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[Florent]

All the fus about Steam Greenlight made me thing about the problem of the discoverability of games.
What can we (players or developers) do to improve it ?


From a player point of view, I may would like to actively search for games. For that I would need a big database whose main feature would be a comprehensive search form that allows me to filter games with has much criteria has possible (even more than on TIGdb).
The search would ideally return me only a handfull (100-) of games that I presumably likes (if I used the correct criteria) that I could actually spend time looking at (pitch, screenshots, videos, social networks links...).

There is already several database out there (TIGdb, IndieDB, ShowMeTheGame, other various sites) but none are really actually useful due to not enough games or very limited search criteria.
Some people have also pointed out that it may be utopian to want to have everyone (every dev/games) in one single place ?


On the other hand many players don't want to search for games and just wait to actually discover games via the press/blogs/social networks.
The issue here is that PR/marketing is really hard and many developers don't do it correctly (if at all).
Just an example from a game project you probably never heard of : tweeting in a language other than english, to 26 followers, without any hashtag...

All marketing infos/resources are already out there but I think it would be very useful to have a one place (again) dedicated to PR advices like "how to use twitter/facebook", "how to properly set up and run a devblog", etc...
Some basic things, but which are obviously not evident to some (many ?) devs.


What do you think ?

[@Alex@]

I agree with most of what you say. I have no idea about how to improve the visibility of a game and it's something I'm going to struggle to do over the coming months but I'm trying to increase my presence on social networking sites such as twitter and become a little more active in friendly communities.

Your idea of a large database , while obviously not unique , is a good idea but would be nearly impossible from my point of view due to the sheer numbers of games involved. It would either have be selective or not include games before a certain release or not include games not submitted to it directly depending on the amount of man power available to its operators.

[Graham-]

This is possible if you want to put a lot of time into it.

1. Create a crawler for all the major sites (like 20+ or so).
     . updates constantly, looking for new games, press releases, scores on metacritic etc.

2. Create a bunch of search terms for the big sites to trigger on articles that mention a game but can't determine if the content is directly related. Have these automatically sorted. Then on a regular basis comb through them, marking the right ones in the right ways.

3. Pay people to do 2.


----

Most games aren't discovered because:
  1. They aren't that interesting.
  2. The marketing materials blow (trailers, press releases, screens).
  3. They aren't viral.
  4. There's no marketing campaign i.e. hammering the news sites.

[Muz]

You can't really improve it any more. There's too many games out there. There's too many blogs and sites and stuff. Even as an above average active gamer, I don't look at those sites and I don't look for those games.

There's basically just too much crap that takes 3 hours before you realize that it's crap. If you want to improve conversion rates, that's your main point.. sell it within those 3 hours.

It gets buried. Even if you have a good game (and I'm sure you do), it's really hard to tell it from all that other crap out there.

I'd say the the best method is going back to webrings. Hang out in sites similar to your game, talk about your game. If I made a strategy game now and told you guys about it, it would attract little interest because people here are just not that into strategy. But if I just went to the IRC of a strategy game community, like Paradox or Matrix Games, it would attract a ton of attention.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i think discoverability is largely a myth. successful games games almost never get "discovered", they get pushed/hyped, either by the game's developer, the game's fans, or the media

people don't like to admit this, but for almost all the games you have ever played or enjoyed, including for almost all of your favorite games, you did not "discover" those games. those games found you, not the other way around. someone else (usually the marketer) put the effort into getting the game in front of your eyes and onto your computer or console, much more effort than you yourself put into finding it

there are a couple of exceptions, but those are "the exceptions that prove the rule" -- for every one game that actually was discovered, there are hundreds of games that were simply marketed well

[JustJeffy]

This is possible if you want to put a lot of time into it.

1. Create a crawler for all the major sites (like 20+ or so).
     . updates constantly, looking for new games, press releases, scores on metacritic etc.

2. Create a bunch of search terms for the big sites to trigger on articles that mention a game but can't determine if the content is directly related. Have these automatically sorted. Then on a regular basis comb through them, marking the right ones in the right ways.

3. Pay people to do 2.


----

Most games aren't discovered because:
  1. They aren't that interesting.
  2. The marketing materials blow (trailers, press releases, screens).
  3. They aren't viral.
  4. There's no marketing campaign i.e. hammering the news sites.

Can you point me to someone I can pay to this. I was just discussing this option on a post (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=28609.0) I opened up?

[Graham-]

You mean you want to do step 3?

[JustJeffy]

Yes I do.

[Graham-]

shit, just post on craigslist, here, everywhere.

there's a whack of sites that let employers post job listings.

I'd recommend driving traffic first.

[JustJeffy]

Driving traffic to where? The post?

[Graham-]

no, to the site, so you know what you're looking for in a hire, and so you can justify the cost.

[JustJeffy]

I see what your saying. Sorry I read your original post wrong. I though 3 read "pay people to do [it]"

We are already driving traffic to the site for the pre release. We would just need to figure out the best way to implement your idea for the search.

[Graham-]

You mean you thought you could pay someone to do the real work for you? God no, not without a lot of $.

Maybe I don't understand.

Search can be as complex as you want. The technology is actually very straight-forward, amazingly so. What is far more important is deciding what content you want to web-crawl for, and how you'd like to present it for the user to browse.

[JustJeffy]

I am trying to provide the service that the OP has asked for in this post. Your search engine suggestion just seemed to solve the problem. I just need to find a way to develop it. My search would be compiled of indie games, based on name, genre, style, etc.

[Graham-]

ohhh...

Well, just make a list of sites. Then use a library that lets you get their html, then use regular expressions to get to the information you want. Then have a script that gets everything every site has, and then reruns on a schedule to get new updates as soon as they pop up.

You'll probably need a special set of regular expressions for each site. It's a fair amount of work, but straight-forward.

[JustJeffy]

I will take al this back to my developers and see what they can do. Thanks!

[alfredosays]

i think discoverability is largely a myth. successful games games almost never get "discovered", they get pushed/hyped, either by the game's developer, the game's fans, or the media

people don't like to admit this, but for almost all the games you have ever played or enjoyed, including for almost all of your favorite games, you did not "discover" those games. those games found you, not the other way around. someone else (usually the marketer) put the effort into getting the game in front of your eyes and onto your computer or console, much more effort than you yourself put into finding it

there are a couple of exceptions, but those are "the exceptions that prove the rule" -- for every one game that actually was discovered, there are hundreds of games that were simply marketed well

Agreed. Even when word of mouth happens organically, it's usually a prominent developer/journalist that puts the ball in motion.

[moi]

one day you will discover that it's all part of the same big old maffia