Alright, so TGN Phase 2 has gone out, we have our tokens, a list of games and more are being added as time goes on. TGN is taking shape as a viable online distribution channel for independent game developers looking to get greater exposure and maybe make a penny or two off their work. In short, it all works as intended. And it is GOOD.

Well, the game purchase and distribution portion is GOOD. The web portal however has a lot of unrealized potential; in fact the whole TGN endeavor has so much potential to become something bigger and better it can be quite staggering. What follows is my take on what TGN is now, what immediate improvements I think could be made, and what some of the possible areas of expansion I can come up with off the top of my head.

First, let it be known that I am NOT ragging on TGN here, I think TGN rocks and represents a new way of doing business in the PC gaming world. I think TGN could help to revitalize a sluggish industry where publishers are only willing to consider tried-and-true ideas, where only the multimillion dollar games get much exposure. I was told that they're always looking for suggestions on how to make the whole thing better, and after a conversation the other night on possible changes to TGN, it was suggested I write all my thoughts up into one coherent article... So here it is.

What is TGN?

TGN is one of the first online game distribution services in the world. It may not get as much play as Steam from Valve, but it was there first. Through the Stardock Central management application, you can download, play and keep up to date any of a number of games offered through the service. The titles range from quirky independent games like Flatspace or GEOM, to retail-shelf titles such as O.R.B, Disciples II and Galactic Civilizations. The thing which distinguishes TGN from things like Steam, or Direct2Drive (IGN) is that this is a publishing channel open to anyone with a game they want to sell. With D2D, you need to be a big name to negotiate a deal through IGN, and with Steam you need to be some sort of Half-Life mod or spin-off. TGN offers all the services an independent developer could want from a publisher; a managed storefront, a distribution channel, automated patch management and one of the most reasonable royalty fee structures an independent dev is likely to find. Plus there’s an established, but growing, customer base that will be exposed to your game.

TGN is also a web portal, a gathering point for game-related Stardock news and discussion. Here you find industry news, announcements of new products on TGN, general chit-chat about any gaming topic that comes to mind, discussions on Stardock’s own internally developed games and interesting user-written op-ed pieces related to gaming. It is here where TGN’s room for improvement and greatest potential lies. My focus here is on the website and what it can become. The distrubtion tool is fine as it is (though I do wish they'd fix the scroll wheel bug when trying to scroll through the title list).

What to Improve?

The first thing I would address is the layout of the portal site itself. Content is arranged in a confusing way that makes it difficult to find the information you might be looking for. Here are just a few thoughts on how I think the portal might be better organized:

1. TGN News Front and Center!
   Currently, news about releases on TGN is relegated to a small list on the right-hand side of the site. What this means is there is very little attention drawn to the fact that a new game is now available or when some other relevant news item is posted. This would probably better go where the current featured product space is. That could be moved down to the footer of the page, or be a sidebar item instead. It’s nice to feature products, but TGN news is more important
2. Greater Game News Focus
   Right below the TGN news box should be industry news items. If this site is going to be a larger portal, a bigger pull, news needs to be more prominent, otherwise it looks like a static page to the casual (or impatient) observer.
3. De-emphasize Articles Slightly
   Featured articles are given the greatest amount of attention on the site, which doesn't exactly make sense. This is supposedly a site about TGN and the products available through it. Right now it looks like it wants to be a Gaming Op-Ed site. I'd reduce the article coverage in the center down to just the featured article, and move the previous article list to a side bar.
4. User Submitted News?
   ITzKooPA is doing a great job of keeping on top of gaming news, but sometimes there's something he misses, or doesn't find important enough to post. It might be nice to give the rest of us the ability to contribute, maybe a queue of news items that would then be individually approved by KooPA or Yarlen.

Let's Talk About Potential

The TGN site is like a really bright kid who you just know is going to grow up and do some really great things... maybe they'll be a doctor, or a lawyer, the President, whatever. TGN has the potential to be a gathering point for independent game developers, a new home to the entire two-kids-in-a-garage game dev culture that seems to have gone into hiding in the face of multimillion dollar game budgets and hundred man development teams. One of the biggest problems with the indie game scene, is that it's just so darn hard to find these guys. Since they're usually coders and gamers first, the idea of marketing doesn't always enter their heads. A lot seem to think if they just toss up a web page about their game, get a paypal account and the money will somehow flow in. TGN can become that gathering point, the place you go when you want to learn about those games that are a labor of love, the ones that were put together in someone's basement, fueled by Mt. Dew and cold pizza. The way TGN could do this is by leveraging the resources it already has at its disposal...

1. Special Developer/Behind The Scenes Content
   Stardock has it's own internal game dev team to talk to. They already do developer journals every now and then, but those don't get past the galciv2 site. You also are growing your multimedia presence with PowerUser.TV. Podcasts and video segments talking with developers, art people. You've seen those really neat "how the game was made" segments included on the CDs and DVDs of some games right? Not only can you get this multimedia reach and developer content from the internal teams, I imagine the indie devs who publish through TGN would be thrilled to have their voices heard, to get out there and talk about their game some more, get a bit more exposure. Here are a few thoughts on what sort of special dev content there could be...
   • Developer Interviews
     Video, Audio, Text.... Any and all formats
   • Making Of Features
     Probably video, could be text with small video or audio clips.
   • Developer Roundtables
     Sometimes larger sites such as IGN get a group of big-name developers together and ask them all one or two questions and let a discussion go from there. These are almost always more interesting than a standard interview as you get more of the thought process behind what these guys (and gals) do.
   • Dev Chats
     Use the IRC server to bring devs of indie games out of the mist of obscurity and mystery and have them talk with players or those just curious. A TotalGaming IRC Channel might also be a good idea.
2. Developer Community
   Look at GarageGames for an example of a pretty good software developer community. They attract people easier because they sell the graphics engine and tools to build games, but I think TGN could grow its own dev community. A place to post ideas, look for help, offer your own skills etc... It could also be a great place to pull front-page content from (i.e. "Hey! Look at this cool stuff our community is working on!"). You have WinCustomize.com, which does a lot of this already for skinning.
3. Silly Little Ideas...
   You have your own dev team, you have access to the dev teams who publish through you, you have a game journalist in Yarlen, a solid writer and personality in Cordelia. You also have visual layout people, graphics artists, and a community of interesting people to pull on. An Indie Game webzine wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility.

There's a LOT that can be done with TGN. You guys have most of the technology pieces and access to the talent needed to pull most of this off. The only real limitation (and I know it's a huge one) is time. I know everyone is busy as all hell with time better spent putting out prodcuts than sitting around brainstorming ideas to be The Next Great Thing in the indie game world, but maybe... just maybe... TGN could start to grow, build slowly on what you all have.

What I've written above are merely my suggestions and pipe dreams on what I feel TGN could someday be. To the rest of you who read this, I'd love for you to toss in your two cents on what you would like to see improved in TGN, where you think it could grow. The more suggestions and ideas Stardock gets from the community, the better idea they have of what we want, and it can only make the whole thing that much better for us