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为你的独立游戏添加市场营销策略

发布时间:2016-02-01 15:29:05 Tags:,,,,

作者:Sergiu Craitoiu

对于我的上一款游戏,我花了6个月的时间并与3名朋友非常努力地致力于它的创造中。上周我们终于在Google Play Store发行了这款游戏。我希望能够与你们分享我到目前为止所获得的市场营销理念和经验,以及作为产业中的独立开发者同时也是新人的我在推广游戏时所做出的市场营销决策。

当我在去年夏天第一次与我的团队见面去讨论游戏理念时,我还毫无市场营销经验。实际上,那时候我们中的所有人都没有这样的经验。最早我们发行过一款一年中只获得186次下载的游戏。我们也因此了解到市场上有许许多多的应用和游戏,而我们必须想办法突显自己。

第一个糟糕的决定

回首过去,我发现我们从一开始便为游戏做出了一个非常糟糕的决定。为什么呢?因为我们并未在这一过程中添加任何市场营销计划。我们一心只想着开发游戏,因为我们的程序员并不关心市场营销。

我们的游戏是基于“波兰球”漫画(游戏邦注:又称“国家球”,是一种用户原创的网络漫画形式,以世界各个国家、地区为原型,进行卡通化创作的形象),即所有国家都将以球的形式表现出来,并且每个球都带有不同颜色的旗帜以及有趣的大眼睛。我们的想法是创造一台可升级的火箭去帮助波兰球飞往月球。我们希望能够创造出一款最出色的游戏,如此玩家社区也一定会协助我们,我们也就不用去担心游戏的市场营销了。

朋友们

在经过几个月后,几乎没什么人知道我们的游戏或者没人了解我们正在开发一款新游戏。我们很害怕会有人窃取了我们的理念并在我们之前创造或发行相似的游戏。所以我们便决定将保密做到位。而这也是我们在开发第一款游戏时做出的第二个错误的决定。

几个月后,即当我们的图像和一些核心机制都准备就绪时,我们决定将游戏呈现给一些朋友看看。我们都对游戏充满自豪,我们也觉得所有人都会喜欢它。

而朋友给出的初印象则是:我们不知道该在游戏中做些什么。我不喜欢这个设定和那个设定!为什么游戏中有这么多球?你要如何移动?我不理解这里发生了什么?

那时候的我们都很难过。我们努力工作了3个月,但是这一切却遭到了朋友们的否定。但与此同时朋友们也提供了非常诚实的反馈以及完善游戏玩法的新理念。我们是否从中学到了什么?似乎并没有。我们仍然决定将保密进行到底,并且这时候只有一些朋友清楚我们的计划。

Game Jam

2015年11月的时候我们参加了Game Jam。而因为那时候的我们没有美术师,所以我们决定使用自己游戏中的机制和图像去创造一些新内容。一整个晚上我们都待在一个角落里创造游戏,我们甚至未与其他人交谈。这也是我们做出的第三个错误的决定。Game Jam主要是关于各种交流。这里会有许多市场营销人员,游戏记者和优秀的程序员进行开放式讨论。我们应该与这些人进行交谈,分享彼此的想法和联系方式等等。

所以最终我们只获得一些有关我们的图像和游戏玩法的反馈,但是我们却未能创造任何对我们有帮助的关系。

网站

当我们离开Game Jam后,我真的很高兴看到我们收到的反馈。隔天我便在谷歌上搜索Game Jam希望看到一些有关我们的描述。但是我却什么都没找到。

我告诉团队成员,不管他们说什么,我都想为我们的游戏创造一个网站。而他们的第一个反应便是:“你没疯吧?为什么你要浪费时间和钱去创建一个网站?”而在我向他们解释了网站的重要性后,他们改变了看法并最终同意了我的决定。

我们并不想浪费大量时间去创建网站,所以我们决定使用基于WordPress主题的WordPress网站。而在域名,托管和WordPress主题方面我们也只花了100到120美元。

网站就像一张名片,人们可以在这里找到有关你的信息,你在做什么事以及你的计划等等内容。所以我们最终做出了这个正确的决定。但是在游戏准备就绪前我们却不想去分享我们的网站,所以我们并未创造一个游戏博客。而这也是我们做出的第四个错误决定。

