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[Bambino2012]

Hey everyone,

I'm about to start sending review copys to everyone I can find, blogs, gaming sites, etc.
How do you guys handle this ?
Do you have a specific press copy, with reduced content ?
Or you send the full game ?
I'm thinking in sending the full game, but I'm almost sure it will end up in torrent sites really fast.

Thanks for any advice

Bruno

[ANtY]

It probably will but ppl are always sending full versions, sometimes with something like "THIS IS A PRESS COPY, DO NOT <something>" in the main menu screen.

I know cuz I'm an editor 

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

side note: unless your game is fairly popular, chances are that even if someone sets up a torrent it'll eventually reach 0 seeds and nobody can get it that way. what you need to worry about more with piracy is mediafire, rapidshare, and sites like that (but those can be taken down, sometimes, through emails)

anyway, what you need is a list of press emails, and send an email saying 'review copy available on request'. then if someone requests one, send it to that person, but if you're worried about them uploading it, make sure they're a trustworthy site and not someone who runs a blog somewhere with no readership. but piracy will happen regardless, as soon as you put up a game for sale (and often before) there will be easy ways to get it for free a google search away

as for how to get these press emails for game review websites, there are several lists floating around that various indies have set up, but it's sort of frowned upon to post those lists in public. so i'd recommend contacting established indies to get those lists (but not me, my list is outdated because i haven't released a commercial indie game since 2007)

[Bambino2012]

Having something written in the menu is not a bad idea, although it will be a nightmare to organize, if I send this to 30 websites, that would mean 30 different copys 
Paul, thanks for the advice, that was precious
What established indies ? You suggest emailing indies that I don't know (for example Wolfire, 2Dboy), and asking them their press list ?
Somehow I don't think that would roll.., I haven't seen any lists around here either.
Can someone help ?

thanks,
Bruno

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

you could try email, or asking on the indiegamer.com forums (which are more business oriented than the tigsource forums). and i don't see why they'd refuse you, indies usually like to help each other.

by established indies though i meant people who have been selling games as shareware for 10+ years: spiderweb software, cliffski, hanako games, cas of puppy games, that old vets group. they're a lot more knowledgeable about these things than i am so they'd be the people to ask

[ANtY]

Having something written in the menu is not a bad idea, although it will be a nightmare to organize, if I send this to 30 websites, that would mean 30 different copys  
Paul, thanks for the advice, that was precious
What established indies ? You suggest emailing indies that I don't know (for example Wolfire, 2Dboy), and asking them their press list ?
Somehow I don't think that would roll.., I haven't seen any lists around here either.
Can someone help ?

thanks,
Bruno

I think that one different copy for them all would be enough ("THIS IS A REVIEW COPY, DO NOT DISTRIBUTE") discouraging.  

You don't know any indies? What a shame, you should establish some friends in indie world, that's very helpful

[cliffski]

Over the years I have concluded that there are not really many super-secret email addresses and contact details for games reviewers. Almost always, they are just listed on the site. I know thats true of bluesnews, kotaku, rock paper shotgun etc,
The real trick is getting them to actually read the email, rather than delete it. I think almost all emails you send to game reviewers get through, most probably get deleted if it's from someone new and your game does not grab them.

So the problem is how to 'grab' them, when nobody knows who you are. I have no idea how to really do that, but from talking to a lot of journalists, I'd suspect that what you need is

A great game name
At least 1 awesome screenshot
A decent website that you link to
An original and decent game

I think you can be billy no-mates, and have those 4 in place, and you will get a great review and loads of publicity. Just make sure you have all four covered. Good luck :D

Also, youtube videos are great. Don't worry about blind-mailing full copies. Say one is available on request, and anyone serious about covering the game will email you.

[MikeDee]

Personally I believe sending review copies is actually the best way to get writers to pick up your game.
I believe it's a risk you forcibly have to take, and this coming from someone who had one of his games leaked into all forms of piracy even before it was released, precisely because of that.
Don't be paranoid about having your game pirated, let alone limit your marketing because you are afraid it might happen. If it's above average it will be pirated anyway even if you use DRM, and believe me that's not a huge tragedy. You'll probably get pissed initially but having your game pirated means more people will get access to your game and, believe it or not, it also means your chances of having someone write about it is bigger.
Not only that, but a lot of people will play it for free and if they liked it they might buy it, which also means more potential customers.
Of course, this might not work this way every time, but as a rule of thumb piracy won't turn your game a financial failure, in some cases it might actually work the other way around.

[turgoz]

In regards to piracy, if your game is good it will get pirated. See the  article about "Theres No Time to Explain" where they actually uploaded a game to torrent sites to begin with. If your worried about reviewers distributing by accident or on purpose, I'd put in a key code, this at least lets you figure out who leaked it first.

Onward to what you need to do to get the word out (to review sites, other avenues I won't talk about here).

So step one is to collect a list of reviewers and websites that you want to approach. then email then. Some websites if you are cold emailing have boxes to fill in. Work your contacts by asking friends who might know someone who writes for certain websites if they can introduce you.

Then email them.
Address them by name if possible!

Give them a 1 paragraph pitch of why your game is awesome. put a few links in if you'd like but don't embed too many images. Give them a Key Code to download the game. Put in another paragraph about who you are and what your company is.

This is commonly known as a press release.

You don't have to be as fancy as the corporate ones "For immediate release, blah blah blah" part of your indie charm is that you are a real person.

It takes a long time to build up a good contact list and its extremely tedious to find contact information but it is extremely useful.