Before you set up shop on Facebook you should think about if it’s actually worthwhile. Facebook might not be right for you at this time, and here are some reasons why:

It takes time and effort

Building a fan base on Facebook takes a lot of both. You need to reach new players, give them a reason to become a fan, and then give them enough quality content to retain their interest. It can be a hard slog, sf you have barely any time to spare you could be better off spending it elsewhere.

There’s no purpose

Lots of people have Facebook pages for the sake of it. They get set up with lovely profile and header images, a chirpy first post, then… nothing. There needs to be a reason to have a Facebook page for it to be worthwhile – both for you and your potential fans.

It’s not all about pages

There’s more to Facebook than profiles. You can still use Facebook to your advantage without building a page of active, loyal fans. Take yourself for instance, how many brands do you like on Facebook and how many of them are little indie studios? For example, you can still use paid ads to promote your game to new players without one.

It can drain motivation

Your game is most likely a labour of love and so a large part of its success will depend on your passion and willingness to make it happen. Doing Facebook badly feels will most likely be an unsuccessful venture and, in turn, will probably be quite demotivating.

It usually needs budget

At the time of writing, Facebook’s algorithm had made it increasingly difficult to get new fans through posting great content alone. More than ever, paid Facebook ads are needed to attract those new crowds and this requires money.

So in conclusion…

It’s not to say that indie developers shouldn’t consider using Facebook, but it certainly shouldn’t be done without good reason and method. Managing a good Facebook page can be a full time job (in fact for some people, it is). Just make sure it’s worth your time, effort and (possibly) money before you dive in.

If you are still keen to make one, check out our guides on how to set one up and what content to put on it.

Making a game is an exciting and potentially rewarding thing to do, but it requires a huge amount of time and effort. It’s an emotional roller coaster ranging from addictive highs (“Everyone loved the first build!”) to soul destroying lows (“I’m going to have to redo all of that code!”). And that’s just the development which, as we know, is just half the battle.

Just releasing my first Indie Game and wasn’t sure if I should bother friends and family too much.

Not wanting to spam friends and family is a common issue, especially when it comes to launching a first game.

It is a difficult balance to strike, but we strongly believe that they can be one of your strongest assets when trying to get the word out about your game. In the early days every single player counts.

Also consider, if you are struggling to talk to your friends and family about your game, those who know you and are likely to have a lot in common with you, then how are you going to fare when it comes to complete strangers?

Remember, the real benefit of telling your friends and family is not just that they’ll play your game, but that they might tell their friends and family too.

That said, no one wants to annoy people, let alone your friends and family. So we’ve put together a few thoughts that should help Andy and you out.

Be polite

It shouldn’t really need saying, but countless times I’ve seen people almost demanding people play their games. Whether it’s thrusting it in front of them in the pub, or simply telling people on Facebook to download it, people won’t like it if they feel pressured. Always ask them rather than tell them.

Be selective

Everyone has a few friends that they’re closer to than others. People that are genuinely interested in what you are up to. Take the time and effort to talk to them individually (at the minimum a seperate email / facebook message). They’ll be more inclined to play your game and much less likely to see further public posts / conversations as spam because they’ll know what you’re trying to do and how important it is to you.

Be self restrained

Lastly, and probably the most important – don’t bombard people. If you’ve already told someone about your game, don’t keep telling them again and again.

This should be all pretty much common sense, but understandably when it comes to friends and family you really don’t want to irritate them. So below we’ve included the steps we’d take

For example, a handful of public updates (I.e to all friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter) is unlikely to irritate anyone. But a daily request to play your game likely would.

Step 1

Write (by email, private Facebook message etc) to close friends and family (or tell them in person) that you have been working on a game and that you’ve finished it. Explain that it would mean a great deal to you if they would play the game and let you know what they think. Let them know that it would be a massive help if they liked the game to tell other people about it.

Step 2

Post to your Facebook/Twitter/social network of choice a few times. Spread it out over a couple weeks (this is really subjective, if you normally post a lot, you can feel comfortable posting more than once a week). Try to make the post interesting, not just linking to the game.

Step three

Publicly say thank to all the people that have played your game (and privately too).

You shouldn’t underestimate the good will people have for start ups and indie studios (we are constantly surprised at how often people are willing to help out with our projects!). Doing your own thing brings a slightly heroic status which people often enjoy supporting. You have to ask though, so take advantage of it.

