How do you get people to play your game?

[Zaid]

What are some tricks or techniques you use to get people aware of and playing your game?

Especially in regards to free-to-play projects where there isn't any budget for actual marketing. How do you get the word out there beyond just your dev buddies?

 

[Joe Ellis]

Post on the WIP section, make videos on youtube, post things and pics\gifs about it on twitter, tumblr, post links to your youtube videos on all of these sites, aswell as facebook, any social media sites basically.
The more often you post new things\new developments of your game, the more people see and get interested, save\favourite\bookmark\follow\share\retweet\

Best idea is to make a good game that you genuinely like, then if you do, thousands of other people are bound to

 

[True Valhalla]

If you design your games to support the HTML5 format, you can submit them to various web game portals and reach hundreds of thousands of players very easily. The games I have distributed through these channels have been played 75,000,000+ times.

 

[pixeltroid]

"How do you get people to play your game?"

I have accumulated some experience with regard to promoting a game. I learned when I was trying to promote my little game "Citadel Stormer" last year.

Assuming you have never done game promotion before, here are some things you can do to get people to play your game:

1. First, understand that promoting your game requires a lot of effort on your part. Your game will not promote itself. So marketing needs to be taken seriously.

2. Prepare a press-kit for your game. It's basically a folder containing a word file and promotional images -- the stuff you will use to promote your game everywhere. You will need the following:

• Your game's logo.
• Good header and display pics (in correct sizes for each platform).
• A detailed (but not too long) write-up or description for your game.
• Good screenshots and gifs to represent your game.

All these will be used whenever and wherever you promote your game.

3. Make accounts at itch.io and gamejolt.com and upload your game on those sites. Those are very popular indie game platforms and will give your games a lot of exposure.

4. On those sites, you will get a page dedicated to your game where you can present your game with the appropriate descriptions and images. This is where the press-kit comes in handy. Once your game-page is ready, you can start sharing their links to appropriate and relevant websites and forums.

5. On sites like itch and gamejolt, make sure you tag your game correctly so your game shows up properly in search results.

6. Make a twitter account dedicated to promoting your game. Post interesting eye catching gifs and photos and use the correct hashtags. Although becoming famous on twitter is a skill by itself.

7. Interact with people who play your game. Take criticism cheerfully and say "Thanks for your feedback. And thanks for taking the time to play my game".

8. Contact Youtubers who specialize in covering indie games and ask them to play and review your game.