Distribution Selling my Game? (I need honest advice!)

Gamerev147

Member
So I've been getting ready to release my game King of the Craze.

I took a good trip on the time machine and visited old projects that I thought were good at the time. They looked terrible compared to King of the Craze!

However I was thinking, if I think my game is good, does that mean others will too? I'm so worried that if I put my game on Steam I won't make the $100 back in profit. I've been trying so hard to get the word out to have a general base number of people who will support it, but I'm stuck with like... 2 people.

Does anyone have advice on how I can get the word out? What I should price my game at? How I can KEEP people interested? Thank you to everyone who comments (in advance).
 
EDIT: GIFS! Gifs are great. If you can create a few short gifs of key moments in your game, and start posting them to twitter and any relevant gaming forums that will let you promote your game, they are a great way to stir the appetites of your target market.

This article : The Mysterious World of DIY Indie Marketing lists a few sites they used to promote their game.


Including:

- Reddit
- Imgur
- Facebook
- Tumblr
- Twitter
- ScreenShot Saturday (Twitter HashTag #screenshotsaturday)

And for a more in-depth guide into marketing:

The Marketing Guide for Game Developers

Which covers among other things:
I. The Game Itself
II. Communication/Promotion
III. Price
IV. Distribution
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
Well, if you want honest advice I'd say by no means should you release a game where you haven't gotten feedback on it

As unfortunate as it may sound, you just cannot trust your instincts when it comes to your own projects. You might think something is awesome and fun, but that really has no bearing on whether it is

I'd definitely get a demo going and start asking folks, "Hey, is this fun?" If the answer is yes, that'll start building buzz as well!
 
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altan0

Guest
You could self publish your games on several smaller platforms such as itch.io, Gog, Gamersgate, and etc before you publish it on Steam. Having your game available on several sites creates visibility (it's not marketing) and some of them would market the game for you via ads and game highlights.

Alternatively if you don't want to get messy with marketing and the business end of things, you should go look for a publisher for your game. You can even try yoyogames as an example for your publishing needs.
 
J

jutohamo

Guest
Have you let your friends and family play it? They can tell you about any problems before you sell it
 

Genetix

Member
I'm pretty sure by even releasing your game on Steam you'll make back that $100 in the first hour even if you did absolutely zero marketing... I could be wrong, but you'll make it back. The question is how well do you want it to keep doing? I agree with creating good looking art, screens, gifs and sharing them everywhere possible. Another thing to consider is putting it into Steams prototype thing (forget exactly what it is called - not Early Access) that is a good place to get early feedback and also start building a base of fans for the project before it is released. Good luck!
 
So I've been getting ready to release my game King of the Craze.

I took a good trip on the time machine and visited old projects that I thought were good at the time. They looked terrible compared to King of the Craze!

However I was thinking, if I think my game is good, does that mean others will too? I'm so worried that if I put my game on Steam I won't make the $100 back in profit. I've been trying so hard to get the word out to have a general base number of people who will support it, but I'm stuck with like... 2 people.

Does anyone have advice on how I can get the word out? What I should price my game at? How I can KEEP people interested? Thank you to everyone who comments (in advance).
It'd be easier to give you an answer if you gave us some gifs or videos. Hard to judge a game without seeing it.

That said, your game would have to be pretty terrible to not even make $100 on Steam.
 

Gamerev147

Member
Well, if you want honest advice I'd say by no means should you release a game where you haven't gotten feedback on it

As unfortunate as it may sound, you just cannot trust your instincts when it comes to your own projects. You might think something is awesome and fun, but that really has no bearing on whether it is

I'd definitely get a demo going and start asking folks, "Hey, is this fun?" If the answer is yes, that'll start building buzz as well!
I have had a post in the Work in Progress section for quite some time now. I had a demo out when I was still in early development and a large majority of people said it had potential and that it was fun.
 

Gamerev147

Member
Have you let your friends and family play it? They can tell you about any problems before you sell it
I've had a ton of friends play it. They say it's solid and keeps them very entertained. I had one friend try to purposely break the game, and I fixed what he broke (lol). So it's even more solid now.
Many people say it's a great game. My family and friends believe it has great potential on the market, I'm just worried about wasting $100.
 

