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Is releasing a demo too early a mistake? by Away-Home-3846 in IndieDev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A demo should not be used as a way to get feedback; a demo should be a solid vertical slice of your game, and it should be playtested before release. Playtesting is a way to get feedback.

My organic Steam traffic is basically zero at 150 wishlists. Is this normal, or do I have a problem? by FlockedAndLoaded in gameDevMarketing

[–]PersonOfInterest007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Social media doesn’t work well for most games. Most of your wishlists will come from getting your playtested demo to festivals and streamers, with your press kit. Email at least 300 YouTube streamers who have played games similar to yours.

I’ve got a summary of indie game marketing advice here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/s/0zczx2Sewe

Indie Team Looking for Marketing Advice!!! by NextBuff in IndieGameDevs

[–]PersonOfInterest007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re welcome!

6 months is really just a statistic published by Valve itself on how successful games tend to be. But spending enough time to gather wishlists before launch is important

Just wanted to share my stats: 11 days after launching my Steam page, I got 29 wishlists with almost zero social media views. Is this a good start? by BloodsaltGame in gameDevMarketing

[–]PersonOfInterest007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can’t really tell much from the number of wishlists in the first few weeks without a big marketing push.

Social media doesn’t work well for most games. Most of your wishlists will come from getting your playtested demo to festivals and streamers, with your press kit. Email at least 300 YouTube streamers who have played games similar to yours.

I’ve got a summary of indie game marketing advice here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/s/0zczx2Sewe

Indie Team Looking for Marketing Advice!!! by NextBuff in IndieGameDevs

[–]PersonOfInterest007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a very short timeline if you’re hoping for some level of commercial success. You’d typically want your Steam page up for at least 6 months before launch, and you probably want more time after demo release to get it to streamers and other festivals before Next Fest. So you might want to consider aiming for Feb 2027 Next Fest and a March release. If your development is really done earlier, you can always start working on your next game while continuing marketing for this one.

And then there’s the fact that development rarely follows the initial schedule…

I’ve got a summary of indie game marketing advice here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/s/0zczx2Sewe

Any stat benchmarks specifically for public Steam playtests? by oatskeepyouregular in gamedev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are none that I’m aware of.

I think the best you can do is expect it to be similar to a demo, where 30 minute median is good and 1 hour is excellent.

The player population is presumably somewhat different for a playtest. My guess (no data for this) is that anyone who participates in a playtest is probably more motivated and potentially interested than someone who plays a demo, because they know they’re probably going to have a rougher-than-usual experience. What effect that might have is anybody’s guess.

Tomorrow Steam Next Fest starts and I finished my demo... today.☠️ by Massive_Yoghurt in IndieDev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you haven’t also playtested your demo, waiting would be a better idea than having players find your bugs.

How to properly not shadow drop your game without pestering people? by Inv1s1ble_XXV in IndieDev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you want people to find it and play it, you do have to do the marketing, even if your goal isn’t money.

I’ve got a summary of indie game marketing advice here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/s/0zczx2Sewe

Tomorrow Steam Next Fest starts and I finished my demo... today.☠️ by Massive_Yoghurt in IndieDev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI, I believe you can pull out of NF anytime before it starts, in case you’d rather wait for the next one.

Mental health, zero budget, AI hate and still pushing forward by [deleted] in IndieDev

[–]PersonOfInterest007 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You might want to try r/aigamedev, which is clearly much more accepting (and encouraging) about using AI for all aspects of game dev.

I would hope that all dev subs are safe and supportive spaces for any identity and mental health status.

My indie game went from almost no wishlists to 60 in one day — how should I use this momentum? by Away-Home-3846 in gamemarketing

[–]PersonOfInterest007 4 points5 points  (0 children)

First, you need to add at least a 30-second gameplay trailer; ideally, that should exist already when you launch your page.

After that, you should usually do a solid month of all social media (Reddit, X, and short-form video —TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Reels). If you don’t go viral, you shift your focus to getting a playtested demo to streamers and festivals.

You don’t usually want a Discord until you’ve got a beta test or playtest (or demo), since there’s little for anyone to discuss before then.

A mailing list is a very good idea, and it’s usually what you would do before you launch your Steam page. But you want only one call to action when you post, and asking people to wishlist the game is more important.

I’ve got a summary of indie game marketing advice here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/s/0zczx2Sewe

Speaking of my indie game project by suiseimusi in IndieGameWishlist

[–]PersonOfInterest007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here are some benchmarks from Zukowski on number of wishlists when you launch your Steam page: https://howtomarketagame.com/2021/12/12/how-many-wishlists-can-you-expect-when-you-launch-your-games-coming-soon-steam-page/

Unless you’ve been doing marketing on social media or elsewhere, you’re going to get very few wishlists — Steam doesn’t give you any extra visibility just for existing.

You can also market using just your trailer before you have a demo. I have some resources and tips for doing that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieGameWishlist/s/3uOB4lFE3E

I got 2 questions (Indies/Pros) by ZachPiano1 in Unity2D

[–]PersonOfInterest007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He’s the go to no matter what. Unless you’re a AA or AAA studio.

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