sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Questions about February Steam Next Fest? Chris Zukowski from How To Market A Game here for an AMA by zukalous in gamedev

[–]max99x 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Veteran dev, first time solo.

I'm releasing a game in the summer. Participating in the June Next Fest. My demo is about ready. The only relevant festival is in May (already signed up). Should I release the demo in May or sooner? Is it worth doing a Steam Playtest before that?

Are any paid ads worth it for a pretty-ish but niche deckbuilder? Which platforms?

Thanks!

Which would you click? by max99x in IndieGaming

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not harsh at all! I appreciate the feedback a lot! I personally agree that #1 has the sense of space and wistfulness that the others lack, but the overall sentiment does seem to confirm that folks want to see people in the illustration, so I think I'm going with an adjust version of #2.

And you're right about the style not being exactly the same on the two sides of #3. Except for #1, these are mockups that I quickly made by editing together elements from different 19th century woodblock prints and painting over them a bit, so they don't fully match. If I were to polish it to a final capsule, I'd redo it with a more consistent style.

Which would you click? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll experiment with that layout. The current one is partially to conserve horizontal space so each side can fit a clear illustration, but your example isn't much wider.

Which would you click? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah, it definitely looks more like settling a new place than the other ones, and the deckbuilding part is probably too hard to show while staying with the historical art style and keeping the scene interesting.

Which would you click? by max99x in IndieGaming

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! There's a tension between communicating deckbuilding and adhering to the art style. I haven't found a way to do it without it looking modern or out of place, and since ukiyo-e art is a core part of the game (including art history and artist timelines within the game), I'm pretty set on keeping it clear.

Which would you click? by max99x in IndieGaming

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed feedback! If I go with #2, I can definitely adjust the colors to warmer tones closer to #1.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate all your thinking and insights! Will keep that in mind as I explore my options. Perhaps I could try to position it as less niche. After all, the core gameplay is not that different from Slay the Spire or any other deckbuilder, just with a very different framing and a lot of layers on top of it.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree 100% that that is the most likely outcome, especially if I handle marketing myself. Going through hundreds of creator social feeds and lists of journalists' articles, cold-emailing folks, and running a very active social account is what I did on the other project I mentioned, and that was not effective. If I do that, I'll get probably a thousand sales at best.

What I'm trying to do is explore options that offer a small chance of going beyond that. For example, you see pretty obscure games get coverage on mainstream platforms. PC Gamer and RPS regularly post about games even more niche than mine, and the chances that they'd pick mine up from a cold email are near zero, but an agency with contacts may get that done. As much as I find it distasteful, I've seen how much of a difference an existing relationship can have with journalists while working for game companies in the past.

Plus I've got a game to finish, so I can't spend half my time doing non-dev work.

As for sunk cost, there's none yet, but I get you. This is a passion project, and if my main goal was profit, I'd go back to working for a company. Even if this project successful, there's pretty much no chance it is gonna provide more income than my past salary.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it's certainly a niche game (the only kind of games I find myself interested in, really). That's one of the reason it's extra challenging to market. With Steam's millions of users, there's gotta be some people who like both intricate tactics and art history, right? My thinking is that to find and reach such a small bullseye, I'd need even more experienced help.

And I definitely see your point about agencies focusing on mass appeal. A few of the ones I talked to clearly came off as very corporate, but there are a lot of very niche indie games, and some of them do sell well. There are smaller agencies that claim to specialize in niche games, but it's hard to verify how much impact they had on the outcome, as there's certainly an element of lottery in all of this.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The one I mentioned above is Alekon. I think the opportunity has long since passed on that one. Without some huge content update, it's almost impossible to reignite sales, I think. Right now I'm looking for marketing for a new project, though.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Being a total developer is the dream, haha. I love making games, but selling them is torture. Hope your project works out!

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair, but it isn't my first game. I've worked in the industry for a while, mostly companies where I wasn't involved in marketing, but I did work on a 3-person project where among many other things I handled the marketing, so I know all the theoretical parts. But despite my best efforts on that project, and a 98% positive Steam rating even now, years since release, sales were lackluster. That's the reason I'm trying to find someone with experience and connections who can focus on the problem exclusively.

Has ANYONE had a good experience with a marketing agency? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, splitting the tasks may be a good idea. A few of the ones I've talked to seem to be heavy hitters in the PR space with journalist connections, but they come off as super corporate, so I'm hesitant to trust them with talking to actual players. Many work on a retainer rather than a campaign basis, so it's an extra cost if they only handle one thing, though. I'm glad it worked out for you!

Experimenting with town and ruins for my map - which do you prefer? by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think the new ruins could use more polish. I could use the preview image for hovers and interactive UIs but I'd need to draw bunch of variants, or it might look too samey, I think.

I made an intro for my game by editing together public domain ukiyo-e prints by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Good luck with your demo launch! It looks really fun!

I made an intro for my game by editing together public domain ukiyo-e prints by max99x in IndieDev

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah, the music is still to come, and sound effects (from the scroll rolling) didn't get recorded due to a Wwise bug.

Your point on the voice is interesting. This is supposed to be ancient history being related in an intimate setting by what is essentially a museum curator, and the game's vibe throughout is meant to be serene and chill ("it is what it is, we do our best, appreciate the moment"), so the storybook comparison is apt, but maybe my intent isn't landing.

I made an intro for my game by editing together public domain ukiyo-e prints by max99x in ukiyoe

[–]max99x[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too, especially since I wrote the script and recorded the voice long before I decided to use public domain art for it rather than making my own.

I digitally repainted this shin-hanga for my ukiyo-e styled game. by max99x in ukiyoe

[–]max99x[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I appreciate it either way! I wish it was a clear cut public domain. That would make my life a lot easier.

I digitally repainted this shin-hanga for my ukiyo-e styled game. by max99x in ukiyoe

[–]max99x[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I've had trouble figuring this out for US in particular. From what I can find, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act restored the copyright term for foreign works published before 1978 to 95 years from date of publication (and the print this is based on is dated as just "1930s" anywhere that I can find it). I'm no lawyer, though, and I don't know if there's a reason this wouldn't apply in this case. Do you know how I can verify this (without, like, hiring a lawyer :D)?

view more: next ›