TrunX

Member
Do you have some social media channel be it private or for your game? I'm sure you could reach at least 20 people that would buy your game for 5$, ot 10 people that would buy it for 10$ etc.

Another possibility could be a crowdfunding campaign in which the backers could pre-order the game at a reduced price if you really do not have the 100$ for an investment.
 

Gamerev147

Member
Do you have some social media channel be it private or for your game? I'm sure you could reach at least 20 people that would buy your game for 5$, ot 10 people that would buy it for 10$ etc.

Another possibility could be a crowdfunding campaign in which the backers could pre-order the game at a reduced price if you really do not have the 100$ for an investment.
Well I have a YouTube channel that I post weekly about my game on. I get around 1-3 likes and about 10-50 views per video.

It's not that I don't have $100 to release it, I'm worried it will be a waste of money if no one purchases my game. Let alone, if Steam even publishes my game.

For pricing I was thinking of this:
  1. Make the game $1.99.
  2. Make DLC's (maps, sounds, map editor) anywhere from $0.99 to 4.99.
I realize the worth of the game and I think it seems fair. What do you think?
 

TrunX

Member
1,99$ sounds pretty cheap but I don't know how much content it actually has and how much content the DLCs would provide.
But I don't think the 100$ dollars would be a waste, even if the game will not pull that much in sales. If the game is finished and polished and you are convinced yourself that it's a good game go for it. You gain valuable experience out of it (for your next project) and having a finished and released game out on steam will also look good in your CV.

Beside that you could also try out to release it on itch.io or a similiar platform first at a "pay what you want" price and see how many downloads the game will achieve and how much the players are willing to pay for it.
 
Build an audience first... then release the game. Someone already covered my laundry list of where to publicize... Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Imgur, WIP forum, Reddit, just talking to people in general. Make animated .gifs. Some cultivate an audience by teaching others. Have great art or just something that looks fun. Style means more than detail.
 
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altan0

Guest
I've had a ton of friends play it. They say it's solid and keeps them very entertained. I had one friend try to purposely break the game, and I fixed what he broke (lol). So it's even more solid now.
Many people say it's a great game. My family and friends believe it has great potential on the market, I'm just worried about wasting $100.
I highly appreciate anyone trying tho break my game and give actual feedback for it. Great for releasing a solid product and improving your coding technique.
 
M

MishMash

Guest
I say this to a lot of people, but if you are at a point in life where investing $100 is cause for concern, then perhaps you shouldn't be thinking about games from a commercial point of view. Without actually playing the game, I can't comment on it, it could be great, it could be boring though being concerned about potential success, even if its just a small amount like $100 isn't a great place to start.

Ideally, if its a commercial project, you should likely have invested more than $100 into the project in the first place, whether that be for art, music or even marketing. Regarding generating an audience and pricing your game, you need to price the game fairly. In my opinion, for a desktop release, I don't really think its worth selling a game for under $4. I feel at that point, the game is too small that it doesn't really fit into the PC market, given there are likely free flash games that offer more content. If it does have a decent amount of content, then $5 is probably the minimum i'd ever suggest anyone sell their game at.

For me, as a consumer, I actually get put off by low price points. To me, I interpret it as either meaning the game is far too short, or the developer doesn't have much confidence in their title. I will say however, that I don't bother paying money for small games, though there could be a market for some people who may just happen to have left over money in their steam wallet.

The other thing to know is that releasing games for free can also have a good amount of value. It's good experience to have before diving in and releasing a real game, and developers will often work for years before actually releasing anything substantial. As for myself, i've been making games for 11 years and it's been about 5 years since I released my last public game, however i've been working on a long term project since then. Similarly, I've worked on 100s of smaller projects, most of which never saw the light of day, however I used to just enjoy making things, regardless of whether people ended up playing them or not. A lot of the things I made were fun for me, simply because I knew I was gaining experience and also forcing myself to learn new things by creating lots of smaller games :)

I'd also say given that I had to google the game's name in order to find it, you aren't trying hard enough :p! You could quite easily stick something in your signature to help draw people's attention :)! (People aren't going to go out of their way to search for things in most situations)
 
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