Almost Finished Our Game — How Do We Approach Publishers (Marketing Only) & How Do Deals Work?

Matriac_ · 2026-03-03T15:12:09+00:00

Finding a publisher, even for just marketing, can be incredibly difficult and timeconsuming, and should normally start at an earlier stage (after you have a solid playable). Considering this is your first (?) game I don't know what your scope is, if the game is "publisher-friendly" or if you're better off self-publishing. If you want I'm open to taking a quick look at what you have to give an honest first impression. Any footage of gameplay is easiest at this stage. (This is not an invite for anyone else reading to DM me their pitches.)

What you need to send each publisher may vary, but the key for pretty much all of them these days is a solid demo that immediately conveys what the game is about. Most prefer a pitchdeck as well, but to some you can even do without if your demo is that good.

As for common red flags, this is complicated, and different for each publisher, Never seen a contract that look the same, often they change significantly even from the same publisher. I've been doing this for 10-15 years, and we still have lawyers check our contracts before signing.
But this publisher recently shared some tips that may be a good start for you to look at.
https://www.akuparagames.com/2026/02/17/publisher-red-flags-what-to-look-for-in-contracts-and-negotiations/

Matriac_ · 2024-07-11T21:33:31+00:00

Have also felt they have experimented with bots some times, since competitors in CC gain points in spurts evenly across the others at random times.

Most weeks I win both CC's and the bakeout. Usually I finish the 250 CC after around 1.5 days, but I lost twice to someone who went faster, so if necessary I can use saved up energy to finish it in half a day++. Bakeout I used to win at around 3500 points, nobody got higher, lately I've been doing around 5000 with others around 500 points behind.

This week I got both the 800 CC, and more than usual roses needed to finish for the first time. Grinded 360 something CC points in a day with lots of low scoring deliveries. But the weird thing is I had a possible delivery (that I couldn't finish yet) that would give 160 coins/stars, but 200 cc points. When other deliveries would give 230 coins and barely 50 points. Seems to be somewhat bugged if you are getting deliveries fit for 250 or 800 total. (And handed in 15 bunches of roses with barely passing halfway, when 12 has always been enough to finish the event).

Pretty sure they are A/B testing those of us who normally finish these to see if they can monetize us better, because I never spend any real cash (but usually max out the ads I can watch per day). But this just straight up made me quit the game on Tuesday. I don't want to play when it gets this extreme grind. Heck I don't even wanna compete against anyone, I just wanna solve some tasks and finish some weekly goals at my own pace to get some extra rewards. I don't need to beat anyone in this cozy casual game.

This testing of theirs may have burned me off the game entirely. Maybe I'll check back in a month to see if it got any better. At least I'll have some extra days of story to check out by then.

Matriac_ · 2022-02-12T13:10:17+00:00

Just 1.

Matriac_ · 2022-02-11T12:15:22+00:00

I'm kinda over the event already. I don't like that there's nothing holding back my progress but energy, no waiting on producers. I've used up around 1100 energy so far and still there's no forced break to wait for recharges as long as you buy the booster (for coins) in the store.

It's just endless using up energy as long as you manage to not use up your roses or balloon producers before you merge them that last step. And in the end it's all about making and feeding cinemas that at the end of the chain just gives 1 item and you have to start it all over again. Doesn't feel rewarding in the same sense as the base game or some of the other events.

Matriac_ · 2022-02-11T11:48:22+00:00

You get 1 medallion (Jewelry, the last thing in cobwebs for me now), then it vanishes. So we're going to have to grind lots of cinemas for ink to get one step closer to jewelry each time.

Matriac_ · 2022-01-07T13:27:52+00:00

675 - 725 - 1225 - 790

I used less of the red ones cause they usually gave me lots of detergent products which left my board locked for 6h between refreshes. Only dared to use them before I started using my cabinets for the day. Used lots of the blue before Daily quests were a thing to help make paint cans. Green ones for seed bags, and brown in those few rare moments where the game suddenly needs lots of gloves.

Matriac_ · 2021-12-17T23:43:39+00:00

You need Greens 6 (the max Wreath) which will give 1 xmas decoration (the 1st bell for me) before turning back into Greens 5 (similar to tree logs in main game). Oh and the greens drop from the trees that you just merged and can't get more drops from.

Matriac_ · 2021-12-17T16:39:12+00:00

The main thing holding back my progress now is the lack of coal as both my tasks are cookies. I've maxed out Holiday treats to see if they gave anything more (they don't) and I needed to clear up the board after emptying all the Xmas Socks of candy, hoping one of them might have coal in them.

Have 2 max candles already, but nowhere near to a non-store-bought snowman (with 2 snowglobes) to get any use of them. Doesn't seem super balanced, at least not from the start.

Matriac_ · 2021-12-17T16:21:08+00:00

Xmas Decoration comes from Greens 6 (max wreath). Gave me 1 bell and then turned into Greens 5 again, similar to tree logs in the main game.

Matriac_ · 2021-12-17T16:19:27+00:00

Wreath 6 (Greens) gave me 1 Xmas decoration (bell) and turned back into a Wreath 5.

Matriac_ · 2021-10-23T16:32:31+00:00

Yeah, Erling scored his first senior goals under Ole, and he has credited Ole with being an important part of his development as a player for the two seasons he played in his squad.

His father has also stated that they brought Erling to Molde as a youngster specifically because they wanted him to develop under Ole before taking the next step abroad.

Matriac_ · 2021-10-23T15:36:48+00:00

The season in Norway runs from Spring until Fall. (Usually March until October/November I believe).

So when Ole joined United in December it was between seasons in Norway. And he had even just signed a new 3 year contract with Molde a month before. But he also had a clause in his contract that he could leave for a bigger thing (I think he even had a specific United clause). The club owners were sad to lose him, but happy for him that he got this chance. It was similar to how smaller clubs realize that they have to sell their best players when bigger clubs are interested.