One recent team we have heard from are the guys at Black Moon Design who have kindly shown us their new game, Scribbles! This is a fun physics puzzler for iPad and Blackberry Playbook (with other platforms apparently to come soon) where the player has to draw objects in order to guide a number of cartoon-faced balls into a cup.

For this case study we are going to focus on this game’s trailer, which you can see here. See you after the break!

General Impression

One of the most apparent strengths of the game is its nice notebook cartoon art style, and this is well displayed throughout the trailer. Every frame follows this art style and it works nicely. Equally, the game music is used as the soundtrack for the trailer that further enhances a consistent tone of voice.

Features

Viewers should be left with no confusion about Scribbles’ win/loss conditions; get enough balls into the cup to win. What is less apparent is how the user does this. Having played the game and being familiar with physics puzzle games myself, I know that the player has to draw lines which act as platforms to guide the balls into the cup. However, a viewer new to the game and genre might be confused.

This confusion could be easily avoided by a couple of lines detailing this mechanic e.g. “Draw lines with your red ink to guide the balls…” Always test your trailers on completely fresh eyes and ask them what they think. Do they clearly understand what the game is about? If there’s any uncertainty make sure you plug the gap!

The trailer itself also makes no mention of the game being free to play. ‘Free’ is a very powerful message. While this detail is included in the trailer info below the video (if watching on YouTube), it should be featured in the trailer itself. More on this in a moment!

Audience

The guys at Black Moon Design have chosen to say that the game is ‘violence free’. It’s a simple detail to include, but it’s a very important one. There is a large opportunity in tablet markets to appeal to kids playing on their parents’ devices. One of the key fears any parent shall have will be the game’s suitability for their child (safe, appropriate content etc.). Clearly stating that the game is non-violent is simple, but wise.

At this stage I have to confess I found the game quite tricky. While my playing abilities may have been affected by the fact that I played it on a train, I still suspect that a child playing the game on their parent’s tablet device would find it too difficult. There does seem to be a great opportunity for kids to enjoy this game, so testing for this audience could be a very worthwhile time investment.

Call to action

A call to action is the message at the end of a marketing communication (advert, email etc.). Once you have the user’s interest, the call to action is what you want them to do next. For example, ‘click here’, ‘download now’, ‘like us on Facebook’

There is a good, clear call to action at the end of this trailer in terms of the message. Users are clearly told the devices on which the game shall be released and the release month.

A related area that could be improved is the user journey. At the time of writing, links to the relevant stores have not been included to the video. Including simple links to the relevant digital stores removes a potential barrier to purchase and could increase the number of game downloads.

Being a pre-release trailer, there is also an opportunity to get people to subscribe/follow/like for info, bonus content etc. Anything – within reason – that can help get you shares on social networks is positive! Keep in mind that, just like we have done above, your video may be embedded on other sites. One side effect of this is that viewers on these sites shall not see the info you included under your video.

For example, while Black Moon Design have included Twitter info in the info text below the video, users watching the trailer embedded on other sites will likely not see that information.

When making your trailer try using this general rule of thumb: anything that’s not in the video itself won’t get seen.

Summary

Good

• Effectively showing off the artwork
• Consistent image and music
• Clearly communicates win/loss conditions
• Includes ‘violence free’ as a detail – great for parents!

Future Opportunities

• A little more info about the drawing/ink mechanics
• Additional links and call to action details
• Social network outposts info and sharing incentives
• Including the detail that it’s free in the trailer

Scribbles! is available for free download at the AppStore and BlackBerry AppWorld now. All the best of luck to Black Moon Design!

—

EDIT

Since this post went live, the guys at Black Moon Design have responded to our feedback and uploaded a new version of the trailer. Check it out here!

While not the most enjoyable exercise, gaining a good understanding of your game’s competition will give you a higher chance to achieve standout. And it’s better to do it before you invest hours and hours in development! But with so many games and sites out there, where should you start?

Platform stars

The best place to start is the platforms on which you intend to publish. Having a look at the most popular/successful games on the relevant platform(s) will give you a nice intro to the big players in that marketplace. If you can, play some of these. The closest ones will give you an idea of what to stay away from, and the unrelated ones may give you some unexpected inspiration.

Reading the games’ reviews can also give you a good introduction to that platform’s audience. Reviewers tend to be the more vocal customers and generally more likely to spend money on games. It’s worth getting to know what they think!

Platform genre stars

This is similar to platform stars, but more specific to your game mechanics. Having a good understanding of the most popular title in the same genre as your game (strategy, puzzle, racing etc.) will let you know what the audience might expect, enjoy and already have access to.

