I’m not sure if this is the best section of the forums to post this. I tried looking through the forums also to see if there was another thread similar to this question but couldn’t find anything. If I use choicescript to create a work of IF, do I have to have it published through CoG or can I self publish on android/ios? Not that I don’t think CoG is fair or anything, I’m mostly just curious and also I’m sure CoG is a little overwhelmed with the amount of submissions they get hehe.
From the FAQ
Q) Do I have to pay you a fee for the code?
A) As long as you don’t make any money off the code, you don’t have to pay us anything.
Q) Can I host a game on my own website?
A) Yes!
Q) What if there’s a “Donate” button on the webpage with the game?
A) That falls under the phrase “making money”.
I would suspect that the answer to your question is yes you would need to have it published by CoG.
You can publish it yourself but you’d have to pay for the license to do so.
@JimD How might he go about doing that?
I second this question, and am curious how much the licence is.
I don’t know the actual process but emailing Choice of Games is the first step.
My opinion – unless you are well versed in app development, have publishing accounts with iTunes, Google Play, and Chrome Web store, and have good marketing skills, I’d publish through CoG.
Where did you find the FAQ?
@JimD Thank you Jim. I was curious too.
I second Jim’s opinion.
The licensing fee is 25% of your gross receipts.
Sort of the inverse of our Hosted Games licensing deal.
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I do recall asking about this myself a while back.
This may not be accurate now but at the time a self-published title reverses the royalty percentages, i.e. CoG only accept 25%, you get 75%.
HOWEVER you get no support from them, no help with app packaging, no help with bugs etc.
And realize that many app stores require licenses, that you’ll have to pay for in order to publish your game. It’s also not quite as simple as “apple.com” submit game “game is published”, there’s a lot to packaging an app.
Ahhhh interesting thanks @jasonstevanhill, does publishing like that include app packaging? I was mostly just curious. I am well aware of what it takes to publish an app in the markets @CJW, it definitely does take work, but its not like it’s a “You must be a prefessional with a degree in X” kind of work.
@CJW I think you’re overstating it a little. IIRC, if you sign a licensing contract with us, we’ll provide the wrappers for iOS and other platforms, so you’re not starting from scratch.
However, that doesn’t mean we have the time to teach you how to *use* those wrappers. Also, you’re right that we won’t solve your bugs for you. That mostly pertains to modifications to ChoiceScript.
Meaning, we give you CS and the wrappers. If you modify CS or the wrappers, we’re not going to help you figure out why it’s not working anymore.
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Apple takes 25% and COG takes 25%, leaving a self-publisher with 50%, no marketing fan base base and you pay the license fees and pack it into an app.
Hosted means you get 25% and all of the COG fans see your game right away.
Is that a valid summary?
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@jasonstevanhill
Sorry, it was some time ago I asked it.
Good to know you provide the wrappers though, I didn’t know that either.
Would you get access to the official save database too?
@CJW no access to the save database.
@Lucid we take 25% after Apple takes their 30ish% (25% of YOUR gross receipts; just like we pay 25% of OUR gross receipts). But that means the author gets 50% of the sale price of each transaction, instead of 16.5%.
So, more like this?
Self-Publisher:
Apple 30% of gross
COG (25% of remaining 70%) = 17.5% of gross
Author: 52.5% of gross
Hosted:
Apple 30% of gross
Author (25% of remaining 70%) = 17.5% of gross
COG: 52.5% of gross
Thanks for the frank discussion on this. it’s always nice to have clarity. Now if we could just get some stats and success stories:)
edit: ignore me read that wrong.
Going by the standard $1.99 price for hosted games, that would mean the author would get about 35 cents per sale, right?