Meeting Report - shockwave.com

News & General Discussion
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Hey all, as I mentioned in another thread, I met with the folks at shockwave.com to talk to them about Unity and Unity-authored content. The meeting went extremely well and they were impressed with both Unity and the content it can create. They are open to considering Unity authored content for their site, whether that’s for playback in the browser or as a downloadable. I’d like to share some information you’ll need to know in order to have a greater chance of succeeding if/when you decide to submit content. This is a bit long of a post so bear with me and do not hesitate to post any questions you have, thanks!

How do I submit content?
The instructions for submitting content to shockwave.com for consideration can be found here:

Become a Shockwave.com Game Developer

The process is relatively simple and should be explained well enough on the page above. Please understand that your game does not need to be 100% complete in order to be submitted, but it does need to be close enough to allow them to properly evaluate your game (the closer to final the better).

What types of games are they looking for?
The answer to that question actually depends on how you intend to have your game offered on their site. There are two options to consider, web-based games (played in the browser) or download-based (downloadable executables). In the case of games that will be played in the browser they are generally looking for action/driving/shooter type games. In the case of downloadable games they are generally looking for puzzle/story-based games. The reasoning behind that is based on the typical users for each distribution channel.

Web-based games are most typically frequented by the younger, and male, game player. That user type is generally not inclined to purchase games, rather they want them free and in the browser. Therefore games offered in the browser need to cater to that audience (action, driving, shooters, etc.).

Downloadable games are most typically purchased by older users, including the growing female user-base. These folks are inclined to download and purchase games, therefore the games offered for download need to cater to that audience (puzzles, story-based, etc.).

Again, none of that says you cannot submit a FPS game to be considered as a downloadable, but in doing that know that you’re going against the grain a bit and the bar for entry might be a bit higher than if you submitted the same title for playback in the browser. To help set the context here, look at the top games listed for each channel: Online Games and Download Games. Notice that there is a puzzle game in the top titles list for online games, thus showing that the above are guidelines and not rules.

File size matters!
When submitting your game it’s important to keep in mind who your target audience is and make sure that you’re game offers an “appropriate” file size. In the case of online games the file size really needs to be in the 1-3MB range, if it’s larger than that you’ll get some resistance during submission as there is a cutoff after which users tend to not wait. You can involve a total of more than 1-3MB by downloading additional assets, the point here is that you cannot make the user wait “too long” before they’re in the game enjoying your content. Similarly you cannot make a stand-alone executable that’s 200MB and expect that to be taken on without concern. Despite the fact that users know and expect downloadable games to take longer to complete the download, there are still limits. Therefore it’s critical for you to take a careful look at your overall file size and optimize and reduce that as much as possible (without going so far as to degrade the game of course, that’s the balancing beam you must walk).

So, how does my game make money?
All games posted to shockwave.com generate revenue via advertising, game sales or subscription memberships. The exact sources of revenue will depend on which distribution channel you utilize. This information is discussed on the page containing instructions for submitting content (Become a Shockwave.com Game Developer).

One thing I do want to call-out is the whole topic of in-game advertising. As a game developer submitting content to them you just shouldn’t worry about it for now. The truth is that in-game advertising is obviously a lot less common than in-page ads (banners), and if/when the folks at shockwave.com see a game title and an advertiser that might make a good pairing for in-game ads, then they’ll take up that topic with all parties.

Closing thoughts
All in all I’d rate the meeting a success, they loved the content I showed them as well as the tool itself (I did a quick authoring demo for them at the end). I hope that the information above helps folks get a clearer picture of what’s involved in submitting content to shockwave.com for their consideration. Please be sure to read the submission instructions in full so you have a clear understanding of what sort of information they’ll need from you and what the process will be like.

As I said up top please post up if you have any questions or comments.

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Did they express any concern with player penetration or the web plugin install process?

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cool info and glad the meet went well. only comment i have is the 1-3Mb for web players can get a bit tight for a full game - the engine takes a good amount of that (isn’t it like 2.2 or something?). so typically I’d think we’re on the upper end of that for a small game. did you guys talk web demos for dl-able games by chance? or the whole streaming thing in 1.6.1? haven’t checked that out yet.

