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[Hoj]

Or none at all.

I do web design all week, self employed, small business. Game design has always been a little hobby I do on the side (using CF2.5). I've played about with game design for years, spriting, making little engines etc.

I'm working on a project at the moment that's about 50%-75% complete, hoping to release it soon.

All I intend to do is upload a lite version, and a paid for version (not sure on prices, but like $2). But that's it. All I want to do is upload it and see how it does.

No business plan or marketing plan, other than 2 things:

1. Read a load of blogs about marketing an app/game on the app store, and read through the TIGSource Business forum.
2. Create a snazzy website for the game.


Is there anything else I should be thinking about?

[Yarif]

I guess i'm on the same situation as you. In our case we maid a Business plan because many partners asked us about it, and its just a wasting time document when you are starting a game company.

After research i found some recommandation from indie game dev to do before launching your product as :

- A trailer
- A website + Blog
- Talk about your game trough social media and forums
- Playtest your game to receive early feedbacks
- If mobile, Soft-launch in a specific country to test your game on the target.
- Prepare a press-release. http://dopresskit.com/
- Contact journalist

A good article to read before launching your game  http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/marketing-your-indie-game-the-single-most-important-thing-that-no-one-knows-how-to-do--gamedev-7157

Hope it might help you

[Hoj]

Thanks for your input, very helpful. I've already started to be active on Twitter, and am planning on creating a website and blog.

I know quite a few people involved in PR and marketing that can probably help too, and I'm doing business networking as well which is quite insightful.

Anyway - I appreciate the link. Are you on Twitter?

[RockyKev]

- Talk about your game trough social media and forums
- Contact journalist

Great stuff Yarif! I want to comment on the 2 above, and add a bonus one at the end.

1) Talk about your game through social media and forums:
Rather than shoot your marketing material into the void, laser-focus on who would best enjoy your game. Then integrate into their community. That requires you to spend some time thinking about your target audience. Look to where they congregate. If you're building a Nostalgic RPG, go into forums/sub-reddits/facebook groups that are already talking about it. Then ask, "Hey - I'd love some feedback!"

Once more- you're integrating yourself into these communities, not marketing AT them.

2) Contact journalists:
Just like the tip above - don't just cold email people and say, "Play my game."
Look for a way to get your foot into the door. There's a few methods to doing this, but let me share with you my favorite. Say, "Hi [journalist], your review of [game that's similar to yours] is freakin' hilarious! I really like [x, y, and z]. I was working on a game very similar to that.

Because of your expertise in that genre - and I wanted to know if you'd be interested in giving me some tips about my game. I completely understand if you're busy. If you happen to know others who would be interested, that would be fantastic."

btw -- I wouldn't include journalists either. Think about youtube streamers, twitch gamers, game bloggers and gamer podcasts.

Bonus tip: Rather than focus on marketing tactics (get on twitter, use hashtags), focus on marketing campaigns. (get 5 reviews, sell 10 copies.) You'll have more success in it.

Let me know if you want me to clarify or dig deeper!

[Hoj]

Thanks for this RockyKev, some interesting points for me to think about.

I need to find a more 'laser-focused' target audience. So far my target audience has been "kids to young adults, people that play games'... and in fairness, I started working on my game without any sort of audience in mind (it's a little maze/dungeon/puzzle game, I'm going to post a dev topic about it this week). I've only been working on it for a few weeks (after years of failed overly large projects), and I expect to finish it and publish it within a month or so. I just want(ed) to throw it out there and see how it does, but as I've got further in the project I think some sort of marketing attempt should be made.

Some of the things I'm going to do:

• Interesting Dev Topic
• Website (web design is what I do)
• I am going to present the game at a Business Networking event
• Identify communities that might want to try it
• Contact local newspapers (I don't think there's many game developers in my area, so I think the papers would write a little piece about it)
• Get online reviews, on game websites / youtubers (I have a friend that writes articles for Cubed3, I'm hoping he'll give it a review.)

The items in bold are new ideas since your post.

Let me give you a bit more info, too.

I want to release a free 'lite' version, then sell a full version for a small price (I haven't decided on this yet either, but it'll be between 10p - £1.50).

If I sold a couple of thousand, I'd see it as a success.

Selling the game isn't why I'm making it - I'm making it because I love doing it. I want to finish something for others to play and enjoy. If I made a little bit of money from it, I could spend more time doing it. Don't think I intend to get 1 million downloads or particularly need for it to be successful.

[RockyKev]

Contact local newspapers (I don't think there's many game developers in my area, so I think the papers would write a little piece about it)
Get online reviews, on game websites / youtubers (I have a friend that writes articles for Cubed3, I'm hoping he'll give it a review.)

That's so freakin' smart. That's an asset that I forget about, the local newspaper scene. They're so hungry for local celebrities like a game developer. In a previous job, I worked with the local comedy scene, and we got comedians in the art section without a sweat. Then we'd use the newspaper article as leverage to get into magazines and local news/radio. Then use those resources as leverage for other promotions.

The results are hit-and-miss at times, but the relationships are worth it.