotion it gets. That said, if you are looking at desktop, it might be worth doing a Windows 8 version and then getting in touch with Microsoft as a) they’ve very keen to push this platform and b) they have lots of money and resources to help promote. Then take a playable demo to an expo, get people playing it, get their email addresses for a mailing list and what platform they want to play on and use this as a basis to build on.
XNA
Windows XP/Vista/7/8 - Steam $100 (GreenlighT, must be voted on before you can sell)
Windows Phone $20 (Includes Windows 8)
X-BoX 360 Indie Games $100
MonoGame
Windows / Linux / Mac - Steam
Windows 8 $20 (Includes Windows Phone)
Windows Phone 8 $20 (Includes Windows 8)
PlayStation 3 ???
PlayStation 4 ??? Requires a license from Sony and a dev kit
PlayStation Mobile Free?
X-BoX OnE ??? Requires a license from Microsoft and a dev kit
Wii ???
Wii U ???
3DS ???
OUYA $100(?) and Xamarin
Android $25(?) and Xamarin
iOS $100 and Xamarin
Xamarin
Android $300
iOS $300
I just published my first project on Windows 8 store ($20 one time license), it was pretty enjoyable and quick experience. It only took a couple hours, mostly making icons and images for the game.
To address IcelTlaN, I’m pretty sure monogame doesnt support any consoles right now, although there’s some talk about PS4 and X1? Not sure… I’d love to make a game for my X1 though
I come from working with flash/actionscript 3. Its a lot easier to market browser games, because people just have to click one link and the game can begin immediately. I am not really interested in marketing so I can tell I won’t get the exposure I used to get, sadly. I love visual studios 2013 though. I could never go back to Adobe’s @#*& tools.
Im really intersted in knowing if im going to publish a game for free on play store if im ever going to get my money back(Xmarine lice + 25$) + some cash.Maybe not from the first title of course but let say if i make 6 cool games.Will it be enought?Also if i purche Xmarines license i have it for life or 1 year?
Xamarin license is valid for a year. They have a really nice price for students.
For an indie dev with no marketing budget you’ll need a lot of luck for your game to be noticed amongst the masses of other titles in the Play and App stores.
Personally I have released two games on both iOS and Android. One costs 69p (Chaos Influx) and one is free (Finga Ninja). The first was released abut 6 months ago, the second one about a month ago and I’ve had about 100 downloads combined, very very poor 
I have Xamarin licenses for both platforms and have spent a lot more on test devices + a MacBook for the iOS versions, so it’s looking highly unlikely I’m going to recoup my costs anytime soon. Having said that, getting a game released and watching people play it is very satisfying, you should focus on that side of things.
My advice would be. Don’t think about making your money back, if you enjoy making games then focus on making something fun, original and polished and get it out there. Limit your costs by targeting whichever market you already have the hardware for.
Best of luck,
Ronny
Not sure if your game can be made into a flash game, but Kongregate and Newgrounds may be something you’d want to consider. Technically, people who play your game will help you get more ad revenue, but games are mostly free to play.
But if you want people to be able to set their own price, then yeah, as nanexcool says, itch.io is a good one. IndieGameStand also allows you to do pay-what-you-want deals for people.
If you’re looking for more options, you can check out a blog post I recently helped write! It has a list of about 15 places to release games that are indie-friendly.
I did a search for your ninja game, and on googles app page, it says 1,000 - 5,000 installs! 
Yeah, it’s currently sitting at 1,224 but it’s been up there for 2 years! I ended up publishing 4 games in total on iOS and Android but cancelled my Apple dev account so they are only active on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Chill+Monster
Enjoyed making the games but didn’t see it as a realistic way to make a living 
Yeah, marketing, pr and publishing are entire fields of their own. It sucks.
As if coding and asset creation aren’t enough!
I think it comes right back to the risk/reward system of our capitalist reality… You have to be willing to spend money on exposure, and take the risk of not making it back. 
Hi - this thread seems a bit dated, however, if you are still looking to promote let me know.
Xamarin is free, it was bought by Microsoft months ago.
Unfortunately you are one of hundreds of thousands of developers in a global market
I had a windows phone game featured in a few markets and I managed to get 15,000 downloads. I have published a windows 10 game (exact same game) and tried posting links of social media and forums and I have had 3 downloads
Imagine the game marketplace like a library with millions of books and no indexing. Not sorted by author or title. Just clumped into categories. You have no visibility
You will need a very good marketing campaign and you will need to target it towards your specific gaming audience. Try to get a publication in a magazine or see if the local news can run an article for you. Also try game competitions like the dream build and play just for a bit more visibility
I don’t think one platform is more visible than the other. It really comes back to how many people you can reach and how best you can get them to play your game
Best of luck
In