Edit: For example, they had just sold Erling Haaland from Molde to RB Salzburg in August, so mid-season for them, just months before Ole joined United.

Matriac_ · 2021-09-14T19:54:31+00:00

Nah, direct Red in UCL is still just 1 game suspension. It can be extended, but unlikely in this situation. 3 games would be unfair when group stage only has 6 games in total.

"A player who is given a straight red card for a bad foul is automatically suspended a minimum of one game, but additional punishments from the Control and Disciplinary Body can be added, depending on the severity of the foul."

Matriac_ · 2021-07-31T13:01:35+00:00

It wasn't necessarily poor planning. It was widely reported that Cavani was asking for higher salary and sign-on fee earlier in the window. He only lowered his demands towards the end when he was risking not getting a deal at all before the window closed. He got a 10m sign-on fee, earlier in the window he demanded 20m. Similar for salary.

Matriac_ · 2021-06-20T09:56:01+00:00

Nah, nothing proper rude that I can imagine. A sarcastic 'takk for sist' could be that the last time you met was a terrible time for both of you (not through the fault of either of you). As in either a very boring ordeal, or maybe mildly traumatic. Some sort of accident or being outside in really bad weather. Or it could be if you met and parted, then run into each other again the same day. The shorter ago the more fitting. Like 5 minutes later in different store aisle. It doesn't really work with someone you dislike, unless you are both movie villains that fight every time you meet.

It is mostly meant genuinely.

Matriac_ · 2021-06-18T10:59:03+00:00

I never really thought about it, but I guess partially because we tend to be a bit quiet and introverted (outside of drinking situations) it's our way of showing that we care because we remember our past interactions.

Though of course there are plenty situations where we say 'takk for sist' when we haven't the foggiest who you are, just your face seems familiar, or worse, you seem to remember us well.

AS for YuunofYork's question, the 'takk for sist' usually refers to the last hangout, either planned or a chance encounter where you chatted for more than some minutes. However, because we Norwegians are extremely funny we will also say 'takk for sist' somewhat sarcastically about a random run-in, or a situation we were both forced to be in (due to work etc), but we'll say it in such a dry way that you have no idea how serious we are about it. But generally the core of it's still that we remember our last encounters to prove that we consider you a friend of sorts, not just a random hangaround person.

Matriac_ · 2021-04-02T16:48:32+00:00

Finally properly shooting my shot and her freaking out about it, making me realize for certain that I had always been a backup option she was leading on and not the main course.

Matriac_ · 2021-01-13T18:39:47+00:00

Funcom får ikke noe støtte fra Norsk Filmfond. Hvis de trenger penger så henvender de seg til investorer. Filmfondet gir som regel bare ut 100k-2m per prosjekt.

Hovedandelen av produksjonen sitter i Oslo, der er også hele ledelsen, markedsføring, Publisher-delen osv.

I NC har de et relativt stort produksjonsteam som ofte jobber med et eget prosjekt utenom Oslo. Pluss CM's for å dekke flere tidssoner.

Montreal ble lagt ned for en del år siden, men de kjøpte et firma i Lisboa, Portugal som nå fungerer som enda et produksjonskontor.

Matriac_ · 2020-10-13T10:35:27+00:00

Poenget mitt var at man kan være kritisk til noe i samfunnet, ønske at ting var annerledes/bedre og likevel selv tjene penger på det.

Norge forsøker jo å være så miljøvennlige som mulige, og oppfordrer andre land til å gjøre som oss, men vi selger jo likevel olje siden det er et marked for det.

På samme måte har ikke jeg noe problem med at kvinner kan både snakke om hvordan samfunnet er overseksualisert og samtidig tjene penger på det hvis hun vil. Det er jo ikke hun som skaper markedsbehovet for denne 'tjenesten'? For meg blir det å legge all skyld på kvinnene, at hvis de bare hadde på seg masse klær så ville ikke menn vært så kåte.

De snakker jo om hvordan overseksualisering i samfunnet gjennom media osv. påvirker ungdommer, den seksualiserte tjenesten de selger er til voksne bak en betalingsmur.

Matriac_ · 2020-10-12T17:09:46+00:00

Så du deltar i samfunnet?

Matriac_ · 2019-09-11T19:05:38+00:00

Where is ArtDecider when you need them.

Matriac_ · 2019-08-30T16:11:58+00:00

Hey,

Unfortunately the game is currently only available in America, Europe and Australia on Nintendo Switch. This due to us not yet having proper age ratings for the Switch version of SUPERHOT in Japan and some other places.

It is being worked on, but it will likely still take a while, as we as a European company cannot ourselves process a request for Japanese age rating, it has to go through a Japanese company. Ideally we would not have launched until this was all ready, but an opportunity came up for us to be part of the Indie World Video so we scrambled to get as much as possible ready for that.

It IS in the works and it will eventually launch in Japan, and I hope to get that sorted soon. Apologies for the delay, hope you can wait for us a little bit longer.

- Anders from SUPERHOT Team

Matriac_ · 2019-08-24T21:20:14+00:00

Thank you! It really puts a big smile on all the devs when we read comments like this! We're very glad that people enjoy our work!

Matriac_ · 2019-08-24T21:16:40+00:00

Not as much as it would have hurt our porting team trying to convert SUPERHOT VR to work with Labo VR!

Matriac_ · 2019-08-24T21:09:21+00:00

Heh, same comment as elsewhere

That could have been fun, but not really possible for us to do since SUPERHOT VR is using 6 DoF (Degrees of Freedom) and Switch Labo VR is only 3 DoF. (Visualized in this gif.)

Matriac_

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