Social Media or Unsocial Media

quintond

This is not a typical post for me but after my recent experiences I thought that it might be pertinent to share my recent experiences regarding social media with everyone.

Having been involved in the IT industry and Software Development industry for over 16 years, I have seen how powerful marketing can be. With the advent of Social Media, it is even easier to do marketing now but unfortunately this is a double-edged sword ... because it is easier it is even more difficult to sometimes get noticed.

Recently I experienced just that with Re-Spawn, although I ensured that I had a Press Kit, a Website, a Facebook page, a Google+ page, and a Twitter account, the traction on Re-Spawn was still slow.

I had made sure that I was keeping the pages updated and posting news and updates as often as possible. I then started thinking that maybe people wanted to see the game before they downloaded it, so I started posting more screenshots and started recording videos. I uploaded these and shared them, but the traction was still slow.

So I thought maybe people needed more information, so I started with the development blogs and official wiki. This opened up a whole new can of worms with some individuals saying that I was giving them information overload and they were being overwhelmed.

So I changed tactics, decided to list my game on IndieDB, and things started to change ever so slightly. But it still wasn't the traction I was looking for and this is when I started getting despondent.

I sat back and started thinking, Don't they like the game? Is there something wrong with my idea? Am I wasting my time? Do I can the project? Maybe I should stick to application development? So I took a few days off, played some Kerbal Space Program, spent some time with my family and started thinking about the future and what the next steps would be ... I had no idea but I decided to move forward and at least do a new bug-fix release for Re-Spawn. I released version 1.0.0.6 on Saturday the 10th May 2014 and settled down for a quiet weekend and uncertain week ahead.

And that is when it started. On Monday I receved an e-mail from unSigned Softworks who created the Graphical Installer for InnoSetup software stating that they add added my installer for Re-Spawn to their gallery and had tweeted about it. I had actually forgotten that they had asked me for an image and that I had sent it to them ... and I was like that is cool.

So I get to work on Monday morning, feeling happy about the news from unSigned Softworks when all of a sudden my Re-Spawn Twitter account goes mental. Okay it wasn't exactly mental but it had a tweet from IndieDB that contained Re-Spawn in it. I was like ... cool ... here is another tweet. So I re-tweeted it, as I did with the unSigned Softworks one and started my day job. All of a sudden Re-Spawn went up 105 places in the IndieDB ranks of the most popular game for the day to number 6, just below Minecraft and Project Zomboid.



Feeling happy about the update in rankings, I decided to check a few things. The IndieDB Twitter account has 17.7 thousand followers, which explains why the rankings for the day jumped up. Yes I know it is only the rankings for that day, but it is that one day when I was in the top with Re-Spawn (and actually finished up at number 28) and it is exposure for that one day. I knew it wasn't going to last, but I rode the wave while I could and noticed my watched members on the IndieDB page jump from 3 to 10.

So during the day I started looking at player registrations and game statistics and noticed a SoftpediaGames had registered an account and done some playing. Being curious, I went to the Softpedia Games page and did some searches for Re-Spawn. I didn't find anything and decided that it was possibly just someone from their testing the game and left it at that.

Feeling positive about the day and knowing that it had been one good day for Re-Spawn, I went to bed quite happy and feeling re-energised. I was under no illusions that I was going to get rich from this one game, but I was happy that people were at least willing to download the game and give it a try ... this was at least a start. If people try the game and only a small percentage gives you feedback, at least you get feedback and can use that to make the game experience better.

So when I woke up on Tuesday morning (today when I posted this), I was surprised to see an e-mail from Softpedia Games indicating that they have tested Re-Spawn and given it a 100% Guaranteed Clean rating as well as a download link on their page.





But what was more exciting was the description that the Softpedia Games editors had written about Re-Spawn.

A competitive arena first-person shooter inspired by classic titles like Quake and Unreal Tournament

Re-Spawn is a fast-paced first-person shooter that tries to bring back the thrills and action-packed matches from classic FPS titles, such as Quake 2, Quake 3 Arena, or Unreal Tournament.

Combat in Re-Spawn requires more than just aiming and shooting. To become the best in the arena you will have to improve your reflexes and approach the game with a tactical thinking.

