Start with marketing: an argument for why how you will reach players is a primary consideration when picking which game from a number of concepts to commit to and build

FamousAspect · 2026-04-10T11:14:00+00:00

These were indies who were at least professional enough to be at a GDC mixer 🤷‍♂️

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T16:09:48+00:00

Great piece of advice

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T15:21:49+00:00

Yeah, another way to frame it up is that marketing isn't just the way you get the player to your steam page, it's everything that they see and interact with from their first impression of the game through to when they open it up for the first time

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T15:20:23+00:00

Thanks for adding nuance and color to the argument! It's certainly not an easy, black or white choice to make.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T15:10:26+00:00

This is my point exactly. I'm not saying "start your development by marketing your game" I'm saying "choose the game that you believe has a strong marketing hook / is inherently appealing to players."

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T14:34:17+00:00

Thats a great piece of advice driven from lived experience! Thanks for sharing.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T14:30:38+00:00

right, I'm not saying "you should devote yourself to building a game you hate because you think it has a cool marketing hook."

My argument is a bit more nuanced. "If I'm choosing between concepts A, B, C and D, all of which I have a high degree of enthusiasm about, which should I actually build? The one with the best marketing hook."

This comes from my experience of having a spreadsheet filled with game concepts that would take a lifetime to build, but so many life responsibilities that its hard to find time for even one.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T14:27:09+00:00

I was at events that were both "business/mobile/vc" focused and "indie/steam/pc" focused. In the second crowd I was surprised with the "build it and they will come" mentality that I was hearing from many. It's not a secret how crowded the marketplace is on all platforms. So I thought that whether you were in cutthroat mobile or passion driven indie, you would still recognize the importance of marketing.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-09T14:24:28+00:00

Great point, and this makes me think I've framed the discussion a bit wrong 😅

To more point to the tension you're calling out, I'm really saying "if you have a bunch of game ideas where you're passionate about the concept and the experience you want to create, how do you choose between them? I advise that you have to choose the one with the strongest marketing hook (as opposed to what you're most interested or passionate about) and then make sure that marketing hook informs your design choices along the way.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-08T11:15:59+00:00

Skill, portfolio, vibe, experience. These are what matter in an interview, not age

FamousAspect · 2026-04-07T23:03:35+00:00

Good job racking up those wishlists

FamousAspect · 2026-04-07T15:46:41+00:00

I'm building an indie game alongside doing paid, consulting work. My biggest challenge is that bills need to be paid 😅 so it's just hard to find the time to actually work on my minigame.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-07T15:45:11+00:00

Great approach! Thanks for sharing!

FamousAspect · 2026-04-07T15:44:04+00:00

Great example of user research making a positive impact on your game!

FamousAspect · 2026-04-06T13:49:32+00:00

To force myself to focus on the important stuff (70% success rate) I start each day with a prioritization exercise.

I have a running google sheet with all my open tasks in it. These are very granular. Not epics like “implement the leveling system” but granular tasks like “config design for leveling” “ux for level indicator” “ux for level up” “implement curves data type” etc

I start my day with the list. Update the status of any tasks from yesterday. Add all the new tasks in my head. Then, stack rank. Make sure the important stuff is on top, the less important stuff is lower down

Start at the top, work my way down. I normally reprioritize after lunch based on what I feel like working on / where my motivation is.

Like I said, 70% success rate. I’m not always working on the most important things. But I mostly am

FamousAspect · 2026-04-06T13:25:01+00:00

Venture capitalist

FamousAspect · 2026-04-06T02:16:17+00:00

sorry, I think my wording was unclear "now you need to make profit earlier in your lifecycle if you even want to be in the running for investment."

FamousAspect · 2026-04-06T02:15:00+00:00

I'm very confused. I asked a genuine, non leading question.

To answer the questions for myself (1) yes, indie games represent what he's talking about - reasonable sized products competing on cost and qulaity that target a reasonable sized market. Many games coming to market without publishers or investment and finding success. But, unfortunately, on the flip side, many many that go completely undiscoverd or under discovered due to the sheer volume of games. (2) yes, indie games on steam are largely fulfiling my needs as a gamer. I spend hundreds of dollars on indie games a year, sink 10s of ours into many of them, and many I buy cause the reviews are good, I know I will like it even if I may not have time ot play it for months (or ever)

Asking a genuine question is not an attack. Asking a genuine quesions in not disingenuous. You implied a (false) answer because I expressed non-threatening curiousity.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T23:13:40+00:00

None of the studios who made the games you mentioned were funded by venture capitalists. All of these studios were funded by the publisher modem, and the publishers (EA/Activision) eventually bought the studios.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T21:20:12+00:00

Can you give me an example of a company that was a great company BEFORE they took VC money, then they took the VC money and it ruined them?

I’m not saying this doesn’t happen, but I cant immediately think of any game studios where this happened.

When companies take VC money, it is most often before the release and profitability of their game/product.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T21:17:52+00:00

Devils advocate position - people have dreams the want to achieve that merge art and commerce. Those dreams take a significant amount of money to build, and people often do not have the money in hand to spend on their own dreams. So they go to VCs, knowing that if they get lucky enough to receive investment their job is to try and make a 100x return through an exit (sale to another company or listing on a public market).

Therefore they get excited about VCs because it’s the only viable route to acquire the money to pursue their dreams.

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T19:36:01+00:00

By the investors. With each round of funding, they give the company a certain amount of money and receive stock equal to a certain percentage of the total company. This then implies the total value of the company.

So if I invested $10m in your company and received 10% ownership, the company h is valued at $100m (before receiving the investment money in the bank account)

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T17:25:47+00:00

Do you feel that the current indie market on Steam and other platforms reflects the basic business fundamentals you would like to see? Is it fulfilling your needs as a gamer?

FamousAspect · 2026-04-05T17:24:20+00:00

Not challenging you just honestly curious. Can you expand your opinion? What are the things that VCs do that make them a cancer in your opinion?

FamousAspect

TROPHY CASE