Game Programming (Selling)

Game Programming
(Selling)

Selling Your Game
If you have created a game that you feel could be sold, you really have two options: Trying to find a publisher, or publishing the game yourself.
There are a number of independent game publishers out there on the internet. Some of them will require that you sign an exclusive contract with them, which means that they will be the sole distributors of your game. Other publishers may give you the option of signing a non-exclusive agreement, although for a lower rate of pay.
Self-publishing will ensure that a greater percentage of the total earnings will go into your pockets, but the twin burdens of marketing and sales will then fall squarely upon your shoulders.
Some truly excellent articles for independent game developers can be found on Dexterity Software's website.
Of course, if you're programming games for the joy of it, or you feel that it would be best for the future of the game and its players, it's always possible you'd like to release the games as Free Software/Open Source Software (FOSS). If so, it's advantageous to decide this early; A number of sites such as Sourceforge give free web-hosting to FOSS projects, and using a FOSS license allows you to reuse code from existing FOSS games with a compatible license. However, while it's theoretically possible to make money selling FOSS, it is not currently a good choice if you hope to be paid for developing your game.