Promoting your indie game: the most important nuances that no one knows about

Original author: Robert DellaFave
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Greetings!
This material contains the best tips for beginner game developers. Some of these tips helped me a lot in my work, especially those related to compiling emails for game ogres. The material will be interesting both to those who already have experience and want to analyze it, as well as to beginner indie developers in order to avoid the most common cliches and mistakes.


Once upon a time, indie game developers found marketing unnecessary and began to almost completely ignore it. But now, most developers recognize its necessity and are making some efforts in this direction, but their knowledge is not enough to really stand out somehow. In this article, we will look at the art of marketing and explain how you can use it to increase the recognition of your game.



What is the problem?


Developers of indie games will forever remember 2008, because around this time some innovative developers began to release genre masterpieces. Games like Braid and World of Goo helped us remember the original meaning of game development: creativity, passion and, most important, going beyond. Add to this the launch of the App Store in July 2008 - and now, millions of coders and game development studios have embarked on this trail, absorbed in the prospect of wealth and glory.

Most of these novice developers needed time to hone their skills, as the games they released attracted little interest precisely because they weren't good enough. It is clear that such developers have not earned a lot of money.

However, then there were already worthy developers who created good, and sometimes great games. In fact, their games were so good that the developers hoped that the gaming community would welcome them with open arms and buy their products like hot cakes.

It is worth saying that many such developers have remained with nothing.


If they can, why can't you?

So what is the problem? The catch is that almost everyone has started developing games, which has made this sphere both blessed and damned. Since a lot of games are released every day, gaining fame and recognition has become very difficult, regardless of the quality of the game. In short, having put a lot of effort into game development, most developers were not able to conduct their proper marketing - the same thing we often see today.

When to start marketing your game


Before going into details, it is important to dispel the myth that marketing should only begin after the release of the game. As you probably already know, most sales of the game take place in the first few weeks and even days after release. If you and your game are not known until release, your sales will suffer during this period.

Thus, instead of waiting for some incomprehensible right moment, we advise you to follow one general rule:

Start your marketing campaign when you already have something that displays the basic base and design of your game.

You should inform about everything that deserves attention: whether it be some completed stage of work, a screenshot from Photoshop or a small demo where the "chips" of your product are displayed - it is important to stir up excitement. From now on, you need to consistently demonstrate the progress of your game.

Tip: Although we recommend starting marketing as early as possible, the last thing to do is to start publishing screenshots of your unfinished game wherever you can, especially if you are in the software design phase. Google doesn’t really like to delete such images, so believe me, after such publications you will be attracted increased attention throughout the development cycle of your game.

What each development team should do

So, you decided to start your marketing campaign before the release date of the game. Good. And now what? Let's start with the main one. You need:
  • Website: Regardless of which site you have: one for all your games or for each game has its own website, it needs to be made convenient and constantly updated. On the main page, we recommend placing an extended description of the game, interesting screenshots (by the way, it is not always interesting to look at UI images) and relevant links. It will not be superfluous to create a separate page for the media, where images and videos will be stored.
  • Working with social media: Sorry, of course, but without it, nowhere. At a minimum, you should create a page on Facebook and Twitter - this is quite enough if you have a small game. But in general, we recommend creating pages in all major social networks. We will tell a little more about this below.
  • Developer Blog: Often, blogging is much less useful than a website or pages on social networks, but for some reason gamers and developers are very fond of reading about achievements and victories on the way to create a game. You need to keep a blog alive, as if addressing your readers - and you will get feedback. Create posts as needed, but avoid posts where you describe bug fixes or other little things. The purpose of such blogs is to demonstrate that the game is evolving.
  • Trailers: Of course, you won’t be able to make trailers at the initial stage, but this is probably one of the most necessary steps that you must take in order to attract people's attention to your game. Do not overload the trailers with names and do not think that to create a successful trailer you must be an expert filmmaker. Focus on demonstrating every aspect of the gameplay in your trailer at least once, displaying the name of your company (you have it, right?) And reduce the number of animated screensavers.

There are not many trailers. Dozens of teasers, short and full-length trailers are released for games and video categories AAA, and there it is justified. If you decide to release several videos, you can easily ignore the previous rule and represent one aspect of the gameplay in each video. For example, in one trailer you can demonstrate battles, in another - the game world and history, and the third trailer is dedicated exclusively to the main character. Be sure to distribute them - this is the best way to create hype.

Be public!


You can create websites, developer blogs, and distribute trailers all over the world, but if no one knows who you are, this is no good. Perhaps the hardest part about marketing a game is telling the audience about its existence. Once they find out about you, everything else will be quite simple. Naturally, such a “trifle” as really ... will help a lot in this. A good and interesting game.

Let's see how you can get people to talk about your game without coercion.


So, I have an account, but why is nobody subscribing to me?

