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[David 'jefequeso' Szymanski]

I recently released a game called The Music Machine on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/359040/

It's been positively reviewed and even had a few articles written about it, but in general the launch has been disappointing compared with my previous game, The Moon Sliver.  Now, I've got my own theories about why this is... my question to your guys is whether you have any advice for some effective marketing tactics I can use, now that the game itself is actually released.

What I've been doing / have done:

Contacted Let's Players

Did two huge (150 copies) giveaways on Steam Gifts

Post about it on Twitter

Contacted a few press outlets (major publications basically ignore me, but if you know of any smaller publications that might be interested in a narrative-focused horror game, let me know)

All but begged fans to reccommend it to their favorite Let's Player and their friends

[bauer]

The two immediate things I'd recommend would be to:
- Try to showcase the game at jams/exhibitions/etc, though this can be hard depending on your physical location
- Post about the game in various forums, ask about feedback both from players and other developers
- Bonus: Spam the news sites semi-regularly if you have some small news

[DanglinBob]

Thre are two things to really consider here: the first is obviously "is this really worth continuing to promote?" The answer to that comes in two forms. Is the game generating sales from my PR/Marketing efforts? And what is causing or preventing that coverage.

The fact is that not all games are worth promoting and the review scores may be disconnected from sales "scores" - so first compare what you are making per view generated!

Is your game generating strong appeal to casters? If so, focus on making yourself visible to them, especially via social media and if possible in person. It's the same plan for major publications but strangle more difficult and less impactful.

Next up, plan an event. Not a live in person one, probably - but it may be time to use the secondary market for a second wind. Let's say you get into a good bundle. Using that you coordinate a push to have casters drop videos and help promote the sale. Timing a sale to pr is a huge deal. Then hopefully ride that renewed interest in the product to pick up review/news/casters you missed befrore. Rinse and repeat this process till it stops working or you die


Ps: apologies for typos, writing this from my phone while waiting for someone :D

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

Your type of game is pretty hard to market. It's kind of on par with marketing a book.

I could recommend you starting a new game (a small one if you're not into making a game again) , make a devlog , and focus on more popular visuals , less on ambiance, more on characters. The devlog would be a way of promoting your excisting game and will incite people to buy your game if they like your new game.

i loved the few interactions in The Music Machine , maybe you should focus on those little detals. i'd love to see a walking simulator but with fps mechanism freedom in case you get a bit bored but you still want to explore the game by shooting and destroying stuff.

[DanglinBob]

I don't mean to naysay someone, but I have to disagree with Bakkusa. A narrative driven exploratory game is a hot genre that is easy to promote.

The problem you may face is yours may not be as good! I mean that in the nicest way possible, but if you want to stand out you need to be as good as the other games in this genre both in the visual appeal, narrative direction, and whatever theme you're focused on (horror, suspense, etc).

I have NOT played your game, so I honestly don't know how close you come to the best sellers of this fairly new genre (I call them Experiential games), but if it IS on par with them you've got to double down your efforts to reach videocasters. That's where your sales will come from for sure. It will only take one big score!

[guille]

Find a way to let all The Moon Sliver players know about this new game. You can update The Moon Sliver on Steam to include some kind of link or advertisement on the title screen (make sure you add or fix something to the game too, to not piss off players). Let them know you are giving away some copies or whatever. Post the news on the Moon Sliver game page. The games seem similar, it makes sense that those players would like to try this new game too.

You don't have to build an audience from zero, you already have an audience. Reach out to them.

[David 'jefequeso' Szymanski]

I don't mean to naysay someone, but I have to disagree with Bakkusa. A narrative driven exploratory game is a hot genre that is easy to promote.

The problem you may face is yours may not be as good! I mean that in the nicest way possible, but if you want to stand out you need to be as good as the other games in this genre both in the visual appeal, narrative direction, and whatever theme you're focused on (horror, suspense, etc).

I have NOT played your game, so I honestly don't know how close you come to the best sellers of this fairly new genre (I call them Experiential games), but if it IS on par with them you've got to double down your efforts to reach videocasters. That's where your sales will come from for sure. It will only take one big score!

Do you happen to have any advice for reaching youtubers?  Sending unsolicited emails hasn't helped me very much, even though some larger youtubers such as Markiplier did play one of my early games.  It seems that their fans (naturally) have a lot more influence.  I've made a point of asking people to recommend the game to their favorite LPers, but as of yet nothing has come from that.

[DanglinBob]

E-mail is a good start, but also I find Twitter a good place to reach people directly. Just toss them a quick message... but you know, have some tact too Make it interesting, not just "PLAY MY GAME PLEASE!!!" :D And it often takes more than 1 email.

[David 'jefequeso' Szymanski]

E-mail is a good start, but also I find Twitter a good place to reach people directly. Just toss them a quick message... but you know, have some tact too Make it interesting, not just "PLAY MY GAME PLEASE!!!" :D And it often takes more than 1 email.

Ok, thanks for the advice