pixeltroid
Member
Background: I've been trying to figure out ways to promote a game. I figured it's better to learn game promotion with a smaller game, instead of my main project that I have spent a looong time on.
I basically took the game I made for the gamejam but refined and fine tuned it to make it more playable...and packaged it as a full game, albeit a short one (which, I can honestly say it is).
What I've done so far:
- made pages for the game on gamejolt and itch.io with descriptions, decorations and the right tags.
- posted download links and game info to 6 subreddits and 5 game development forums
- emailed the same to around 12 small indie game channels
- tweeted about it with all the right hashtags and so on.
Results:
One week later, I really don't have much to show for it.
- only 200 views and 100 downloads on gamejolt.
- only 65 views and 20 downloads on itch.io
- only 2 responses from the subreddits. I did get like 15 upvotes though. (lol).
- only 1 (one) response from the forums -- "looks cool. I'll check it out".
- only 1 response from the channels I emailed
I haven't set foot into steam yet (mainly because I haven't figured out how to set up the transactions) but I will do so eventually and I know I will attract more downloads over there.
But still, given the massive popularity of retro pixel art games, I imagined I'd have accumulated a lot more downloads on gamejolt and itch solely because it's listed on those sites.
I know that the game isn't anything special. But I also know that it isn't completely broken and unplayable. The poor responses is a little concerning to me. Because it' tells me that there's a risk that my main game - that I have been working on for more than a year - will go unnoticed. I don't want to release it if its only going to get 100 or so downloads, and virtually no player feedback. At this point, getting many downloads and lots of negative feedback is better than a few downloads but complete silence.
So....to those who have released games on gamejolt and itch, what were your download numbers like? Did you do anything to increase eyeballs on your game (and fingers on the download button)?
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I basically took the game I made for the gamejam but refined and fine tuned it to make it more playable...and packaged it as a full game, albeit a short one (which, I can honestly say it is).
What I've done so far:
- made pages for the game on gamejolt and itch.io with descriptions, decorations and the right tags.
- posted download links and game info to 6 subreddits and 5 game development forums
- emailed the same to around 12 small indie game channels
- tweeted about it with all the right hashtags and so on.
Results:
One week later, I really don't have much to show for it.
- only 200 views and 100 downloads on gamejolt.
- only 65 views and 20 downloads on itch.io
- only 2 responses from the subreddits. I did get like 15 upvotes though. (lol).
- only 1 (one) response from the forums -- "looks cool. I'll check it out".
- only 1 response from the channels I emailed
I haven't set foot into steam yet (mainly because I haven't figured out how to set up the transactions) but I will do so eventually and I know I will attract more downloads over there.
But still, given the massive popularity of retro pixel art games, I imagined I'd have accumulated a lot more downloads on gamejolt and itch solely because it's listed on those sites.
I know that the game isn't anything special. But I also know that it isn't completely broken and unplayable. The poor responses is a little concerning to me. Because it' tells me that there's a risk that my main game - that I have been working on for more than a year - will go unnoticed. I don't want to release it if its only going to get 100 or so downloads, and virtually no player feedback. At this point, getting many downloads and lots of negative feedback is better than a few downloads but complete silence.
So....to those who have released games on gamejolt and itch, what were your download numbers like? Did you do anything to increase eyeballs on your game (and fingers on the download button)?
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