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[melos]

So I've done a big press push with the demo for my game. I have some contacts in the press willing to cover my game when it's finished and released, but now I'm wondering how to grow a fan base. Any ideas? All I really have is Twitter, that devlog, IndieDB...there's reddit but if I keep posting someone will probably break my neck (regardless of how much I participate?).  Like 60 watchers on IndieDB and then I'd wager about the same amount (maybe a few more) who have followed me on Twitter out of only info on my game.

Any tips on what to do between now and release? (besides finishing the game )

[Bambino2012]

Update your indieDB page a lot.
Search around the net where are the people the like this kind of games, forums maybe ?
Announce it there, what you are doing, maybe with a ingame video ?
Try to contact other devs that do this type of games , ask them advises.

[zalzane]

Take a page from the game book of other successful indies.

For example, try to track down what exactly made Fez so popular on here, and how that influenced the future fanbase.

Another good example is Delver, a game thats in development and runs a devlog on here. That thread has 100 pages and over 100k impressions. Why does it have those kinds of numbers? Thats the kind of stuff you have to investigate.

[melos]

Take a page from the game book of other successful indies.

For example, try to track down what exactly made Fez so popular on here, and how that influenced the future fanbase.

Another good example is Delver, a game thats in development and runs a devlog on here. That thread has 100 pages and over 100k impressions. Why does it have those kinds of numbers? Thats the kind of stuff you have to investigate.

I was curious about Delver myself. Anyone know why?

**edit** Well, Notch likes the game, and the traffic/suggestions went way up after that point - so there's one reason that I have no control over. https://twitter.com/notch/status/190015508807032834

Additionally, it's been in development since October and he release a fun, playable build with the posting of the devlog.

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I'll have to look at Fez though I'd assume it's from the rotation mechanic winning that IGF award, fish's personality, and obviously the game being beautiful.





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Anyways, let's talk about things that can be done outside of

-Getting mentioned by a celebrity
-Having an eye-catching game
-Having a fun, playable build

I assume if you have the latter 2 and they're at the very very top of the class, then the game might just end up marketing itself. But otherwise, what are some "aggressive marketing" tips?



Random ideas:

1. Tweet at notch (I don't think anything good could come of this 99 times out of 100. Although it's  fairly effortless thing to do)
2. ?

[zalzane]

Notch's tweeting certainly gave delver a helping hand, but there's a lot more to it than that. Compare the Delver thread to other devlog threads that were started during the same time period, and compare them to figure out why they aren't as successful as Delver.

Don't say you don't have control over it either. Through a lot of metagaming and strategic placement, you could probably get a popular e-celebrity to come across your game and retweet it or whatever.

The important thing to remember is although many games get very popular simply by chance, there's no reason you can't achieve the same levels of popularity through clever and strategic marketing.

[melos]

The important thing to remember is although many games get very popular simply by chance, there's no reason you can't achieve the same levels of popularity through clever and strategic marketing.

I'm wondering if anyone has examples of the "clever and strategic marketing" that have worked? Not that duplicating them will also work but it's worth learning from.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i think studying how other games did it is a good idea, but often times what other games did are things that you can't actually replicate. for instance, with fez, it became popular largely because it won the visuals award in the igf. you can't just 'win an igf award' as a marketing technique

similarly, a lot of the time a game becomes popular because some popular / famous let's player let's plays the game. this happened with mcpixel for instance. while you can send let's players your game to play, there's no promise that any of them actually will, or that those who do let's play your game will be famous

i think people who haven't actually marketed games don't realize how much it comes down to luck: being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, fortunate circumstances, etc. -- even notch has said that minecraft's success is largely luck and that he has doubts that any of his future games will be as successful

but that isn't a justification to do nothing. you still must work hard at marketing. continue to do everything you can think of to market your game, to put just as much effort into marketing it as you put into making it. but what i mean is, just don't feel bad if the results seem uneven or random, because that's normal. just "do the best you can and leave the results to the gods" as nintendo says

[zalzane]

The important thing to remember is although many games get very popular simply by chance, there's no reason you can't achieve the same levels of popularity through clever and strategic marketing.

I'm wondering if anyone has examples of the "clever and strategic marketing" that have worked? Not that duplicating them will also work but it's worth learning from.

I have a friend who worked on an unnamed game who would go out of their way to publish information and devlogs about his game in places that he suspected major e-celebrities regularly visited. He did his research on which e-celebs would likely recieve his game well, made some estimations on what kinds of places said celebs would browse on a regular basis, and would advertise his game there.

After about 2 weeks, it paid off and one of his targeted e-celebs made a tweet about his game, bringing in the traffic he desired.

That's just one example though. There's probably lots of other ones, but much of the time it's nearly impossible to tell if a viral explosion was due to strategic marketing or luck. The only way to really find out is to ask the developers, who usually tend to be very reluctant to discuss their marketing practices.

[alfredosays]

The best way to grow a fanbase organically today is to get them engaged! However many followers and contacts you have - don't just send them stuff, make them active participants in the process. That way they feel emotionally connected to the game and vested in your success. That's a part of what makes Kickstarter fun. They'll have more of an incentive to spread the word about your game after they feel like a part of it is theirs - because it is! This is isn't just a marketing technique - it helps make your game better and discover things you wouldn't otherwise discover