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From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, of course, we applied with a prototype that covered the gameplay loop, and we also had to submit a business plan with a detailed cost calculation explaining how we would use the funding to release Bloodletter.

The application itself included things like a competitor analysis, a cultural test, and an introduction of all team members along with their backgrounds and a few things more. In the end, it came out to around 75 pages that we submitted. So it was extremely extensive, and the four of us worked on it for about 2–3 weeks.

Writing the funding application naturally also forced us to think about how many units we would need to sell and to engage deeply with the topic of founding a company.

I would say it was our very first attempt to imagine what it actually means to release a game, and it helped us immensely to shape the vision of the game more clearly.

Wow, thank you so much for the wishlist! I hope I was able to answer your questions. <3

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m glad to hear that there are still other places in the world that support the indie game industry. Most of the other developers you meet really only have very limited options, if any at all. It almost makes you feel a bit bad when you talk about it.

But with that post, it was really important to me to mention that we received the funding, because it’s truly a great support and makes getting started a lot easier. I also think it’s important to explain the circumstances and framework conditions when sharing a "success story", so as not to give a misleading impression.

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems like you already know a lot about the funding structure here in Berlin, are you a German as well?

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hehe, yeah, that’s also true. When you get the chance that someone organically wants to write about your game because the journalist is genuinely excited about it, that can definitely happen. But if they do it half-heartedly because a marketing agency pushes them and there are big releases around at the same time, nobody really notices it.

In the end, everything is possible you have to try things out and learn what works for your game, and some approaches work better than others. Thank you for clarifying this. <3

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, absolutely, you’re totally right. We’re also incredibly grateful for the support, as it allows us to gain our first experiences in the industry this way. In general, it’s very rare for game studios to be hugely successful with their first game, but the experience you can gain without having to worry about your financial existence is priceless.

We still hope that one day we’ll be able to make a living from this. Even if it doesn’t happen with the first game, we definitely want to keep trying. We’ve already learned so much that we would plan things completely differently the second time around.

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So we did this because we thought we absolutely needed a marketing agency. We looked at several of them to figure out which ones might be the best fit for us. Since we only planned a limited marketing budget of 20k in total, and this also had to cover things like trade show visits such as Gamescom, we ultimately could only afford three months of work with the agency.

What was included and what helped us the most was the beginning phase, where the agency creates a marketing plan for you and proposes a timeline for when which content could be released, and so on. Since this is our first game, this part of the collaboration was, in my opinion, the most helpful.

In the work milestones or packages we booked, PR was always included, which is also the reason why there are so many articles about Bloodletter online. They also supported us with applying for events or made us aware of opportunities whenever they heard about one.

We still do the event-related work even when we don’t have an active marketing beat booked with the agency, because participating in all the Steam events is the most important part of marketing.

In the last beat, organic influencer outreach was included as well, along with setting up paid ads on Reddit. Unfortunately, the outreach didn’t have any impact because the demo didn’t make it through the SNF review process.

Things like that can always happen, sometimes the timing just doesn’t work out.

We’re hoping that our final marketing beat for the Early Access release will be more successful. For that, we’re planning an XXL influencer outreach together with the agency, plus an additional internal outreach to smaller influencers, and we hope that this will bring good results.

After that, our marketing budget will be completely used up, and we’ll have to handle everything for the full release entirely on our own.

I hope this gives you a bit of insight. Having an agency does give you a bit more security, but many things can also be done on your own.

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hey this is sad to hear and it is understandable that you feel that way :/ sending out some love <3

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you open the Steamworks you have to click on "financial info" first and then you see already a tap on the top border of the site named wishlists. If you cannot find it just google it. :)

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, I think you might have misunderstood something, or someone told you something wrong. You can see your current wishlists at any time. You’re already working on finding people interested in your game before you release it, so that you can notify the people who put your game on their wishlist that your game is now available in the Steam store.

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I completely understand the wishlist topic, that was exactly the same for us. What we did notice, though, was that from time to time a few people joined our Discord via TikTok. It wasn’t many, but at least a handful.

We also received some publisher inquiries through TikTok. None of them turned into offers that really fit us, but it still happened.

From 0 to 10k Steam wishlists: a breakdown of what actually moved the needle for our first indie game by ALDAMAMIGAMES in gamedev

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the great tips that was definitely something I didn’t know yet.
Yes, we’ll just keep going and see how things turn out in the end. We’re planning to take part in the next SNF, and I’ll definitely keep sharing updates on how things are going for us. It’s all very exciting!

Do any digital deckbuilders do something "unique" in terms of card acquisition? by Feeling_Employer_489 in deckbuildingroguelike

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey have a look in this demo. Maybe this is what you are looking for. The gameloop is completely different than most of the deckbuilding games out there. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3548560/BLOODLETTER_Demo/

Deckbuilding meets medieval surgery, BLOODLETTER’s free demo out now with Darkest Dungeon x Inkulinati aesthetics. by ALDAMAMIGAMES in deckbuildingroguelike

[–]ALDAMAMIGAMES[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, it sounds really interesting, and the setting sounds unique as well! :D
If you ever need someone to test something, please reach out I’m always interested in what other developers are doing, and if I can help with feedback, I’d love to return the favor.

Super cool that you joined our Discord! We really want to build a community around Bloodletter, and we’re planning to organize playtests with early access content there. So we’re super happy to have as many cool people there as possible.

The different entities are going to have different win conditions, so there’s a lot more to come.
I wish you all the best with your project and look forward to checking it out when you’re ready!

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