I have spent the last year creating a game that is about ready to be released...
Was it all just for fun? Or is there a way to actually make some money for the game I created?
If so...I would like to know my options.

Has anyone ever made any money building games with this engine?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

From the Quest documentation, concerning Open Source:

Quest is free open source software, licensed under the MIT License, which means you can download and modify the Quest source code, and even use it in closed source commercial applications. This gives you the complete freedom and power to make games according to your exact needs. The source code includes the WebPlayer project, which powers the “play online” feature of games on this website, so you can create games both for Windows and the web.

I think the part you're interested in is the "even use it in closed source commercial applications"

So yeah, you can make money off it. Providing you've coded it well enough that people want to pay you for it.

You can sell your game however you wish, although a lot goes into building an audience for the game you've created and it takes some time. You also have to make sure that you haven't violated any copyrights laws --- like, for example, if you've done a fan-fiction game, or borrowed someone's world/characters you cannot sell it.

I make money from mine, but through donations but it took a lot of time to build an audience.

CrystalWizard is correct as well. People don't want to buy something that is half-assed or incomplete. You have to make sure the coding works from beginning to end and so on. Goodluck!

Anonynn.

A year is a really short time to bring any game to market. Especially if you're the only one coding it. Have you run alpha tests yet? Blind play tests? Beta tests? Have you gotten feedback from more than just a couple of other people and then implemented suggestions? And tested it all over again?

The code might work fine, but if you haven't done all the testing with players that have no clue what the game even is, you have no idea if it's actually playable. And if it's not playable, and not enjoyable, it isn't going to sell. Or it might sell, but you'll be asked for a lot of refunds.

or, if you're stupid like me with/at/learning code, it takes you ~4 years to learn basic scripting on your own via using quest... lol, and that's not even addressing the attempt at making a game... lol (it's been 5-6 years now since poor HK found quest and started to learn to code, sighs)

(the most important thing to making a game on your own: be very very good at/with programming! so you can get the coding done quickly and fast and efficient/organized, letting you focus on actually designing/"making" your game, as you can code in what you want quickly once you got it all planned/designed up, instead of wasting all your time on still trying to code in a character creation system... lol, and that's not evn getting to combat, magic, stealth, dialogue, items, story/plot/events, etc etc etc systems, lol)

it's been 5-6 years now since poor HK found quest and started to learn to code, sighs

What in the world are you having a problem with?

just my slow progress... when I was learning coding on my own using quest, sighs, and my current difficulties with school classes of: Data Structures (trees, dictionaries, maps, linked lists, etc etc etc) and Assembly + Computer Archecture, sighs. I wish I was more smart! I always expect more of myself, never satisfied... though this conflicts with my laziness... usually my laziness wins out, and I'm just whining and complaining, as I am now, lol.

You need help, let me know.

Thanks for the feedback...
When I mention getting my game up...I am referring to putting it into testing.
I am Not a coder, yet I have figured out some pretty amazing ways of getting my game to work like I want just using the GUI.
All graphics and story line are my own, so I have no worries about copy write laws. The few images I may use that don't belong to me have been obtained from Pixabay in which it is free to use them however I like. I will of course credit them in the end.

So now my question is this then...
Is my first course of action (as far as getting it into testing ) to upload it to the quest site? Or is there a better first method I should use?

I would say get it on as many forums as you can that apply to your game's genre, or that apply to parts of the game. The Quest Website is included in that. :)

Forgive me for being stupid about how this all works. It is my first game.
So...if I put it out on every game forum I can think of for free ( To be tested ) then how am I going to market it later?
Not much left to sell if I have everyone playing it for free.

Well of course that wouldn't be the way to go if ur hoping to make money. I think Anonynn meant put your first game out there for free and see what the feedback is. Then you'll have a better idea if there's any scope in trying to make money.

Not to be pessimistic, but I wouldn't hold my breath from what you've told us. I don't mean that offensively, but people simply won't pay for a bog standard text adventure. A quick search of the text adventures that people are charging for will show you what you're up against. We're talking about award winning games, games that have received press and accolades from gaming sites. Even then these games are very often free. It's not an easy market.