我们网站是:http://polandballcanintospace.com/

亚马逊T恤

最近亚马逊发布了一项服务,即你能够上传一张图片,他们将把它印成T恤并运送到世界各地出售。我从一个好朋友那得知了这项服务并决定基于我们的游戏图像去创造一些T恤。我在网站上上传了4张图。我并未分享它们,但是在未做任何宣传的前提上我还是成功卖出了10件T恤。我认为所有独立开发者都可以尝试这项服务,这不仅是免费的还能有效推广你的产品。这便是我们做出的一个正确决定。

我同样也听说还有其它公司提供了类似这样的服务。即将图像印在马克杯之类的产品上。

Credits页面

在这期间我一直在提供给一个朋友有关物理引擎的建议。当他决定做成开放源时,他问了我还有其他人是否愿意加入他的GitHub页面。我注意到有些人很乐意出现在那里。所以我便马上决定在我们的网站上添加一个Credits页面。似乎人们都很喜欢参与你的项目,所以你最好认真听取他们的看法并提供给他们credits。在这个credits页面上我还提供了一些网站链接去支持其它游戏或网站。不管是YouTuber还是社区成员等希望帮助我们的人都会出现在Credits页面上。

社交媒体

最终我们创造了游戏的Facebook和Twitter页面。这对于市场营销来说是非常重要的工具,因为你可以经常在这里po些游戏更新内容或截图。你可以以此去提醒人们你的项目的存在。

social-media(from gamasutra)

social-media(from gamasutra)

除了Facebook和Twitter外我还建议你可以在Reddit,Tumblr和Imgur上分享内容。这些平台能够帮助你创造一部分的游戏粉丝基础。

但实际上我们并未真正分享什么内容。我们还是决定在游戏准备好并发行后才去分享内容。而这又是一个错误的市场营销决定。

这是我们的Twitter和Facebook页面:

https://twitter.com/PolandballGame

https://www.facebook.com/PolandballTheGame

视频预告片

Steam和Google Play想要呈献给用户一些视频。而在去年圣诞之前我们决定是时候创造游戏的预告片了。幸运的是我有个朋友拥有影视剪辑经验,我们也非常努力去创造一部优秀的游戏预告片。我认为视频预告片比网站更加重要,因为它对于用户的影响力更大。这里存在的唯一缺点便是,我们应该更早去制作预告片。也许我们应该为游戏创造更多视频或gif。

Steam

在圣诞和新年前夜之间,我们决定尝试将游戏移植到Steam并获取一些Steam Greenlight经验。因为有些朋友想在计算机上玩我们的游戏,所以我们决定尝试看看,这也成为我们当时的次要目标。因为看到许多手机游戏在Steam上的移植表现得很出色,所以我们也决定试试看。当然了,这是一次手机移植,并且我们从评论中可以看出不是所有人都喜欢我们的这一决定。但是如果我们能够通过Greenlight,我们便能够在游戏中添加更多内容。

这么做也为我们的游戏吸引了更多用户,所以如果你拥有一款手机和PC兼容的游戏,你便可以将它推向多个商店和平台。

Google Play

我必须承认在这里我们并未做任何功课。因为我们并不想在我们的游戏描述或截图中投入任何相关信息和关键词。我曾与一个在手机平台上发行过游戏的朋友进行交谈,他告诉了我描述,关键词和截图的重要性。所以我们马上在Google Play上添加了一些描述和截图。

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AlienPixel.PolandBall

1月15日的时候我们共获得864次安装以及大概310次的卸载。

Youtubers和网站

100个网站中只有5个回复了我们。

不要幻想着IGN或Gamespot等大型网站会发布一些有关你们游戏的内容。虽然这并不是不可能的事,但却是一件非常困难的事。有些网站需要你支付200美元才愿意为你的游戏作评论。所以我建议你能够在Alexa Rank上根据网站排名去寻找一些合适的网站。

