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[feedtank]

A friend and I have been working an a game for just over a year - we've put a LOT of effort into it. It's going to be in the store one week from today. I'd like to say we're pretty good artist-designer-programmers, but don't have much of a clue when it comes to marketing. We've spent a lot of time on the trailer, screenshots and the like, but beyond just posting on forums and submitting to blogs I'm not too sure what else to do. Anyone have suggestions?

Here is a trailer and a few screenshots for reference:

Trailer




Screenshots




Thanks!

[PDS271]

Hi feedtank,

This board has a lot of good discussion and advice from a few different members: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=29903.0.

Also, I just wrote a blog post yesterday about how to set up advertising on Facebook to get more Likes: http://pds271.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/how-to-create-a-facebook-ad-for-your-game/

One other blog is Emmy Jonassen. She has some great step-by-step info: http://www.indiegamegirl.com/

I love the trailer, great storytelling with the poking. My younger daughter would love this game. Is it only for iOS?


-Patrick

[feedtank]

This board has a lot of good discussion and advice from a few different members: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=29903.0.

Also, I just wrote a blog post yesterday about how to set up advertising on Facebook to get more Likes: http://pds271.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/how-to-create-a-facebook-ad-for-your-game/

One other blog is Emmy Jonassen. She has some great step-by-step info: http://www.indiegamegirl.com/

I love the trailer, great storytelling with the poking. My younger daughter would love this game. Is it only for iOS?

Great stuff. Thanks PDS271. I'll check it all out. It is currently for iOS only. If it does well, we'll do Android. Very glad you enjoyed the trailer. We put a fair amount of effort into it and are hoping it will pay off.

[feedtank]

Also, I just wrote a blog post yesterday about how to set up advertising on Facebook to get more Likes: http://pds271.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/how-to-create-a-facebook-ad-for-your-game/

Hey Patrick. I read your blog post. I think we'll try it. I'll post back here with the results in case any one is interested.

[PDS271]

Great! I hope it should be successful for you. After you've started getting some likes make sure to keep up engagement with questions, pics and video!

[dexter_deluxe]

Hi! I have no personal experience in marketing either... I'm quite in the same situation as you, but I've found this list:

http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big-list-of-indie-game-marketing/

It should do the trick!

And I would recommend this

on marketing and PR from Vlad Micu. Also check out his other lectures (e.g. about Understanding Journalism"), they are good and easy to follow...

All the best!
Rene

[feedtank]

Hi! I have no personal experience in marketing either... I'm quite in the same situation as you, but I've found this list

Thanks Rene!

I did stumble upon those pixel prospector lists in my googling... and they are, no doubt, invaluable.

Another thing I found, is the website promoter:
http://www.promoterapp.com/

Mostly for apps, but if you sign up for the free version, it has a list of ~600 game / review websites with the number of twitter followers for each (to get a sense of its popularity).

Checked out the Noomix site. Great site + art!

[feedtank]

Just wanted to let you know that as of today, Pangolin is in the App Store!



Download it for FREE here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pangolin/id514959471?ls=1&mt=8

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!

PS. I think we're going to try the $40 facebook ad thing soon. I'll try and post back here with results, if anyone is interested.

[oByhring]

PS. I think we're going to try the $40 facebook ad thing soon. I'll try and post back here with results, if anyone is interested.

I don't own an iDevice so I can't test your game, but I would be very interested in hearing about the results of a 40$ ad on facebook

[trilby]

How are you getting on with the app feed tank? It's downloading on my iPad right now.

[feedtank]

How are you getting on with the app feed tank? It's downloading on my iPad right now.

It's going OK. We have yet to make an iPad optimized version. It should be coming soon.

The app is doing OK. The market is definitely swamped. Seems a tough time of year to release an app as an indie.

[GeoffW]

Hi,

You might like to check out my DevLog about marketing The Trouble With Robots.  Amongst other things I did some paid advertising with Facebook and Google Adwords which might interest you (mixed success, some important lessons learned).  Feel free to ask questions on the thread or PM me, just remember that I'm not really an expert!

[feedtank]

Hi,

You might like to check out my DevLog about marketing The Trouble With Robots.

Thanks for the rec! I just read through your DevLog and found it quite helpful and informative. So far, our biggest challenge has been just to get reviewed. We've sent emails to 50+ sites starting about two weeks ago, and got our first review just yesterday on Jayisgames. Quite positive: http://bit.ly/pangolin-review-2. Thought this would result in a spike in downloads, but nothing too significant yet.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

here are some things that help with getting reviewed in my experience, both as a reviewer and as someone who has released a game and tried to get it reviewed:

- send emails to people specifically, by name, and be familiar with their work, don't just send the same mass email to a ton of reviewers. make each email unique, tailored to the different reviewers; say things like 'so and so recommended you' and 'i liked your reviews of ___ and ___ and think you may also enjoy my game based on your taste' and so on