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@Matthew: we discussed both of those topics. While they would obviously prefer it if everyone had our player pre-installed they also know that game players are the most likely to download and install things like the Unity Web Player to play games. So while it’s not exactly optimal right now (player penetration), it’s also not a hard-stop issue. As to the install process they want it smooth and efficient, naturally. As of today they don’t have any issues with our install process so I don’t think we have any worries there.

@Pete: keep in mind that the file sizes I mentioned for web player content do not include the Unity Web Player itself, those would be for your Unity data files only. Additionally please note that I said 1-3MB wasn’t an overall limit so much as it’s more like an initial load limit:

You can involve a total of more than 1-3MB by downloading additional assets, the point here is that you cannot make the user wait “too long” before they’re in the game enjoying your content.

Given that info I think Unity developers can in fact abide by their file size concerns while still offering suitably involved games. Any streaming improvements help the cause as they can be used to reduce the initial waiting time which is really the critical concern (users don’t want to watch loading screens).

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In general, the web-based games, they are pretty short but difficult, correct? This is what makes them enjoyable and long lasting?

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I would say that “short and difficult” isn’t quite right, the games need to be engaging and addicting so folks want to come play them (hopefully over and over and over and over…). In saying that there’s a fine balance between offering enough content and difficulty to hook users on the game but not so much that the game is too difficult or too large for them to put up with.

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One idea for loading of larger games could be to make a small minigame as a loading screen somthing like enoid or a little gadget the player can toy with while the main game loads (just make sure that the mini game isnt more interresting then your main game :wink: )

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this is great tom well done!

If submitting a game to shockwave - are you allowe to display the game elsewhere??

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cool tom. i misunderstood the additional assets bit. thanks for the clarification.

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that’s great tom. it won’t be of much use to me with those file size parameters but that’s an awesome step forward for all who are making casual games and for unity in general.

good news ; )

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Usually yes. Portals rarely want exclusivity, and if they do a typical deal would be for a 2-3 week period. Really it’s your choice–you don’t have to sign any exclusive deals if you don’t want to.

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This is mentioned in Shockwave’s instructions. If you give them the exclusive they say they’ll give you better terms and more attention.

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I’ve started putting together a suite of Unity web minigames (or I’ll just call them “technology demos” if they’re not fun) at http://www.fugugames.com/ with a self-imposed limit of 1MB per game and 200KB for the intro/menu. It’s largely so I can focus on trying out little ideas and exploring Unity, but I also recall suffering with a 20KB/s DSL line just a few months ago.

The games (or demos) are pretty simplistic but a lot more scripting can be added without taking up much more space (however note that unlike other assets, the Console indicates every script in a project is included in the build whether are not it’s used, so it’s best to prune out what you don’t need).

Textures are the bottleneck here (I expect animation data would be big, too, if I was importing any), so the technique here is to tweak the texture Import settings - set max texture size only to what you need, selectively turn off alpha channels and mipmapping as appropriate. If you do this even with the Standard Assets skybox and water textures, you’ll see a huge difference in build size. And if some portions of a skybox are not visible (obscured by ground or water or a wall, or if camera movement is restricted), you can just remove those faces of the skybox.

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@milkytreat: I think that your questions on exclusivity have been answered. If you do give shockwave.com exclusivity then it can be more lucrative for you, but that’s not a requirement.

@shalow: you’re on the right track there, except it doesn’t have to be a mini-game, it can be anything. The idea is to minimize the user’s waiting time, you could load a mini-game, your menu screen, a loader cinematic, whatever…

@drJones: remember, those file sizes are not hard limits and they’re for web games (as opposed to downloadables). Also, you can have more than the 1-3MB of material if you smartly use external assets and additional downloads. The thing that’s really important is the typical waiting time during which the user simply watches a loader bar, that needs to be minimized as much as possible.

@technicat: fun stuff, how do I go back to your game menu from any individual game (to choose another game)? And you’re right, textures are an easy way to either trim or bloat file sizes along with audio clips.

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Thanks, HiggyB!

Yeah, I knew the lack of an obvious path back to the menu would be annoying (I was just hitting browser Refresh). I just put in a cheap solution - a link on the lower left of the web page which just reloads the page, although it’s still easy to overlook.

I’m thinking about eventually putting in a common HUD which is created in the menu and persists via DontDestroyOnLoad, and this HUD would include common things like pause, stats, and exit game (return to menu). This would save both work and space across all the games.