Now, let me be clear here: I have no problems writing about the cool new thing you just built. In fact, I did just that for cool javascript starmap system from a few months back.

The difference between those projects and the PBBG framework I was contacted about is…they exist. I can play with them, I can link people to them, and I can talk about what it feels like to use them. With a project that’s still just a few ideas in a quick e-mail, I can’t do that – and I won’t.

Please, please, show me your projects and your games! But don’t show them to me before they’re actually “out there” (or at least in beta) – because if I can’t play with it, I won’t write about it.

When people ask me what the hardest part of browser game development is, I always answer the same thing: making people play your game. There are hundreds of so called browser games directories around and most of them are crappy. However, if you want to get your game known, you’ll have to add your game on various websites. Now, wouldn’t it be great if you wouldn’t have to do all that?

That’s why I came up with Browser Games Hub. Instead of putting your information on every bloody game directory, you force them to fetch your information themselves. In cooperation with a bunch of other developers, we developed an XML schema that holds all information about your game. This way, you can provide these websites with an accurate and up to date player count, a list of game servers, links to news, screenshots, logos, etc.

So, how does it work? You put a little XML file on your own server and put a link to this file on your game home page. Browser games hub will read this file once every day and update the information. The hub, in his turn, providers website owners the data of all registered games.

<browsergameshub version="0.1">
	<name>Dolumar</name>
	<site_url>http://dolumar.be/</site_url>
</browsergameshub>

This is, of course, only the first step; a name and a website are not very interesting to publish on a website. You can find way more information on browser games hub.

Today, I want to talk to the readers who have created a browsergame that is currently using advertising as a revenue source: which network are you using?

There are a multitude of different advertising networks out there, and many different models: pay-per-impression, pay-per-click, and many more. I would like to talk to the creators of browsergames that are currently serving advertisements, to find out which advertising networks are best suited to being used in a browsergame.

If you are currently the owner or developer of a browsergame that is running advertisements, please send me an e-mail at buildingbrowsergames@gmail.com with which advertising network you’re using, and what your thoughts are on it – I’ll try to compile all of your responses, and post them all here once I know a little more.

Image that you’re building a browsergame that needs to reach a certain ‘critical mass’ to be actually fun(perhaps it has a strong PvP focus). What can you do to hit that critical mass quickly?

While it’s not for everyone(and there are other ways to achieve this), you can build applications for the popular social networks that either are your game, or integrate into your game – perhaps displaying the stats of your characters and a link to play your game.

Hooking your game into one(or more) of the myriad social networking websites out there lets you hook into their massive userbase – without having to worry about getting them there in the first place. With just a handful of friends who are willing to put your game’s widget/box on their profile page and an interesting enough application, your game’s userbase can easily explode overnight – although if that happens, you’ll need to be careful that the same thing doesn’t happen to your server!

At any rate, social networking sites(and interesting initiatives like Google’s OpenSocial) are making it easier and easier to get your game out there and in front of as many potential players as you can – if your development schedule allows for it, I highly recommend building an app for at least one social networking service to help get your game out there and in front of as many potential players as possible.

There are two primary methods used to monetize browsergames: Advertising, and Purchasable Bonuses.

• Advertising

  Advertising is one of the monetization methods that most browsergames reach for first – it’s trivial to set up, doesn’t require any extra development time, and you can essentially set it up and then just watch the money roll in. However, there is a bit of a problem with the Advertising model – it annoys users. Some users find any sort of advertising intrusive, and will do specific things to enjoy your game without the ads – like installing Adblock. When a user has Adblock installed, you won’t be making any money off of advertisements for that user.

  One way that some games attempt to work around the way users feel about advertising is by offering a way to make it less intrusive – something like “For just $4/month, you won’t see any more advertisements!”. While this can work, it’s still not going to protect your income from users who just decide to use Adblock.

• Purchasable Bonuses

  Some players are competitive, and some are not. This monetization method takes advantage of the more competitive players, by providing them with a way to increase their character’s power unnaturally – for a price. You as the game developer essentially sell power-ups for players who are looking for that edge.

  This method is a lot more reliable than advertising once you can get the ball rolling, because it won’t annoy users. However, it has a much larger potential failure rate, because you need to be very careful to keep the game balanced for users who don’t want to spend any money. If the Sword of Destiny costs $10 and makes your character invincible, players without the Sword won’t want to buy one – they’ll just resent the overpowered players they encounter who already have one. This gradually builds resentment in your playerbase, and slowly the players who aren’t willing to spend money for bonuses will leave. You need to be very careful to ensure that the bonuses a player can purchase won’t overpower them in comparison to users without those bonuses.

At the end of the day, these are just two of many different ways to monetize your game – and each game will have a different approach that works best for it. Black Sword RPG and Dragon Tavern both use the Purchasable Bonuses model, and seem to have done a fair job of balancing it out – and other browsergames like Utopia have managed to make the advertising model work well enough for them. Which monetization model you choose is up to you – you can even choose not to monetize at all, if you want to. Why not experiment a little?

It’s all polished and ready to go, and you’re about to open the gates to the hordes of players out there.

But do they know about it?

A lack of some sort of advertising or marketing can kill your game’s launch. Word of mouth alone will not get you a large playerbase; you need to get your game ‘out there’, so that as many people as possible will see it and try it out.

But a lot of browsergame creators do it in their spare time, and don’t have much money to spare. So here’s three quick tips on how to get the most bang for your non-existent buck, when it comes to advertising your game:

• Referrals

One quick-and-easy way to get a lot of players quickly if you have a few passionate ones is to create an in-game referrals system. Just give each player their own referral link, and reward users who manage to use that link to get users to sign up for the game. The rewards don’t need to be much – generally, the players who will bring you the most referred players are the kinds of people that just like to have something that sets them apart from the rest of the playerbase – although if you reward referrals with something easy like more of your in-game currency or free level-ups, that’s fine too. At any rate, a referrals system is one way to attract a lot of players to at least you’re “you just got referred” page, at no money out of your pocket.

• Directories

Directories were a big deal back before the ‘Web 2.0′ craze. Now, they aren’t quite as big of a deal – but they’re still a decent way to get some sort of link coming to your site. There are a few directories out there devoted specifically to browsergames – Browser Based Game Zone has a directory full of links to games, and pbbg.org will link to your game/site if you use the term ‘PBBG’ somewhere on your site, and then send them an e-mail to let them know.

One thing you need to remember about directories, however, is that they’re called directories for a reason – and that’s because they have a lot of links inside them. You need to make sure that you provide as much content for your game as you can – a good description of your gameplay(how it really is, not just ‘enjoy an ever-changing game world!’), maybe a screenshot if they want it, and anything else that you can fill up with information about your game. The more information you have, the more likely a user will notice your game, read up on it a bit, and then visit it.

• Guest Blogging

This may only come into play if you have a friend(or friends) with a blog. But all you need to do is ask them if you can write one post on their blog, and talk about your game a little bit. It could be a post-mortem of your game, or your friend could do an interview with you – there are a lot of options available to you if you can at least write something about your game. And all you have to do at the end of your piece is get whoever runs the blog to put a little blurb about you and your game – if the blog has readers, some of them will click the link to your game(and hopefully start playing it).

That’s only three of the many, many available options for getting the word out about your game – both when you release it, and after it’s been running for a while. But the nice thing is, all of them are free – all they take is a little bit of your time, and the dedication to making sure that your game succeeds.