Sadly, there are no clear guides in terms of what should be taken as inspiration, and what should be viewed as ‘already covered territory.’ You’ll have to see as you go and use your intuition. If all else fails ask yourself, would you want to buy another game with that feature, or would you be done with it?

Platform search engines

This is an important way to test the potency of your game’s name. Giving your game a name which includes a popular word may make it more difficult to stand out from the crowd.

For example, you can probably assume that there will be loads of games with the word ‘Pirates’ in the title and so having it in your name risks getting lost in a high number of search results. Don’t just search for your game name either. Try out similar and related words.

Press and social

Game marketplaces are increasingly crowded and so gamers may find it best to discover new games from game news/reviews sites. These usually have a search function, and sometimes genre categories. Have a look through these, applying the same thinking as the above.

The same applies to social media and other search engines (Google, YouTube, Facebook etc.). What comes up when you search for your name? There may be games currently in development that wouldn’t have shown up in your other searches, but will be released before yours is published.

Conclusion

Having a clear idea of the competition can potentially save you from wasting a huge amount of time and effort, so it’s very important to do as much research early on.

Having said that, we wouldn’t recommend this as the very first thing you should do. Starting your game design from the perspective of the competition can have a negative effect on your creativity.

Our recommendation is to spend a day or so doing this exercise after you have put down a good chunk/most of your initial ideas into your design doc, but before you charge into development. That way you can start from a fresh perspective, then compare those ideas with what’s already/soon to be out there.

We’ve talked in the past about creating a good first impression – icons are possibly the most important asset you have aside from the game itself. Regardless of what type of game you’re creating, the icon is the thing that will represent your game on the user’s homepage or desktop. If your game is a mobile app, the icon is often the first thing people will see before they buy your game – a well-designed icon will help you cut through an incredibly crowded market place.

Whilst a poorly designed icon may not stop people from playing your game, a great icon can entice people to play more often – especially useful if your revenue model is dependent on repeat use.

We’ve put together a set of principles to help guide you in creating beautiful icons that make people want to click / tap. (We’ve focused more on principle for mobile game icons as generally the icon is the main asset users see before downloading, as opposed to PC games on services such as Steam.)

Note – we’re talking explicitly about icons here – the little square graphics that represent your game in app stores, on phone and on people’s desktops. We’re not talking about logo. Whilst there are cross overs, logo design is arguably a different discipline and something we’ll cover off at a later date.

Make it consistent

Icons should be as representative of your game as possible. We’ve already covered keeping it simple, so by representative I don’t mean trying to cram a screen grab into the little box. Rather the icon should take elements and styling cues from the game. If the game is cartoony and about fruit, put a cartoon piece of fruit as the icon. It’s an obvious sounding principle but there are an alarming number of games with icons that are seemingly unrelated. Users will have expectations of the game from its icon – if there’s a disconnect then they you’ve just annoyed them. Not the best way to start a potential relationship.

Stand out

Before starting to design your icon take a look at what similar games have done. It may give you some inspiration but more importantly it will show you what you’re up against and how to stand out. Think of app stores like supermarket shelves – some people go shopping knowing exactly what they want, but a significant number spend time browsing shelves. Anyone in marketing knows how important package design is. Next time you’re in a supermarket check-out the cleaning products aisle – they all tend to be white (because people associate it with clean) but here in the UK there are a few products that stand out, Cilit Bang being one, because they have a completely different colour.

They’re the first products you spot on the shelves. The package is still clearly for a cleaning product – long neck, spray nozzle – but yet it grabs customers’ attention due to its stand out. One quick tip to help stand out is to avoid using Apple’s gloss feature. It is specifically designed to give icons a consistent look and feel. The exact opposite of what we are going for.

Keep it simple

Icons are small. They are meant to be simple; the simplest possible way of representing your game graphically. First things first, avoid text. Text is a big no no in icon design. Icons should be graphical, should be instantly recognisable. Text will always be harder to read than looking at a picture, especially when we’re dealing with such a little box. Secondly, avoid clutter. Too many elements will make your icon ugly and confused, and will make people think twice about downloading.

Finishing touches

Whilst I’ve just hammered the point that the key for any good icon is simplicity this doesn’t mean it should be dull or lifeless. Pay
 attention to the little things, the small details. They can make the difference between a good icon and a great one. Shading, gradients, bevels – you may think the icon is too small to notice but you’d be wrong. Every little thing you can do to optimise your icon, the better.

