Hey guys,

I've now spent a good amount of time to finish my first Game. The software is as good as ready for a Release, however I'm not! I've come up with so many questions regarding the release of my first Game and i don't know who to ask them. My Questions/Problems are:

1.Copyright

Do i have to claim Copyright on my game, and if so, how do i do that?

2.Company

Do i have to create a Company to release the game (regarding the copyright and the taxation of the Patreon income [I'm living in Germany])

3.Release Platform

I'm yet not sure how i want to release my Game. As my budget is as of now limited to 0$ a free release-platform is the only way to go. I thought about Itch.io or launching an download-website just for this Game.

I hope that you guys have some advices for me regarding these Questions. Please keep in mind that I am a 100% Rookie on this field and excuse me for all the times i sound like a complete idiot.

I'm thankfull for any Answers!

Cheers, Wooks

1. The creator of the work automatically owns the copyright to the work (except any parts you didn't create, obviously). In some countries you don't get much legal protection if you don't register the work, so you might consider doing that. I don't think Germany is such a country, but I can't be sure.

2. Again, this is specific to your national laws. Usually it's not forbidden for private citizens to sell things. It typically just means that you need to declare your extra earnings so that your income tax gets adjusted, and you take personal responsibility if things go wrong. Setting up a small business in Germany is a bit bureaucratic, and I don't think you meet the requirements for setting up a GmbH or an AG anyway. You're best off speaking to fellow Germans about this - maybe find fellow indie devs and ask them what they did.

3. Itch.io is a good platform for release, but relatively niche, so the sales are unlikely to come flooding in from there. If you release on Steam you can reach more people, but it costs $100 and you have to comply with their requirements. https://partner.steamgames.com/steamdirect . Even on Steam, it does not do any marketing for you, so you need to be realistic about how many people you expect to reach.

Thanl you very much Kylotan! Your answer really helped me with my questions, thank you so much!

1 hour ago, Kylotan said:

You're best off speaking to fellow Germans about this - maybe find fellow indie devs and ask them what they did.

I'm really strugelling to find german indie devs to contact. Does anybody have an idea how i may find some ?

Lorenzo Pilia (http://lorenzo.pilia.it/) lives in Berlin and organises a lot of game jams and the like, so maybe you could contact him?