Do you market your games?

[Dave Gilbert]

Maybe it's the capitalist in me, but I do believe that the success of any project hinges on marketing.Ã,  If nobody ever heard about your game, for example, they will never play it.Ã,  There's a large game-playing world outside of these forums, and yet somehow they get word of our games and play them.Ã,  This is something I've been wondering about a lot lately, and I wanted to get some other takes on it.Ã,  Ã,  Do you “market” your games?Ã,  Is there some direct, aggressive action you take to ensure that people know the game exists? Or do you just post an announcement on a few forums and let word-of-mouth do the rest?Ã,  (This is what I do)Ã,  I'm curious to hear about other folks' experiences.

[m0ds]

Having a website and making sure your link is submitted to websites of a similar nature is always one good way of getting people to know about your game. A lot of people seem to take forums as a good place to market their new games. I haven't done any so called "marketting" for FoY in a long time, but we get new visitors every single day. That's mostly come from exposure to online ezines, I believe.

What's good today Dave, is that a lot of places pick up on new games without you, the developer, even having to do much "marketting". The excellent adventure round up at diygames is a good example.

[Mr Flibble]

I made a really shitty demo of a game which I am now making a while back. It was my first effort, and it sucked.
But one day when I was bored, I googled it for fun. I found my crappy little demo on a number of Italian sites, and a plethora of others.
I don't really think that marketing is necessary. Word gets round.

[edmundito]

This is how I helped Mills promote his game in some European country (with Custard's support):


Having my site on MIXNMOJO helped a lot... I only left because they wanted me to put ads... and I don't have to in my current place.

[TerranRich]

And it looks like Grundi[slav] made his own banner in the back also.

[[Cameron]]

I originally posted some material in critics lounge and explained what it was for and I have this amazingly beuatiful banner in my sig(Thanks cluey).  Seemed to be enough.
Regards,


Alec

[Barbarian]

OMG Netmonkey Roxerz is the BIG 11!1!, You've found the Invisible Man Heheh


And come to think of it, is that dude (left of the "Whole World" sign) with the huge nose Ichabod Crane? Maybe that's where 's he's been hiding out, along with the Invisible Man.

Ã,  Ah-hem... But back on topic for a moment to answer Dave. Well, I posted here in the forums about my completed game as well as adding it to the AGS games list (which was tricky thing to do because it keeps telling you to log into the forums, even when you are).
I also have my own little Adventure / AGS fansite I've made up a few months ago, in which I've also announced my game there.
And, I mentioned my game on a couple other Independent Gaming type of forums too, such as the Crow's Nest.Ã,  Seems people are fairly interested in my game so far, as it's almost close to a thousand downloads after only being released for a little over two weeks.Ã,  Ã, Since my game is totally freeware, I'm not going to try and actively "market" it too much, but I'd still like fans of Adventure Games to know about it and enjoy it too.

[shbaz]

My multi-million dollar ad campaign had to be cancelled due to low investor confidence.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I plan to advertise on "The Inventory". Other than that, it'll get around. I mean, my LSL2 remake got into the underdogs, and I have no clue how that happened. Word gets around, indeed.

[Timosity]

It's a bit different with remakes though, word of mouth spreads quickly and everyone has already played the original, that's how Tierra (agdi) got a following to start with. If they make their own games eventually, they've got a big head start.

And Dave, if it's a good game, it markets itself to an extent, and it gets a boost from the game nuts around here. How else do we find out about Yahtzee's games, and they're played well outside the community.

Also being free usually is a good incentive, but it's a whole different story if you want to sell it. put it this way, even if it was $1, that limits people obtaining it quite substantially.

I also think a lot of people around the world already enjoy your games, so that's also a great start.

With your reputation and the advertising stuff others have mentioned, I'd say you've got a better chance than most of being successful.

Commercially though, it would be tough unless a company offered to publish and promote it, if you wanted to make some serious $$$

[jetxl]

The best marketing is to have your game be reviewed in a magazine or placed on a demo cd. This way other people make money but you get fame.
Also sequals is a good way to get players to your wedsites. When I played Crown Of Gold by Helm, I visited his website every time I could. To see if the sequal was out. (I didn't had internet at home back then and the sequal has never come)


I red an old article about how to distribute your homemade games.

