Hi folks,

I'm sure some of you know that I will releasing my game soon. I am looking for some community advice on the subject of advertising and driving sales. If you HAVE NOT finished a game, or have not been a part of a game that was released, please do not post because I am looking for solid opinions based on facts.

I have done countless hours of research, and planning. I've read books apon books, looking for the best possible solutions for a indy developer like myself.
I want to see what the community has to say about the following questions.

#1 Is a 5,000 USD 4 inch x 4 inch, two week add on Gamespot really worth it?

Assume that I make the ad eye catching and professional. Gamespot "garauntees" 3 million impressions, and the sales department claims that "on average" 1% of their customers get hits, and 2%-5% of those hits result is sales. They also get approximately 5 million hits per day on their website, so alot of people visit. If you do the math, thats approximately 26,500 USD profit if the game sells for 30 USD. How realistic do you feel these figures are?

#2 In the past, did you find that selling your games in the indy communities generated positive feedback, that out weighed the negative feedback of your game. And if so, was the financial return worth the investment of your time promoting in the communities?

#3 Before a publishing company will seriously take a look at a indy game, where the creator or team does not have an prior experience, how many copies do they wish to see sold?

#4 What types of advertising have you done, and which were the most lucrative?

Thankyou for your help and suppport!

Jesse

hey mate this isnt really relevant but im making my new website now and ide be more than happy to advertise for free if it helps...

cheers

We're about to release our 12th title, and are considering some of the same things. Here are my thoughts based on what's worked for us in the past:

1. For my studio, I've always, always found that other forms of PR work better than banner advertising. Given $500 to spend, I'd rather put that towards creating and distributing targeted press releases, whipping up a nice press package (screenshots, blurbs that journalists can cut-and-paste), and so forth. I feel that the return is much greater.

1b. Those stats are compelling, but I'd take them with a grain of salt. Which ads get 1% click-though? What games are getting those 5% sales? The latter figure seems on the high side. For indie games, a 5% conversion rate for users who actually download play the demo (i.e., 1 in 20 people who download the trial purchase the game) would be exceptional. A 5% conversion rate for users who view the ad (i.e., 1 in 20 people who merely click on the banner end up purchasing the game) seems absolutely phenomenal.

2. Getting your word out to the "indie community" is a nice way to generate buzz, but I feel that the number of people who care about "indie-developed" games (or even recognize such a distinction) is small compared to the gaming world at large. A vast majority of our game sales have come from people who have never heard the term "indie." However, there are indirect benefits to courting the community, such as increased exposure elsewhere, and the attention of journalists/publishers who pay attention to that.

3. I've had limited experience here, so I can't say much.

4. Our press releases have always resulted in a greater return on investment over our graphical banners and Google text ads. Your mileage may vary.

For some thoughts on advertising, run down to your library and snag a copy of Seth Godin's Free Prize Inside. Best of luck with your launch!

Depending on the genre you might contact some sites that deal with that genre. For strategy games there's taktik-zone.de where any upcoming (turn based) strategy game is listed. The site is very well visited.

Start spreading the word where your game is needed.

1) have a good and well polished game.
2) have a better website (seo, keywords, buy information...)
3) have a press release on that website, featuring screenshots.
4) contact review sites, give them a free version link.
5) distribute a pad file.
6) post on gaming forums.
7) put link in your signatures.
8) buy some backlinks to your site or do banner exchange.
9) google ads if you want (but with careful selected keywords (dont use something like 'download free game' those people will not buy your game, use 'card game' instead.
10) good luck!

Well, all I can say is that the problem concerning the gaming world's attitude to indie developers, can be fixed.
let's look at some factors that create the sense that the game was made by an indie developer:
1) A personal portfolio on a webpage
2) Only 2 or 3 names in the Credits portion of the game
3) Non-professional website, etc.

What I suggest might be considered cheating or lying, but I personally overcame the problem by:
1) sending an article to a Latvian gaming communities website. The article was about a new company, that has started to create games (A first in Latvia, I might add) I used a nickname instead of my real name, so as noone would figure that I am from this company.
2) The article started a nice buzz, so my webpage got a lot of hits.
3) Also, I worked on the webpage a lot, so that there would be no grammar mistakes and everything would look professional.
This is just one example, there are many like this.

The main idea is - why tell everyone you are an indie developer? Don't say anything, but make the impression you are a company. Not saying everything, I believe is not considered a lie!

Quote:

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why tell everyone you are an indie developer? Don't say anything, but make the impression you are a company

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To be clear, a popular definition of Indie in the US is a individual OR COMPANY that doesn't receive deveopment funds from publishing houses or other mainstream gaming venues. It doesn't mean that it is a bunch of individuals. What I'm trying to say is that you can (and should!) have a company and be Indie. Heck, for all their money, ID is still considered Indie!!

In the US, being an Indie can actually be a benefit. It carries a rebelious air to it that a lot of gamers appreciate. The problem lies not in the indie image but the indie budget. Consider that a non-indie game company would not think twice about 5k USD for gamespot. Heck, a non-indie game company would have an advertising budget that is on par with all of our development budgets combined!

In your case Leo, since Latvia doesn't have strong (if any) game development, there is no distincition between Indie and Non-Indie gaming... in the absence of mainstream, they are the same! I think there is nothing wrong with stating that you are Indie and being proud of it and IMO this attitude will not cost you any sales at all.

But you are correct that a poor website is losing you money and that sometimes it's preferable to present yourself as a company and not an individual. But I would keep the Indie label and not try to present yourself as something you are not (like we see all the time with the "I'm going to make a game to compete with Blizzard" threads).

Oldschooli, if you have not incorporated as a company, you should right away. Setting up an LLC is very easy, very inexpensive, and will make it easier for people to invest in you and take you seriously. Same thing for the website. No matter which advertising venue you go for, eventually they will end up on your site and if it isn't easy and attractive, then you will lose 9 out of 10 sales.

the thing with games is, that in society you are regarded as "independand" or "different" if you play computer games already. there is no need to say "i play indie games" to be super different... maybe this changes over the next 20 years or so when games are regarded the same as tv, movies, sports etc...

You can be considered different in a society that doesn't play games (although the perception of gamers is changing, and now we are not classified as "nerds" so often ), but in a gaming community, if you want to be super different, just playing normal games is not enough. If you want to achieve this goal, then you should choose to play INDIE games.
But I think, when talking about advertising and marketing, the main market still is the mainstream players.