South African Local Digital Distribution Site

kkinx1

Howsit guys first off compliments for the season i hope all went well. Anyway reason im posting this is to get a idea of what yoy think of a idea. Im currently working on a steam alternative for our local developers who wish to show their games to the world. If anybody is interested please dont hesitate to contact me.

Heres the rundown quickly:

Im looking to start a site or application that allows local developers to develop their games and publish it with us. We will basically deal with all the nitty gritty stuff such as the distribution marketing licencing.we will also deal with the film and publication board.
Reason for me to do this is i would one day like to develop my own game and also see more local devlopers out there as we are in need of them also for us to show the world what our capabilities not only individuals but as a country.
So i hope to hear from all you devlopers as i said please dont hesitate to contact me via mail

Kind regards
Kerwin kin

Karuji

Hi Kerwin,

So first question: how is it advantageous for me to go with your hypothetical platform over more established routes like: Steam, GOG, Humble, Itch.io?

Second, which largely ties into the first, how can you guarantee sales? Are you only targeting South Africa for distribution? Do you have an expectation of how many units you will be able to sell in this market? Have you done any kind of market research?

Third: do you have any experience running a company? How are you going to convince us that you are capable of running this venture successfully? Normally people who want to run businesses have a high level of proficiency with their communication skills: in your post above I counted at least 25 spelling and grammatical errors. It hardly inspires me with the confidence that I would need to work with you. Also you stress that we try to contact you via 'mail' but leave no address in your post or profile as to where.

Fourth: what basis do you have for saying that South African game developers aren't "out there" we have teams that have won awards from some of the most prestigious festivals in our field, and others that are extremely well known and successful. And from them we know that South Africa as a market is very small for the kinds of games that are generally made here.

Reason for me to do this is i would one day like to develop my own game and also see more local devlopers out there as we are in need of them also for us to show the world what our capabilities not only individuals but as a country.
So i hope to hear from all you devlopers as i said please dont hesitate to contact me via mail

I have a large feeling that what is going one here really boils down to this.

You want to make games, but you might not feel like you can and that you need to go through a some steps so you can feel worthy of making games. So I'm going to let you in on two little secrets.

1. Everyone who starts out sucks. And everyday we work on making games and we suck less, and then are working for a lot of time we start becoming good.

2. The best way to learn how to make games is to make them. There isn't some kind of trick that will let you magically become great, and there isn't so grand act that will make the community respect you. All of that is earned with continual effort.

3. If you want to make games, and don't really know that much about making them then you've come to the right place, 'cause we're all about people making games.

So if you want to make games I would suggest downloading Game Maker: Studio or Unity3D and working through their tutorials. Both are really good and there is a vast amount of people on the forums who can help you with using the tools. So I hope you will take this and go and make a game. I'm looking forward to your first attempt.

wogan

@kkinx1 At this point, the market's pretty much saturated on every vector. Consoles have their own app stores, same for Android and iOS devices, and hardcore PC gamers will be using Steam. In all cases, the legitimate channels have local CDN appliances (Steam has servers in CPT and Joburg for instance) to ensure good local download speeds. Purchases through all those networks are still tax-free, far as I can tell, and it's not a great big challenge for South Africans to list their games there - as evidenced by some of the developers on this site.

That being said, I myself have still not seen a formal directory of games produced by South African publishers, and I know several people on this forum have asked for the same thing. If you want to solve the discoverability problem, and are not afraid of doing the legwork, then you can start by setting up a local blog/database/wiki of all locally-published games you can find. Realistically, that could serve as the perfect destination for people looking to learn more about what South African game developers are capable of.

Kobusvdwalt9

Everyone who starts out sucks. And everyday we work on making games and we suck less, and then are working for a lot of time we start becoming good.

This is so true. It always seems like someone is a overnight success but in 99% of the cases they worked hard for a couple of years before the "instant success" came.

rustybroomhandle

I'd go so far as to say that with constantly shifting markets/tastes, we don't really ever stop sucking.

kkinx1

Hey guys thanks alot for your advice @wogan that could work to start out thanks for that i will def look into it hey

kkinx1

This is so true. It always seems like someone is a overnight success but in 99% of the cases they worked hard for a couple of years before the "instant success" came.
Instant success is always a dream at the end of the day its all your blood,sweat, tears that brings your dreams to reality.