#Advertising/Generating following Mobile Game

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

severe flume
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Rebstrike — Today at 9:53 AM
Well you have to generate a following somehow
Neem — Today at 9:54 AM
Never shy away from marketing
HawkAngel — Today at 9:54 AM
wont it get burried in a kickstarter and no one sees it though?
not sure how to really generate a following without just paying money lol
haven't found any great articles about it 😦
Neem — Today at 9:54 AM
I hate to say it but tiktok, Reddit, etc. are all great methods of free advertising
Share dev logs
HawkAngel — Today at 9:54 AM
where would you post on like Reddit?
"writes down, need to figure out what dev logs are"
Rebstrike — Today at 9:54 AM
I'm not entirely sure how Kickstarter works, but I feel like it could help you get started. At least, at a bare minimum, get you the money to start advertising your game
Neem — Today at 9:54 AM
places like r/gamedev I figure
the — Today at 9:55 AM
there's subreddits for gamedevs to post stuff
Neem — Today at 9:55 AM
It works wonders
HawkAngel — Today at 9:55 AM
good to know thanks!
the — Today at 9:55 AM
first worry about making the game at all
Neem — Today at 9:55 AM
Of course, you still need to focus on making a good product
Or at least should
the — Today at 9:55 AM
getting audiences is a bridge you'll cross when you get there
Neem — Today at 9:55 AM
But social media is a great way to start getting a following

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**Rebstrike — Today at 9:55 AM
**@severe flume This video is a bit outdated, but it can help you get started https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxsEimJ_3bM
Neem — Today at 9:56 AM
Tbh I rarely use Twitter but when I plan to gain a following, it’s something I’ll definitely do

YouTube
Extra Credits
Making Your First Game: Launching! - How to Market Your Game - Extr...

Start by thinking about what makes your game great and finding a way to say that. Once you've figured out your pitch, put together a short trailer and website so you can contact every news site, big and small. Remember, they want content, too! And finally, think broadly about where you will publish your game.
Subscribe for new episodes every We...

▶ Play video
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@shrewd ice how would you get people to follow you? would you just start following random people who follow other games?

hallow tartan
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Oh, I thought there was a way to move all the previous messages into the thread

severe flume
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¯_(ツ)_/¯

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I think if all the messages were replies maybe, but most of these weren't sadly

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@hallow tartan from what I've seen on kickstarter if you don't have a very unique game or a big following you won't hit your kickstarter goal and wont get any money however

empty estuary
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Your first game won't make money, statistically, so it's not really worth the stress of trying to.

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For KS, you have to remember all the fees and taxes you have to pay on it. While you might raise $20,000, you're only taking in half that.

severe flume
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that makes sense, but I worry that when I create a really solid game that would make money, I won't have the capital to put out enough ads for it to become popular

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thus, I need to build up a following somehow

empty estuary
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Mobile games are a polluted market as well. If your game is anything casual, and you miraculously find any semblance of success, your game will be stolen by the major top cloning companies, copied exactly, and appear on the top of the suggested games on Google.

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And you'll be buried, and they'll make the money.

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Lastly, to make money, you need to spend money. There's no way around this fact.

severe flume
empty estuary
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No, you can still find success on mobile, but it's a lottery.

severe flume
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gotcha

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what do you mean by "your game is anything casual"

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meaning it doesn't have a storyline?

empty estuary
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Case in point, I know someone who made an idle game and he's now a millionaire off it. Solo, his second game. It was just luck.

severe flume
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any idea how much he initially put into marketing?

empty estuary
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Look at the top "free" games on the app store. Anything like that, that can be made easily by a cloning company in less than a week.

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$0

carmine copper
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Hyper Casual

severe flume
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gotcha

empty estuary
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That said, he is heavily involved with that niche cmomunity that is hardcore idle players. So his marketing was knowing people, sharing the game, and understanding them on a much deeper level than most.

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He has since made animated commercials/ads for it though.

carmine copper
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If you haven't ever made a game before, don't bother worrying yourself about marketing. Just.. make the game. Finishing it is gonna be your biggest hurdle.

severe flume
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so something like Mr Autofire or Rush Royale or all those games with powerups and fighting those waves of zombies with a spinning fire attack that all the ads are for would be super easy to clone?

carmine copper
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Rush Royale wouldn't be, no.

severe flume
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why is that?