Just a few minutes of playing and the individual from Softpedia Games had clearly identified what I was trying to achieve with Re-Spawn and had hit the nail on the head. This game had never been intended to be just another FPS and was always intended to go back to the roots of the old school FPS games. This is ultimately a game that I wanted to play and that I wanted others to experience the joys of old school FPS and in-your-face combat.

Yes it is still in early days and the game is still Alpha, but the fact that someone armed only with the game and the marketing information provided by the various content that I provided managed to get exactly what I was attempting with the game has renewed my enthusiasm for the game and made me realise how very important social media and marketing actually is.

So hopefully others can learn from this post and realise how important it is to have these tools and make sure you have the foundations in place in order to be heard above the noise that is the Internet ... it works, here is the proof ... the only thing now is how do I continue with this momentum and grow it from here.

dislekcia

Not to be a downer, but I don't think that you've got enough data to really start making inferences yet.

Places like Softpedia are constantly hunting for programs that they can "rate" and "certify". They care about the number of downloads they offer and they're constantly warring other sites that do exactly the same thing in this weird little SEO conflict to try and be visible in searches that might contain any keywords at all. Respawn is one of those keywords, so are both Desktop and Dungeons. DD appeared on Softpedia and a whole host of other sites just like it very soon after the free version started existing. They actually get a little annoying after a while, because they don't really drive hits your way and the number of downloads they help you get seems to be negligible compared to a good article.

I'd say that the IndieDB tweet has been your most valuable exposure yet. The spike on the site itself is probably just echos from that exposure and isn't going to drive more engagement from new players. Someone looking at how Respawn dropped off the list that fast might conclude that the game doesn't keep players coming back to it, especially compared to the games that permanently camp the top of that list - but I'm certain those top games are literally just internet search noise: People are looking for those games anyway and Google gives them an IndieDB page sometimes. So that IndieDB list is a secondary indicator, not a primary metric for visibility.

If you want more of that, focus on more stuff like that tweet. I don't know how many more content aggregators are out there that will tweet about a game being added/updated on their system - that's usually a pretty low-engagement tweet, most accounts with that many followers will be focusing on neat content that you're producing. So to get more attention, make with the unique content :)

DD's social media didn't exist when the freeware first appeared, but we had a LOT of unique content. From the game itself, to forum discussions, to wikipedia and TVtropes entries based on the humor in the game, to stories about us getting cloned, to just being from SA and talking about things a lot. Content and useful information (got some coming up, watch) is what drives twitter chatter. The rest of the social media stuff around the game exists to help catch more attention on top of the eyeballs being flirted by the content we're putting out. Content drives, SM amplifies.

You can only really say that something was a beginning until you've got a trend over time. A game that's going to go viral is going to do it without social media structures around it, yes, being ready with those helps once it happens, but you need the game to be epic first. It would be interesting to see what your actual player numbers were like after that tweet and how long players stayed in the game - then, when you get your next bump, you can compare those two metrics and make changes :)

So, the TLDR: I'm not certain that you can attribute that awareness spike to anything you did from the social media front. The tweet was a result of an update, do more of that. Softpedia is noise.

quintond

@dislekcia: Yes ... I agree with you ... what I was trying to say is that Social Media does work ... not necessarily what I did ... but what someone else did with a huge following.

And yes ... I need to convert the visits to actual players now and it is something I am working on based on feedback received from here and elsewhere.

I am not expecting Re-Spawn to go Viral ... hell I am not sure I even want it to ... I was just merely commenting that the main burst of activity came from the IndieDB tweet.

konman

Thanks guys, my ears always perk up when i see anything marketing related and I drop the link in a growing text file for later reminder.

I am currently in a space where I am still trying to create something epic, but I have realized that is only half the battle.

Marketing and getting people to know about your game is the other and it is absolute virgin territory for me and many others I suspect.

Thanks for the useful info (@quintond) and that awesomely insightful response (@dislekcia)

:)

quintond

@konman: My pleasure.

Let me just re-iterate the point ... this is not a post about me doing the marketing right ... hell the game is in ALPHA and is nowhere near being ready to market. I have merely used the marketing tools and gotten in early so like @dislekcia said that I can get some meaningful long-term analysis of the data done.

What I was trying to say that just with the one post, the game climbed 105 places for that one day ... imagine what is possible with the right marketing plan and social media ... it is all about longevity.

