作者：Kaveh Daryabeygi

如今还有很多独立开发者一直在努力提高自己游戏的知名度！这些独立游戏工作室该如何使用有限的预算（甚至没有任何预算）去为自己的游戏打广告呢？他们总是很难与那些拥有大量资源能在各种媒体上宣传自己游戏的AAA级游戏公司相抗衡，但也并不是毫无可能性。营销你的游戏的最廉价的方式便是利用像Twitter，Facebook，Tumblr和reddit等社交媒体网站。这些资源需要你的不断参与并与粉丝进行频繁的互动，虽然这需要投入大量时间，但却是免费的。为此你需要为自己的游戏创建一个网站并添加媒体链接。

为了获得成功，你需要积极且持续地在社交媒体网站上刊登游戏开发进程。

Twitter可以成为你的首要广告工具选择。为了提高在Twitter上的名气你必须使用适当的标签。你可以在hashtagify.com上找到受欢迎的标签。就像你可以以周为单位使用如下这些较受欢迎的标签：

#ScreenshotSaturday

#indiedev

#gamedev

#ThrowbackThursday

#indiegame

如果是游戏引擎的话你可以使用像#unity3d或#cocos2d

tumblr(from gamasutra)

而这些还只是冰山一角。如果你拥有一定预算并希望通过Twitter去发展游戏的市场营销，你便可以使用Twitter广告。现在Twitter上有许多可选择的活动：

发送tweet—-能够帮助你接触到更多人并推动你们间的交流

网站点击或转换—-能够将更多人带到你的网站上去注册，购买内容等等。

应用安装或再次沉浸于应用—-能够让人们再次安装或重新沉浸于你的手机应用中。

观看视频—-使用Twitter本来的视频播放器让更多人去观看你的视频。

粉丝—-在Twitter上创建你的社区。

关注Twitter—-收集那些表达了对你的游戏感兴趣的人的电子邮件。

你可以通过打开通知，回复粉丝的邮件，下载他们的游戏，订阅他们的其它社交媒体平台等方式与你的粉丝们保持联系，如此当你以实际行动去支持他们的时候他们同时也会来支持你的。

Facebook也是另一个有帮助的市场营销资源，能够提供与Twitter相似的付费广告服务。只不过Facebook更适合向家人和朋友分享你的游戏，而Twitter则能够帮助你接触到更多不同的用户。

Tumblr是一个博客网站；你能够在此发布像介绍你的开发团队，游戏，或游戏中使用的美术作品，游戏机制，粒子特效，音乐，营销，有趣的数据结构，算式，以及你在开发过程中所遇到的挑战等主题。

Reddit则能够帮助你的游戏，网站，美术风格，音乐以及在subreddit的r/gamedev上的每日讨论提供反馈。你可以在r/gamedev的右下方找到每周线程。这些线程包括：

周五反馈

周六截图

周日音乐

周一市场营销

每日讨论

你必须清楚只有你愿意在其它内容中提供反馈去保持在网站上的活跃性，你才能成为reddit上的活跃参与者。

网站

一个优秀的网站能够帮助你们游戏走得更远。我会建议你着眼于和你们同类型的受欢迎的游戏并从中寻找创建自己网站的灵感。你可以使用许多免费的模板；像Bootstrap便提供了各种免费和付费模板。而当你在设计网站时必须牢记一件事，即选择一个与你们游戏主题相符的主题。当人们访问你们网站的时候他们首先看到的便是登录页面，所以你应该投入更多时间去创造一个吸引人的登录页面。

Preekit是一个新闻页面；媒体可以在此了解到所有想了解的有关你们游戏的内容，并且这里将划分出图片，视频，联系方式，社交网站链接等等版块。你必须清楚这一页面并非面向用户，这主要是针对于新闻记者们。新闻页面通常都很重要，所以你最好能够尽力去做好它。而这里的重点便是，你必须让新闻记者能够快速获得重要的细节内容。这一页面上的所有资料都必须是经过优化的，如此才能调动媒体去报道你们游戏的兴趣。

然后你需要去创造一份新闻稿，即在面向媒体介绍自己游戏时使用的内容。

一旦你拥有了一份新闻稿，你便需要去接触媒体并向他们介绍你的游戏。而接触媒体的最佳方式便是参加游戏盛会或展会。如果对于你说与媒体进行面对面的交流还是有点困难，你也可以选择先接触一些博主。确保你在接触这些人之前能够先了解他们是谁以及他们对什么内容感兴趣：千万不要找个FPS评论员去评价你的手机益智游戏。