70个Youtubers中只有5个回复了我们

我认为去接触Youtuber并邀请对方为你的游戏作评论是很好的主意。我建议你能够先接触一些名气没那么大的Youtuber,因为你很难联系到那些热门YouTuber。尝试着使用社交媒体去联系他们,因为在社交媒体上他们更有可能看到你发的信息。如果YouTuber的主要关注点只有PC游戏的话他们便不大可能选择你的手机游戏了。但是你还是可以尝试看看的,结果怎样谁都说不准。

我们的计划列表中的下一步便是尽快将游戏带到iOS。

总而言之我认为最重要的一点便是不管你的游戏是否准备好发行,你都应该为它制定市场营销策略。并努力让别人知道你和你的游戏。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Marketing ideas for your indie game

by Sergiu Craitoiu

I’ve been working really, really hard on my last game, for the last 6 months, together with other 3 friends. Last week we finally released it on Google Play Store. I want to share with you my marketing ideas and experiences so far, what marketing decisions I’ve made in order to promote my game as an indie and newbie in this industry.

When I first met my team, last summer, to discuss some ideas for our game, I had no marketing experience at all. In fact, none of us had. We previously released only one game which gathered only 186 downloads in a year. Encouraging huh? So we knew that there is a jungle of apps and games out there and we need to get out of obscurity somehow.

First bad decision

Looking back, I think that we took a very bad decision with our game right from the beginning. Why? Because we didn’t include any marketing plans in this process. We just wanted to develop the game, because we are programmers and who cares about marketing, right?

Our game is based on the countryballs comics (geopolitical satire), where all countries are represented only by balls with the colors of the flag and big funny eyes. There is a huge hype that Polandball cannot fly in outer space and because of that, all other countries make fun of it. Our idea was to create an upgradable rocket to help Polandball fly to the moon. And we said, let’s make the best game possible and the community will certainly help us and not worry about marketing at all.

Score: 0 good – 1 bad decisions.

The friends experience

After a few months, nobody knew about our game or that we are developing a new game. We were afraid that maybe someone will steal our idea and create or release the game before us. So we decided to keep it top secret. That was the second bad decision that we have taken chained with the first one.

After a few months when the art was ready and some core mechanics were there, we decided to show the game to some friends. We were so proud of our game and we thought that everyone will love it.

The first reactions were: I don’t know what to do in this game? I don’t like this and that! Why there are so many balls? How do you move? I don’t understand what’s happening here?

We were so upset at that moment. We worked for 3 months and the game was crushed by our friends. But also our friends provided us with honest feedback and they gave us new ideas on how to improve the gameplay. Have we learned something then? Maybe…hmm not really. We still decided to keep it secret and only a few friend knew about our plan

Score: 1 good – 2 bad decisions.

The Game Jam experience

We went to a Game Jam in November 2015. Because we didn’t have any artist with us at that time, we decided to use the mechanics and the art from our game to create something new there. We isolated ourselves in a corner all night long, working on the game, and we didn’t talk with other people at all. That is the third bad decision and mistake that we did. Game jams are all about networking. There are marketing people, game journalists, other good programmers which are open for discussions. We should have talked to them, share our idea, share contacts, etc.

In the end we only took some feedback on our graphics and gameplay, which is cool, but we didn’t create any relationship, which is wrong.

Score: 1 good – 3 bad decisions.

The website experience

Back home, I was very happy about the feedback I received from the game jam. Next day I was searching about game jams on Google to check if someone has written about us. Didn’t find anything, however there was an article that opened my eyes.

I told to my team that I really want to create a website for our gameno matter what they say. Their first reaction was “You are mad bro? Why do you spend money and time building a website”? After I explained to them the importance of the website, they changed their opinion and they finally agree that this is a good idea.

We didn’t want to spend too much time on our website, so we quickly decided to use a WordPress site with a WordPress theme. We spent like 100-120 bucks on domain, hosting and the WordPress theme.

The website it’s like a visiting card, people can always find information about you, what are you doing, what are your plans, etc. So we finally made a good decision. But guess what? We didn’t want to share the website until the game is ready so we didn’t create a game blog. The forth bad decision.

Our website now: http://polandballcanintospace.com/

Score: 2 good – 4 bad decisions.

