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Releasing a game in 2021
Ramshackin- 10/30/2021 06:48 AM
- 1570 views
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WheelmanZero
947
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CloseAs someone who's been following this game for quite a while, I'm hyped to hear it's almost finished. Good for you for sticking with it till the end. Thanks for all your hard work.
It's been a decade since I released a game. How are indie titles released in 2021? No idea.
I'll say it's gotten a lot more ruthless out there on the market in a very short amount of time. Social media definitely helps, but be prepared to put a lot of effort into algorthim'ing if you're hoping to get a big audience there.
Posting the game on itchio will definitely help, and its userbase is considerably larger than here on RMN. You could also try Steam if the $100 USD fee isn't a problem for you, and getting a game on there is considerably easier than it used to be.
Best of luck!
Ramshackin
1462
@WheelmanZero
Comments from you and others who post regularly were a huge motivator for me to finish. Thanks for sticking with the game :)
@Sgt M
Ten years ago, just having an actually completed indie game was a selling point. It's a whole different world to navigate now.
I'm actually using your Brave Hero Yuusha EX itch.io page as a reference for mine.
Have you had any success on steam? The discoverability seems so low.
Comments from you and others who post regularly were a huge motivator for me to finish. Thanks for sticking with the game :)
@Sgt M
Ten years ago, just having an actually completed indie game was a selling point. It's a whole different world to navigate now.
I'm actually using your Brave Hero Yuusha EX itch.io page as a reference for mine.
Have you had any success on steam? The discoverability seems so low.
I had some modest success in terms of visibility: both Soma Spirits and Brave Hero Yuusha broke the critical threshold of 10 user reviews, which pretty much quadruples a game's visibility on Steam. A lot of the fight nowadays is getting to that threshold, and it's getting harder as the market gets even more crowded.
Both were still kind of on the low end for RM games for their times. Soma was released in 2017 and Yuusha was released in 2019 and there was a big difference in returns in just two years. Yuusha was the less successful of the two games and it struggled for quite a while. But now that both games are free downloads I've seen a decent increase in visibility again.
I couldn't tell you how to make it big on Steam lol. But that's my experience for what it's worth!
Both were still kind of on the low end for RM games for their times. Soma was released in 2017 and Yuusha was released in 2019 and there was a big difference in returns in just two years. Yuusha was the less successful of the two games and it struggled for quite a while. But now that both games are free downloads I've seen a decent increase in visibility again.
I couldn't tell you how to make it big on Steam lol. But that's my experience for what it's worth!
Darken
3952
If your game is primarily RTP I think it's a marketing challenge to prove your game isn't just an asset flip, (either by making your own or getting lesser known assets). It's the main avenue where I think graphics do actually matter from a marketing standpoint.
Also GameJolt I find nets me more downloads/views than the average itch profile, so might want to give that place a shot.
Steam is literally the only place to get discoverability as it's pretty much like youtube where getting the right tags and thumbnail/logo does increase interest. Most social media sites are capped these days (prob to reduce spammers) so it's way harder to go """viral""" and places like twitter are just full of gamedevs and not customers anyway. I'd worry less about exposure and more about just getting the exact audience that fits your game and growing that slowly.
Also GameJolt I find nets me more downloads/views than the average itch profile, so might want to give that place a shot.
Steam is literally the only place to get discoverability as it's pretty much like youtube where getting the right tags and thumbnail/logo does increase interest. Most social media sites are capped these days (prob to reduce spammers) so it's way harder to go """viral""" and places like twitter are just full of gamedevs and not customers anyway. I'd worry less about exposure and more about just getting the exact audience that fits your game and growing that slowly.
I will happily smash F5 for as long as I need to XD
By the way, did you ever have any plans to release that secret dungeon on Dego? Or is that scrapped now?
By the way, did you ever have any plans to release that secret dungeon on Dego? Or is that scrapped now?
Ramshackin
1462
@Darken
I've uploaded to GameJolt in the past, but didn't realize it was still going. Good to hear it's a solid source of downloads/views, otherwise I would have skipped it.
I'm hesitant on Steam as it's $100 to post a game I'm releasing for free. My gamedev motivation is mostly from getting users to play and comment, so if Steam can generate players and reviews for me, then I might drop the money on it.
@sushiman345
The plan was to build the secret Dego dungeon by editing the data files for the game's levels, and uploading the new files as a patch. Then I realized all the data files are compressed into the exe, and there's no way to change them without re-compiling the game. And re-compiling the game was a big adventure that I couldn't get to work :(
I've uploaded to GameJolt in the past, but didn't realize it was still going. Good to hear it's a solid source of downloads/views, otherwise I would have skipped it.
I'm hesitant on Steam as it's $100 to post a game I'm releasing for free. My gamedev motivation is mostly from getting users to play and comment, so if Steam can generate players and reviews for me, then I might drop the money on it.
@sushiman345
The plan was to build the secret Dego dungeon by editing the data files for the game's levels, and uploading the new files as a patch. Then I realized all the data files are compressed into the exe, and there's no way to change them without re-compiling the game. And re-compiling the game was a big adventure that I couldn't get to work :(
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