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[Faenrir]

Hi everyone... as i am now in the polishing phase of my own indie game and being well aware the biggest issue for indies is discoverability, here are my questions to you, gaffers:
What do you feel is the best way to anounce a game and grow an audience?

And also: Do you buy indie games and if so, how do you usually discover them?

 

[Guilty_AI]

Word of mouth is usually the way if you haven't built a following. It'll also really depend on the sort of game in question, a point'n'click will hardly attract more attention than a rpg.

 

[V4skunk]

YouTube trailer and posting links to it on all social media.
May be Steam early access.

 

[Craig of War]

Put it on Gamepass

 

[teezzy]

Steam and Game Pass

People use that itchio site, but that shit doesnt really interest me as much

 

[Vawn]

Put it on Gamepass

There are hundreds of new indie games every day. I don't think Microsoft is offering deals to just any of them.

 

[Faenrir]

Yeah itch.io is very niche and probably best suited for more amateurish games.
I already have a Steam store page and video trailer but i have to admit i pretty much suck at social medias (working alone also means i have to do everything).

What about videogames reviews sites? Do you still use those?
I'm obviously not going to be featured on ign or kotaku but i was thinking smaller ones or indie specialized...

I plan to keep marketing it as much as possible for a long time anyway, my goals are to also have the game on both gog.com and epic store within 6 months to a year.

 

[Faenrir]

Would love to know your first impressions :

 

[Bonfires Down]

Check out this guy. He blogs about how to market indie games on Steam:

Blog – How To Market A Game

howtomarketagame.com

 

[AV]

Make a really slick video, 30 seconds max, showing some footage of the coolest parts of your game. Send it around. Get people on the line quick without wasting too much of their time.

 

[Holammer]

Best way is to have a publisher like Devolver handling marketing for you, they have the social reach and status that you'll never have, unless you are Zun or Toby Fox.
Your game might be a poor fit or too niche for them, but do try. Even if they reject you, it'll put you on their radar for future projects.
Otherwise, use forums appropriately, identify YTbers & Steam curators focused on shooters/indies and send them review codes. Same goes with sites like Niche Gamer, if they cover your game with an article and a tweet, that's a big win.

Also, make sure the header capsule (also the small capsule) isn't absolute dogshite, make it clean and readable. To get an idea how important it is, browse TodayOnSteam (I discover a lot of games this way) for awhile and see what entices you to check out a game. Your current capsule is serviceable and better than average, but can you improve it with a multicolored nebulae in the background to make it pop? A bright highlights on the logo? Give this some thought.

 

[MrS]

State of Play or shadow drop

 

[Faenrir]

Best way is to have a publisher like Devolver handling marketing for you, they have the social reach and status that you'll never have, unless you are Zun or Toby Fox.
Your game might be a poor fit or too niche for them, but do try. Even if they reject you, it'll put you on their radar for future projects.
Otherwise, use forums appropriately, identify YTbers & Steam curators focused on shooters/indies and send them review codes. Same goes with sites like Niche Gamer, if they cover your game with an article and a tweet, that's a big win.

Also, make sure the header capsule (also the small capsule) isn't absolute dogshite, make it clean and readable. To get an idea how important it is, browse TodayOnSteam (I discover a lot of games this way) for awhile and see what entices you to check out a game. Your current capsule is serviceable and better than average, but can you improve it with a multicolored nebulae in the background to make it pop? A bright highlights on the logo? Give this some thought.

Thanks for the suggestions !
A publisher is just not going to happen...i don't have 6 months to a year until release and tbh, i'm kinda curious about the self publishing experience. Of course, it's always possible to contact some anyway and i know some even do "republishing" for games that didn't manage to hit their audience.

I had already modified the capsule but it's hard for me to do as i'm not a graphic artist (graphics were outsourced). I'll try to improve it a bit more...
I did see an impact as my clickthrough improved with the new one so it's pretty important yes, first thing a lot of people will see.
I also know the first 4 screenshots are the ones shown when you hover on the capsule so i chose some that give a good feel about the game.

I'm confident the game can be succesful as i had good feedback from the alpha demo i released a few years back.

(I just hate marketing haha)

Thanks again everyone!

 

[CeeJay]

Stealth promote the game on the big gaming forums by making it appear you are asking for advice! /jk

The game looks pretty good, I wish you luck with the it.

When are you planning to release it? Maybe release near one of the big Steam sales and put a big discount on it to get a good few copies out there. If the game is good then it will spread well via word of mouth.

 

[jaysius]

Would love to know your first impressions :

Honest first impressions... the game isn't for sale yet, there's no demo, so you're asking me to go off some screenshots and promovideo. I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but it looks good for a first attempt, at least it doesn't look like you used direct assets from the tools you used.

 

[post-S]

Present it on sony/Microsoft/apple’s show

 

[Ulysses 31]

Multimillion $$ marketing campaign.

