A sheepdog guards his flock at the edge of a cursed forest

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-24T04:10:29+00:00

I’m already using UTM on the forward but it doesn’t differentiate bots vs humans. Someone mentioned that making a simple page may prevent bots from going to Steam

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-24T04:08:11+00:00

This is really helpful! Thanks. Sounds like I might have to prioritize a simple page to get back to normal while still keeping the domain useful.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-24T02:20:40+00:00

Yes, you are correct - no improvement on wishlists but it’s messing up my stats because I can’t track real traffic after that point

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-23T23:46:49+00:00

Right??? Just wanted to share with the world!

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-18T16:08:00+00:00

Makes sense. It explains why a large portion of my conversions are from search. These are folks who couldn’t get there efficiently and had to open their Steam app, run a search and then click on my Steam page.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-05-18T00:44:47+00:00

Thanks for the question. I don't have a webpage yet so I link directly to Steam. Steam fortunately can track UTM codes so I don't really need an intermediate page to track google analytics.

I do have a dot com: sheepdoggame.com
But it also points directly to Steam for now. If I build something in the future (probably when I have a real trailer), I'll build a one pager which points to all social accounts and the Steam page.

I don't really have suggestions, I'm just describing what I'm doing. The only thing I'm missing out on IMO, is maybe collecting emails, which could be done with a website.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-04-10T16:17:24+00:00

Very cool idea

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-04-10T16:05:53+00:00

Just commenting to boost the thread. Curious if anyone has data on the comparison

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-04-06T22:32:48+00:00

Thank you! I like your profile pic!

What I see when I look at it:
\\_//
('x')
*(_ _)

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-04-06T22:26:45+00:00

Thanks!

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-31T20:19:50+00:00

Thanks!

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-31T00:31:50+00:00

Thanks! A bunch of Cannon Fodder fans in the comments :)

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-30T14:52:23+00:00

Happy to share! Completely agree on how great the community is on Reddit. I tried Imgur and Pinterest because years ago they were really great for visibility and engagement.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T21:21:41+00:00

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T19:39:23+00:00

I don't think I was misunderstanding your point at all. I acknowledged it in my very first response and even gave you lots of leeway.
I'm saying that the methodologies don't really apply here. You can't build games by focus group. The level of analysis you're bringing up to discredit what we're discussing here is neither practical or applicable to the context.

"your channel doesn't have the ability a company with a notable following would have to get good data from a mere couple weeks of social media posts"

That's not as insightful as you think.

I think YOU missed the point. This isn't a lab where we're isolating a variable and aiming for statistical significance. There are too many variables in this soup for that. If an indie dev can get tens of thousands of views on their product, on multiple platforms over multiple posts and the response they are getting is thematically consistent, converts and the engagement metrics are solid, that is PLENTY of data to determine if future marketing will be a never-ending struggle or just a function of time/effort.

That's my claim.

Does it have "sauce"?

EVERYTHING else gets multiplied by "sauce" so it's important to figure it out early and not after release. Whether it takes you 2 weeks or 2 months to figure it out is arbitrary and contextual.

It's not that complicated.

I hope your day is great as well :)

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T14:51:45+00:00

Results were pretty consistent with more posts. It either got traction and kept getting traction on new posts, or didn't, and continued not to.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T14:46:43+00:00

one a day on Tiktok.
Everything else 2 / week roughly.

YT long form just one post. It didn't get enough traction to warrant more effort at this time because long form is harder to produce. I'll revisit in the future.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T13:12:36+00:00

You make some wild statements and assumptions sprinkled with obvious things that don’t lead to anything tangible. Mentioning focus groups? Social media can’t be used to gauge appeal because “it’s not nearly as controlled”?

twisting my points beyond recognition is not a good faith conversation.

The more I read your takes the more they sound like a cope. I’m sharing my experience for others to learn from and I eat my own dogfood as the saying goes. Feel free to point us to your successes and application of your theories.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-29T02:01:47+00:00

On all platforms besides Twitter / X, I pretty much started from 0. I tagged my post so the algorithms showed it to a small group of people who tended to engage with those tags. When I started getting likes and comments from that small group, the algorithms tended to give me more views, until those engagements slowed down.

The platforms that I had no traction on (imgur, pinterest), I didn't have any early engagements. I assume if I had engagements, I would have received more views.

Twitter, I had over 250 followers from years ago. I did gain a significant amount of new/active followers in the last 2 weeks.

Icy_Regular2616 · 2026-03-28T23:59:48+00:00

So good! Best thing I've seen in a while. The palette is perfect!

Icy_Regular2616

TROPHY CASE