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[quantumpotato]

I reached out to a PR firm that Guacamelee used. http://vimglobal.com/#clientsSection They offered 6-7k to run PR of press releases, contacting journalsits & sending codes to streamers and youtubers.

This doesn't seem unreasonable but I wanted to know what you thought?

One issue that came up is my game isn't ready on Steam Greenlight. It is for sale on itch but I worry that not being on Steam would lessen its interest. VIM seemed to follow the strategy of - get greenlight, do PR building up to a soon launch date, then launch.

Personally I don't really understand the idea of launch dates and believe in getting stuff out there asap.. but that's a different topic.

Does it make sense to hire PR for marketing to get Steam traffic or is that too much of a risk because they can't "buy it now"?

[spacetoadsmayhem]

My gut feeling is your PC game absolutely needs to be on Steam for a chance to make it these days

It's 6-7k dollars I presume?

Putting Guacamelee into YouTube search - the results are rather solid. They've been on IGN, TotalBiscuit and many other big channels. Many videos have few hundred thousand views and one on the first page of search results have over 1.5 million! Now, $7000 works out as around £5400 (I'm in UK) - if that's what they've achieved for Guacamelee for this budget I'd say it's awesome results.

I wonder what VIM Global could achieve for an industry noname with a game in a smaller price bracket?

Also, I suppose it's best to initially keep working on my own marketing efforts and building the hype until I've got the game Greenlit - and then contact guys like VIM for the final marketing push, once there is (hopefully) a little noise about the game around already?

Thanks,

L.

[quantumpotato]

My gut feeling is your PC game absolutely needs to be on Steam for a chance to make it these days

It's 6-7k dollars I presume?

Putting Guacamelee into YouTube search - the results are rather solid. They've been on IGN, TotalBiscuit and many other big channels. Many videos have few hundred thousand views and one on the first page of search results have over 1.5 million! Now, $7000 works out as around £5400 (I'm in UK) - if that's what they've achieved for Guacamelee for this budget I'd say it's awesome results.

I wonder what VIM Global could achieve for an industry noname with a game in a smaller price bracket?

Also, I suppose it's best to initially keep working on my own marketing efforts and building the hype until I've got the game Greenlit - and then contact guys like VIM for the final marketing push, once there is (hopefully) a little noise about the game around already?

Thanks,

L.

Thanks - they asked me "so when is your game launching?" and were a little surprised to see that I didn't have Greenlight yet. They said they could still go for coverage but implied that Greenlight was a necessity.. so I gotta market before I can market, lol.

$7000 was the price they gave me for promoting a small SHMUP over the course of a few weeks. They recommended launching in the next several weeks before holidays, or early next year.

I believe Guacamelee had a much more involved (longer) build-up, so probably cost much more.

$7000 is a lot for me right now.. while the possibility of getting press & greenlight sounds promising, my gut feeling matches yours - greenlight first. I'm going to have to decline their offer for now and keep grinding on grassroots & work on other projects. One day!

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Hey man - I don't want to come off as overcritical here, but:

do you think your game is marketable and exciting enough that if it gets in front of reviewers and players: they're going to click on ads and articles, and then click thru to your steam page, and THEN click on buy? What kind of games get your attention like that? Do you think enough buyers to make over 7000 of profit will?

It's probably best to keep marketing costs very low until you have a known game, or at least a game that can blow up and generate buzz. I don't think your game looks like either of those. Market it yourself, make a name for yourself as someone who makes fun games, get to know other devs, etc, before you start sinking money into a product that likely doesn't have the legs to make you money.

[talum]

you'd be wasting your money

focus on making a good game first

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

Do you really think that Guacamelee and your game is on the same level ?

[Capntastic]

I'm not trying to be terse but I wouldn't download your game even if it was free.

People bought Guacamelee because it was a stylish and interesting game, not because of a PR firm.  I know you're proud of your game but it's unrealistic to think a PR firm is going to turn a game that looks like a bootleg ATARI cartridge into a hit.

Use 6 grand to pay artists to make you assets to make your game something people would want to play.

[quantumpotato]

I'm not trying to be terse but I wouldn't download your game even if it was free.

People bought Guacamelee because it was a stylish and interesting game, not because of a PR firm.  I know you're proud of your game but it's unrealistic to think a PR firm is going to turn a game that looks like a bootleg ATARI cartridge into a hit.

Use 6 grand to pay artists to make you assets to make your game something people would want to play.

Thanks, I agree on that. I think my game is interesting but totally lacks in visual style & appeal. Being fun for someone who plays it is irrelevant.

Bakkusa - visual appeal wise, no. I mentioned Guacamelee as reference for how I found out about VIM Global.

[Capntastic]

Thanks, I agree on that. I think my game is interesting but totally lacks in visual style & appeal. Being fun for someone who plays it is irrelevant.

I can't tell if this is being sarcastic or not, but if you're trying to get people to pay attention to your game (which is what PR is about) people need to instantly see the appeal and be hooked

[quantumpotato]

Thanks, I agree on that. I think my game is interesting but totally lacks in visual style & appeal. Being fun for someone who plays it is irrelevant.

I can't tell if this is being sarcastic or not, but if you're trying to get people to pay attention to your game (which is what PR is about) people need to instantly see the appeal and be hooked

No, I'm being serious and agreeing with you about visual appeal. Thank you for the feedback!