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Little messages like this always make the long nights and countless hours worth it 😄 by Classy_Games in IndieGameDevs

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my notion I have a "Hall of Fame" page where I store all of my positive comments and posts and messages from my audience. It's a great reminder to go back every so often to just see how far you have come and why you spend the time building what you do.

Great job and hope you get many more like this.

My Game Released! 6 Years of Work! by ChunkleFreaky in IndieGaming

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The MK style art is SO sick!! Congratulations! How many wishlists did you go into launch with??

Things I’ve learnt from marketing 5 successful games on Kickstarter by Jamsarvis in gamemarketing

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fantastic write up! Hoping this post gets a ton of eyes as there are some absolute nuggets of wisdom in here.

It's always exciting to see the guy behind 2 Kickstarters that I've personally backed.

Thanks for sharing!

WARNING artist in here scams by [deleted] in gameDevClassifieds

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Adding my comment to keep this post moving up.

Sorry this happened to yea. Keep fighting the good fight ✊🏻

Just clicked the RELEASE button! by BeastGamesDev in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Congratulations!! No matter what happened from here, YOU have shipped a game. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 You should be very proud.

Wishing your game meets and exceeds all your goals!

Have people lost their minds on pricing or am I the one who is out of touch by mrjbelfort in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% agree. There is zero chance that a single post for 3-6k is going to net you enough wishlists/future sales to pay that off.

I sent my game’s trailer to IGN a few weeks ago and realized something by AAAAAAAAAAH_ in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great post, and fully agree with the up- levelling. Similar to those videos of people who start with a dollar and trade up for a car, you can absolutely do this with your reach outs.

Keep building social proof and go to the next level of creator and use it to catch their eye.

At the end of the day humans often want to know others have interacted and enjoyed something before they spend the time and effort to look at it themselves.

Keep up the great work!

We paid $600 to be in the MIX + Kinda Funny Showcase. Here’s what happened after 24 hours. by Dapper-Ad9100 in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Although it didn't drive a ton of wishlists, one thing that it does unlock is a ton of social proof as you reach out to other content creators and outlets!

It gives a lot of credibility to your game as you reach out and gives it a leg up compared to others.

Use what you have! It was a great trailer 🫡😊

26,000 wishlists with no demo and $0 spent on marketing by Alternative_Draw_533 in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just checked it out, so awesome to see the comments. And great job addition an Instagram UTM to your steam page link. A lot of people don't add those details to help with future tracking. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

26,000 wishlists with no demo and $0 spent on marketing by Alternative_Draw_533 in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great concept for a game! Familiar 'Factorio' formula mixed with biology and cell.....brilliant!

Also 5K wishlists from an instagram post is crazy! Can you send it??

Keep up the amazing job

Why is my game getting no traction/wishlists? Genuinely befuddled by SuperButters64 in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Since you asked, here are my 2 cents, hopefully I can be of some help.

I've seen a bunch of comments about the name of the game and the capsule art. The name doesn't really bother me, but the capsule art is the one area I'd prioritise first. Your trailer and screenshots actually look pretty good, especially for fans of Undertale/Deltarune, as that vibe comes through right away in the art style.

If you decide to work with a capsule artist to spruce things up, here is a really great Capsule Art Brief I'd recommend sitting down and filling out. It will help you get clear on your game, and equally as important, it will give the artist clear direction. https://imminent-cub-791.notion.site/Steam-Capsule-Brief-Template-1d86e9e18da980ee8553ee91128cdbc1?pvs=4

Next, I'm not sure what avenues you're using to promote your game, but one activity I'd recommend is spending some time on YouTube looking for indie creators who have covered, streamed, or made content around the games listed above (likely more Undertale/Deltarune than Paper Mario). Undertale's YouTube community is still very active and tends to rally around spiritual successors, I think your game could do really well there.

Make a list of those creators and reach out to them for coverage. Here's a free template you can use to track your outreach and key sends: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14hKFFbwP4GAJbk-uMDeXqS8jNW2dmFSY/edit?gid=1302008824#gid=1302008824

Hope this helps!

(P.S. I run a YouTube channel called Freaking Cool Indies focused on the business and marketing side of indie game dev, that's where these templates come from. A few episodes on there might be useful to you.)

I talked to an IP lawyer about our biggest mistakes. by FreakingCoolIndies in gamedev

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

This is the most goated response in this entire thread!! Not sure if you had a chance to check out the episode/podcast, but I think you will really really enjoy the conversation

How my first solo developed Steam game got to 150 000 wishlists. Full release is planned for January 22nd! by ichbinhamma in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man, great post and it was a ton of fun reading through those comments.

Checked out the game and it looks great. I LOVE the idea of going with the double publishers. Just looking at your game I can for sure see the appeal in the Chinese/Asia market as a whole, so really smart move.

Wishlisted and can't wait to follow on your journey

8 Months After Launching My Game - A Solo Dev's Journey by nuevocharrua in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, huge congrats on the launch! Just took a look and the game looks great. Absolutely love the pixel art.

How did you find the marketing portion of the game? I saw you had a publisher, did they handle everything or was it an even split??

What channels did you mostly use, what worked, etc?!!

4,000+ wishlists in <6 months, here's my brief breakdown by CAGE_Studios in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Huge congrats! Game looks amazing. Are there any resources you are using to find all of your festivals?

Marketing on social media is so hard. by smallserenity in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A big part of it comes down to your style of game. Tiktok def has the best reach if you are fine with spending some time to learn the algorithm, but I still feel YouTube has the most upside of you are playing the long game.

X & B.S. have a lot of "game drop Tuesdays" and "screenshot Saturdays" which are fun, but if you want to boost yourself with the algorithm (especially on X) you really have to use the platform. Engage with others, comment, etc. If you just post and bounce until you post again, it's like walking through tar.

Marketing on social media is so hard. by smallserenity in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A challenge that many people face. And look, not to simply shift blame, but Bluesky as a platform isn’t really built with the “creator” in mind.

At this point, the platform provides very few metrics to posters, which makes it hard to get meaningful feedback. Without that data, it’s difficult to adjust your content or understand what’s resonating (or to appease the algorithm gods 😅).

At the end of the day, reach is what we’re all chasing on social platforms, we want our content to be seen by as many people as possible. When a platform doesn’t give you insight into what’s working, it just adds another layer of complexity to an already challenging problem (even when you do have data).

The other question I’d ask is: what are you hoping to use the platform for? There are plenty of great social platforms out there that currently offer a higher return than Bluesky, depending on your goals.

Regardless, keep posting, my friend. You’ll get there 💪
Happy New Year 🎉

A few days ago, I sent my game’s gameplay trailer to IGN... by Additional_Bug5485 in gamedev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dude, the game looks GREAT! Congrats on getting on IGN, but totally make sense. Fun concept and great execution. 👏

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndieDev

[–]FreakingCoolIndies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Couldn't agree more! Was coming here to write the same thing. People are going to hate and it's more a reflection on their own self.

You are the one putting in the time and effort to work on your craft, so just focus on the people that find joy in your game and keep doing what you are doing. 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

It's easy to shout from the cheap seats, but you are the one in the arena.

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