Game Promotion - the other half of game development!
by Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr · in General Discussion · 08/04/2003 (12:05 pm) · 3 replies
The first part of this is from a post I made to the GameDesign mailing list:
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Well, the time has come. I'm finally going to make a 'serious effort' of marketing a game. Given that there are so many Independant game developers here on the mailing list (and things have been so quiet lately) I thought I might give a shout out and see who's willing to provide some information.
Right now, I'm looking at the process - what needs to be done, and what would be most appropriate for a given type of title (in this case, it's a puzzle game. Yes, yet another puzzle game just entered the market. :-P ) If anyone cares, you can pick it up from the site (http://www.midnightryder.com - Flip Panic! is the new game, and it's totally missing any sort of compelling description at the moment!) I'm interested in getting used to the process and the costs involved in properly marketing a game for online distribution before I do any of the larger releases I've got in mind.
Does anyone use a press release service? If so - any recommendations for a service? Do you write your own, or is having a professional do it really worth the money?
What about advertising tactics? How do you go about pushing the product on sites? How do you determine where to advertise? Do tools like Google AdWords really help any? (I have used this once - it actually did increase my traffic flow and sales a bit, and I was only spending $30 / mo. in advertising with Google. Getting ready to do it again.) What are the good & bad ways to track how good of response your advertising is getting?
And here's the big question - I've only mentioned two routes (press releases and advertising.) What's missing from this picture?
Feel free to add more questions to this list o' questions too. I'm looking at compiling all the answers from the into an online resource for the Developers section of the site - if I've got questions, I'm sure other people have the same questions from time to time. I've seen some online resources, but none that I would consider great. Any links to stuff I should be reading would be appreciated too!
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I'll add to that a little bit more... I'm looking to develop this in a list / article format and will submit it as a resource (probably something less grouchy sounding than my "So Ya Wanna Start A Independant Game Development Company?" ;-) for everyone who's working on Indie games just like I am.
I've tried before to get someone interested in doing promotional work for the stuff I create. Quite honestly, anyone who's been interested has only been interested in 3D hardcore gamer titles. I find that interesting - money is money. While it may be harder to push a couple of cheezy puzzle games, they still pay money.
Something I missed mentioning in the original email to the GameDesign list was what marketing / sales / distribution channels are available to Indies to work from. For instance, Orbz is now marketed on multiple sites. I've got one title setting in a value publisher's QA queue, with another one possibly entering the fray too. These don't make much money that way (as part of a collection of games), but any income stream is income. What streams are other Indies making use of, and any of that good ol' linkage love would be a great thing to add to the resource :-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
Owner, Midnight Ryder Technologies
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Well, the time has come. I'm finally going to make a 'serious effort' of marketing a game. Given that there are so many Independant game developers here on the mailing list (and things have been so quiet lately) I thought I might give a shout out and see who's willing to provide some information.
Right now, I'm looking at the process - what needs to be done, and what would be most appropriate for a given type of title (in this case, it's a puzzle game. Yes, yet another puzzle game just entered the market. :-P ) If anyone cares, you can pick it up from the site (http://www.midnightryder.com - Flip Panic! is the new game, and it's totally missing any sort of compelling description at the moment!) I'm interested in getting used to the process and the costs involved in properly marketing a game for online distribution before I do any of the larger releases I've got in mind.
Does anyone use a press release service? If so - any recommendations for a service? Do you write your own, or is having a professional do it really worth the money?
What about advertising tactics? How do you go about pushing the product on sites? How do you determine where to advertise? Do tools like Google AdWords really help any? (I have used this once - it actually did increase my traffic flow and sales a bit, and I was only spending $30 / mo. in advertising with Google. Getting ready to do it again.) What are the good & bad ways to track how good of response your advertising is getting?
And here's the big question - I've only mentioned two routes (press releases and advertising.) What's missing from this picture?
Feel free to add more questions to this list o' questions too. I'm looking at compiling all the answers from the into an online resource for the Developers section of the site - if I've got questions, I'm sure other people have the same questions from time to time. I've seen some online resources, but none that I would consider great. Any links to stuff I should be reading would be appreciated too!
-------
I'll add to that a little bit more... I'm looking to develop this in a list / article format and will submit it as a resource (probably something less grouchy sounding than my "So Ya Wanna Start A Independant Game Development Company?" ;-) for everyone who's working on Indie games just like I am.
I've tried before to get someone interested in doing promotional work for the stuff I create. Quite honestly, anyone who's been interested has only been interested in 3D hardcore gamer titles. I find that interesting - money is money. While it may be harder to push a couple of cheezy puzzle games, they still pay money.
Something I missed mentioning in the original email to the GameDesign list was what marketing / sales / distribution channels are available to Indies to work from. For instance, Orbz is now marketed on multiple sites. I've got one title setting in a value publisher's QA queue, with another one possibly entering the fray too. These don't make much money that way (as part of a collection of games), but any income stream is income. What streams are other Indies making use of, and any of that good ol' linkage love would be a great thing to add to the resource :-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
Owner, Midnight Ryder Technologies
About the author
#2
It works!
www.action4life.com/cms/previews/RiseofPower.php
08/04/2003 (1:32 pm)
I found the best way was to send a news article to the gaming sites and gaming magazines, one at a time.It works!
www.action4life.com/cms/previews/RiseofPower.php
#3
In january last year we had days of 1000-2000 unique visitors a day on the site (around the time we appeared in magazines and on big game news sites), then I stopped my PR campeign and it dropped to around 20-40 (LOL). I now(last week) restarted advertising this way and we're back up at 100-300 a day (depending on how many sites mention us in their news section).
08/04/2003 (2:06 pm)
Did about the same as Britton last year. Got published in PC Gamer, PC Zone and about all big game news sites too (gamespy, gamespot, bluesnews,...).In january last year we had days of 1000-2000 unique visitors a day on the site (around the time we appeared in magazines and on big game news sites), then I stopped my PR campeign and it dropped to around 20-40 (LOL). I now(last week) restarted advertising this way and we're back up at 100-300 a day (depending on how many sites mention us in their news section).
Torque Owner Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr
Default Studio Name
EuroGamer.Net
Pretty funny read :-)