Social Media

We have already said that social media is an integral part of a marketing campaign. But how do you become an Internet superstar from nooname?

Twitter posting tips

Of all the social media sites, Twitter provides developers with easy and direct access to their potential fans, members of the press, and other developers. Use Twitter, learn and hone its technology. And as a bonus, a few tips:

  • Do not use Twitter to search for random journalists - no one likes to waste their time in vain. Consider this site as an opportunity to find out which genres of games are most attractive to the press. Don't be afraid to respond to their tweets, but do it only when you have something to say, essentially. If you are lucky, journalists and representatives of the press will follow you, and then, when you post on Twitter about your game, you have a good chance that they will see your tweets.
  • If members of the press liked your tweet and someone retweeted you, then you are doing everything right. Of course, this does not mean that you should immediately publish your half-finished game, but it is an indicator that after your game is ready, someone will treat it with genuine interest.
  • Publish updates on your game during peak hours, ideally from 11.00 to 23.00. An even better option is to publish news twice a day: morning and evening. (If you publish the news in the middle of the night, then by the time your subscribers wake up and get in to check their news feeds, your message will be almost killed by other messages).
  • Among game developers, there is a tendency to subscribe to everyone who makes indie games. Such "serial subscribers" most often pursue the goal of mutual followings, and are not interested in your best practices. But if you do not subscribe to them in return, believe me, they will unsubscribe from you so quickly that you will not have time to blink an eye.
  • Do not become a serial subscriber. Subscribe only to those you are interested in reading. For example, the indie game developers that you like are great subscription options, as are the indie game sites. In the beginning, it is quite acceptable that the number of those you follow is greater than the number of your subscribers, but still it is much better to be subscribed to 500 people and have 1000 subscribers than to subscribe to 2500 people and have 3000 followers. If you belong to the second category, chances are good that you will become a “serial subscriber”, understand?
  • The hashtags #gamedev and #ScreenshotSaturday should be your best friends.

Some more tips on social media:

  • The indieGaming sub-forum on reddit.com is a great place to put together your YouTube trailers, previews, reviews, and demos. Go to Steam Greenlight at r / greenlightquality. But no matter what you do, do not start your publication with “cheap” words that say nothing to readers. For example, I can’t say anything about a game posted in an publication entitled “Innovative 2D RPG with the latest game mechanics and an epic storyline.”
  • Your site must be linked to your social media accounts. Your Twitter should have links to your Facebook page and to your website. On your Facebook page ... Well, you get the point.
  • It is better not to have any website and page in social networks at all than to have a site with outdated information and a page in social media that has not been updated for weeks. Keep them up to date.
  • If you want to report your mistakes online, do it with humor. The same principle works with ads.

This post on Twitter is great for illustrating the last point:

After two years of work, sleepless nights and ignoring our wives, we finally release the demo version of #EchoesofEternea. #gamedev

Or look at the post-reflection:

The difference between creating a two-hour platform game and a 20-hour RPG: 62 gray hair, 7 doctor calls and 2,000 hours. #gamedev

Exhibitions and gaming events


Despite the entrenched myth that game developers are vampires who live in dark basements, going out and attending various events is one of the most sensible ways to promote your game. I promise you will not turn into ashes.

But in order to get a booth at such large events as, for example, PAX, you need to allocate a little money from your budget for travel and accommodation. If you have money, everything is in order. But if you have a limited budget, consider working with Indie Mega Booth. With the help of these guys, worthy game developers can get the opportunity to participate in PAX for just $ 500 - a great deal.

Better yet, send your game to IndieCade for just $ 80. This is not a guarantee of participation in the festival, but if you are approved, the effect of this will overwhelm all your initial costs.

Even if you cannot afford to have a stand at the exhibition or you were refused at the festival - do not despair. Begin to take advantage of social opportunities: distribute flyers, CDs with a demo version of your game, flyers with the words “Buy my game” - all to attract gamers to their product.

You understand, as a game developer, it is very important to be in contact with other developers, but more importantly, to contact people who will play your game. Various game meetings will help you achieve this, as meeting your target audience will help you draw attention to yourself and your game. In addition, at such events, gamers will be able to play your game, and you will be able to get adequate feedback.

Crowdsourcing


Usually crowdsourcing is seen as an opportunity to get a budget for creating your game, but it can be effectively used for marketing purposes. Our Hiro Fodder: A Blue Hope project, which we are currently working on, has won in several ways with this tool.

Firstly, we had to create a video and make a detailed description of our product. Secondly, they visited our page thousands of times during the month. And although only 300 people supported our project, a lot of people found out about our little RPG. And finally, even though we did not expect this, we talked a lot with other developers, registering even as programmers for one project that had 1,500 supporters. We worked with the developers of Echoes of Eternea and helped them to make their game a reality.

