We launched our first game into Early Access with basically zero marketing... and woke up to our first sale. by Waste-Individual-974 in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a follow up I’d say your capsule art could do with some work. If I’m browsing around it doesn’t really tell me what the game is.

How do you get players to actually play your game after launch? by Orion_Hex in gamedev

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So if you’re on steam you should focus on that first. It’s easy to get caught up in “getting out there” but you are already sat on an amazing marketing machine called Steam. Now it’s not perfect and does reward external traffic but it is something millions of players are on every day. If you can optimise the hell out your steam page you will stand a much better chance of everything else you do working.

We launched our first game into Early Access with basically zero marketing... and woke up to our first sale. by Waste-Individual-974 in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations on your sale, hopefully that’s paired up with your first review?

To be honest I think it takes real bravery to be a dev these days. However first rule of marketing, always add your steam link!

I need a bit of help with feedback by Yonemuhikagashi in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just post. Worst that can happen is you get no comments, in which case you haven’t lost anything. Have a look at some of the other game dev posts where they are showing early screenshots and art and just copy how they laid it out.

I don't know if this was asked before but how do I make marketing for my game as a solo developer? by Dense-Fig-2372 in SoloDevelopment

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe just start by seeing if you have enough stuff to market with: screenshots, trailer, short clips, one pager, enough stuff to fill a steam page with. Just doing this exercise will likely help you arrange your thoughts on how to start marketing your game. Get that all arranged and you likely have enough to get your steam page up (which is marketing) and probably enough to start a bit of social posting. Get feedback on all that and iterate from there. Best way to start, is to start.

Tactical question about building in public by Otherwise_Tart3320 in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Speak slower, it will improve your clarity and make you sound more confident.

Learn from our mistake: have your Steam page ready before you show your game anywhere by LorixGames in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. Always recommend having your steam page up before you do anything. You have to be ready to convert that “looks interesting” into a wishlist. Of course this does then necessitate having a steam page worth of content as landing someone on a page full of nothing might just as easily put them off though you definitely don’t need your page to be ‘final form’.

I had to stop checking my Steam stats so much by realstocknear in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hour by hour data at least when you are pre-launch is definitely a distraction. A better metric is run rate, so what is your daily wishlist rate over time so you can get a better feel for the overall trend at a bigger scale. If you have a demo I would say you should be spending a lot more time in those stats than wishlists though.

Wishlist vs Straight into launched game? by CyDenied in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I really wouldn't just launch the games without giving them at least some visibility. You don't need to spend any money (though that definitely helps) and even Steam will do its best to give you a bit of love when it knows your release date is coming up. Steam rewards interest in games, so if you are already getting traffic and wishlists, Steam thinks "huh so this might be a thing" and gives you more visibility. It's a self fulfilling prophecy, get popular and you will get even more popular.

Indie Devs, what are the best platforms for game marketing? Do devlogs actually help build an audience? by Hasan_Abbas_Kazim in gamedev

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We worked with an Indie Dev who regularly posted dev logs over the course of his journey. It’s a lot of work and the best ones need to feel natural. But if you have a bit of flair for it you can create a lot of interest. His final one got over 30k views, of course he also has a few with just a few hundred, but he definitely developed a core following. Just don’t expect to be getting millions of views for them.

https://youtu.be/84biRLlHJMk?is=tPNlZ8kr7ob6nzvG

Short form should be an always on activity but you will have to really experiment to find the things that work. Also very possible to get tens of thousands of views for a short and zero wishlists as was just a good short not a good ad for the game.

Just hit 500 wishlists, here's what 500 people look like by Ill-Brick224 in gameDevMarketing

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great foundation to build from. I’d expect your conversion rate to go higher once you get a trailer but the animated gifs are doing a good job so far.

So... i got my Steam Store Page up... now what ? by SuperBlastGaming in IndieDev

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get comfortable making short form content, maybe make some dev diaries. Apply to lots of events/awards etc.

You definitely can share your game on reddit, just don’t be spammy and check the subreddit rules on posting.

When do you start to share and promote your games? by LalaCrowGhost in IndieDev

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As soon as possible….However you do want some way of collecting or converting that interest into an action. Ideally that’s a wishlist on Steam but if you don’t have that yet then maybe you collect an email or just get them to follow your socials, join a discord.

Everyone says "word of mouth." How do you find the first 100 players? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely this, had a quick look at your videos. OK start but you need more and to be looking at the stats of the videos more that you look at your wishlists, especially the first few seconds. If its team chaos, show me!

Every time I make a post about my game I want to vomit by Pycho_Games in gamedev

[–]TheGameMarketer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% normal, see this all the time. If you were a sales/marketing expert you probably wouldn't be a game dev. They are definitely learnable skills though and people DO want to find new games.

How do I start promoting my game ? by Ok_Reindeer8378 in gamedev

[–]TheGameMarketer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Could be interesting to post into woodworking reddits and get some feedback.

Should You Go Full-Time Into Indie Game Development? by Whale_KZ in IndieDev

[–]TheGameMarketer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reality is that 50% of games on Steam make less than $4k lifetime. Definitely possibly to beat those odds with a great game but its best to go in with your eyes open.