Spending my days enabling talented people to be at their best, and being a social chemist to create semi-stable creative compounds called "dev teams". Nothing has ever made me so happy or fulfilled. After over a decade in the industry, I am starting to realize I might actually have a pretty good bead on what it actually takes to make a game. I, produce.
Podcast 006: Marketing your Game
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Show Notes
This week ‘Mc Ote’ (catchy I think) and I begin by discussing his recent foray into the culinary arts, specifically bread. It’s not all smashing dough though. We talk about the fact that no matter who you are and how you market, you’re selling your game one copy at a time. It can be daunting, but also lots of fun if you’re interacting directly with your fans.
We are both in agreement about how important it is to define your community: you can’t market your game to people if you don’t even know who they are. Obvious, but important. Less obvious, but no less important, is to remember to avoid making a game that “people like us would like”: you need to clearly define your audience, their likes, dislikes and expectations of your game. Remember this one folks.
We bring up the fact that it’s tough to get noticed in the world of the interwebs. There are a lot of games and distractions out there. Mr MC leaves us with a wonderful nugget of truth: the best copy protection is the fact that nobody cares about you or what you have to say. Nuff said I think.
We move on to our thoughts on community giveaways: they’re exciting and a valuable way to bring attention to your game, especially to give it a kickstart, but be wary. Most people are there just for the prize, and don’t care about your game. Nothing gets people’s attention more than ‘free’. Don’t get caught up in these vanity metrics.
Master of Ceremonies Ote tells us his tales of handling the community for Dead by Daylight, the time consumption, but mostly the awesome fun time he has. We discuss the massive importance of authenticity and how gamers perceive your title with this in mind. They also look at the price. Expectations from a 60$ title are not what they are for a 20$ dollar one.
We explore the idea of how early before your game is released do you start talking about it? Is a year too early? I bring up the fact that the smaller you are, the more you need to rely on true grassroots fans who want you to succeed and who want to spread the word of how awesome your game is.
We end off by discussing Ote’s PAX East planning, the difficulty of getting the attention of the big media outlets, and the importance of 1 on 1 interactions with fans. Wish him and the team luck come April 22!!
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