Publishing A Game Is A Whole Different Beast That Needs To Be Tamed

[Kuroodo]

I am in the process of finishing up my own game for release, and at this point I have realized that after all the books, tutorials, and courses about making a game, they never really get into the process of preparing a game for release, including publishing the game on a platform.

I was under the impression that once I had my game done, in this case for android, all I had to do was make some fancy art for it and make a store listing without much hassle beyond developing the game itself. But there is much more to it than that. There are a lot of specifications that google, and other platforms, requires me to meet, there may be privacy policies I may have to insert, end user license agreements, content ratings, different art specifications, different hardware requirements/specifications, and all of these other things I was completely unprepared for, such as the question whether to release the game under my own name or under an LLC. Many of these things I didn’t even know I needed to do, and only stumbled upon them when researching something else that I needed to do.

I was wondering if anyone had any resources that explain some of these things, or if perhaps Ben and co could use this as an idea for a future course, so that anyone else wishing to publish a game on any platform, such as android, can already have some idea of what they should expect, and what they should be planning ahead of time as they finish their game/project.

[Nina]

Hi Kuroodo,

I think what you are experiencing can be applied to almost all courses, to school and even to university. You are learning something but the actual learning starts when you are on your own.

Since technology constantly evolves and laws constantly change, a lot of information is quickly outdated. Furthermore, it’s always risky to teach legal aspects. Ben is no lawyer. Maybe he knows a bit about the law of his country but what about Indonesian law, Chinese law, Spanish law, US law?

If you just share your games with your friends, most companies will probably ignore any copyright infringements. Nobody will wonder if you made sure that your game meets the requirements of the data protection laws of all countries on this planet.

However, once your game gets noticed by a broader audience, once you are earning money with your game, there will be people who want to see you fail. The first thing they do is to check if they can sue you. Other people do not want to harm you but they don’t want that their art or sounds get used without their explicite permission.

Clicking the same buttons as some instructor is not sufficient to protect yourself. You need to check by yourself if you meet all requirements. Read the walls of texts and try to understand them. If in doubt, consult a lawyer.

With this in mind, look for reliable sources, check the date when the information was written. Courses are usually “bad” in this respect because it takes the creators a long time to record the videos. Videos usually do not get updated as fast as articles. You can watch courses and tutorials to get a general idea of what you should do, on what you should do some research, but do not expect that they tell you everything you need to know.

I hope I did not discourage you. However, I think it is better to be safe than sorry. You spent a lot of time working on your project, so you want other people to enjoy it, not to get into trouble.

Please feel free to ask our helpful community of students for advice in our official Discord chat.