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[RockyKev]

I had a short and impactful chat with Amir Rajan of A Dark Room, and how he got 1 million downloads. I also  dug into Amir’s 2-year journey and his meticulously well-documented sales reports to pull out key insights of what Amir did right.

Devs are told to 'email blast everyone under the sun' their game and hope for the best. They don't take time to cultivate relationships that lead to results.

I want to talk about two methods that he did to really get the ball rolling and build relationships.

Un-Sexy Method 1: Actually connecting with Influencers to start the Momentum

Amir built relationships early on, and continued building them as A Dark Room gained popularity.

One of the first influential people Amir connected with was Leigh Alexander, editor at Gamasutra & Kotaku.

The timeline

• Nov 18, 2013: Amir connected with Leigh Alexander using the Twitter Handle, @aDarkRoomIOS.
• Feb 21, 2014: Amir reaches out to Leigh again.
• March 6, 2014: Leigh publishes her interview with Amir and Matthew.
• In Amir’s case: it took 3.5 months from saying hello and getting Leigh in his orbit, to finally convincing Leigh that he matters.
  

How did he repeat it?

• Sept 2, 2014: Amir had a interview with Kaijupop’s Chris Charlton
• Sept 6, 2014: Chris Charlton writes an article about A Dark Room
• April 20th, 2015: Six months later, Chris writes a post to promote Amir's other game, A Noble Circle
• To this day: Amir and Chris have a few back and forth conversations via twitter
  

Un-Sexy Method 2: Creating Sticky Connections with Fans
Another strategy that Amir focused on was connecting directly with his fans, even so far so to tweet as the narrator of @aDarkRoomiOS on twitter.

On our call, Amir referred to it as creating ‘sticky connections’. I’m not sure if he got the term from the book Made to Stick, by the Heath brothers (highly recommended), but it’s applicable here.

The idea is to do something that makes people remember you. For Amir, that was beyond the game he created, and reaching out to people online.

One Example: Positive mentions of A Dark Room would send Amir to thank them publicly. That extra step creates stickiness.

Another example: Amir awards Redditors who mentions A Dark Room with Reddit Gold, a ‘gift currency’, that gives the user all sorts of perks when visit Reddit.

There are also posts asking for more games like A Dark Room. Game developers are fighting tooth and nail to even be a part of the conversation. A Dark Room was getting it through comparisons.

This stickiness is important, because it pushes people to share. To say things like, "This game tweeted to me! I gotta tell everyone!"

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Those are the two un-sexy methods in a nutshell.
It's not rocket science. But it's steps that many devs fall behind in.

During our call, we also talked about iteration, which is a topic of Amir's based on how he live-iterated "A Noble Circle". He challenged me to do the same for this post. SO I've been taking feedback, and seeing how to improve my article to making it more action.

So what can I do to make this more actionable?

It's already been through 3 edits. I'd love to know your thoughts.
The full post: https://medium.com/@rockykev/the-un-sexy-side-of-marketing-behind-a-dark-room-b20cd02edfdb

[Wacompen]

I recently ordered around 250 cards with my game info on them and a place to stick a steam key. I then printed out keys on clear sticky paper and cut them out. I hand the cards out all over and dropped off a stack at a local GameStop. I recently got an email from an excited player thanking me for the card and looking forward to the game. Another thing is I'm a regular skateboarder and when I hand out card/keys to guys at the skate park they're really excited to see a fellow skateboarder creating games and promise to share the game however they can.

[RockyKev]

I recently got an email from an excited player thanking me for the card and looking forward to the game. Another thing is I'm a regular skateboarder and when I hand out card/keys to guys at the skate park they're really excited to see a fellow skateboarder creating games and promise to share the game however they can.

I really really love this!
With the internet, there's this misconception that people can go online and fans are just drooling for them to show them their game. Really - your first 100 fans are gained from things like that. They are those skater guys!

Wacompen, you rock!

[Wacompen]

With the internet, there's this misconception that people can go online and fans are just drooling for them to show them their game. Really - your first 100 fans are gained from things like that. They are those skater guys!

Yeah, when you start promoting online you realize how little people pay attention. I created an automated message which is sent out to new Twitter followers on my account. I think only around 5 people have actually read it

[cloudyheaven]

Thank you for posting these tips.  As an extremely socially awkward introvert (even online!), this is a particularly painful point for someone like me.  It really takes so much for me to even muster up the initiative to even say "hi" to someone, but I know that's something I'll have to work on if I want to market successfully.  I guess practice is the way to go, huh?

[ryansumo]

Good tips.  I can say that unsexy tip 1 was what I did in order to seal a publisher deal for our game.  Once the publisher announces the game I'd be happy to share a little more about the process.

I'm an introvert myself, so I realize it's difficult to get to know people.  The thing is, we're an industry built of introverts, so you'll likely be introducing yourself to another introverted nerd and will have a lot to chat about re: game and culture.  It really takes a lot of practice, but over 10 years I've gone from getting an actual fever from fear of raising my hand to ask a question from a speaker to becoming a relatively engaging speaker myself. 

As for the article itself it's pretty nice and concise but a little lacking in nuance.  For example, your description of how he got Leigh Alexander to write a story about them feels a little too formulaic.  Some people might think that it's just steps 1-4 and hey presto I have an article about me!  I worry that Leigh Alexander will not get bombarded by people wanting to "build relationships". 

Perhaps this is a topic that is best expressed in another article, but building relationships can take a long time, and it only really works if there is genuine respect between the two parties. 

[RockyKev]

As for the article itself it's pretty nice and concise but a little lacking in nuance.  For example, your description of how he got Leigh Alexander to write a story about them feels a little too formulaic.  Some people might think that it's just steps 1-4 and hey presto I have an article about me!  I worry that Leigh Alexander will not get bombarded by people wanting to "build relationships". 

Perhaps this is a topic that is best expressed in another article, but building relationships can take a long time, and it only really works if there is genuine respect between the two parties. 

Ryansumo - thank you so much for the fantastic feedback!

You're totally right! I didn't include the rapport building. What a hindsight! I'm off to work writing another article!
You rock!

[cloudyheaven]

I'm an introvert myself, so I realize it's difficult to get to know people.  The thing is, we're an industry built of introverts, so you'll likely be introducing yourself to another introverted nerd and will have a lot to chat about re: game and culture.  It really takes a lot of practice, but over 10 years I've gone from getting an actual fever from fear of raising my hand to ask a question from a speaker to becoming a relatively engaging speaker myself. 

Good point!  I do think I've gotten better, and it is does help to realize that you might be talking to someone who is just as awkward as you are   

Oddly enough, I'm more comfortable with public speaking, I guess maybe because I have a topic that I'm focused on, I'm the "expert" so I feel more in control (there's a clearly defined relationship, I'm conveying info that people want to hear), and it's not as free-form/back and forth.  Once it's on a more personal, one-on-one level it feels a little more shakey. I also think activities like Toastmasters helped.

I think another thing is not always anxiety, but rather as an introvert, a lot of times engaging uses up a lot of energy, I feel.  Sometimes it can literally exhaust me, which I understand is pretty much the opposite for extroverts, and even with people I'm close to after awhile I just run out of words and "speaking energy" (I hope that makes sense).  I guess it's about knowing how to manage your energy levels and recognizing when it's time to recharge, so to speak.