This has been a while in the making, but we are (for the moment!) up on the front page of FilePlanet, with an IGN-exclusive beta:



Link: http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/aaaaaaa/

This is a first for our studio, and we're really pleased and proud. If you haven't played the game already (or want to see some exclusive content), give the beta a try!

Did you guys told them to do this, or you're so lucky??

It's been in the works for a month or so -- we met with one of D2D's guys during the IGC East conference here in Boston. Lots of work to get to the actual beta launch, but it's been exciting.

The guys at D2D have been awesome.

Told ya, you're lucky because you're living in Boston .
...Or watertown..??

AaaaAAAaaAAAaaaAAAh!!! B-Brain FREEEEZE!
Anyway, you're lucky because you're in Massachusetts.

Congrats Ichiro.

Is this game going to be exclusive distribution through FilePlanet or will you be able to parallel distribution through Steam and other networks?

We're actually considering a few things at the moment -- we haven't made an announcement, but we're at least going with D2D/FilePlanet and direct sales for the final release. But the beta is exclusive to them.

Hi Ichiro,
your marketing is excellent and your hints are very interesting und helpful to read. They are encouraging all work of the community.

But beside all, it is a fact, that all your games are no AAA-titles, even if they are "different" in the idea. But in the view of quality, your projects are not really different to the most other gs-projects.

So with all that cool marketing it is (personally spoken) no wonder for me, that thousands of people will play your demos and test-levels. Clearly - they cost nothing.

What I really would like to know is the final result. The earnings of all this work.

With all my last 10 games from (2002 "War Train" - 2007 "Death Strike") I was in contract with publishers. They sold thousands of copies international with well known marketing strategies.

I would like to know the PLUS with new forms of marketing - like you do.

It would be really cool, if you tell us something about it. Because I do not know any other member of the community, which gave us so deep view in his work.

Thank you very much.

> But in the view of quality, your projects are not really different to the most other gs-projects.

Ouch.

While we don't typically post sales figures in public forums, I can tell you how our press push has increased sales. We used the following press push for Aaaaa! (vs. The Wonderful End of the World)...

- Initial post-prototype press release
- Closed/open alpha announcement
- Pre-release/pre-orders announcement

...versus a single press release on Wonderful's launch. The result was that we ended up selling as many pre-order units of Aaaaa! in 3 weeks as we did in 2 months of Wonderful's sales.

Now, I like to think that Aaaaa! is even better than Wonderful, but if, as you say, they're both pretty ordinary, then that sizable difference was from the marketing efforts we put into Aaaaa!.

This was not an insult. Peace bro.
I compared your work with other commercial a n d successfully
published gs projects.
And I was not interested in "how much money" do you earn.
I just wanted to know percent levels. Your upgrade through internet promotion (new marketing strategies)was nearly 300 percent. That sounds great.
I wish you only the best. And thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us.
I have an twitter eye on you.

> This was not an insult.

No worries. Keeps me honest.