一款优秀的游戏很难凭借自身的优秀去获得成功；开发者需要在游戏发行前投入时间去吸引更多用户，如此你才能避免游戏在iOS，Android和Steam等平台上发行时会瞬间被无数游戏所淹没。而优秀的图标，首页，标语，特殊的卖点，电梯游说，新闻资料袋，网站，社交媒体等等都是帮助你的游戏获得成功的工具。

（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 tools for Indie Game Developers

by Kaveh Daryabeygi

There are many indie game developers out there trying to bring awareness to their games! How does an indie game studio manage to advertise with limited to no budget? It’s very difficult to compete with AAA game companies who have the resources to advertise their games on various media, but you can still compete. The cheapest technique to market your game is to use social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and reddit. These sources require continuous activity and communication with followers, which is time consuming, but free. It is also crucial for you to have a website for your game, with a press link.

In order to be successful, you should be very active and continuously post your progress on social media sites.

Twitter can be your number one advertising tool. In order to thrive on Twitter you must use the proper Hashtags. You can find trending and popular ones at hashtagify.com. Some important ones to use on a weekly basis are:

#ScreenshotSaturday
#indiedev
#gamedev
#ThrowbackThursday
#indiegame
The game engine you are using for example #unity3d, or #cocos2d.

These are just a few of the many that can be useful. If you have the budget and want to increase your marketing opportunities with twitter you can also advertise with twitter ads. Twitter has a number of campaign objectives to choose from:

Tweet engagement (reach more people and drive conversation)
Website clicks or conversions (send people to your site to purchase, sign up, etc.)
App install or app re-engagements (get people to reinstall or re-engage with your mobile apps)
Video views (get people to watch your videos using Twitter’s native video player)
Followers (build your community on Twitter)
Leads on Twitter (collect emails from people who express interest in your offer)

It’s important to keep in contact with your followers by turning on your notifications, replying to their DM’s, downloading their games, and subscribing on their other social media platforms, so you can support them as they will do the same for you.

Facebook is another good resource for marketing and offers paid advertising similar to Twitter. Facebook is good to update family and friends on your game, but Twitter helps you capture a broader audience.

Tumblr is a blog site; post on topics such as: introducing your dev team, your game, art work, game mechanics, particle effects, soundtracks, sound effects, interesting data structures or algorithms used in your game, and challenges you encounter during your development.

Reddit is very useful to get feedback on your game, website, art style, soundtracks, and daily discussions in the subreddit r/gamedev. You can find weekly threads at the very bottom right of the r/gamedev page. These threads consist of:

Feedback Friday
Screenshot Saturday
Soundtrack Sunday
Marketing Monday
Daily Discussions

Keep in mind that you need to be active on the site by providing feedback to other posts, and being an active participant on reddit.

Website

A good web site for your game goes a long way. I would suggest looking at popular games in the same genre to seek out inspiration for your site. There are many free templates out there that you can use; Bootstrap offers a variety of free and paid templates. The important thing to keep in mind when designing your web site is to use a consistent theme that follows your game’s theme. The first thing people see when they visit your site is the landing page, so you should invest a good amount of time creating an engaging one.

Presskit is a press page; used by the press to learn everything there is to know about your game, all stored on one page with images, videos, contact info, social media links, etc. It is crucial to remember that this page is not for a popular audience, it is specifically for journalists. There are strong conventions with presskit pages; do your best to follow them as closely as you can. Remember, the point of all this is to allow a journalist to get important details quickly. All the material on this page has to be very polished and fascinating in order to motivate the press to write about your game. To learn more about presskit check out my post on how to set one up.

Next you need to create a press release document, which is used when approaching press about your game. A press release template perfect for indie game developers can be found here.

Once you have your press release document, then you need to get in touch with the press to bring awareness to your game. The best way to get in touch with press is to attend gaming festivals or tradeshows, learn more here. If meeting with the press face to face is a challenge for you, you can also reach out to bloggers directly. Make sure you do some research on who they are and what they like to write about: don’t approach an FPS commentator to write about your mobile puzzle game.

A great game doesn’t become successful on its own; developers need to invest their time to create an audience prior to releasing their game so it doesn’t get buried amongst the thousands of games that are released for iOS, Android, and Steam on a daily basis. A great icon, header, tagline, unique selling point, elevator pitch, presskit, website, and social media are your tools for success, so make them count.(source:gamasutra)