how to get people to actually play your game

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7 comments, last by ZOSK 5 years, 6 months ago

Hi all,

I am yawmoo and I am new to the game development scene.

I have a lot of experience in the software industry and I always wanted to create my own game.

I started doing it in my spare time and I got to the point where I have something that I find cool, even if very small.

One issue I get is, I find it cool but the people I personally know who are gamers tend to dismiss it because it's nothing like the current triple A title.

I mean, it's just the work of a single programmer with limited art skills, a sound effect generator and not much spare time.

What is a good way to get in touch with the community so that they start playing your game and give you real feedback? How do people do it?

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Hi, yawmoo. Your post has been moved to the Business/Law forum because you're asking about marketing. A lot of other people have asked marketing questions here in this forum, and gotten some great answers. You should look for those threads here - and don't just limit your search to the first page of threads. Good luck!

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Thanks ?

For web based games try to get them into Kongregate, Armorgames, Newgrounds. You will have to make some tweaks to fit in their requirements, though you will get lots of free feedback.

For standalone platforms like PC, Android there are forums dedicated to that, although people don't trust indie games off the internet, it must be through some reputable platform.

 

For getting new players overall, without investing much money, these are the best shots i know. You can shoot for the moon, promote it on reddit, or collab with a free distributor for a small mutual contract that you make content, and you both share the revenue. Without advertising here, they are out there :)

For web based games I hear Y8 is also really good, they have a lot of unique visitors. You can also use Crazygames.com, they offer statistics about your game: new players, average duration, retention rate,... quite useful! (+they have revenue share and you don't transfer copyrights which is rare on those platforms).

 

 

Thank. I will look into all this ?

 

Maybe you should find a publisher. If your game is great they share with you their know-how for a percentage of revenue. Great Google strategy for visibility in long-term is very important too. I mean for keywords related to your game. For example "strategy online football game".

Marketing and active community is key to success. Facebook Ads. Contest with prizes, Facebook Ads, collecting feedback - everything from this is expensive but without it will be very hard.

I do not know how it works but I know that also good relations with Google Play and iOS Store are very important. I am sure that mobile game devs are positioning their games in stores.

The hard topic at all.

For standalone games, gamejolt.com or itch.io are great. I’ve been using gamejolt, and I highly recommend it.

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