Just go with Valve and get the game on steam worldwide and somehow get it on the european PS Store as well...

Yeah but if he goes with Steam I won't be able to play this game.

Even though DeathSpank is an obvious hoax.

I'm sure I could convert my old wooden lemonade stand into a DeathSpank retail stand. Although my company doesn't like to use words like 'death' and 'spank' in our advertising so we're wondering if we could retitle the game 'BookFlower' for our release?

The Pirate Bay is a great publi dodges a shoe

steam euro pricing is an insult !
ask CDPR Project for eastern europe,
1Company for russia, and anybody else for main europe.

or just put it on GOG.com (although it aint old yet)

i'd actually suggest softclub for a russian release (if that ever happens).

Top men are working on it.

Who?

Top men.

concerning online publishers, well, you are probably unaware of that since you are american, but steam recent change of price policy in europe is totally lame, and could turn away many buyers (before that change you were able to pay in dollars, at the american price, so it was very cheap due to changes rates vs euro, now the change rate on steam is 1$=1?, no interrest at all).
So impulse for exemple looks like a much more suitable platform for online sales.
For publishers of  boxed games i dunno, there are a lot of them in western europe, just do not choose russian ones, they dont sell outside of russia.

Hmm... how about Direct2Drive, or Metaboli? Those are online distributors, I wouldn't know about any physical ones... but then, I buy pretty much all my PC games as digital downloads these days.

Hi Ron!

Maybe you can contact some spanish publishers, like FX Interactive. It sells good quality games at a low price (about 20?). Titles like Runaway, The Longest Journey, Jack Keane, some Colin and Sega Rally...

Think about it!

BTW I'm a super fan of your work and I follow carefully any news on DeathSpank (also played Anhk :) )

FX Interactive is a pretty good option for Spain. They operate in Italia too, I don't know about the rest of europe...

I'm glad these scientists have finally done something useful with their time.

Well, I might be a top scientist (no, really, ask my mom) but I aint no stinkin' publisher. So I thought these guys might be interested in helping progress your lofty scientific/ludologic goals:

http://www.cdprojekt.com/

http://www.crimsoncowgames.com/

The cool kids over at Wolfire have compiled a list of indie-friendly distributors around the world: http://blog.wolfire.com/2009/01/indie-friendly-online-distributors/

And, BTW, apparently Greenhouse is on their "uncool" list... maybe you could send a word their way, isn't this site related to Hothead?

On a somewhat (understand: not) related subject, they also have an Overt Ops community task force thingamabob that you may be interested in.

i have done some stuff for them (translating their fact sheet in french) and i want to add that you a little peep at what they are doing to advertise their upcoming game might be really usefull. They have some very clever ideas.

Hey Ron
I am from germany and what you are saying is true.
Here are a lot of Adventurefans in germany and we can´t wait for Deathspank. We´ve got very good Adventure publishers like Deepsilver (Secret Files: Tunguska and Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis...  very nice adventures. You should try them).
Maybe you should contact them for Deathspank... that would be awesome.

Sorry for my mistake... i didn´t had the best marks in my english lessons at school ;-). I can understand whatever I read, but my grammar is terrible. :-D

I thought you were distributing digitally. So it's retail? Isn't it episodic?

Honestly, I would NOT look for a distributor / publisher. Instead you should sell it yourself online.
I used to develop games and deal with all these publishers and they all rip you off!
All these parasite companies with their staff get to keep around 80% of the money.

Set up a small website, use Paypal for payment and use kunaki.com to make your CDs/DVDs on demand.

Same as Sam:

I though you would go for a sam-and-max-style telltale online episodic distribution. Are you going to release this in a box ?

Diciamocelo, un po' hai rotto il cazzo con questa merda di Deathspank.

Trad. Let me say, you have break a bit our balls with this bloody Deathspank.

Have a look at that company:

http://www.dtp-entertainment.com/

Should I interpet this as if you won't use playgreenhouse?

crosses fingers for Linux-version of Deathspank available on playgreenhouse.com

All I know is...
The Adventure Company RULES.

http://www.adventurecompanygames.com/

Fx interactive, deep silver

Steam or playgreenhouse should do.
And don't forget us South Americans. Make it available down here in Brazil as well!
Or else, evil tropical pirate ghosts shall pull your legs at night. :D

Should be available in Brazil also. In recent times the companies have gotten alot better releasing games in South America - especially in Brazil.

