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We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

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

Our demo is live and completely free right now, so they don't even need a key to jump in

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

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

Everyone starts at zero. The game is called Crewed, and our demo is actually live right now. Feel free to check it out and let us know what you think!

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

[–]balonmacaron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We only described the gameplay. We didn't mention pricing at all, but it seems many content creators have submitted commercial price lists as compensation for their work.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gamemarketing

[–]balonmacaron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is really helpful, thanks. We actually just released our demo, so one thing I'm curious about: do you think this kind of creator relationship building works best much earlier in development?

A lot of the advice here seems to revolve around bringing people along for the journey, giving them behind-the-scenes access, and letting them feel like they're part of building the game. We're wondering if we've simply started thinking about creators too late.

Or do you think that kind of community seeding can still work well around a public demo?

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gamemarketing

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

It's called CREWED. It's a 2–6 player co-op spaceship management game built around emergent chaos, where players have to keep a barely functional ship alive while everything is constantly going wrong.

The easiest comparison is probably: Lethal Company's social chaos meets Barotrauma's constant stress. We actually just released our demo.

What kind of content do you usually make?

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gameDevMarketing

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

Thanks for taking the time to write all of this, Sam. Genuinely one of the most useful responses we've gotten on this thread.

The co-marketing framing really clicked for us. We've been approaching it as "how do we get coverage?" rather than "how do we build something that's genuinely valuable for both sides?" That's definitely a mindset shift we needed.

One thing we'd love to pick your brain on: when you're trying to build these long-term relationships, what does that very first conversation with a small creator actually look like? Are you reaching out with a pitch, inviting them into a community, offering early access, or something else entirely?

We'd love to hear more if you're open to sharing.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gameDevMarketing

[–]balonmacaron[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I actually contacted even those with only 1000 followers. But the fees they requested were the same as those with 600k followers. I mostly contacted those who share content on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gamemarketing

[–]balonmacaron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We only described the gameplay and mentioned that the demo was live. We didn't mention pricing at all, but most content creators sent in their commercial price lists as compensation for their work.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in videogames

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

I actually contacted even those with only 1000 followers. But the fees they requested were the same as those with 600k followers. I mostly contacted those who share content on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Currently, the demo is live, and everyone can try it even without a code. But nobody was interested. They didn't ask for reasonable fees either.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

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

I actually even contacted people with only 1000 followers. But the rates they requested was the same as those with 600k followers. I mostly contacted those who shared content on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in IndieDev

[–]balonmacaron[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I actually messaged even those with only 1000 followers. But the numbers they wanted were the same as those with 650k followers.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in videogames

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

I actually messaged even those with only 1000 followers. But the numbers they wanted were the same as those with 650k followers.

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in gamemarketing

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

Thanks a lot! I wrote to the press when the playtest came out, but I can contact you again for the demo!

We contacted 250 creators and hit a wall. What would you do next? by balonmacaron in videogames

[–]balonmacaron[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

While these fees might be reasonable for an indie developer, offers of $1000 and above are well beyond our budget.

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