Professional Windows® Phone 7 Game Development: Creating Games using XNA Game Studio 4

Chapter 16. Where Do You Go from Here?

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Developing a trial mode for your game

• Letting your players invite their friends to buy your game

• Understanding the publishing process

• Submitting your game to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

• Where to find help if you need it

You're almost done. Congratulations on making it this far! You've made a few games, and now you're ready to learn about creating a compelling trial-mode experience and getting your game into the Windows Phone Marketplace.

TRIAL MODE

Imagine this scenario:

• You've made "The Greatest Game Ever Created" and have uploaded it to the Marketplace, complete with a few screenshots and a game-play video, but it's not selling like you thought it would.

• You've tried a word-of-mouth marketing campaign, purchased Facebook ads, and even got a good review in your favorite gaming magazine, but you aren't getting the sales you hoped for.

• Your buddy has published a game that's similar to yours. He hasn't done much advertising, but his sales are through the roof. Why? Your buddy's game has a trial mode.

Understanding Trial Mode

The preceding example may be a bit contrived, but it's not that far off the mark. Industry studies have shown that having a well-crafted trial mode can significantly increase sales.

Following are a few important things you need to know and understand about trial mode:

• Trial mode is not a separate download of your game, but rather the same executable file running with the isTrialMode flag set.

• Unlike Xbox Live ...