Detailed blog post about indie game developers getting the word out about their games:

How Do Indies Get the Word Out?

What do you think?

What places to go you to in order to read about new games?

Do you like reading posts directly from the developer that you can then ask questions and get a response "right from the horse's mouth"?

Basically it comes down to other people talking about your game. If you can manage to get 1 out of every 30-50 people who see your post/advertisement/blog to share a link to it than you will be very successful. Best way I've found to do this is to basically write a full essay about your project with lots of pretty pictures or video.

Detailed blog post about indie game developers getting the word out about their games:

How Do Indies Get the Word Out?

What do you think?

What places to go you to in order to read about new games?

Do you like reading posts directly from the developer that you can then ask questions and get a response "right from the horse's mouth"?

You have a facebook section that does not include posting updates and getting an active fanbase on facebook. You can be very successful on facebook without having your game playable on facebook. Developer generated content and creating a developer centered community is huge.


The Monaco fanpage is a pretty good example. It has over 5,000 followers, and the developer (Andy Schatz) actually interacts with the community on it. Answering questions, posting tutorials/work summaries, or just chatting for fun.

Granted he has a big push from winning the IGF 2 years ago, but he's still doing a great job going to game conventions and interacting with his fans.

Rather difficult to take something so poorly written seriously. The old saw of "if you build it, they will come" simply isn't true, statistically speaking. Particularly in the modern era, when everyone who can use a computer appears to be building it and expecting people to magically appear and cower in awe.

Regardless, there are plenty of ways to "get the word out" if you care to invest in them. And that is the key - good public appeal is an investment. Not necessarily in money but in time. You need someplace you can host excellent screenshots and dev blogs and trailers and - most importantly - downloads. And it needs to look good and be kept up to date. I have lost count of the number of "indie" websites that look like their designers used the contents of a trash can for inspiration, then never bothered to change anything beyond the initial "Hey the site is up!" post. Use meta-tags to draw Google's Divine Gaze upon you. Make a Facebook page and use it properly. Include nice screenies and updates and a link that points to your website. Make a Youtube channel for trailers and emphasize various characteristics of your game that are unique. Diligently search various forums until you find ones that do let you post your game. Even if they don't, you can be sneaky and weasel in links while replying to various questions: just camp a forum until a "How do quantum voxel terrain engines work?!" appears and Bam! unleash a valid explanation and drop a link to your super awesome quantum voxel-based game ("as an example ...").

There are a number of other, relatively cheap methods of distribution. Did you know that Steam is quite open to Indie games provided you have a demo? They also service over 25 million subscribers. Micrsoft is pretty liberal with their XBox related services. So is Apple with their iOS. Android is practically free. Even if you can't afford their fees, there are forums where you can post your game and ask people to review it. Game competitions, even if you don't win, are an excellent venue for exposing your game to the public. Even if your prize-winning entry isn't your chief product you can still gain exposure for yourself which - by extension - can be favorably extended in your real game's direction.

Game development is as much about showmanship as it is technical expertise.

Granted he has a big push from winning the IGF 2 years ago, but he's still doing a great job going to game conventions and interacting with his fans.[/quote]
Exactement.