Flash Game Distribution and Promotion 101 - Web Design - Graphic Design

So, you've made your game and included a link to your site on the splash screen. If you're aiming to use your game as a promotional tool for your site, here's how to get as many people playing it as possible.

Flash games are up there at the top when it comes to easy, distributable media. They can reach a very large audience in a relatively short amount of time, and there are many tools available to the developer to achieve this. Here I'll go through a list of helpful websites that can be utilized to a developer's advantage and also drop in some small pearls of self-gained wisdom.

* Mochiads.com

Whether you're just getting involved with the Flash gaming scene or have been involved with it for a long time, chances are that you've come across the Mochi network of sites somewhere along the line. Dedicated to making life easier (and profitable) for the discerning game maker, to get connected with Mochi is easy. Once you have an account with them, you grab the easy-to-install codes, add them to your game and then upload it to their servers. From here they distribute your game to all of their network partners, let you keep track of stats and even have a version control feature, meaning you can edit any aspect of your game and then re-upload it - so any site that got your game from Mochi will have the updated version automatically. All this while you make profit from the adverts. Have a go at the traffic share scheme too. This is free and easy and can get your ad displayed to people that really care about what you're offering - Flash games.

Rating: 5/5 - The 'industry standard'.

* FlashGameDistribution.com

The sister site of FlashGameLicense, FlashGameDistribution (FGD) allows you to import any game from your FGL account and distribute it to their partners. The beauty of this system is that they also offer a free 'Portal in a Box', meaning anyone who downloads the package also gets live feeds of newly updated games - i.e yours. So, the more people who have a portal, the more your game gets out there. It's simply, intuitive and win-win for everyone. If you want to reach more sites you can use their 'manual submit' tool, where you can copy and paste all the information about your game (displayed in a frame to the left of the screen) into the contact forms that FGD loads up for you. This takes a little while but it's totally worth it. In my experience this has become somewhat of a staple proceedure in distributing my games. If you include some API codes they have on offer too, like the one provided by Mindjolt, they can also send your game out across social networking sites. Th ink of it as 'sub-distribution'.

Rating: 4/5 - Helpful and free, with free game portal software. Win-win.

* Gamejacket.com

Now I haven't actually used Gamejacket before, but I do understand what they're about and what they do. Much like Mochiads, you upload your game and include their API to display adverts, then the game is distributed through their many channels. At the time of publishing this article they are offering a $1000 advance on any revenue your game generates. The site is currently in beta and so you have to wait for them to approve your account application before you get to use them.

Rating: N/A - No personal experience, but I gather from various sources that it's a reliable outlet for Flash games.

* My Own Technique

With the DIY approach to releasing of my 'pixelBOMB' game, I decided to try something new in order to help streamline the viral potential. I included the embed code on the main menu, so anyone playing the game who owned a site could just place the game on their site almost straight away without the hassle of going to a website and signing up to get the codes. I figured that if maybe just one or two small time flash game portals caught a hold of this, that it could, in theory, self perpetuate. Having only released the game recently, I'm yet to find out if this tactic works, but as a matter of experimentation I will definately be trying it again and looking forward to seeing what the results are. The great thing about it is that it can go on forever, like a snowball on a bottomless mountain. Hopefully.

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