Services, people, etc. for Game Exposure (discussion)

[jkweath]

This post came as an idea from a previous thread.

It's easier than ever for game devs to get their game on Steam, but with over 7,000 games being uploaded to Steam every year, competition is fierce and it's much harder for new game devs with lower budgets to get any exposure.

I wanted to start a discussion on services, websites, people, etc. that can be helpful for emerging RPG game developers such as us to get exposure and stand out from the crowd. "People" could include Steam Curators or Steam Groups that help with game promotion.

This can, of course, also be a discussion for certain services and people to avoid. I have some experience with this: When you first upload a game to steam, you'll probably get swamped with emails from "streamers" and Steam Groups who want to promote your game or write reviews in exchange for keys. The majority of these emails are fake. Some of them are from people who just want a free game to play; others will attempt to re-sell your key on sites like G2A.

However, do carefully research the emails that do look legit; I got an email from a Russian steam group who wanted free keys in exchange for (a little) exposure; now I typically get at least a few sales a week from Russia (despite my game not being translated, lol) thanks to their reviews.

I also received emails from a couple services who do game promotion in exchange for money (usually around $100 minimum). One was a large steam group that I ignored, one is from a service I get emails from every week called Indie Boost. I'm curious if anyone here has experience with them, because I'm thinking about using their services for my next game.

Lastly I received an email awhile back from a startup publishing company called "Twisted Pawn". Haven't replied to that yet.

Edit: Also for anyone who wants to try marketing their game themselves, I recommend reading pretty much everything on PixelProspector. There's also a spreadsheet of websites you can submit your game to and a PDF on how to write a proper email for requesting reviews.

Anyway that's about all the experience I have, so if anyone else has any information they'd like to share, let's hear it!

 

[bgillisp]

One thing to keep in mind is per a previous post, we have to not talk about publishers, due to the fact that Degica is also a publisher. But as far as I know the rest is ok? Maybe @Lunarea can clarify for us so we are all sure to stay within acceptable bounds.

 

[jkweath]

@bgillisp I went ahead and edited that part out just in case, but if Lunarea is okay with it I'll add it back in.

 

[Plueschkatze]

I haven't made own experiences by now, but I at least once a month read a post from one of the many gamedevs I follow on twitter about the amount of emails they get that ask for keys, which are 'fake people'. People telling you they are let's players etc, but they aren't.
I once saw one of those tweets, from someone who carefully researched all of them, found the YT channel of the person mailing him and he even had a tutorial on how to get free steamkeys... SIGH.

So that's something you should really be aware of! They basically spread knowledge about how to scam indie devs.

For exposure:
Do it yourself:
Twitter works best for general indie games. The more unique looking, the more they'll like it. #Screenshotsaturday is a big thing. There are a lot of other devs here and also a lot of youtubers and streamers.
Tumblr has a pretty big horror rpg maker game community. They also have a horror discord. If you are into that, check them out.
IndieDB. Some let's players check here regulary to find new games.
I heard that reddit is worth a look, but I haven't checked it yet. I think there are subreddits for gamedev and rpgm.
Instagram is for people with very artsy games.
RPGM specific sides like this forum and rpgmaker.net.

Gamejams. They might not bring direct exposure for your game you released on steam, but if you make good gamejam titles, especially fot bigger gamejams, they might keep your name in mind and check for stuff you also did. Nice side effect... you might get to know some other devs!

Be active in those communities. Do not only post "OH! I made a game, check it out!!!!".
This will have little effect. This is as much about you as a person/gamedev as about your game.
You are an indiedev after all and not a big no-face company.
Some of the charm of those indie games comes from knowing who made them and how they came to be.


Ask others for help:
Let's Players.
Streamers.
Steam Curators.
Blogs and game related websites.
I kinda feel uncomfortable to name people like streamers and youtubers, because I fear they'll get a lot of additional emails...
So if you are serious, go and do some research on your own!
Just go to youtube and type in an RPGM game that is compareable to yours.
Don't look who did play 'To the Moon', but who did a few more smaller, less known projects.
Some let's players tend to tag their RPGM games with 'RPG MAKER' in the title, so they are easy to find.
Get their email (usually in the channel info tab) and write them a short, very brief and friendly email, include a trailer, 2-3 screenshots and a download link for the game. If it is a paid game, include a key! Make it EASY for them.
Don't write down the history of how much passion you put into this and how many years it took you and how much you struggled...
Their time is importent to them. They are busy people, some of them get hundreds of mails a day. Make it short and easy.


Hire people that already have followers.
If you spend money on a artist that already has a bigger following, you also buy part of that, if they post art for your project, some of their fangirls/boys might show interest in your project!
If you hire a VA that also is a singer on youtube or something like that, that might also give a bit of a boost.
If you collaborate with other gamedevs, this might have a similar effect.


Yes. You can also spend money on ads and promotion. Could be twitter or facebook or gaming related sites that sell ad space.
Yes, some streamers play games if they get paid for it, that's not a secret, big companies do that stuff.

This is a biiiit of information at least. This is a interesting topic. Looking forward to see what other people think/know and to read about their experience.

 

[jkweath]

@Plueschkatze I like your idea of contacting youtubers who specifically do RPGMaker games. I'd do stuff like Twitter and Tumblr too but I'm not much of a social media guy these days

I can say this though: Reddit is a big one. Specifically, if you make the right post with the right content at the right time in the right subreddit (like r/gaming), you can get tens of thousands of views. Its a lot easier said than done though. A lot of posts get popular based on sheer luck.

I remember a youtuber, GradeAUnderA I think, whose YouTube channel was completely dead. Then one of his videos made it to Reddit's front page, then his channel exploded and ended up with over a million followers when it was all said and done. A lot of people would kill for exposure like that.

Sometime soon I'm gonna post a tutorial I found for Indie game devs for how to write good emails for contacting reviewers/youtubers/etc. Should be helpful for anyone who wants to send out their own emails. Personally I'm thinking of using IndieBoost for this, apparently their media list spans to over 600 websites, and since I couldn't find any noteworthy reviews on their service I think I'll give them a try on my next game release.

 

[Plueschkatze]

This was a GDC talk in 2015, but I think it should still be very up to date:

So if you plan on contacting Youtubers (or streamers) you should give it a watch.

@jkweath Oh. Thanks for that input on Reddit. I really should look into that... and finally get into how that platform works, haha.