Hosted game requirements?

what are the requirements if any when it comes to being able to have your stuff as a Hosted Game? does it have to be so many words or anything?

Try searching around a bit. There are lots of threads on this, but i don’t blame you they are hard to find some times.

I don’t think that there are any legit requirements on words. They might not except it if it is too short though. Also if you don’t want every one who bought it hating you 150 000 words would be a good amount with a multiple ending game, but if it is linear i think it should have about double.

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Yes, I learned my lesson writing a 85k title. Never again. xD

So long as it passes quicktest and randomtest and doesn’t violate any intellectual property or obscenity laws, my understanding is they’ll do it. Of course the game needs to be long enough and polished enough to make it worth everyone’s time. The games that have already been published should give you a good idea of the length. Like @Eternalfire said, it’s no so much that you need X number of words as that the game should be long enough either to tell the story or to be replayable.

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I don’t believe there is a minimum length limit for hosted games. I also don’t believe there’s much in the way of quality control, as long as they pass the automated tests. There are some games that have had awful reviews, complaining about the quality of their English and have still been published. (I hesitate to name names, especially since I’ve not played said games, but skimming the blog will give an idea of the ones that have buyers most disgruntled).

Anyone can publish a game under the “Hosted Games” label. If you’ve finished a multiple-choice game written in ChoiceScript, just attach your “mygame” folder to an email and send it to us at hosted-submissions@choiceofgames.com. We do require our approval for any games that we host and release, but mostly that means we check to make sure that the game will run reliably (by running our automated tests), that the game is written in clear English, that the game doesn’t infringe other people’s intellectual property (we can’t host a Harry Potter or Star Wars game), and that the game is not highly offensive. We also reserve the word “Choice” in game titles for games distributed under the “Choice of Games” label.

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Of late, I’ve started demanding that games be at least 20,000 words, and that it be posted for a public beta on the forums.

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alright…thanks! …

What sort of game are you planning on making, if you don’t mind me asking

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@FairyGodfeather, You were probably referring to my game silent gear, ya i had some haters complaining about the quality of the english and what not. But i see it as a success none the less. A little over a week after publishing, I got more than 1000 downloads on android alone with over 60% of the ratings 5/5 and an average of 4/5 rating. I think the results speaks for itself, for my first game, I’m pretty happy with that. Like many have said, to be able to publish a title is a proud feeling in itself.

@Zanity Actually I wasn’t. I don’t think I was by the blog since yours was released. I’m glad to hear it’s doing so well and I do think that it’s such an achievement to finish and publish a game.

I definitely agree with Choice of Games policies of allowing anyone to publish through Hosted Games, with just the mustn’t be broken code-wise, must be intelligible English requirements. I think having the games actually beta-tested before they’re released can only be a step in the right direction though. It always helps to have another set of eyes look over things.

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I also haven’t played Silent Gear yet, but don’t write off those critics as “haters” – they’re doing a service by feeding back, even if you don’t plan to take their suggestions.

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I really like the beta requirement. No matter how awesome a story is, there’s no way it won’t benefit from pre-publication feedback from the folks on the forums. No way, I say!

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One of the biggest advantages to an author is to beta test on these forums. It amazes me when people forego a beta.

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Unnatural is approx 250,000 words where players can see between 40,000 to 60,000 words per playthrough and it’s had reviews saying it is too short.

I believe some people judge length via a single playthrough not taking replayability into account.

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I personally don’t really replay many of the choice of games either, i think choice of dragon was the only one that i replayed. But it’s just that most of the people don’t understand how hard it is too make a huge game with multiple paths. Didn’t your game take you about 3 years? It would probably take twice as much time to fit the requirements they ask for, and it’s probably not wroth it. I think your game was awesome, and totally fine with length, well long enough to fit the price.

@JimD How long was your game? i played quite a bit of it but never managed to finish it. I believe many people were satisfied with the length of your game.

it took 2 years to write but that was while juggling a full time job and family commitments.

That’s still quite a lot, i know most people do this because it is fun. But it is a fact that there is some business in it. And truthfully it’s not worth to spend more than a year (+half) on it. The games are only sold for about 4 dollars at max, and only a small profit of that is sent to the actual writer (in hosted).

It’s kind of annoying though, even though i haven’t made an official game, but i have written a lot of stories. What actually takes 30 minutes to read takes a writer about 35 hours to write. (That is if you write 1000 words per hour).

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@Havenstone Actually, I very much welcome criticisms, but for people who bluntly says the game deserves a 0 out of 10 and It’s the worst game on HG. I think it’s pretty difficult to take those criticisms seriously and I think you can understand why I simply categorize them as haters. For my next title, I will definitely pay attention to fixing the “real” criticisms I received for silent gear =)

OK, maybe we have different critics in mind. :slight_smile: I’m not saying there have been no haters, just that not all the critics have been haters. Which you’d likely agree with.

I strongly disagree with you here. How do you define what is worthwhile and what is not? If someone is looking purely for financial compensation, then that’s one thing. But if money was the only motivator then all of the official Choice games would write the minimum 60,000 words for $10,000.

Writing a game, finishing a game, editing that game, getting it published, then having people who’re neither friends nor family buy it, and then enjoy it. All of that is an immense achievement.

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