introduction
When I originally released Game of Thrones on Xbox One, we were only releasing it for the U.S. market. One of the questions we've been asked most often since then has been: "When are you going to bring Game of Thrones to our country?" I know fans outside the U.S. really want to play the game.
I totally understand because I feel the same way. Growing up in the UK we were always faced with game release dates being different from other countries. While I'm not going to address this issue here, I hope that by sharing my experience on many of the leaderboards, I can help other developers speed up the process of sharing content with fans around the world.
Toolkit
First, let's put you in a scenario that you are likely to encounter at some point in your career. You're stranded on an uninhabited island, and the only way to escape is to take your latest game to leaderboards around the world. In fact, I hear some shouting right now: “Twice a year I fall into this deserted island!” Great, you should share how you escape from there!
Here’s my survival kit for leaderboards:
Playable and fully functional structure with activated development cheats
Create installation instructions
Cheats and Tips Document
Profile and login information
Gameplay video – 30 minutes
Game design documents
Help documentation
Box/cover design
Now, not every leaderboard will require all of these things. Some rankings only require hard copies of these files, while others require DVD or Blu-ray versions. Then you'll want to hold onto all of them because it makes things easier.
detail
Although not explicitly required, a structure with all activated development cheats will allow reviewers to access the game more easily. If the reviewer is dealing with a chunky interface, the cheats will help them overcome the problem. If your game has a lot of content that needs to be opened, profiles and logins can come into play. The account should have a lot of unopened content.
When writing installation instructions, it is best to assume that the person reading them does not have basic technical knowledge and that they do not know how to use the game development kit. In my experience this hasn't been a problem, but I didn't want to take the chance. Based on reading in this way, individuals can push your structure to run as they read instructions, even if it's the first time they've seen a host or run executable content.
opportunity
The important thing is to leave enough time for your game to get rated. If you have not paid the extra fee for the expedited grading process provided by the rankings, it will take 6 weeks for you to receive the classification decision. Of course, you need to hazard the assumption that the entire process will go smoothly. Certain rankings, such as Australia's, take four weeks and only accept physical submissions. So it doesn't matter how big your game is, you need to send it via email. In addition to the slow process, you also need to register here. This takes another extra week or two.
If possible, I would recommend that you set aside 3 months to prepare for ranking submission. You may be able to complete this process in 2 months, but the extra month will allow you to correct the discrepancies – especially if this is your first time going through this process.
cost
Costs will vary based on the type of game you create and your distribution method. For example, if your game is only available as a digital download and is smaller than 450MB, it would qualify for PEGI's casual game fee (note: this is part of the regular price).
You may incur some additional costs during the submission process. For example, let’s take a look at rankings in different categories in Japan. If you don't know anyone who can read or write Japanese, you'll need to hire someone to help.
Overview
While this information isn't groundbreaking, it's not until you're actually dropped on an uninhabited island and need to figure out how to escape that it's a daunting task. I hope this article can help you quickly escape from the terrible uninhabited island!