Also, regardless of how good a text adventure game is, I probably wouldn't pay to play it when I think there are many free ones that are just as good. Also, it would be an absolute must that it is not linear.... free world feel. If I wanted a large gamebook, I would much rather just buy a novel. I'm not a fan of gamebooks as I find almost all of them dull, especially if I have to restart or want to play it again. The only text adventure that might be worth paying for is a really kick ass TA. I can easily count on one hand the number of times I have beat a TA and played it again. And that is out of hundreds of games. But, me and my debbie-downer attitude wish you the best of luck =) I look forward to seeing what you produce.

Good luck!

you'd have/find/get a private group of testers (bug/error finding and/or feedback/focus-group on if like game or not) like done with professional games, and/or just put out small parts/short-demos of the game for open public bug/error finding and/or feedback on the game.

quest has some option to make the game private, letting you only make it available to a few private-trusted individuals for testing.

I think what you are probably more able to garner are possible paid advertisements and donantions. There are hundreds of free text adventure games already out there with many more on the way. Unless you are doing something extremely unique or fun, I just don't see it selling.

To make matters worse, you have the potential to alienate yourself from the rest of the community. I mean I guess it would be great to have a handful of people in the grand scheme of things, pay for and play your game. But you throw away the oppotunity for thousands of people who are not willing to pay and will simply pass your game by for practically an infinite amount of others that are free.

I say that, but know for a fact other games that were made in garages so to speak, actually sold well. They were determined, stuck with simplicity and had the fun factor on their side. But they also were graphical and pretty to look at. Interactive Fiction and Multi-User Dungeons are a niche and not likely to do as well.

Then again there are some people who enjoy throwing away their money so maybe you can profit a little from it. It is not like you had to pay for using Quest or any thing. Just don't quit your day job with out banking first.

Either way, good luck to you! ^_^

As everyone said, the market is huge and you have to do something extraordinary to stand out. I've been working on my game for a little over a year now...maybe a year and a month or two and it's still a LOT of work and slow roll forward. I'm 800,000 words in with 31,600 lines of code too. It's exhausting to keep pushing the bar and try to keep a text adventure as open as possible and make player choices matter and fundamentally change the story along the way. But DON'T give up. You might be a far better writer than I am or other TADevs, or have better ideas than any of us.

Basically, you're game is going to get nowhere if you don't build an audience first, that's why I mentioned forums. After that, try a second game and maybe something big and great will come out of it. If you don't try though, nothing will. Goodluck either way! We're all here to help too! Just ask when you get stuck.

Anonynn.

people are not going to want to pay for a game that includes a few public domain pictures. If you're including art, you need to either use a 3d engine to create it or get an artist to paint it. Public domain smacks of amateur. And people won't pay for that.

And art matters. You'll need good, eye catching art for the cover. And if you're going to include art, realize people will feel gyped if you don't include a LOT of art. People that play a text game and see a image once in a while get mad.

So leave it all text except for the cover, or plan on using art for every single thing.

This is your first game. You've just entered the world of, not just coding, but game design. You aren't going to get more than a few people - friends and family - paying you for your game at this point. Like was said before, put out several games, for free. Take feedback, make changes, get more feedback. Build a customer base. Then, and this is going to hurt but, in 5 years or so, you MIGHT be ready to release a game to the general public that people will want to pay for.

I publish books, and a magazine. I work with a lot of newbie authors who all feel their writing is golden, and the best idea ever. And I have to burst bubbles all the time. Not only is their writing never golden, it's usually horrid no matter how good the plot, and needs hundreds of hours of editing. And quite frequently their big idea is one that has been done many times. Might even be fan fiction, or worse. You're in the same spot. You have a game, you really like it, you think it's finished and ready. But now its time to hand it to an editor, (play testers and NOT friends and NOT family. People you don't know and that will be brutally honest), and say "shred this and tell me where to fix it."

Worth pointing out that Anonynn's game has a save game feature that allows players to save, and then reload the save game into an updated version (the built-in system does not do that). This means that players can use existing characters to explore the new content, and I would guess that that helps the donations. That said, I think we would both agree that the save/load feature is a nightmare, and it does mean you need to be pumping out the new content regularly.

Yup! But the Save/Load System was a brilliant design Pixie, and a lot of people are definitely grateful to be able to use an existing file for a new version, so I think whatever trouble it might be is worth it. ^_^

As Crystal said too, having art in the game is definitely a lot of work. I've been drawing all my own images and it takes up SO much time to get something to look decent enough. So far all I have are basic character pictures and a few items here and there. Nothing substantial yet. But good things do take time!