Deep Silver is great! At least from my humble consumer perspective.

http://www.deepsilver.com/

yes, please, save us from having to emigrate to america just for ds :)

hi.
i definitely agree that Steam is a really good way to get the game out to the largest number of folks world-wide.

i hear what they are saying about european pricing.
that's sucks, but a boxed game would be the same as the steam price anyway.

i don't know how EVERYBODY feels about steam, but they don't install a bunch of adware or extra stuff on your PC.

i have used many other download services, and many of them DO have adware programs, and they also leave securom programs on your computer sometimes.

So far, i trust steam. they have done a great job with their service, and the online help forums are run well, in my opinion.

Also, I don't know about your profit margins with Steam vs. boxed publisher, but i think you would get a lot more folks just noticing Deathspank if you put it on Steam, and would sell more copies.
especially in the US.
people honestly will just browse steam and buy stuff for fun.
boxed games are more like, "now i have to get in the car and go to the mall to buy that game," so it's more likely to be something that i Planned on buying.
therefore, very low impulse buying rate with boxed pc games.

So... I think Steam is the way to go, and boxes create more stuff to recycle.
sucks for the european steam store with the prices.
but do any of you believe that a boxed game would be cheaper?

I assume by 'retail' you mean, boxed in stores. I definitely think you should use Steam for online distribution as well, including Europe in the distribution area for that (that's how I'll be getting it, if I decide to pick it up). As for boxed publishers, I don't think you have a massive range of choices in the UK, anyway. My old company (FRD) had a good relationship with Codemasters as well as EA, and I'd try Codemasters first if you were interested in one of the bigger names.

I'm not agree with the steam option because of the crappy $ - ? conversion.

WTF 1$ is not = 1? !

If it wasn't for that, I would agree with you.

go and ask JoWood. They did a good job with Sam&Max and I think, they still sell games in good ol' boxes. YES I HATE THESE SMALL DVD BOXES.

I miss these elevations, that some games had like Settlers 3.

Death
Spank ?

http://speechproject.mixnmojo.com/stuff/shizz/IMG_0258.JPG

You know that DS and Wii are just designed for your game! ;)

What about dubbed for Spain? Please a good dubbing, not a cheap one from Mexico or Spanish pr0n movies (or certain average TV actors, they sound as bad too).

Hey, I made a mistake. Please hide my email or I'll receive even more zillions email about enlarging parts of my body! :(

What about a Linux version too? There are many guys that port games to Linux, you find news about it in phoronix.com

This might be just a little bit off topic, but one of my Google adds on this page is about urinary incontinence (in Dutch since I am from Holland).
What does this mean??? Does the average visitor of this site suffer from an involuntary loss of urine? Are the MM players getting old and are they leaking?

Very good decision!
Your Scientists are super special awsome!

Publishers I know, who could be interested
- bhv software GmbH
- JoWood Productions
- CDV Software Entertainment AG
- dtp Entertainment AG  
- Koch Media GmbH (Deep Silver GmbH)

They all operate in the german speaking part of Europe.(maybe also in other parts of Europe....don't know)

Atari (Infogrames) is really big in Europe, though I would vote for dtp or Bluebyte Gmbh.

Forget JoWood. Sometimes I wondered whether they have quality control at all. (And many more people do so, too.)

PS.: Ron, move to Europe. You are a hero here.

Yes, Atari would probably be the simplest choice.
But I thought, that Ron could be more interessted in smaller companies than a Publisher like Atari.

Bluebyte would be good,.... if they were still a publisher and develloper. After Ubisoft bought them, Ubisoft became the Publisher for all the Bluebyte games and Bluebyte turned into a develloper.

Well, Bluebyte's web page says they are still publishers. Dunno.

dtp just had a successful RPG called Drakensang, so they might be interested in another one. And they have adventures, too.

Maybe Ron should try and email Guido Henkel of G3 Studios. Guido has some contacts. He did lots of legendary RPGs here. And he is a grumpy gamer, too.

Oh! I forgot "Crimson Cow"

www.lucasarts.com ? 0:o)

Just dreaming.

I haven't played the game... but I doubt there are enough Star Wars tie-ins for LucasArts to even think about publishing the game.

I miss their good ole' days.

>This might be just a little bit off topic, but one of my Google adds on this >page is about urinary incontinence (in Dutch since I am from Holland).
>What does this mean???

Well, it may be American slang (certainly pissed means something else in England) but "Grumpy" = "Pissed Off" here, so it's an easy step to incontinence from there.

You could try http://www.playlogicgames.com

I'm looking forward to DeathSpank. Especially now it's scientifically awesome.

Looking forward to it, sir. Also, the 68% make the Europeans pretty awesome IMHO.
For distribution in møøse country, check out http://www.panvision.com!

If Enrico Fermi says that DeathSpank ist awesome, then it must really be pretty awesome.

