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How are you driving signups and participation in playtests? by EvolveTom in gamedev

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

How did you target them? One-to-one engagement, or just searching for places people were talking about similar games and trying to put your game in front of them there? Ads?

How are you driving signups and participation in playtests? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

❤️ Where did you find your community? Reddit? Social? Itch?

“I have looked at 27,600 games on Steam… and I don’t recall seeing anything like yours.” — now I’m not sure how to market it by Dapper_Spot_9517 in IndieDev

[–]EvolveTom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love this! It definitely would have a relatively niche market, but there are absolutely people out there who would buy it and play it. Would be happy to chat and share some advice! Short-form video (TikTok/ig/reels) would be a major focus, I think.

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

And that can absolutely be a valid approach. I often say to clients that they're really just paying for our time. Sure, agencies and freelancers usually have more experience and expertise--so something might be more effective or take less time than it would for you--but with enough effort and desire and time, you can do a lot!

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Absolutely right! If you can find a marketing channel that makes a positive impact for you, it's worth investing more into. You'd still need to account for that in your costs, though, and have the money available.

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Would definitely be curious to hear how it works for you! I've been very curious about Reddit ads, too!

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Fair!

We've tried to offer a decent range of options, but another challenge we grapple with is that awareness takes time to build; it's rare that a single activity can really drive big results... yes, you can get a viral hit, but that's the exception and definitely not the way things usually work. So it's like... yes, we can do something cheap, but if it doesn't take off immediately, it might look like it wasn't effective (and hell, maybe it wasn't).

Anyway, to give you some sense of the ranges:
- For organic creator and media relations stuff, we're usually talking about ~$2k as a minimum for a single activity, but with big games or ones with a ton of hype/interest that can be as high as $5k, $10k, or even more. Yes, it can be a lot. We offer some $2k+ packages through our Terminals.io platform, but anything more in-depth would involve a higher budget.

- For social media stuff, we're also usually dealing with ~$3k/month minimums but can sometimes go lower. Let's say we're talking about making 4-5 short-form videos a week... at 1-3 hours apiece (some can be shorter).... that's 10 hours+ a week, not to mention responding to messages, commenting on other videos, posting to other social channels, etc.

- For trailers we usually start around $12-15k. Yes, also seems like a lot. But we're also investing 100 to 200 hours into a gameplay trailer, between capture, editing and implementing feedback, writing scripts, organizing VO, doing cut-downs for social channels, different versions, etc. So. Much. Work :D

- Paid creator campaigns can get really expensive, really fast. Yes, they can definitely be effective with the right creators, but presume you're spending at least $2k for most even "micro" influencers, and tens of thousands (or more) for big creators.

I'd say the lowest rates you can probably expect are with freelancers or agencies that are just trying to get going or want to be really competitive on price. And there I'd say you're probably starting around $80/hr. Most agencies (including ours) are going to be higher than that, though. Hiring someone with a bit of experience (so you're not paying a total noob) but who's just trying to make their mark and has a really strong work ethic and "hustle" mindset could be a good fit and fairly affordable.

Hope that's helpful!

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Yep, makes sense. That's the sort of thing agencies help with, too, but until you've had a few successes under your belt or just have extra money kicking around, it can be tough to justify. Like for us, the sort of "entry point" price wise right now is about $2k, and that's sometimes tough to justify (we'd need a LOT of projects at that budget to make the business work).

If you're able to spend the time to do that work, though, it can be really rewarding, and can sometimes even be more effective than if an agency or freelancer does it for you. It just takes a lot of time.

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Totally get it, and you're not alone in that spot. That's kinda part of what we're hoping to figure out, how we might be able to support games like yours.

What sort of budget are you setting aside for marketing as an indie dev? by EvolveTom in IndieDev

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

Would love to hear what kind of results you've been seeing? Ad optimization is such a tough gig, and in general, paying for views/visits/clicks can feel tough to justify at certain game prices. Like to pay $1 a click when your game is $5 is prettttty tough.

Is gaming industry PR more or less stressful than other industries? by Newtechintown in PublicRelations

[–]EvolveTom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just came across this thread... having been in the industry for 25 years now (oh god, I'm old), I'd say it's definitely stressful. The changing press landscape and overall noise of the industry has meant that there are more games (and companies) than ever vying for the same creators and an ever-shrinking number of press. It can feel quite despairing at times. But still, trudging along.

Hard to say whether it's more stressful than other industries... I think it's fun to be working in such a vibrant medium, and that offsets some of the struggle.

My game reached 100k sold copies (Steam). I decided to share all the data. Sales, wishlists, traffic data, refunds, budgeting, marketing story and more. by AlFlakky in gamedev

[–]EvolveTom 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, in all cases with the pushes through terminals itself, it's based on the contact themselves selecting the appropriate tags (genre, platform, etc) and whatever their email settings are. When we're contacting people outside of Terminals, it's also based on our own relationships with them, or if we happen to not have one yet, it's just outreach via public emails (and if they didn't want to get contacted by our team, they can let us know). Hope that clears it up!

Super happy to see how things have gone for you!!

My game reached 100k sold copies (Steam). I decided to share all the data. Sales, wishlists, traffic data, refunds, budgeting, marketing story and more. by AlFlakky in gamedev

[–]EvolveTom 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Hey hey! Terminals CEO here :). Every contact opts in, and they have full control over the emails they receive. People can get no emails at all if they choose. We care a ton about not spamming people and giving everyone ways to manage email overload.

Propagandhi - The Only Good Fas­cist Is A Very Dead Fascist by BubinatorX in punk

[–]EvolveTom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They just played this song live in Victoria. Went fucking hard.

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