3 ms·
Not trying to be glib but the single most important thing is to make the right game. 1. Before you start the project, do some research and ask yourself what is
by aschearer 4y ago
Not trying to be glib but the single most important thing is to make the right game.
1. Before you start the project, do some research and ask yourself what is unique about your game? Why would someone play it instead of the leading competitor? Don't settle for an idea that doesn't have plausible answers.
2. Build the game really well. REALLY WELL. Amazing artwork, great style, a visual feast. Fun, snappy gameplay. Depth. I'm talking hours of engrossing gameplay. Solid, performant, virtually bug free.
3. Along the way build moments into the game that really stand out, that would look hot in a gif, that would pique someone's interest if they heard about it.
--- most people get it wrong before this point ---
4. OK now you're ready to start marketing to people. It's easy, just tell them about your game. How? Break the game along different dimensions. The story. The game systems. The emotions players will experience. etc. For each of these, break them into smaller blurbs. You now have dozens of things to share, start recording gifs/video/screenshots to support what you've written. Now start posting to social media. If someone finds your Twitter profile and scrolls through, they should come away understanding what your game is and why they want it.
5. Next go to Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, websites, etc. and find the top accounts that cover / discuss games like yours. Follow them. Interact with their posts/communities. Especially keep an eye out for opportunities to share your work with them.
6. Advanced: come up with some marketing moments. E.g. announcing your game with a launch trailer, revealing the release date, releasing a demo, your launch day, etc. Put these all on a calendar. For each date, work backwards ~2 months. Coordinate social media posting, email with press/influencers using those dates.
I apologize if this sounds flippant, but it's really so so so hard to get steps 1-3 right. People delude themselves into thinking they're on the right track simply because making games is incredibly, super hard. It's outrageous how much work it takes to make something at all. But no one cares about that. Another reason I think people fail, myself included, is we tend to make very safe, hackneyed games. How many of us are guilty of making a game set in a vaguely DND/Tolkien world? That's tired. I know someone still manages to beat the odds every year, that's survivorship bias in action. Play with a stacked deck, make something truly original.
- CuriousCosmic 4y agonit for 2. A fantastic game doesn't have to be visually stunning to be successful. It helps of course but visuals don't make/break an otherwise fun game. What does matter however is that the visuals need to make sense and be consistent. You can get away with "ugly" or otherwise unremarkable graphics but inconsistent or confusing visuals will interfere with gameplay and the game will suffer.
- p1necone 4y agoSee Vampire Survivors for an example of a recent game with pretty atrocious visuals that's still done really well.
- komali2 4y agoThere's a whole genre of ugly fps right now, I don't even just mean boomer shooters, I can't recall the name but there's this one where your health bar is a little glass skull you hold, another hyper anticapitalist critique one, and I'm seeing gifs going around of some third one I haven't a clue about. Sorry this is a vague post I just think it's interesting these games are leaning heavily on non visual aspects and being rewarded with massively positive reviews.
- aschearer 4y agoI'd argue the opposite. They are executing their art styles very well. E.g. Cruelty Squad. Like you say, there's clearly something in the water right now. Kudos to folks making it work for them.
- aschearer 4y agoTrying to release a game with "ugly" or "unremarkable" artwork is playing on hard mode. Be ugly in a "visually stunning" way that's original. E.g. Cruelty Squad. I know there are counterexamples. Many of them are just plain lucky, like Flappy Birds. This very article is about a game that kneecapped its sales for decades on account of being ugly.
- wardedVibe 4y agoI mean... df literally wasn't for sale until recently. They only monetized because American healthcare is bananas (its mentioned in this article and discussed more fully earlier https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-steam-its-creators-will-give-the-money-away-as-fast-as-possible/ https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-...). Otherwise it sounds like they would've been content with the ongoing patreon funding they had. It was quite popular before the graphics version.
- johnnyanmac 4y ago>Build the game really well. REALLY WELL. Amazing artwork, great style, a visual feast. Fun, snappy gameplay. Depth. I'm talking hours of engrossing gameplay. Solid, performant, virtually bug free. To be honest, this is really all you need. Now granted, REALLY WELL these days means competing with reputably teams (indie and AAA) with a lot of experience and/or manpower, so we're well past the Cave Story days. But if you spend the time pushing your craft and/or finding like minded people, it's not impossible to just focus on this. But in terms of budget (time and money), your steps are probably the best to make a "good" game actually sell well. Personally tho I want to really try pushing the envelope with my project one day. One day far into the future after I really learn the 3D art pipeline.