You could contact a publisher but they don't want to take ANY risks* and still want all the royalties.
You could upload your game to BBS servers (that's how old the article was).
Or you could telemarket your game by publishing it on demo cds. This is how Doom got big. The first 1/3 part is free but the last 2/3 comes with a price. This made John Romero a millionair (and then he made a shitty game. Gone reputation).

*(give money away)

[Mostly @ uni]

I did no marketing for any of my games really, and the only one that got on the Underdogs was my shit RON game! GAH! I even have a pretty brilliant web site for vegetable patch extreem turbo 1 & 2 ( www.sylpher.com/vegetablegames ) but no one is ever interested when I write to games review web sites. I think that if you get noticed by the underdogs you can consider your game a success (in a way) but it's almost impossible to get this to happen on purpose. You're not allowed to submit games there, so you either have to befriend one of the reviewers or cross your fingers and hope.

I didn't do EITHER of these things, this is why searching for "captain mostly" under games designers comes up with the "hilariously rubbish" RON:Nihilism... I doubt I will now EVER get another game in there... Maybe I should set up a petition... Would anybody sign it? Would the underdogs even care?!?!? It's so hard to get noticed on the internet!

[Toefur]

I don't market my games, because I have none... Actually, I am working on one and I would like to market it, but I just don't know how one would do so.

I really believe that there is a huge market out there for web surfers to download free adventure games, but how to access it is the problem. I honestly think that posting a link in the completed forums, a link on the games page, and maybe a link or two on the forums of certain other adventure gaming sites is simply not enough if you want to be really successful.

Like Timosity said, though, if it's a remake then it is easier to get people to find the game. If one were to do a remake of any classic game, there are already the fans of those, and there are those that would do websearchs for those games... which has the possibility to turn up information about the fan game. It's the same for games like FOY. Indiana Jones is already pretty popular, and that alone has the ability to provide more access to FOY.

I think there is more to marketing a game you've made than telling people on a few forums, because though that may help spread the word of mouth a little (if it's a good game), there are still untapped possibilities out there, I think.

[simulacra]

Yes, I do. I have a website for the game and have an article about it in the Interacting Arts magazine, which I hope gets around. I usually also write press releases when working on projects (not necessarily games) and have shown parts of it to a game research studio who I also work for currently (marketing a ground-breaking game design education as it happens). And I plan to have some sort of release event - always a good way to get magazines and newpapers to catch up with what you're doing. I'm thinking of lending a high-quality concert hall sound system I might gain access to and do some sort of week-long gallery event as well. I'll also post information about it at relevant e-mail lists and forums. And print some flyers. And use my contacts in the national gaming association to feature it somehow.

I guess that's it.

[Captain Mostly]

Pfft. That'll NEVER work!

[Blade]

Hmm, I haven't made my game yet. It'll take a while before it's done. I think I set the level quite high for my first production.
Then I'll have to make a web page to put the files into. Maybe I'll put it in a browser. Then I'm gonna post it here and add to the games at this page. And then maybe I'll post an announcement in some game forums... Or maybe not. And that will be all I think.

[Eggie]

I like to start up threads (Not an excessive amount. Usually two, three a week.) talking about the game I'm going to make which is totally going to the best game ever.
I find writing out the subject line in capiall letters helps a lot.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

That's why the entire community loves you, Eggie, and all your would-be followers.

<grabs some rope for the lynching>

[Kinoko]

Apart from letting people know about Cirque here and posting a little link on my own webpage, I never did anything. At a recent sci-fi/comic/cult convention, I had a table (for my comics) and gave away little pamphlets with a bit of a description of my game and a url for it. I have no idea how successful that was though. I hope at least a few people checked it out ^_^ Someone suggested I put it on a cd and sell that, but I just can't justify putting a little 4MB game on a cd and charging for it. ANYONE can download this thing and I'm happy enough to have anyone play it.

Honestly, I have no problem with people charging for their games but I just can't justify it myself. Unless I put some incredible work into it...

Back on topic, I think some of the best marketting that can be done for these games is right here at the AGS forums and website, and other gaming sites. Underdogs is a good one if they pick your game up. I also have -no- idea how they got ahold of my game but it's there now @_@