Publicity Of AGS Games

[Peder 🚀]

Why are using the word them? I have allways seen the whole AGS community as a big family. And to me it seems like you dislike they who have got alot of puplicity. I think it is great that there is AGS games at all being "talked" about out there. This is just the beginning and i think only more and more games will get noticed as the time goes by. Also sometimes people have to work more to get puplicity. It does not allways promote itself. (phew. Getting tired writing all this on a mobile phone.)

[Ghost]

That whole publicity thing is like Damokles' sword too, so I wouldn't be surprised if many people here aren't too eager to boost their works in progress because it can backfire. And hurt big.

Many games that are well known are team efforts. In a team, you can shift your resources much better. Making people outside the AGS forums know about your project puts a lot of pressure on a lone wolf or even a small team. Because suddenly people expect something, and all of a sudden you have to deal with that pressure, and you may well fear to release that heart-child of yours.

Apart from that, I too can't see SteelDrummer's point. There are many projects out here that are defenitely known- LOTLL is a great example; for quite a while there was intense discussion about it, the graphics were adored, and now, I think, people (including myself) just wait. That's just polite, isn't it- I don't yell "Publish it!". I wait in the happy knowledge that sometime I will get a cool game.

One thing about the Apprentice and the Herculean Brothers who are behind it: They are also working outside their own team, making things like the Blackwell Legace possible, so I wouldn't say a thing about them taking long time for their games. The Apprentice games are works of quality and very, very typical oldschool adventures. That's why people talk about them. There will always be anticipation for the sequel of a quality game, that's why Yathzee is so popular too IMO.

Just my two cents, and here's another dime: Just a few weeks ago, in a thread about "most anticipated games", I found my own project mentioned twice, and I've kept that without any WiP thread or further comment for almost two years. It was remembered though because some people enjoyed a small demo those days and kept it somewhere in the back of their minds. Talk about hypesÃ, 

[Sam.]

you sure demolished my argument.

The point im making is that just because your art sucks, doesnt mean that the story and music arent good. Good art also doesnt mean an instantly great game. A well rounded game is what is needed for success. It seems most people who yu have used for example understand this, im not sure why you are struggling to.

[Da_Elf]

i had fun with that little xmas mags game trying to make th xmas tree. the graphics were by no means perfect. but was still enjoyable to play. So in that i totally agree that graphics dont make the game. I guess you have two chances to get your game recognised. The 1st when its in production and you make that 1st post about your game and hope others will be anxious to play the final game. the 2nd time will be when its done and you post about it in the other section. Im glad to see the two posts that are going around. the 1st being "most anticipated games" and the other being "Unrated games in the archive" both threads designed to give some publicity to some games that kinda got forgotten or passed by. That whole thing about releaseing your heart child could easily go for the single programer as much as with the big team. I hope there is nervousness about how my game will be recieved when i finish it but then i just remind myself that "fun" is the major reason for me doing this. Its not something that will help my finances so i dont have a whole lot riding on it besides my artistic pride.

[Dave Gilbert]

I'll just put in my lil two cents, here.  If you want publicity, you have to go out and work for it.  Finishing the game and putting it on the AGS forum isn't the end.  That 15 minutes of fame is over VERY fast.  To keep something out there, in the public eye, capturing peoples' interest, you have to get out there and promote. 

The AGS community is like a big family, true, but this is primarily a community of game creators.  Not players.  While there are certainly a large number of players here, that's not the main purpose of this forum.  If you want your game to reach the ears of game players, you have to go where the game players are. 

A game can be great.  It can be the best game ever.  But if nobody actually hears about it, nobody will ever play it.  Marketing and promoting is a necessary evil, I'm afraid.

[MillsJROSS]

While I agree that Graphics don't make the game, and a game can be horrible and have great graphics, and a game can be great with horrible graphics. However, in the context of actually publicity...great graphics pull more people into a game. It's one of the first things you see, and, consequently, one of the first things you judge a game on, before it even comes out.

AGS does have several hidden gems, and I wish that more people knew about them. But the publicity of any game is left to the designer/publisher and its fans. Games like Apprentice became well publicized because it had a fan base. Regardless of whether you like the games or not...other people liked them, and passed on the game to other people.

So as people have been saying, if you enjoy other games, it's up to you to generate buzz about it. And this is true of games outside of AGS...some games just don't generate the amount of publicity and sales that they deserve. It happens.

-MillsJROSS

[Gregjazz]

Like Dave said, somewhere along the line you have to do a lot of work publicizing your games in order to build that fan base in the first place.

[Nikolas]

Making a game <> Marketing a game <> Promoting a game

Yoda, did the right thing in posting here, as this thread is promoting an interesting discussion. People who want to, but may not know how, should try harder to promote their games. There are tons of places to let the people know about your game. Forums, sites, magazines, friends, whatever...

I mean the "What Linus Bruckman Sees When his Eyes Are Closed" semi-adventure game got around 1000 downloads in a couple of days alone... (After that it went up to around 1500, and that's it :-/). It's not the most appealing game in the world, as it is quite weird, but as an example LOTS of musicians know about it through me. (SOL forums, CGEmpire forums, KVRaudio, Northernsounds, Young composers and the list goes on...). I mean these forums hold some times more than 100,000 members! So, why not?

(*ahem*... plus I never fail to mention a good game as I did know ... Only I'm too tired to link it to the actual link of the game)

[Steel Drummer]

I concur. WLBSWHEAC had a great soundtrack. Mostly people just go after a game for its graphics. Those kind of games get more publicity I think.

