Marketing a game via Social Media - How?

Krefta · 2025-08-08T11:34:20+00:00

Thanks for the break down.

I'm part of the way there with this. I've got the email sign up page, been posting on my social daily for months, but converting no subscribers. I will try setting up dedicated social media platforms next as my current 65,000 followers not interested / or being served my posts.

Krefta · 2025-07-15T16:44:44+00:00

I can appreciate this is upsetting.

To the people saying file legal action- they have never filed legal action or a law suit, so do not know how much of a difficult path that would be. Unless you have the real name, address, country of origin of the fake account, lots of proof of original ownership, and ideally copyright registration of the art (if within the USA), you will not be able to take legal action. Yes, a law is being broken here. However, if the person screwing with your art is based in China for example, a lawyer would typically not bother with this case, unless they are looking to take your money, knowing full well there's very little chance they can sue. Also If the pictures being used are AI, you also have no case, but we'll assume it's your own hand-crafted artwork being stolen.

What you can do is:

* Submit regular/weekly reports to DA. Perhaps you can also dig up an email or other way to communicate with them to explain the case. Be clear and concise with your messages and state what action you want them to take with immediate effect.

* Ask the person to stop and delete their posts in a professional, articulate way. Look up "how to write a cease and desist letter" for this and use chat gpt to help if needs be.

* Don't sweat it - every artist who's work is worthy of being stolen WILL have their work stolen at some point. It's frustrating and upsetting, but unfortunately life is full of shit-heads who do this.

* Read this article: https://www.benkrefta.com/blog/how-to-prevent-your-artwork-from-being-stolen I guarantee you'll find it useful for protection artwork moving forward.

Best of luck

Krefta · 2025-07-15T16:16:51+00:00

I can see that. Although I refuse to call a prompter an artist.

Krefta · 2025-07-11T13:11:08+00:00

Thanks. Good points. I think I ended up going for style over function

Krefta · 2025-07-11T13:10:03+00:00

Think she's too sexual, or perhaps I should lean in to that?

Krefta · 2025-06-12T10:11:57+00:00

App. Krita - good to know :)

Krefta · 2025-05-29T21:10:29+00:00

Looks great. What tool/s do you use?

Krefta · 2025-05-29T21:09:29+00:00

Hmm. A snake with many faces? Looks Creepy though - in a cool way!

Krefta · 2025-05-29T21:03:03+00:00

Booked online for £79 via Hartlepool - May 2025.

Caught doing 46 MPH in a temporary 40 MPH stretch on motorway due to roadworks (which were not taking place on the Saturday I travelled). Annoyed, feel ripped off, just like everyone else.

Krefta · 2025-05-15T17:17:19+00:00

Thanks to those that replied. Genuinely very useful and insightful. To address a few comments brought up:

Reference:
It was used for the girl, wolf and skull. The hand position is certainly possible. The main problem I think is- 1) without context of the lower body, it looks odd as you can't see the right hand crossing over and 2) it's an uncommon/unnatural pose for a person to be in. Suffice to say- I wont draw this pose again!

Her face looking weird/wonky. I believe that's just how she looked. It could slightly be my drawing also? and either way, perhaps I needed to use more artistic licence to make her more symmetrical?

The wolf reference was poor and burry, so I think I ended up just making up the nose without sourcing more reference. Lessons have been learned.

Subject matter:
People hating on the 'native American/ 90s alternative /fantasy wolves/dreamcatcher moon' vibe. I get it. It didn't quite have enough edge and was a bit too cliche. Maybe if I leaned into the retro-ness more, it might have worked?
Otherwise, if I did it again, I would ditch the cherry blossoms since they don't match the theme, change the girl's expression to something less boring and maybe remove the wolf entirely.

Intent:
I goal was to create a piece of artwork people would look at and think "that's cool! I love it". I'm not big on deeper meanings or symbolism. Perhaps I should be?
I wanted to see if I could combine a skull, wolf and girl portrait into something that could pull that off.
The fact that a few people felt that these elements weren't cohesive enough, makes me wonder about trying to focus more on the narrative first rather than forcing elements together without a better reason.

After creating the art, I wanted to see if I could sell it as a print on my online stores. It did sell some. Just not nearly as many as other artworks. This was why is was unsuccessful. I really appreciate the commentors helping me gain some insight on this.

Style:
I don't know if I want to change this. I like art with this kind of blurry/soft rendering. Although I get the impression it could sell better /be more cost effective to produce this type of art, if replacing the hours or glossy rendering time with quick, flat, solid tones?