The Amazon T-Shirt experience

Recently Amazon launched a service where you can upload a picture and they print and ship T-shirts with your print all over the world. I found about this service, from a good friend of mine and I quickly decided to create some t-shirts based on the game graphics. I created 4 pictures and uploaded them on the website. Didn’t share them at all, but somehow I managed to sold about 10 T-shirts without even spreading the word. I think any indie can try this service, it’s free and it’s a good promotion for your products. I think this is another good decision.

I also heard that, there are other companies which can provide these kind of services. Even on mugs and other objects.

Score: 3 good – 4 bad decisions.

The Credits page experience

During this time, I was helping a friend with some advices on a physics engine. When he decided to make it open source, he asked me and a couple of other people if we want credits on his GitHub page. I noticed that some people were happy to be mentioned there. So I immediately got the idea to put a Credits page on our website. People love to be involved in your project so listen to them and give them credits. In this credits page I put websites links to support other games or websites, YouTubers channels, communities and of course people. Everyone who help us will end up on our Credits page.

Score: 4 good – 4 bad decisions.

The Social Media experience

We finally created our game Facebook and Twitter pages. These are super important tools for marketing because you can post more often about game updates or screenshots. You can remind and keep people informed about your project.

Beside Facebook and Twitter I suggest to share content on Reddit, Tumblr and Imgur. This helps you create a small game fanbase.

We didn’t share anything. We decided to share some content only when the game is ready and published. In my opinion that is another bad marketing decision.

https://twitter.com/PolandballGame

https://www.facebook.com/PolandballTheGame

Score: 5 good – 5 bad decisions.

The video trailer experience

Steam and Google Play wants to show some video to users. Just before Christmas we decided that it’s time to create a video trailer too. Luckily my friend had some experience with movie editing and we manage to create a good introduction/trailer movie. I think that the video trailer it’s much, much important than the website because it will have a greater impact on the user. The only reproach here is that we should done this earlier. And maybe create more videos or multiple gifs with our game.

Score: 5 good – 6 bad decisions.

The Steam experience

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve we decided that we should try porting our game on Steam to gain some experience with Steam Greenlight. Some friends asked us if they could play our game on the computer so we decided to give it a try and this became a secondary objective for us. Other mobile ports are doing very well on Steam, so why not give this a try? Of course this is a mobile port and not everybody loved the idea based on their negative votes and comments. However, if we pass Greenlight we will add more stuff to our game. Until now we are at 60% to be Greenlit in 7 days: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=593849534&tscn=1452973957

This also introduced lots of people to our game, so if you have a mobile-PCish game you can publish it on multiple stores and platforms.

So 6 good – 6 bad decisions.

The Google Play experience
I have to admit that we didn’t do our homework here. Why’s that? Well we didn’t put any relevant information and keywords in our game description or screenshots. I talked with a friend who published a few games on mobile and he told me that it’s all about the description, keywords, screenshots, people’s reviews and most importantly the title and . We immediately begin to add a good description and other screenshots in Google Play.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AlienPixel.PolandBall

On 15th January we had 864 total installs and about 310 uninstalls.

Score: 7 good – 7 bad decisions.

Youtubers and websites

Out of 100 websites only 5 of them replied to us.

Don’t expect big websites like IGN or Gamespot to write about you. It’s not impossible but it’s very hard to get there. Some website asked us for 200 $ to make a review. My advice is to check those websites on Alexa Rank to see their position rank. Those website were on position 4 million on Alexa Rank. That’s like 20 views per day.

From 70 YouTubers only 5 replied.

I think that it’s a very good idea to talk with YouTubers to make a review for your game. My advice is to talk with small YouTubers at first, it’s really hard to get in contact with a big YouTuber. Try to get them on Social media, there is a much higher chance to see your message. Also if the YouTuber’s main focus are only PC games it’s a very small chance to look over your mobile game. But you can try, no one stops you :) .

Score: 8 good – 7 bad decisions.

The next step in our plan is to release it on iOS as soon as possible.

In conclusion, I think that the most important thing is to include a marketing strategy for your game even if it’s not ready or published. Let people know about you and your project.

Good luck with your marketing decision(source:Gamasutra

 


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