Test it

There’s no rule that says you can’t show people your icon before submitting it. In fact I’d be in favour of a rule that says you have to. Show it to friends and family. And then show it to people slightly
more impartial. Get them to tell you what they think when they see your icon. Mock up what your icon looks like next to competitors’ – see if people spot yours first. Show them your actual game and see if the icon does a good job representing. Ask as many questions as you can before they tell you to bugger off.

So those were our top five tips; if there’s anything we’ve missed, share it in the comments. And if you’re working an your icon design at the moment don’t hesitate to share your progress with us if you’re looking for some feedback.

Of course, we don’t want to name and shame random indie developers. The majority of indie games will be born out of love for the games and for making them, and the last thing we want to do is search around for random games and criticise for the sake of it. We love games and the point of this site is to help them grow, not to hinder them.

We have had a number of developers contact us telling us about their interesting games and asking for feedback. We are always delighted to offer any help we can, and think that this is the best way to do case studies. If they like, we offer to do honest case studies for these developers. If they are happy with the idea, it’s then when we will write up a case study for the site. The other strength of this approach is that it enables us to hear their point of view. Who do they think their target audience is, what do they think their brand proposition is, what is their elevator pitch, what are their goals etc?

We shall upload the first of these case studies soon. If you would like us to give you private feedback or do a case study on your game please let us know via our contact page or in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!

One of the most powerful types of promotion is word of mouth marketing, getting people to talk about your game. It’s quite obvious really, how many times have you gone to see a film, read a book or tried a restaurant based on the recommendation of a friend? Word of mouth marketing is all about encouraging and helping people recommend your game to their friends.

Whilst a lot of players will promote your game if prompted or asked to, if you offer an incentive for doing so you will see much higher rates of advocacy. If you have some form of in-game currency this can be as simple as throwing a few extra coins in their direction as reward for their action. If you don’t employ an in-game currency then you can still incentivize player sharing, but you may have to think harder about how you do it. It may be that you give away wallpapers or concept art, XP points, or unlock new parts of a map or items.

Below I’ve identified 5 mechanics for encouraging people to talk about your game.

Score sharing

People are competitive. It’s one of the reasons we like playing games, to beat other people. We are also competitive with ourselves. We love to beat our own high scores. If your game has a point scoring mechanic, be sure to let people share their scores online. Your best bet is to focus on sharing through facebook or Twitter since these are the most adopted social networks. Posting to Twitter is simple since the API allows you to contain the tweet in the URL. If you want post to both Twitter and Facebook from a mobile game then integrating a platform such as OpenFeint could be a simpler process. It also gives you immediate access to functionality such as high scores. That said, requiring a login to a third party application will be a barrier to your more casual players

Asking for a review

Especially for mobile platforms, having high ratings is a key thing users will check before downloading games, so having a large number of high ratings is a great way to help increase your downloads. Even though a lot of people will like a game, and rating it is a very simple process, very few people actually think to do it themselves, it’s not part of their thought process. So something as simple as a polite prompt is a great way to encourage them to do so -it’s not particularly obtrusive and a simple prompt is all most people need to go ahead and rate. Our advice is always to let the user play the game a while before asking them to rate the game, there’s nothing more frustrating than downloading a game and immediately being asked to rate it.

You could also consider encouraging people to rate your game with some form of reward for doing so, such as in-game currency if you have one. Remember to be careful how you ask, you don’t want to imply that you’re bribing people for positive reviews!

Challenging / playing with a friend

Humans are very social animals, we tend to seek out other people to talk too, and indeed, play games with. Social games have capitalised on this massively, with the likes of Farmville amassing huge numbers of players quickly by tapping into people’s social networks (read spamming their feeds). And as I mentioned earlier, people are also quite a competitive bunch. These two things combined means that mechanics that try to pit friends against each other, such as setting a high score and then challenging your friends to beat it, are a fantastic way to get people telling their friends about your game.

Liking / following

We’ve talked in the past about the importance of social media and specifically creating account of social networking sites. It’s a great way to give loyal fans additional content and drive engagement with your game brand. However, it’s also a great way to gain access to your fans’ friends. Every time one of your players talks about you on Twitter, or likes a wall post you write on Facebook there is a chance that their friends will see this. Provide fans with great additional content on social networks and they might even share it themselves. Do it well and you can create an army of advocates for your game, recruit new players through their actions.

