GamesChart Number 1 for 4 weeks!

When I first saw the announcement on “Flash Game Developers” group on www.linkedIn.com about the GamesChart beta program I immediately thought to participate. It was a surprise to me to find that my game Haunted House was at first position for the entire 4 weeks of the beta program!
Actually also my Alice Memory game is also on the chart, even if never more than in the 6th position.

What GamesChart (www. gameschart.com) is about?
It’s another way to generate money from you Flash games. The nice thing is that it is not an alternative to the traditional banner you place during the loading of the game. But it goes together.
The main idea is to have publisher to “bid” for which game will be in the chart and this will generate extra revenue to the developer, to the publisher who correctly bid and of course to the GamesChart organization.

This is from Barry White directly from linkedIn group.
I thought I'd include some more information about how GamesChart can earn developers money:

+ Every game that has the GamesChart API embedded in it is tracked by GamesChart.
+ The developer can also choose to enable or disable a series of dynamic charts that actually display within the Flash game itself.
+ The most popular games each week make their way to the top of the charts.
+ Any gamers who click on a game listed in these charts is taken to play that game on another portal.
+ Publishers use an advanced pay per click bidding system to purchase this traffic and drive users back to their own sites to play the games they have bid on.
+ Games need to be uploaded to the Publishers portal before they can receive traffic. (great for seeding)
+ Developers receive up to a 50% revenue share of any outbound clicks generated from within their game should they choose to display the charts. (also full blacklisting available)
+ Publishers also receive 10% of total revenues generated from any GamesChart enabled games featured on their site.

I am going to explain the very easy steps to follow to have a game added to this GamesChart.
In order to do so I am going to provide my other game Tokyo Train with this service as well.
First thing you need to register as developer, if you don’t already. This is quite easy to do, just follow instruction on the site.

You then are prompted to add a game:

So do not hesitate: go to click the button and create the new game:

Instructions are easy and nice to follow: I have to admit they did a very good job on make your job easy.

You are now prompted with the game id that you need to put on the component property to have your game identified.
Of course first of all you need to download the API library from the “GamesChart Wiki” link (wiki.gameschart.com/index.php/Getting_Started).
You have the choice to get the component for Adobe Flash IDE or the complete API if you use FlashDevelop and for both choices you can choose between AS3 and AS2. My choice was for the component and AS3.

The very first time you download the zip pack, you need to double click on the GamesChartAPI-AS3.mpx:

This will install the component, and that’s the only thing you really need to install: brilliant.
Now open your FLA and browse for the components (Windows > Components menu): you will find the GamesChartAPI one.

Now, again it’s easy: drag and drop the component onto the stage (better if at the top layer):

Do not worry about the position: it will be hidden once the game starts.
Do you remember the game id? Go to grab it and past it in the component inspector:

That’s all! You can now publish the game: you will notice a small G icon on top right of the stage.

You can force to have this cute icon can be hidden or display when you want. Or you can also move it.
I would suggest you to leave it for the entire game and in that position: it’s the best position, just readjust your buttons if you have any conflict.
In this way a player can click on the icon anytime during the game. This will let him vote your game and show chart. In fact when the icon is clicked the chart will appear and will let you open a new window with the games on the list.

You need one more thing: to publish the game. You can get your SWF file or you can first upload on MochiAds with version control as I am doing. This is the best solution because your game will be updated all over the world with the cute G icon.
That’s all!
Enjoy!

PS.: I just discovered that Haunted House is no more on first position! So let’s go there and click the cute “G” icon!!