Btw, did he succeed where others failed? Did he solve the secret of MI?

You might be interested in WiiWare and DSiWare too, Nintendo is going to court the independient developers ;)

http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/02/dice-nintendo-c.html

Hi Ron,

I am from [country], and we have a great publisher here called [publisher]. I don't know why, but I have a feeling they're awesome and it would be so great if you could pick a publisher according to my advice! Please contact them so I can feel like I'm a part of this!

What's your problem?^^

The Master asked: "if anyone had a short list of favorite publishers to contact. "
So we answer.
And I think that a costumer can judge, why one publisher could be better then another.
There are publishers with a better supportservice or publishers where you get more for your money then just one of these boring DVD boxes...for exemple a Poster.

"I think that a costumer can judge, why one publisher could be better then another"

I don't think so. At least, not from the perspective of a developer. The fact that you get a neat poster with your game is absolutely irrelevant to what makes a good publisher from a developer's perspective. It's more about business, honesty, how they are going to market your game, etc.

How about you just put in on STEAM. Problem solved, or put it on gog.com. Or make it a download like on telltalegames.

because in europe steam has recently lost a lot of fans due to that shitty new price policy.
and gog? i am not sure it would be a good idea to put deathspank arround old games.

Oh, I wasn't aware of the price change. I live in Spain and always buy games from Steam, but  for the last half year i've been playing only "old" games, like Planescape Torment, Kotor and old games I had missed in it's time.

When did they put on that new policy? That sucks! That's why I don't have a MAC, even though I want one.

As for GOG, you don't have to take the OLD part too literary, they just mean games that matter. But anyway it might be not good publicity to sell it as an "old" game, anyway.

Then just make it a direct download over PayPal.

Why do you even NEED a publisher?
This is the internet era

I have a MAC. It's something like 01:DC:56... Close to that anyway.

ha. funny. nerd humour.
do you wear glasses?

I would suggest UbiSoft too... they've published games like the raving rabbits.

I wouldn't recommend Atari as I worked a while with them and they are really not easy to deal with, too many restrictions, too many constraints, it's all about getting the maximum of cash as fast as possible... and.. well... they're absolutelly NOT FUN !

http://www.daedalic.de/index.php?modus=company〈=en

But what about Asia? You make Asians sad men, Mr. Gilbert. :(

Hope this game will be available in Australia

Mr. Gilbert, I am sure those theories are accurate, but I can not resist to show what is old news for some ppl, but it's completelly new for me. The best mmoprg ever! "progress Quest". I won't paste a link here to not look like a spammer, but this game will break the game industry for sure..:O

Who needs a publisher anyways, when there is internet?

Everyone knows marketing is no science.

Its witchcraft.

Hi Ron,

You have been ranked 81st in IGN's top 100 game creators of all time.

http://uk.games.ign.com/top-100-game-creators/81.html

What a bunch of shameful bastards...

And I'm not even talking about the inaccuracy in the "Day of the Tentacle date", or the revoltingly small mention about Deathspank.

F.

I would say Blue Byte Software (although owned now by Ubisoft) have a good past record for churning out great games, they might be worth contacting.

A lot of the upcoming software houses especially in Eastern Europe have in the past while been bought out by larger companies, many North American based or Multinationals. For instance People Can Fly is now part of Epic. I'm not sure how contacting a subsidury of a company works or if you go via the parent, but those sort of companies might be worth looking into. Afterall if the big boys took them on then they must have something about them.

Steam please, reasonably priced though mind!

Just send me a copy ! I'll pay you with paypal... come on !
I WANT DEATH SPANK ! NOW !
:-D

I would suggest FX Interactive for the "retail" publishing, mainly because their philosophy which combines a good package and a low price (which guarantee better sales); and steam for the digital delivery, maybe with the possibility to register on steam the retail game (like prey, dark messiah might and magic for example).

PayPal

Surely FX Iteractive. They work fine and hard ;)

There is only one reliable publisher : eBay... That's what LucasArts answered me by mail a few years ago when I asked them how I could purchase one of their old adventure games in Europe.

Go with Christ.

I wish I had some direct contact numbers for you, Ron, but I would have thought Activision (they have a pretty big presence in the UK, Germany, etc), Codemasters, of course EA has a big presence here in the EU-- and I see that Ubi has already been mentioned. 2K and THQ have released a good number of games here in the UK as well. Those are the first to leap to mind, really. Best of luck; looking forward to Deathspank here in the EU!

DO NOT go with valve.... jesus nothing would ruin deathspank for me more than that! Oh god activision1?!? wtf people! Ron I would suggest you jsut set it up as a digital download somewhere.