Member get member

Lastly, and probably the oldest form of word of mouth marketing, is member get member. The principle is simple, you reward existing users for going out and recruiting new players. This can be through extra experience, in-game currency or bonus items – whatever reward your game can offer basically. World of Warcraft do this very well, offering incentives such as 2 free months for the friend, bonus experience when the user and friend play together, and unique bonus items for the user for recruiting a friend.

All in all, word of mouth can be a fantastic way to drive new players to your game. However, it’s important to remember that with an exception or two, these features and mechanics work best when they are properly integrated into your game, rather than tacked on as an afterthought, and definitely not to the detriment of the actual game. They should also add something to the user experience – this doesn’t have to be literally with a reward (though that obviously helps) but through tapping into human phycology (being social, being competitive).

We’ve included 5 main example here, but there are dozens of variations and combinations out there. Let us know in the comments which ones you’re using, and how they’re working. We’d also love to hear from you if you now are going to incorporate these in your game in the future.

The traditional approach of indie games makers is to consider your development period to be one of sole investment, hopefully to be rewarded upon the game’s release. This is the norm for the most part, but there are alternatives to help you along. In this series of posts, we explore other ways in which you can make an income from your game – some even being executable before your first game is released. The first of these we shall cover is affiliate marketing.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is essentially gaining a commission by recommending other people’s products and services. If a person clicks on one of your affiliate links and purchases that item, you gain a cut of that sale. A lot of blogs are funded using this scheme, and it can be a great way for people to learn about new products from sources they trust.

The main requirements of this to work is to have/grow a good sized audience, and to pick products in which they shall be interested. We have explained the importance of growing a strong community in other posts, as we have explained the importance of understanding your target audience. If you have not check these out already, we certainly recommend you do so now!

How do you do it?

This is all well and good, we hear you cry, but how do you actually set it up? Check out this video to learn how – in this case specifically for Amazon products:

Some examples

Let’s say we are making a game based in a pirate world. The game features stereotypical pirate characters and situations, allowing the player to enjoy the life of being a marauder of the seven seas. The game has a comical tone, with lots of funny characters and lines. With this alone we can make some educated guesses about the type of person that will want to play the game. More importantly for this topic, we can also assume what kinds of things they will be interested in.

• Pirates, because it’s a pirate game
• Naval warfare, because that’s what you do in the game
• Comedy, it matches the tone of voice
• Films/Books/Music, gamers tend to enjoy them
• Other games, particularly if your game isn’t out for a while

We already know that interesting content is key to keep your audience engaged with your brand – especially on your social outposts. We can assume that our target audience will like pirates, so why not run a feature about the pirate films/books/comics/games that inspired you to make your game? Chances are if you liked them, the audience will too.

Also don’t worry if members of your community have already enjoyed the product you are recommending – that’s still a win for different reasons. They probably wont buy your recommended product, but they might relate to you better and perhaps get involved in the conversation (“Man, I love this series! I think that X is the best one…”).

Summary

Like with so many things, affiliate marketing requires some trial and error to find the right balance. Always keep in mind that you don’t try to sell to your audience, you are just recommending them things you genuinely enjoy/value. When done right, it can be a great conversation piece for your community and can lead to some extra funds to help develop your game.

It’s certainly a reasonable question. Development factors aside, there can indeed be a large difference between platforms. Perhaps the most obvious of these are the number of users (potential customers), the number of games already there (potential competitors) and the platform’s growth prospects (be a big fish before the pond gets big). Kept to this level, its an important question to address and one that should be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The problem, however, comes when game makers rely on their platform to do their advertising for them.

Promoting indie games is something that some of the big digital distributers do very badly. For example, the iTunes app store is notoriously bad for helping users to find new great games, and (at the time of writing) the most recent Xbox Live dashboard update has pushed indie games further away from the average gamer’s attention. It is important to not think of these digital platforms as anything more than distributors for your game. Don’t expect them to do your marketing and advertising for you. Their role in your business is to simply enable people to acquire your game.

Of course, this isn’t to say that many game makers haven’t benefitted from a distributer’s promotions. iTunes do ‘apps of the week’, Microsoft do the ‘Summer of Arcade’ and other things. You might get lucky and get in a featured list, but this should only be viewed as a bonus and certainly not to be relied upon in your marketing plan.

In summary, it’s wise to consider which platforms will be best for your game(s), but make sure that you don’t have unrealistic expectations of how much that company is going to promote you. If you don’t handle your own marketing you run the big risk of getting lost in the crowd.