It seems a tougher battle than Steam honestly. I don't know why but they're not convinced that my games (the RPGs of course. Not even trying to submit the dating sims!) wouldn't be a good fit for their site. I think that old-school turn based RPG are a perfect fit honestly



The success of Loren on Steam (reached top20) and the appreciation of Planet Stronghold in the Humble Open Source, makes me really wonder what else I could do to change their mind. Maybe a few more votes on this wouldn't hurt:

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/loren_the_amazon_princess

Backed you on this one.



The thing which strikes me as odd is whenever I click on greenlight or add wishlist on gog, it is a title I intent not to buy from this service. Usually because I already own it. That said, if gog would publish you at or near release, I might consider gog instead of BMT.

Yes I know, is more like I'm trying to get exposure to make other people aware of my games. As for release dates, I think my site will always come first by a good amount (1 month min.) vs the other portals. Plus I do the open betas here (even if a Steam early access is tempting because is very simple to do updates).

Strange then that GoG has it's doubts about your games while they have released Long live the queen from Hanako. Also a Renpy made "game" and a simulation. I've bought lltq recently there.

Or is it a financial dispute?

They simply said they "don't think is a good fit for their platform". And nothing else

Hmm, strange reaction from cdprojekt. Or long live the queen was probably a test and wasn't then a success which they hoped for.

It is still available though. http://www.gog.com/game/long_live_the_queen

By the way, i saw that hanako also has some games from you on their site, but they refer to tycoon games as the dev. Is tycoon games your old name?

Here is spirited heart for example:

http://www.hanakogames.com/spirit.shtml

Yes was my old name, but Spirited Heart was always on WW site so that's just a mistake she made will tell her to change the name.

I active in GOG's community and have 380 games there.



GOG's rejected your game because they think their usual customer does not like VN games (very pitty - I think)

GOG's customer/fans is majority like oldies games so they usually do not like a lot of changes in their play style.

Not only the gameplay but they also sensitive about how the games will being sell (like promotion, DLC, price).



GOG's customer majority still have '99 mindset which hate exclusive content, overprice DLC etc,



I hope this will give you some insight about GOG.

Well what was strange is that when I told her Steam sales they still ignored me, and I know for certain that my game sold MUCH more than other games that were accepted in GoG. So despite everything seems a strange move just from the pure "business" point of view. Of course even if my game did well is still a small amount compared to the "big names" so maybe it's that.

GoG stance on WW games does strike me as odd, especially when they allow games like Kingdom Rush (a glorified Mobile port, and also a free game on armorgames website)

long live the queen (which is a game I really enjoy, but it also has a very manga art-style with some VN game elements like large amounts of clicking through screens of dialog with character sprites in the background and choices like many VN games)



and last but most certainly not least is Always sometimes monsters, a fascinating game, but the reason I use it as an example is it's a game full of story-driven experience focusing on relationships and emotional bonds where you can choose from characters of different gender, race, and sexual preference and live through the common experiences and unique hardships of each based on your selection. Which is exactly one of the things I love most about your own Winterwolves games!, and imo believe you and your writers do a very well at.

Well maybe I can try again later. To be honest I don't get much request from people/customers to have my games there, so I didn't bother to push/ask again

A major factor could be that my games are mostly ignored by press and probably they judge a game success by press coverage while (luckily for me!!) is not always the case.

Luckily for us all, if the only games that ever sold well were the ones that got attention from the big press coverages, I would of missed out on many of my favorite games!, and that would be a sad place to live in.



So I'm glad it's not the case

Agreed, GOG prioritize the "big" name / promotion game first as they rejected several games considered being "too niche" but in other side they need to cater the habit of their customer which I already mentioned above. This create a "paradox" in their selection process as the "big" name/ promotion games usually marketed through : preorder exclusive content, DLC, high prices, DRM (even offline activation code is also being considered as a DRM to them), etc.



So I think until GOG can solve this "paradox". Their store cannot growth as like Humble or others.

This is very sadly I think because they were the first one who pioneered DRM free revolution.

Luckily for us all, if the only games that ever sold well were the ones that got attention from the big press coverages, I would of missed out on many of my favorite games!, and that would be a sad place to live in.



So I'm glad it's not the case

This is why I usually scoop http://nichegamer.net/ , http://www.siliconera.com/ , http://www.dsogaming.com/ .

I rarely go to the likes Gamespot, IGN, PC gamer, etc.

Well you wouldn't find news about my games on those sites either

I've stopped chasing journalists 3-4 years back when I discovered that was a waste of my time, and to be honest talking with other indies the impact on sales is practically null. Better focus on social media and word of mouth IMHO. Reviews on big sites are only helpful to "convince" some portals that your "game is good". Probably because playing it or listening to the developer itself takes too much time/effort

Saw today Gog announced Hatoful Boyfriend. Well, I'm a bit at loss of word honestly. Not because I think my games are better than that one, but because so far their reply was that "my game is not a good fit" so yeah OK, they don't want visual novels, or dating sims, or manga, or whatever. But after today ?

If they reject my games again, it means it's personal and well ,their loss at this point.

Saw today Gog announced Hatoful Boyfriend. Well, I'm a bit at loss of word honestly. Not because I think my games are better than that one, but because so far their reply was that "my game is not a good fit" so yeah OK, they don't want visual novels, or dating sims, or manga, or whatever. But after today ?

If they reject my games again, it means it's personal and well ,their loss at this point.

Yeah, I just saw this on GoG, and I had a WTF? moment. Like you said, some of their choices are rather...arbitrary.

Well, in the end they'll all bow to the power of the wolves! MOUAHAHHA Resistance to romance is futile!

(12 published games on Steam + 2 to come in next months... )

They can't hold out forever!.



But seriously I'd say try submitting one more time, since if memory serves you mentioned that you haven't in a long time?, and hope for the best?, though no matter the outcome I'll always prefer to buy direct, so no skin off my nose, but It'd rub me the wrong way to see them still refuse you after this latest release. (since I always just assumed that they didn't like anime/manga art style games previously)

Yes I tried submitting again a few days ago, before I saw this news. We'll see, though Loren is quite different anyway from that game