[Baron]

People who want to, but may not know how, should try harder to promote their games.

  But.... if they don't know how, wouldn't their efforts be ineffectual?  "Try Harder" doesn't fix the problem -people have to be taught better practices (or be able to find resources where they can learn for themselves).

  Perhaps someone who considers themselves a game promoter (I'd prefer AGS Impressario, but whatever) should write a tutorial on how to promote a game.  This should include:
                             -a list of websites/forums with marketing potential along with their target market.
                             - possibly a list of reviewers, bloggers and postaholics (i.e. people who will spread the word if they 
                                   like your game) along with their contact info/websites.
                             -instructions on how to pitch your game to these people, or post a pitch to the masses for the DIYer.
                             -perhaps links to information about basic marketing and advertising strategies.
                             
   Frankly I'm surprised that in the "offer your services" thread no one has offered to be a game promoter (or "agent," since we consider ourselves to be game authors).  I think if this thread has taught us anything it's that promotion is as important to game dissemination as art, music, plot, writing or scripting.
 

[Snake]

That was well said, Baron.
I had an idea as to what Dave was explaining, and I'm sure, if no one else, Dave knows what he's talking about - his games are out there. All I could think of for promoting would be to visit different adventure game forums posting a link with some information in it... Doesn't this end up pissing people off? I mean, if done right there shouldn't be a problem, but without the correct knowledge (like Baron was saying) you could very well just end up being a nuisance. Some one to write a tutorial of somesort on game promotion is a great idea. Surely it wouldn't go to waste, I know I, for one, could use something like that for some help when the time comes.

...or post a pitch to the masses for the DIYer.

What exactly is DIY? Are they some sort of e-zine that keeps track of adventure games? Reason for asking is, about a year ago I think it was, I googled Leitor's Edge to find my GiP thread (needed the new title screen - recent computer crashed, long story) and I found an artical (Topic: Leitor's Edge Canned?) on the DIY website about adventure games that are now known as Could Have Been Greats and the main topic was LE. I was astonished that LE made it to this site, let alone had it's own artical. Eventhough it was telling everyone that it was possibly a dead project gave me outstanding motivation to work on it again... with increased gusto I would like to know how it got popular enough to make it on that site. Possibly from these forums? I know I had a few fans awaiting it's release, but how'd DIY find out about it?
I guess it's possible for your game to promote itself, but yeah, I'd love to read a tutorial on how to do it right, and successfully.


--Snake

[Baron]

At last I have used an acronym that confounds the internet -the tables have turned!

....but seriously, I appologize for not typing it out.  DIY = Do It Yourself where I'm from (people even say DIY instead of saying the whole thing, so that's my defence  )  A website based around people building their own adventure games would very appropriately be named DIY for this reason.

Oh, and thanks for the post promotion Snake!

[Nikolas]

People who want to, but may not know how, should try harder to promote their games.

But.... if they don't know how, wouldn't their efforts be ineffectual?  "Try Harder" doesn't fix the problem -people have to be taught better practices (or be able to find resources where they can learn for themselves).

I don't consider myself to be a good game promoter (although I can promote myself and my music pretty good  )... But my post does include a minimum of advice, regarding different threads in different forums, and making sure that you do follow these threads... Games databases (not only the underdog, but "contemporary ones" as well, like strategy informer, of acid games, or gamasutra even! Why not?), and every other place a game can be named. Heck if the game IS doing well find people to send news to Yahoo, or google, or CNN, or whatever. Maybe through someone who knows them, maybe your self! Somethings, sometimes appear further than they really are.

[SSH]

If you look at the amount of publicity The Shivah has got from its Jewish angle, I'd suggest joining a religion with a large untapped userbase and making a game about it

I don't think anyone's made Zoroaster Quest yet...

[Snarky]

Having a "hook" definitely helps, whether that's "first game ever to star a hard-boiled Rabbi", "sequel to Fate of Atlantis" or "main character has big breasts".

If your game is of special interest to some community outside of homebrew adventure game fans, you have a much greater chance of reaching the mainstream. For instance, I am occasionally toying with an idea for a game set at a university. I could make it some fictional school, or I could just use my alma mater. If I ever get around to actually making it and I set it in my real college, I will be able to promote it to students there, to alumni, and even to kids thinking of applying (what better way to get an idea of what it's like going there?). Student newspapers provide a perfect venue for reviews of the game.

That's just an example, but the point is that some games are easy to "sell", while others (although they may be just as good) are more difficult.

If you've already made your game, I think the most important, basic thing you should do is to post a nice, professional message to "Completed games". Include screenshots! Mention what it is that makes your game great! Your game may be the best ever, but if the only thing a prospective player sees is "I've finished CJ Quest. Download from http...", he or she will probably never know.

[LimpingFish]

"main character has big breasts".

This is my favourite kind of hook. 

Seriously though, the reason these games get the publicity is down to a combination of three things.

1. The creators have taken the time to generate their own publicity.
2. The adventure game community, en masse, has generated positive word-of-mouth regarding the game.
3. The game is of a standard that elevates it above just "another freeware adventure".

When these elements come together...BINGO!

The wild card is "Personal Taste". People may just dislike your game.

[Vince Twelve]

Apparently, having a really long title can be a hook.  It got WLBSWHEAC mentioned on GameSetWatch, which is pretty cool, at least to me...

Innovation is also a hook, apparently, because Linus just got mentioned for the second time on GameSetWatch.  Though this time it was largely because of my promoting the game on a smaller blog.  I'm just happy someone took notice!