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How do I promote my new game?

A topic by LadyAijou created Jan 12, 2017 Views: 16,115 Replies: 17
Viewing posts 1 to 16
Admin

Marketing a game is no easy task, especially if you're a small studio. There are plenty of tools available to help you make your game known now that you have published it on itch.io. Don't hesitate to use Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit to spread the good news. The /r/GameDeals subreddit is a good place to start, but make sure to check both their Submitter's guide and their FAQ to stay within the rules. We also encourage you to post your release announcement on our forums!

When promoting your title on social media, it's important to boost visibility as much as possible. Remember to use hashtags to increase your reach, and help your post become more visible in searches. Some popular tags include #gamedev, #indiedev, and #indiegames.

Marketing can feel like a very daunting aspect of publishing a game, but there are also numerous marketing guides available online that you can refer to. There are many different approaches, and you may need to experiment to find out what works for you, your project, and your community. Remember, your community are your best tool in helping spread the word. Happy buyers already playing your game are likely to mention the game to others. Be sure to interact regularly with your buyers and keep them up to date on the project and what's coming next. Regular news, updates, and communication will keep your community going, and growing!

Also; Open a window, stick you head out, yell about your game. ;)

Admin

Well, I suppose one could do that, but we don't want any of our content creators getting cited for disturbing the peace :P

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Hey I just want to add if your in a local area or can travel to an area where there are indie gaming expos, you can gain attention for your games. In some expos you have to pay for a table, some  others are free. Have a playable build and a machine for people to play it on (PC , console, laptop, phone or tablets), also bring business card with you game page address on it.

If you are in the eastern Massachusetts, there are 2 indie gaming expos that happen every year some times more times a year. Those expos are Boston FIG and Playcrafting. Boston Fig you have to pay to have your game reviewed and if they accept  your game, you will have a table.  Playcrafting expos are free submission and is a first come first serve type of thing for tables.

Submission are closed for Boston FIG for this year but you can go to it to see indie game studios promote there games. Submission for Playcrafting Spring Play expo are open, the expo is on May 31.

Boston FIG

Playcrafting Spring Play

Playcrafting Main Website

I hear reddit doesn't like people self-promoting. It's as if you have to pretend to be someone else and post screenshots with a 'funny' sentence. It's an odd site. People can promote stuff from major companies  - but the little guys - nope. I guess it comes down to the interpretation of a promotion. & all of those rules make my eyes bleed. 1st, read this, then read that ( an essay to read basically), do the hokey pokey and turn around. That's what it's all about. 

Another thing you could do, especially if you're short on money, is to just promote your game through word of mouth. Tell your friends about it, ask your family to spread the word. You can even tell your neighbors about it. Who knows, maybe old lady Johnson on the fifth floor is actually an avid gamer who's looking to play something new.

Is this what we're doing now? Advertising on a post about advertising, even is it makes the "discussion" technically off-topic?

Admin

Thanks for spotting those, I cleaned up the topic. 

(1 edit)

I recently got a buzz out of seeing people make youtube videos of themselves playing my game, so started trying to get game vloggers to review, which I managed - once! And it was great. The next step I think is to get my game into the sort of "Best mobile games of 2018 etc" videos, that get loads of views on youtube - BUT - this is really difficult. I was wondering (this is cheeky I know) if it's worth creating a youtube channel where I review similar games for the purpose of making them aware of my own game (not a hard sell, just like "oh btw here's my BotSumo game" etc). Or is this a lot of work and not worth bothering with? 

most people are looking at the review not another game.

Yes very true! How about creating a video about a collection of similar games, and including my own. "Best local multiplayer games of 2018" or something, or is it unethical to include myself into such a list? 

it will be unethical, think of it like youtube where you always say subscribe over and over. its very annoying because the video they want to see is something else they do want to see promotion.

Thanka for feedback!

Do you perhaps have any ideas for ethical promotion that I might not be doing right now?

Hi David,   

have you tried posting a link to your game on www.reddit.com/r/playmygame ? It's a sub where you can present your game to other players and discuss it with them, but your game must be playable for free, and, as always on reddit, read the rules before posting. Hope it helps.

I have yes, here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/playmygame/comments/9vtpwt/botsumo_a_local_2player_game...

An upvote would be appreciated, if it's not too cheeky to ask :-D

It doesn't look like you can add images or screenshots on that thread though, which is a shame because it's difficult to stand out

No problem. But I see your post is marked as removed. Was that you, or have the redditmoderators hit again? 

:-O It seems fine to me. But maybe moderated posts still show to the user? Not sure what I'd have done that was bad though 

the rules say to add photos, you could have added links to imgur. I think that is why it got remove.