- if the site they review for has a particular audience, describe their site (use its name so they know it's a unique email) and explain how you think your game fits their audience. nothing's worse than sending a game to be reviewed on a site that doesn't review that type of game (for instance, sending an iphone game to be reviewed on a site that reviews exclusively pc games is stupid and will just get you on their ignore list)

- those emails should at the least include the full version of the game and a link to the game's trailer (whether they review the game or not will largely depend on how good the trailer is); don't send them just the demo and don't say stuff like 'email me back if you want the build to review', the email itself should contain the full version as an attachment or have a direct download link to it

- send review copies slightly *before* the game is released if possible (when it's still in the pre-order stage), that'll give them a sense of exclusivity

- if someone replies and says they'll review it and then doesn't, send reminder emails every week or so asking how the review is coming along (unless they specifically tell you your game isn't going to be reviewed). reviewers are busy and people constantly reminding them gives them a push. don't send too many, but send enough so that they don't forget about it; don't be obnoxious but be pushy

even if you do all these things your review rate *will* still be pretty low; most sites will ignore you unless your game is super-popular already. once a game gets popular all the sites review it, but for unknown games, no matter how hard you work at it and no matter how good your game is the majority of sites will ignore your game

[feedtank]

- send emails to people specifically, by name, and be familiar with their work, don't just send the same mass email to a ton of reviewers. make each email unique, tailored to the different reviewers; say things like 'so and so recommended you' and 'i liked your reviews of ___ and ___ and think you may also enjoy my game based on your taste' and so on

Thanks for the tips. I've followed most of these, except for the pre-review copy part, mostly because of this article:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/04/how-early-reviews-hurt-sales-of-indie-games/

However, I've also heard that most sites are aware of this now and will hold off reviews until the release date if you ask. Not sure though.

I should say that your first piece of advice is gold (searching out individual reviewers). It is by far the most valuable thing I've learned in this whole process. I just started doing this a week ago and my response rate has gone from like 1% to 50-75%. It does take time, but it's worth it.

One question. Now that we have some good review quotes (e.g. "A very different, very entertaining sort of game"), does it make sense to put these in our request-for-review emails or not? Don't want to imply that I'm trying to shape their opinions, but do want to show it's a good game that's worth looking at.

 

[feedtank]

Just giving an update here. Numbers aren't good. Since release we've gone down to average about maybe 30-40 a day. We've gotten some really good reviews though:

----------
“Pangolin is easily one of the best mobile games of the year.”
– Short and Sweet Reviews

“Sonic the Hedgehog would be jealous... extremely well crafted and addictive.”
– Indie Love

“Very different, very entertaining.”
– JayIsGames

“A loveable iOS anti-platformer.”
– Independent Gaming

“Simply beautiful... keeps you coming back.”
– The Indie Developer
----------

We also have 33 / 33 five star ratings.

Anyway, we're still hoping it picks up. Note to indie devs. DO NOT release in December. Reviewers are completely overwhelmed.

[Purdle]

This post is very interesting and I'd hoped that when I got to the last entry I'd read about your success. Keep up the good work with letting us know how you get on because it is all valuable stuff.

[IMHO] I think that we all hope our efforts on any given game will result in that big hit. Listening to other people who really did make it big, I think that one extra ingredient to the marketing is not giving up. I don't mean that you should not move on to your next game, exactly the opposite. Push the game you are doing or have just done, giving it your best shot and then move on. Start your next title, you may need to build relationships with influential sites / people over quite a time. Don't expect to quit that day job right away unless you have really low outgoings and even then we all need at least a trickle of $ to keep us going...

Of course, there are always exceptions, that was just my 2p.

Anyone who's made it on their 1st shot or anyone who made it on their 50th care to share too?

[feedtank]

This post is very interesting and I'd hoped that when I got to the last entry I'd read about your success. Keep up the good work with letting us know how you get on because it is all valuable stuff.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have to say I agree with all of the above. We do plan on continuing to push it. It's definitely a lot easier to continue when you keep on hearing good things about your game (see above review quotes). We also had a good day on reddit yesterday. Got a spike in downloads and some press people requesting codes after seeing it there. I definitely recommend using reddit.

Here was our post:
http://bit.ly/pangolin-reddit-indie

[feedtank]

So, we've gotten a few more good reviews.

One in PocketTactics:
"This golf-like iOS oddity is well worth a bounce... downright beautiful."
http://bit.ly/pangolin-review-6

One YouTube review:
"Quite simply astounding. Sure, you've played games like Angry Birds and Stickman Golf. It's time for something new… and this might be it."
http://bit.ly/pangolin-review-7

Alex is friendly and very professional (high quality video reviews). I highly recommend any iPhone devs contact this guy.

Also, we posted the YouTube to r/IndieGaming. It's not getting as much of a response as the our other post... probably because the last post was on a Saturday morning (good time to post). Also, a bunch of people might have seen it already.

[feedtank]

Pangolin is currently New and Noteworthy in the UK iTunes Home Page, and then New and Noteworthy in Games in 40 other countries (France, Germany, Taiwan...)!

(We've actually have been for the past week, so it may change today)

Thank you all for your advice and support!