Anonynn.

Anonynn, may I suggest you go to daz3d.com, download DAZ Studio (it's free) and start rendering your images? There is a lot of free content for studio on the net, and studio comes with some as well.

To show you what it can do, here's a book cover I did, all content (expect the fonts) done in Studio with no post work:

http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=1335653

Nice! That cover looks great! I do prefer to draw my own images despite my complaints, mostly because I like to draw. I wouldn't know how to use something like that anyway @_@ Thanks for the suggestion though. That would be great to create a Character Viewer with that cause I have no idea how to go about xD

Anonynn.

To the OP- I was/am making what I would call a first chapter or demo.  If you have a decent enough first chapter or demo available for free and it amazes people, you may just get some people paying for the full version. But you best deliver on the full game or you'll have hell to pay.

Also perhaps you could give the first game out, but limited to a few charaters to choose from at the start or make it shut off at the half way point.  I hate games that limit actual hours or days of playing or even worse, real time hours regardless of being in game or not.  Then it feels more like trying to beat the clock then enjoying the game.

However, if you truly want to make money, you may want to go a whole different route, with a "graphical" free game maker.  Then you stand a chance of selling.  But be prepared to most likely spend a lot more time and or hire other people to help. That will cut into your earnings pot, if there even is one. I do not want to take anyone away from this community, I am just giving you all options that come to mind.

the (electronic/video) gaming industry has rivaled all other industries (oil, automobile, pharmasutical, etc etc etc) for some time now.

getting noticed for profit is extremely competitive... look at who wins out, the big gaming companies making "blockbuster" (boring and generic) games. When the gaming industry was in its early stages (nintendo, sega genesis, apple: macintosh/power mac, pc: xp or earlier, etc), there was a lot more diverse/novel games. But not anymore, it's near impossible to find non-blockbuster games (especially at retail stores), you've got to contact the company directly and order it (if you're even aware that the game exists).

Look at all the most popular ("blockbuster") games, they're almost all the exact same game / type of game / etc etc etc.

people do like these games obviously (though this of made more so, due to not knowing about any other games), so to even have a chance of a profit, you got to make these generic/boring games, and be in a big company in order to make them and to promote them (why non-blockbuster games, remain lost and dead in obscurity, and why "blockbuster" games become "blockbuster" games, as the small companies can't advertise/inform/promote their games, especially compared to the big companies).

it's kind of a sad state now, especially for anyone interested in making games (for a profit/career). Also note that even if you get into a big company and can make a lot of money (ignoring the near slave labor involved in getting the game made on time and with as few bugs as possible --- but this is the entire world of programming, not just game making) off the game, as soon as the game is made, they're working on the next game, which means they need a new team for making that new game, meaning you're fired/laid off and looking for work again... it's not as wonderful and glamourous a life, as the games that they produce.

that's just the reality of programming/software engineering/game making, and also a lot of the world's economic/job state too, sighs. Along with competing with the world (global economy: cheap labor, who're just as smart/good as you are, in other countries and/or offshore rigs/international waters, lol).

good luck on making a profit on a "text adventure" or other simple graphical engine games, compared to what's out there of the superb high graphical games (that have surpassed the movie industry in both graphics and story-telling and probably even profit too): skyrim, mass effect, halo, planet fall, WoW, WC, Diablo 3, etc etc etc

your best/only chance is to build up a slowly growing small group of "close-nit" people via crowdfunding/etc means, and to do this, your game must be really good to get noticed and to grow in support/fans. And then... there's the whole probably needed to pay for legal help/council too... so you're not taking down by government or other companities, for whatever their said reasons.

RobBronson: There are hundreds of far more complex text adventures out there than what can be created by Quest straight out of the box. To find a lot of them, go to mudconnector.com

If you are going to make a game that can beat the competition those give you, you're going to have to code, not just use Quest in plain vanilla form, even if you have figured out some amazing ways to make it do what you want.

Anonynn: Nice! That cover looks great! I do prefer to draw my own images despite my complaints, mostly because I like to draw. I wouldn't know how to use something like that anyway

Thanks. And you don't need to know how to use Studio, it comes with very good tutorials. Give it a shot.