 

[Amiga]

Hi everyone... as i am now in the polishing phase of my own indie game and being well aware the biggest issue for indies is discoverability, here are my questions to you, gaffers:
What do you feel is the best way to anounce a game and grow an audience?

And also: Do you buy indie games and if so, how do you usually discover them?

- look for fans who specifically love this kind of game. you need to start with them first.
- create social media accounts for the game and post cool clips.
- look for a Youtube/Twitch gaming channel to showcase your game. if it's the games 1st showing it will be an incentive as an exclusive 1st look. start with ones with the higher subscribers.
- your going to need to do a lot of virtual door to door promoting over a long time. don't get discouraged, this is the normal "no budget" marketing process.

 

[Fuz]

For me, word of mouth works best. I value peer impressions much more than journalist's reviews and youtube videos. Most of the time... it's GAF. Although, for reaching the big chunk of public, word of mouth is quite hard.

A thread here to announce and discuss it would be a nice start, though.

 

[turtlepowa]

- Ask smaller Youtubers and so on to show it
- Offer it Microsoft for free for 1 month on Game Pass
- Show some gameplay on forums like GAF
- Send a copy to every reviewer you can find on metacritic and hope for the best

 

[Fuz]

Would love to know your first impressions :

Looks really nice.

 

[Faenrir]

Stealth promote the game on the big gaming forums by making it appear you are asking for advice! /jk

The game looks pretty good, I wish you luck with the it.

When are you planning to release it? Maybe release near one of the big Steam sales and put a big discount on it to get a good few copies out there. If the game is good then it will spread well via word of mouth.

That's the plan haha.
Thanks for the kind words!

Well i plan to release early september.
To participate in sales you must not have had a discount in the last 30 days and i'll put a 10% launch discount i think so it should be ready for the winter sale...

Honest first impressions... the game isn't for sale yet, there's no demo, so you're asking me to go off some screenshots and promovideo. I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but it looks good for a first attempt, at least it doesn't look like you used direct assets from the tools you used.

Thanks for your impressions
Indeed the art style is a strong point i think, the artist i worked with is really talented ^^

 

[Fuz]

Indeed the art style is a strong point i think, the artist i worked with is really talented ^^

Looks like a good Amiga game, and I can't think of a better compliment.


P.S.
GOG please!

 

[Faenrir]

Yes i'm going to try getting it on gog asap. I wanted to wait until the game was polished and almost done before submitting it to them because i know they don't accept that many games.

You can vote for it in the wishlist, it might help me show there's interest in it ^^
And indeed the Amiga part is great to hear, some of the inspirations for the game are the bitmap brohers games, xenon 2, speedball 2, etc.
It's my main target, people that like those kind of graphics and the hack'n'slash/rpg style of customization and itemization

That's why i'm not really targetting shmups fans as my game doesn't follow current trends (loli waifus and bullet hell ) but hope they'll like it anyway.

 

[Rattlehead121]

Make a killer 30 second trailer. People seem to resonate to a trailer like Hunt Showdown. I forget what it's called.

It's going to hard, but I only care if a physical version is mentioned. Look into it, and TELL US if you want that to happen.

Also, obviously, get the game on Switch asap.

 

[CitizenX]

I play A ton of indies games, i just wait for the drop on Steam. If they look interesting I put them on the wishlist as prices have seen an increase from what was standard, $15, to now $20-30. No one influences my buying purchase other than friends and Steam reviews.

 

[hemo memo]

Streamers

 

[Faenrir]

I play A ton of indies games, i just wait for the drop on Steam. If they look interesting I put them on the wishlist as prices have seen an increase from what was standard, $15, to now $20-30. No one influences my buying purchase other than friends and Steam reviews.

20-30 ? I was thinking of putting mine at 10 lol...maybe i'm going too low ? Because if people only buy when at -75% i'm not gonna make much xD

 

[jaysius]

OH, post it on r/gaming over on reddit, claim that your friend made it, you'll get TONS of posts about people that "will definitely buy it" I'm not sure what they're follow through rate is, but it's a trend that you can abuse.

 

[Fuz]

Streamers

Man, fuck what we have become.

 

[hemo memo]

Man, fuck what we have become.

I know I know but that’s the reality.

 

[Esca]

I don't have any advice that hasn't been mentioned but I wanted to say I checked out the steam page and I really liked what I saw.

 

[Faenrir]

OH, post it on r/gaming over on reddit, claim that your friend made it, you'll get TONS of posts about people that "will definitely buy it" I'm not sure what they're follow through rate is, but it's a trend that you can abuse.

Yeah i've been meaning to post on reddit...
The friend thing might be a good idea because as i'm not a regular user, i kinda feel like i'd get torched for self promoting.
Dunno...i'll post it in r/shmups anyway but r/gaming should get much more views sure.

Thanks Esca, glad you liked it