If we knew from the very beginning how long it takes to develop a 20-30 hour RPG! But don’t worry, we are already finishing!


Kickstarter: a great option to make friends and raise money.

The best part is that a huge number of journalists work on such sites and monitor new projects. Several journalists wrote articles about Hiro Fodder without even asking us. Now we have established quite good relations with these authors and, of course, we will turn to them when we get closer to the release date of our game.

Press Contact


You can write a separate article on working with the press. This is such an important part of the marketing campaign that neglecting it means only one thing: you will put your game at a disadvantage in advance. But just notifying the press about your game is not enough - you need to do it effectively.

We have prepared some tips for you:
  • Be Realistic: Before contacting gaming community leaders, determine what you want to achieve. You probably won’t ask IGN to write about your Match-3 game, however you can always turn to smaller magazines that write mainly about indie games. If your game has already been reported by quite a lot of not very large publications - do not stop there. What is wrong if you talk about your future game in Kotaku or Joystiq?
  • Choose the right websites: This is obvious, but still repeat it again: if you focus on mobile devices, do not go to the magazines that write about PCs. You will probably be surprised to learn how often developers make such mistakes: for example, they write to PC Gamer about their revolutionary new game for Android.
  • Be yourself: you are not writing a cover letter, therefore, when dealing with representatives of the press, behave a little differently. Such a beginning of a letter as “[Company X] is proud to present you an innovative game, which has no analogues ...”, believe me, it repels. Start with something simple, such as "Hello." Tell who you are, what kind of game you made, provide some links to media information about the game or its demo version. If you want to add something briefly, feel free to add. Remember: journalists daily receive dozens of such letters from developers. Therefore, do not be impudent, speak on business and never, hear, never talk about how you like their site or publication. They don’t like podliz.



People do send emails like that, but you won’t.

When communicating with the press by email:
  • Remember to send working copies of your game to the press.
  • Do not impose your opinion on them. It may seem to you that your game is fun and entertaining, but let them form their own opinion.
  • Do not forget to indicate what is unique about your game, its distinctive features. Usually they talk about the mechanics of the game. For example, our uniqueness is that the game has the ability to transfer accumulated Bonus Points to the following levels, with which you can conduct aggressive attacks when a threat occurs to your hero. Is it revolutionary? Not. But unique, yes.
  • Do not wait. Reviews are unlikely to help if they come out 3 weeks after the game’s release. It’s best if the press mentions your game a few weeks or even months before the release date.


Stage of late marketing


By the time the alpha version of your game appears, you should consider several options for further advancement:

  • Alpha Funding: Mid-size online distributors such as Desura offer a service that allows those who like your game to play an unfinished game and monitor its development. Plus, they can contribute money to its development. It's something like Kickstarter, except for one detail: you must provide your fans with a great game. This is a really interesting tool that will make your fans look forward to your release date.
  • Steam Greenlight: When we were just starting to write this article, getting into Greenlight was pretty difficult. Now there are so many games being accepted there that there is only one problem for developers: to stand out from the mass of the games offered. But this does not mean that you should not place your game in Greenlight. Quite the contrary: tens of thousands of gamers visit this site, and you are guaranteed to get several fans of your game who will definitely purchase it on your personal site or on another portal, and not on Steam. Of course, the prestige of this service has decreased, but still we do not recommend abandoning the Greenlight capabilities.
  • Press Releases: Press releases will not be very effective if you have few subscribers. But if you have launched a powerful marketing campaign, you should pay attention to press releases. The main target distributors, such as PRWeb and smaller portals and publications, are nevertheless oriented towards indie games, so you should write a press release at least a week before the release date of your game.
  • Other options: If you are an active streamer in Twich or registered on the forums - now is exactly the time to inform people about the imminent release of your game. Just do not register on such sites for the sole purpose of advertising your game - this is immediately perceived negatively.



Really great for indie games.

conclusions


So we have come to a conclusion. So, marketing a game is just as important as debugging and testing it. Without marketing, you are completely dependent on those players who learn about you on their own, because you do not tell them anything. Of course, if you win in some well-known competition, or some major distributor chooses you - there are no questions, it is likely that you can do without marketing. However, everyone else can not do without it.

It is not necessary to fulfill all the points that we have listed in this article. But at least we recommend you:

  • Create a website
  • Create an account and post regularly on Twitter
  • Publish your game trailer on YouTube
  • Contact several game journalists who have shown a preliminary interest in your game (Remember, you need to make your letters short, informative and personal, rather than just sending them out).
  • Place the game on Steam Greenlight (this will certainly not be amiss).

If you do even this, the chances of successful promotion of your brand will definitely increase. Have a good marketing!

The only comment is that Twitter is more suitable for communicating with foreign colleagues and journalists. In the CIS, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki and Facebook social networks are still stronger.

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