Before I upload my work or any trailer…:
Maybe someone who already released a game could share some gained experiences.
Introduction:
Since a few days I’m researching how to self-publish a game as an individual and I come to the conclusion:
It is easier to develop a game from the scratch with no team than facing difficult bureaucracy and I’m left with headache and questions.
It is hard to find out how to publish a game and especially: which things / laws/ rules have to be taking into account.
Is this a complicated process or is it just me?
I am from Germany, my game is actual finished (99%), the development of the demo is in planning phase, the game has two languages: english and german.
My work does not contain any violance, swear words, etc.
It is a peaceful and friendly game.
The current plan is to publish a demo on gd.games and to publish the main game on Steam.
There is no plan to publish a boxed version of this game (CD, DVD, etc.) = It should be only available in the browser and as a download.
Well, this plan would result in an (as far as I understand) to an international digital release and I really want to avoid any trouble (especially because I just made a simple game about peace and friendship).
Questions:
-
Video game content rating system / age rating.
Video game content rating system - Wikipedia
There are so many of them… does my game have to be reviewed by all of them before publishing on gd.games / Steam?
This would be very expensive… -
Informational Text:
At the beginning of the game I have an informational text about: ~flashing lights and ~everything is fictous.
Is it recommended to add any more of this informational texts? -
User Manual:
Is it mandatory/ necessary? Should it be available in every thinkable language?
There are tutorials how to play the game inside the game already…
In the worst case: what if someones hardware breaks? -
In the folder of my exported game I can see two files: “LICENSE.electron” “LICENSES.chromium”.
I’m not very good in formal english language, so maybe I understand it wrong.
I have not read yet LICENSES.chromium… But in the LICENSE.electron is this:
“Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software […] without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software […]”
Does that mean that everybody who has a copy of my game can sell, publish it?
These 2 files have to be included in every copy of the final game?
Edit: I changed my mind ~ the complete game will be released on gd.games.