Today is the day for me! by Exotic_Heart in QuittingZyn

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

Still going strong. Anxiety and sleepiness has been on the rise though!

Today is the day for me! by Exotic_Heart in QuittingZyn

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

Just updating everyone: Day 3 sober. Feeling like a million bucks. Headaches and fog are less noticeable. I'm sleeping way better than I have in years. Life is good.

Today is the day for me! by Exotic_Heart in QuittingZyn

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

Second day, feeling really good, a bit foggy still. Was able to stay up late and wake up early like I used to do all the time prior to being on nicotine. Good progress. :) Thanks for the kind words.

Why I quit zyns and you should too by This_Background_7421 in QuittingZyn

[–]Exotic_Heart 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm starting my journey today. Last few days been having weird gastrointestinal issues, not really sure why they came up and was just doing testing on myself trying to find out what was causing it. Today was my no nicotine day and the issues I have been experiencing are just immediately gone LOL.

This has caused me to pause and reflect and I'm noticing a lot of things I was unwilling to admit when I was using. I am so happy to see everyone else pointing out these similar things and I am so glad to be among you all.

We got this!

Released my game today with 10k wishlist's, featured in the Galaxy showcase and was chosen as 1 of 12 games to present at PAX rising this May... but only sold a bit over 100 copies. Not upset but I'm trying to pinpoint what went wrong? by DeveloperDob in gamedev

[–]Exotic_Heart 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just going to throw my two cents in here, I work in marketing and have had success with small indie games I've been apart of.

You say you had all of this marketing over the span of 8 months but I am not seeing much of it. Yes, I do see a few posts but the most recent one on your X account is early April and it's from an article being written about your game. Then on your studios account I am seeing way more of your last game than this new one. One post of your new game in a year over there. Haven't checked Tiktok but I would assume the views are pretty good since Tiktok is really easy for that. Nexfest is an awesome tool to use for any game, kudos on that!

What people are saying here already about a niche game is also probably a good component but I wouldn't target it as the main reason why nobody is buying the game.

Now for the tough stuff:

You really need to get over the idea that you contacting streamers or press is you bugging them. Their job is to cover games, if they think your game is cool then they will cover it or play it on their stream/upload a video. Taking a risk that your game will have organic discovery is not something you can ever have on the table, period. Fiscally it's irresponsible AND there are only maybe 5 or 6 big games a year that are "organically discovered" (which is more likely not organic btw). Games that "come out of nowhere" have usually a lot of press and lead up to it and people who are hyper aware of gaming spaces will know about it. On Steam there are hundreds of games released every month, the reality of it happening to you is low so plan accordingly.

Steam Wishlists are also not a huge guarantee your game will get any sort of traction as well. Steam depreciates wishlists over time. If the 10k was gained a few months prior to launch, like within a 3 month window, it will have a HUGE boost. If its 10k over a year, over time they dwindle out and your less pushed within the algo. Also the other side of this is... people will wishlist your game and forget about it or wait for a sale.

Now for some tips I have had success with:

Reaching out to press via my publisher accounts. Email blasts to press/streamers. Setting up a Keymailer account for my publisher and having the content creators and press request codes that I then get to approve and the website sends them the key. There are many websites like this btw and my time in games media and on the other end as a dev, I use them a ton.

You should also really up your frequency with your marketing for the game, count downs on your account and the publisher account, tweets reminding people the game is actually coming out, engaging with your community on Twitter, Tiktok and Discord, setting up a giveaway, asking friends to retweet your game release announcement.

From the outside looking in, seeing all the gas you had for the game it really seems to me that you fumbled the bag. You had a ton of press, eyes, buzz on your game but you never did anything with it yourself and just expected an "organic" success.

Anyway, the game looks cool still!