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seems like a pretty simple mechanic same as Mr Autofire?

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tower defense with small twist

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or Mr Autofire being an autofire platformer type (similiar to what Im trying to make)

empty estuary
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Don't make a game that relies on a playerbase

severe flume
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gotcha, Im basically making a singleplayer version very similiar to MrAutoFire rn

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which barely requires a playerbase anyway

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not sure which games would/wouldn't be super easy to clone I guess

carmine copper
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Rush Royale, et al, require a lot of different enemies, player characters.. and they all need to be balanced

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with constant tweaking

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Hyper Casual games are what are easy to be cloned. These are games with 1 or 2 simple game mechanics, a ~60 second game loop..

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Something that can be made in a week.

severe flume
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so something like Survivor.io is super easy to clone because you only need a few enemies and make some powerups?

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I don't see many clones of MrAutoFire however and that feels like it would be very similiar, any ideas why?

carmine copper
severe flume
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I've seen a lot of clones of it so assumed it was

empty estuary
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If it can be picked up and played within seconds, and the gameplay is short and uses a simple mechanic, then yes, that's what a hyper casual game is.

severe flume
empty estuary
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Yes

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Hypercasual relates to both sides of the games. Quick/easy/cloneable to make by the developer, and quick/easy/short attention to play by the players

severe flume
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Survivor.io doesn't have a ton of different enemies but has lots of weapons and boss mechanics...don't need much in terms of background of stage though, so is it a hypercasual because the gameplay loop is to just fight a bunch of enemies each time?

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does "binding of isaac" count as hypercasual? seems like it would be fairly easy to clone?

empty estuary
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No

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You can't make that game in a week, even if you were to copy it 1:1.

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Clone doesn't mean "I can make this eventually because I have the skillset".

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In this context, it means "I can make this in a few days, exactly the same, and upload it"'

severe flume
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seems like survivor.io has a lot of items, weapons, and boss mechanics so not quite sure how its that much easier to clone?

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doesn't really require any stage creation I guess

carmine copper
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Hyper Casual games don't have any levelling system, no upgrading of weapons, nothing. It's just play a ~60 sec level which only has 1, maybe 2, game mechanics that don't change.

severe flume
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Ahhh gotcha, so something like survivor.io has a few clones but wouldnt be a hypercasual game

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Even though it has a pretty simple game-loop

severe flume
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Or like a free mobile one

empty estuary
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No, IAP

severe flume
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Even with a niche group hes popular in, how does he rack up a ton of downloads without a ton of capital for ads?

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If you realistically have a solid free mobile game, but only like $500 to market with, what would you do?

empty estuary
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Pray for the best and move onto the next game 🤷‍♂️

severe flume
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Fair enough lol

empty estuary
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Of course, I would share the game on relevant communities like discord/reddit, but outside of that, you're just a drop in the ocean.

severe flume
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Just hope google play or app store algorithm likes your game and eventually you become popular?

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How much money would you think the minimum to start getting traction would be?

carmine copper
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10k to 100k

severe flume
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thats a hefty chunk, so pretty much you need a decent following and have enough people like the game to kickstart a free mobile game for like $10k for any hopes of it becoming popular?

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do most people fund their initial game with like 10k themselves?

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would be hard to get friends or family to help chip in 10k even if you put in like $500 for testing if people like the game and it was pretty good

empty estuary
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The only algorithm for the store showing your game is if it's already making money.

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Or if you have an in with Google.

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And Apple showcasing a game is done manually by a curator at Apple. So unless you've been noticed on the internet for them to find you, you're not getting featured.

severe flume
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good to know thanks

empty estuary
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There is zero benefit for these stores to show your game to anyone if it's not already successful. They take a cut of your money, so you're not worth it to them if there's nothing to cut.

severe flume
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gotcha

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wasn't sure if it was like youtube where you could luck out, hit the algorithm perfect and the video becomes super popular

empty estuary
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Sure, if you send it to some influencer who cared enough to try your game. 🤷‍♂️

severe flume
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so if you have a great game you pretty much need to try and have $10k laying around to fund ads yourself, raise the money from friends/family, or hope people want to kickstart a mobile game that would be free anyway?