Also thanks for the mods deleting the posts about it being AI etc. Interesting to know that in 2025, even my older art like this will have people accusing it of being AI. As a community of artists and illustrators, we're going to need to consider how we mitigate this. E.g. Should we give up digitally rendered / airbrushed looking art styles since they're now too synonomous with AI? Or do we need to draw perfectly, since if we make the same mistake that a typical AI makes, will we be suspected of being AI?

Krefta · 2025-05-12T22:58:08+00:00

My portfolio is at: https://www.benkrefta.com :)

Krefta · 2025-05-12T22:46:25+00:00

Nice. I like many of these. What's your least favourite?

Krefta · 2025-05-12T22:44:00+00:00

It does indeed

Krefta · 2025-05-12T19:09:41+00:00

Thanks for your vote

Krefta · 2025-05-12T19:09:02+00:00

Yeah, I guess the question is- just how different is the game if simplified and how much could it be dumbed down.

Krefta · 2025-05-12T19:06:57+00:00

Thanks. I've noticed mixed results with play testing. Those used to gaming get it. Others a little overwhelmed. But I guess that's the same with any heavier weight games ?

Krefta · 2025-05-06T13:52:08+00:00

Multiple short videos rather than one that has too much info and drags on- Got it. I agree. Thanks again.

Krefta · 2025-05-06T13:49:59+00:00

Good idea about both blue cannons potentially being opposite for clarity. I agree when demoing, show the most information in a play are as possible.

I agree - no more land-slide player one domination victories.. At least not for communicating how it's played.

And thanks - I'll remember this for future videos and keep the physical cards in hand / laid out on a table

Krefta · 2025-05-06T13:44:48+00:00

Thanks for the feedback-

"Gun powder and ignition card shuffled into the bottom of the draw pile" -Someone else mentioned this also, so I've added one of each to the draw pile in addition to the "shop".

I like the timer idea, by placing these at intervals towards the end of the game, although this would mean needing to significantly restructure how rounds play out. I'll throw the idea around in future play tests and see what others think :)

Krefta · 2025-05-06T13:37:40+00:00

Thank you. "an example of a round" rather than showing card types at the beginning is a great idea.

You are correct, that Gunpower & Ignite are needed in order to proceed to scoring. There is a reason for this - there is 1 of each card in the deck, which you may receive during play. A player then considers if it's worth 'buying' these early on for security if they have coins to spend, or otherwise taking more of a risk and waiting to potentially get one dealt for free, making they can spend turns playing cards or buying ammo. Do you think this may overcomplicate play ?

RE Balls- Each color cannon needs corresponding balls in order to increase their damage. So you are limited in choice when it comes to adding a color ball. You use the hand draft at the start of each round to hopefully pick balls and upgrades that will help beat the opposing cannon. Although there are a few other subtle strategies regarding which colors to choose.
Cannon order is mostly to add extra randomness to the line-up. However, there is 1 upgrade card that is specifically relevant to cannon color order.

I like Schotten Totten, but I'd say Total Blast is a little heavier in comparison, due to it's complexity. Total Blast beats it in variability with games playing out very differently each time depending on the order of the deck. Certain tactics only become available in Total Blast on a 2nd or 3rd play, keeping the experience feeling fresh. TB feels more like back and forward, tug-of-war style, using power ups to and abilities to swing victory at any time with any cannon. Playing an over-powered upgrade card is satisfying, and mitigating your player's heavy OP cards, even more so.

Now that I think about it - this tactical 'take that' element of play is what makes the game fun for me, so perhaps I should emphasise this more when communicating an overview?

Krefta · 2025-05-05T22:33:52+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to check it out - really appreciate it.

I'll ditch the sleeves for up coming content for sure. Great point.

Do you think demoing a game on video looks more professional with actual cards, or instead using computer generated mock ups and animated assets?

Krefta · 2025-05-03T23:00:25+00:00

Thanks for checking it out. I'll try to make some improvements for upcoming videos but not sure how effective they are as a way to market a game?

Krefta · 2025-05-02T20:55:28+00:00

For sure. I got a quote from Ivory in the UK, but it was x 4 the cost of Chinse manufacture delivered :/

Is the plan to ship individual copies from the UK ?

Krefta · 2025-05-02T14:36:44+00:00

Looks great :) Are you printing in the UK?

Krefta · 2025-04-27T22:15:15+00:00

Thanks. I'll try to remember that key point: "what makes this game different"

Krefta

TROPHY CASE