Hey guys , i`m not really sure i`m posting this in the right place, but here we go.

I made a small game for android , and it`s up on google, but i`m not getting too many downloads ).It`s not really such a great game (my first ever game + i started learning only about one year ago and have no IT education), but still i think better games are faceing same issues.

I`m thinking that it`s getting lost in the huge world of google play. Are there any ways for indies to make their game known, maybe a forum , a website or anything where they can advertise their game or any other way of reaching out to the user?

Any hints are appreciated. Thanks!

Moving to business.

In bigger companies, development cost is only about 1/3 of the total money. For many games it is common to spend more money in advertising than it is to spend on development.

Historically there have been many layers of filtering before products go out to consumers. Those developing products needed to spend much of their time and money breaking through the gatekeepers to get products on shelves. Once you were on store shelves you could count on a certain number of sales.

In the mobile space those layers are nearly gone, making it easy for anyone to put their product on the marketplace. Consequently you are competing with roughly 1000 new products released every day.

Now the difficulty is getting yourself noticed, which usually means pitches to key customers and reviewers, coupled with advertising.

My advice is put as much money into advertising as possible if you are serious about it. You could also hire a PR company to run a campaign pushing your game on social media etc. The big question is how big is your budget, because with enough money even a dull rehash game like candy crush (basically just match 3) can make millions...

Hey man,

So first off this is a common question amongst many "new" developers.

How to get noticed in such a crowded market?

Well, there are a number of ways to get noticed and get your game out there.

The first is paid advertisement

If you have a $ to throw into a marketing campaign it could be beneficial( get you downloads and help you rank higher in the charts).

However, you must make sure you spend your money strategically. Invest in banners on popular mobile websites. I believe on a lot of popular websites you can get a banner ad up for a week for a few hundred dollars. I have known this to work for many friend developers and for myself in the past. But of course, you have to be willing to spend the money.

You can also invest in banner ads such as admob, chartboost etc. Note, that there is not a 100% chance that these will work in your favor and your money will be well invested.

This is the gamble with paid marketing.

The next is

FREE MARKETING

This is the more difficult marketing option between the two.(For obvious reasons).

Free marketing consists of posting on forums(Remember: You should be an active member of these forums, or else you'll just appear as a spammer and be ignored).

Posting in facebook groups. Sharing with friends and family. Using social media. Contacting the press. Contacting bloggers who blog about games.

While all of these are effective, you need to begin building a community or fan base from DAY ONE. You need to be able to contact the people who download your game by having them opt in to a online forum community, or have them opt in to a facebook group community.

This is important to do and important to incentivize it such as unlocking a bonus level by liking a facebook page or group.

I did a video about this on my youtube channel a few days ago actually.(Link in signature)

Hope this helps.

Pity good old days of mobile gaming are gone and it's an infested market making hard to be noticed even for very good games. I have no idea why you didn't give a link to your game when asking question , we might have more to say specifically if we have seen it.

But if we talk in general, I think key point is to tailor game allowing social growth (like FB games use this on exploitation level (ask your friends for whatever etc)) , because I don't believe in feasibility of classic advertisement unless backed by a serious budget involving other elements like reviews, in-other-game advertisement (like advertising CityVille in FarmVille) etc. Beside that there are only cases like "Flappy Bird" imo.

Sorry if I sounded pessimistic because I am so.

Try Pixel Prospector's Marketing Guide For Game Developers for some ideas. :)

Hey guys thanks for the replies.

@Unduli here is the link to the game: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.test.nemos_escape&hl=en

It really isn`t such a great game but still it`s a first step i guess.

I`m not that sure that simple games like this deserve marketing with paid adverts, so i made a twitter account GreenBytes_ if anyone is interested to follow ;).

I think coder_for_life23 is spot on with the free marketing advice. Thanks to all!

Creating a Twitter account is a great start (tried to follow you but I couldn't find you...) and Twitter is a great way to start building your community. While it may not get you the numbers you want for your current game, it's going to make a difference for your upcoming games. So the more people you follow and that follow you back, the better :)

Next step is to get your community involved in the development of your game but tweeting ideas and asking for feedback or tweeting mockups of your game again for feedback. Check out this article on how to apply the Lean Startup method to your next game.

Social Media is a free but very time-consuming way of growing your community and unfortunately, it's the only way to do it. You're right that paying for ads early on is wasteful, it's even wasteful later on...unless you have A LOT of money. jbadams post on the Pixel Prospector marketing guide is a GREAT resource! You may also be interested in IndieTeamup...

Good luck with everything!!! Feel free to message me if you need anything on Twitter or Facebook :)