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or just hope for the best and keep releasing games until one happens to become popular?

carmine copper
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No one is going to kickstart a free mobile game.

severe flume
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thats what I was guessing

empty estuary
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You don't have enough friends/family to make a game successful

severe flume
empty estuary
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If you want to go the free/low cost route, you're relying on word of mouth from strangers.

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Don't use other people's money to fund a lottery ticket, that's just asking for trouble.

carmine copper
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Rovio made ~30 games before they made Angry Birds, they were about to go bankrupt. They borrowed money from wealthy parents, IIRC, to be able to make Angry Birds.

severe flume
empty estuary
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(And at that point, they were also very versed in making games)

severe flume
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figured a good game + decent marketting budget would go pretty well

carmine copper
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Games fail all the time, even AAA games with a huge marketing budget..

severe flume
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huh, thats good to know

carmine copper
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kinda obvious really

severe flume
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well when you put insane amounts of money into marketting that makes sense

carmine copper
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Have you even started your game yet?
Are you self aware enough to actually know what quality you're able to make?
Have you finished a game before?

severe flume
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figured in the game world $10k wasn't much so even a mediocre game would make it back

severe flume
carmine copper
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Most games aren't worth publishing, but as long as you learnt something, it was worth it

severe flume
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close enough that I think it will be pretty good...far enough that I feel now might be a decent time to start considering marketing

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learning stuff is what Im best at 😄

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but yeah, this is all theoretical

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I wont spend any money on a game that myself and others dont think is any good

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planning on the case that everything goes as plan

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the main lack of knowledge I have rn is gaining following...which seems like social media and reddit is a good bet

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not sure if I need to make my own subreddit or whatnot, cause even if I start getting people interested in the game, if there isn't a ton of info about it they won't be able to find anything for it

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sounds like I need to do that if I don't have a ton of money to toss into advertising (since kickstarter wont be a thing)

shrewd ice
severe flume
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and luck

shrewd ice
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Best method for marketing is definitely money

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I don’t want to say luck is a part of it, but realistically it is

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However, making a GOOD product should be a priority

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Not only is there little gain from marketing a “poorly-made” game, but a very well made game will market itself to some extent

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Also I’m definitely no expert marketing games, I’m just regurgitating info I’ve received from other devs and from marketing other projects.

severe flume
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Ive heard that if I only have like $500 to market a game

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Im better off just not using the money?

shrewd ice
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Once again, I’m not an expert, but yeah I figure it’s not worth it to spend on marketing

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I asked the creators of a game in development called “The Break-In” which gained a ton of players immediately before a public beta test. Asked them how they got so many people to join the discord and play the beta, they said they got a viral social media post

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I believe that was on tiktok

severe flume
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Makes sense thanks 🙂

shrewd ice
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Especially for a game in development, social interaction CAN work wonders, although once again a matter of luck and how interesting the product is

severe flume
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😄

shrewd ice
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Stardew valley had no marketing prior to release from what I understand, just lots of consistent dev logs from CA

severe flume
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I got to figure out how to do good dev logs then

shrewd ice
severe flume
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Seems like just random game photos saying "look a boss I made"

shrewd ice
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Well first and foremost, the GAME looks good. Little point in promoting a game that isn’t going to make it, as said earlier

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But in terms of the actual updates on the game development?

severe flume
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I dont see how its even dev logs

shrewd ice
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It’s not a dev log in the traditional sense by any means

severe flume
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Thought it was writing or videos

shrewd ice
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But they are definitely logging the development of their game, no?

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And as a result they have some 32 thousand followers before the game is even released

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I’m not even sure exactly what makes a page like this successful, but it seems appealing to players. Comparisons of development over time, showing off new features, etc. gets people hyped up about the final game

shrewd ice
# severe flume Thought it was writing or videos

It can be, for sure. Check YouTube or any appropriate forum and you’ll see other types of dev logs, I’m just showing another way that you can get attention from consistent social media updates

severe flume
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Sweet thanks!

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Saw lots of huge posts and 7m videos and thought it was a ton of work

shrewd ice
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One thing I’ve heard and observed tons of times is that the rate isn’t what matters, rather the consistency

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If you wanna make 10 minute YT videos, you don’t have to do it daily. You could do it once a month, or once every two months