Suddenly i realize...
this a diversion, to throw off our attention from the real subject..
the thing we have waiting since its announcement...

How about Stardock and their Impulse:
http://www.impulsedriven.com/
It's a non-evil version of Steam.

Release the damn game already.

Please GOD, not Steam! What a piece of shit.

I believe this photograph to be fake. It seems photoshopped. The word "DeathSpank" doesn't fit in with the rest of the chalk drawings.

I suspect there are no top scientists behind this.

The guy in the photo looks more like a middle school math teacher than a top scientist. Maybe he's teaching the pythagorean theorem to kids, and his smile looks like he's enjoying it.

The equation doesn't make sense, so what the hell is he so happy about?!

Sorry, but I have to tell you that the man in the photo actually IS a top scientist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi

The photo was obviously photoshopped to add the "= DeathSpank" to the end of the formula.

You don't say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi
he IS a top scientist. You dared doubt Ron Gilbert; the Secret of Monkey Island will never be revealed to you!

Dear lord, thank you for clearing that up. I can sleep easy now.

Thank you, Johnny, for that interesting comment.

what about JoWood?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoWooD_Productions

Noooooooo...
JoWood is notorious. I won't buy anything from them again. Not even if it was made by Ron.

Yes, Deathspank is too awesome for North America only. Or Earth. People on Grax'lmadron Beta should be able to play too. Give it to us. NOWish.

If you send a copy to me, I can distribute it in my neighborhood and collect some money as well

I can also provide advertising solutions such as changing my signature to "buy deathspank" and mentioning it to the random people in street.

I truly believe these kind of matters are best solved in blog post comments.

------------------
"buy deathspank" <-- this one is for free

For south america please
specielly for Chile :D

I didn't know they had computers, let alone internet in Chile. You never stop learning.

Isn't online distribution the obvious choice? Steam should be fine, as long as you don't let them come up with the European price. A lot of Europeans are boycotting all Steam games that use a $1 = ?1 conversion rate, so you could lose a number of sales by letting them try to rip off Europeans. ;)

playgreenhouse, Impulse or gog.com would work fine too. (I hear Impulse gives the developer far better margins than Steam, but that's just hearsay). And of course, working out a deal with GOG would just be awesome on general principles.

For regular boxed distribution, I'm not really aware of any specifically European publishers. I mean, the big international ones, sure (EA, Ubisoft, THQ and so on, all the usual suspects).

There are a few smaller ones, but the only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Cenega (and the only game I can remember seeing from them are UFO Aftershock/-math/-light. Don't really know anything else about them.

When will we see gameplay footage of DeathSpank? I see the person who wrote about it on Wikipedia said it is an alleged game. We old school gamers have become jaded...

Heh.

Obviously DeathSpank is a hoax. I've figured it out.

That was AFTER I wrote about it on Wikipedia.

I have no strong preferences for publishers, but I've had bad experiences with Atari and Ubisoft games. The latter cause they used really annoying copy protection - although the last game of their I bought was three years ago (precisely for that reason) so they might have backed off from that sort of thing now. Atari because their production values seem quite low, and their customer service appaling: I remember when I bought the first NWN the serial code was indecipherable for a lot of people, because 6s looked like Gs and Ds looked like Os. Not to mention Is and 1s. And 5s and Ss. And it took them days and half a dozen emails to send me a new serial too!

How about the penny arcade site? I dont remeber teh name of the game store, but maybe they could work outside of the US.

Hey, we saw your post! You get 5,000,000$ or Euro, you can choose.

Please just give us your bank and credit card information an money will be translated.

Well, see you later in Europe, greetings,
Eurogames Incorporated

hm,

i thought a while about this and came to the conclusion that I would be the best publisher for the game. Its not like Im into publishing or marketing at all but i guarantee it will spread well all around europe in a matter of days/weeks.
Oh i forgot, just dont expect any money coming from its distribution and forget about a nice box, either.
But as a plus it will come with added ascii-art and lotsa praises stuffed in a file called .nfo! Heh.

well on a serious side i think you should go with steam. i know its pricing strategy sux a bit for europeans but hey, apple does it the same way and everyone around me has ipod-buds in their ears. so im sure it will like piss of 5% (which will scream the loudest of course) and the other 95% are just going to buy it. im thinking an episode price between 10 and 20 euros would be ok.
plus with steam you have the option to lower the price at any time, make special day-to-day offers or new episode-bundles (new: deathspank season 1 now on sale for only 39,90!).

Agreed on Deep Silver - they seem to have a successful distribution partnership with companies like Square Enix, so I can't see a problem with them.