Hopefully that is clear now ... I dunno ... anyway. :)

dislekcia

quintond said:

What I was trying to say that just with the one post, the game climbed 105 places for that one day ... imagine what is possible with the right marketing plan and social media ... it is all about longevity.

DD has been out for 6 months now. It's currently at number 10 on the Steam top sellers list. That's because it's a featured sale that we've been working on for quite a while now... We've got more stuff coming up too.

While, yes, our social media stuff has helped get the word out about the sale and twitter's going pretty crazy with Desktop Dungeons mentions right now, I think that the game's reputation is at the root of it's longevity: We built the game to be playable forever and we tried to make it as good as we possibly could. It feels like marketing to me is more about recognising opportunities when they pop up and being prepared to work on building things that create as many opportunities as possible.

So a lot of marketing is about knowing what it is about your game that creates opportunities for other people to like it. I feel like people are worrying too much about the outward trappings of "marketing" instead of building a thing that generates opportunities for them to jump on left and right - like, if it looks sufficiently like marketing, then it's good enough. That doesn't really speak to the core things that make any particular game work, that's just ticking boxes. Yes, the rote marketing things people do can have an effect when you're trying to wrestle another percent out of a market you've pretty-much saturated, but very few indie games are in that situation. Then again, maybe when we start testing banner advertising later this month we'll suddenly get a ton of awareness...

bischonator

If you are interested in social media testing by one of the indie greats, check out Cliffski's blog - http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/
There are yonks of posts about his facebook/banner advert/google ads etc.

dislekcia

@bischonator: Been reading Cliffski's stuff since the old indiegamer forum days. Keen to start putting some of his advice to the test soon, bummed I didn't manage to meet him at GDC. If anyone's a good role model for local studios/creatives to follow in terms of building a sustainable game library, it's him.

bischonator

He is a star trek, cat loving, solar powered legend :)

dammit

My 2 cents on social media: A lot of people approach social media with a strategy of LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT ME, MY GAME, HOW COOL MY GAME IS, LOOK AT WHAT I'M MAKING, RETWEET WHAT I'M MAKING etc.

This doesn't work well because people didn't get onto social media platforms to be marketed at. They're there to avoid it, so they'll avoid you.

What you need to do is provide value. What are you giving your audience? How are you providing value for them? Where is the win for them?

Once you're providing value, then you'll get more traction, more interaction, more engagement, reach and retention. It's about value exchange.

dammit

dislekcia said:

I feel like people are worrying too much about the outward trappings of "marketing" instead of building a thing that generates opportunities for them to jump on left and right - like, if it looks sufficiently like marketing, then it's good enough.

I think this comes from a general misunderstanding of what marketing is, and that it's not a skill that people just have because they have access to the tools to do it. A whole bunch of people have access to game maker, but many of them will never actually produce a game.

Tuism

dammit said:

dislekcia said:

I feel like people are worrying too much about the outward trappings of "marketing" instead of building a thing that generates opportunities for them to jump on left and right - like, if it looks sufficiently like marketing, then it's good enough.

I think this comes from a general misunderstanding of what marketing is, and that it's not a skill that people just have because they have access to the tools to do it. A whole bunch of people have access to game maker, but many of them will never actually produce a game.

Unfortunately, a lot more people aren't afraid that they won't make a game, they're afraid that their game won't sell (assuming that they will make one, neglecting that what they see as a "good game" isn't necessarily what the world sees as a "good game").

Thus they see marketing as the magical silver bullet that sells games.

A good game is the magical silver bullet that sells games, and a good game comes from hard work, not (what you perceive to be) amazing ideas :)

(I still fall into that trap sometimes, but I try to be vigilant for it)

Elyaradine

@dammit's post there was gold.

quintond

Agreed ... I have a business partner who is highly skilled at marketing and he is going to take care of the marketing for us. My post was more of a "this is interesting" and NOT a "we are doing this right" type of post.

This game has always been an experiment for us ... it is intended to test the technologies like the Distributed UI, Game Flow, and Game Changer systems in a game that is relatively straight-forward to get out to the market. We have always decided to go with the Free-2-Play model and although we are going to forge ahead with the game and release it as a final product, we are not expecting it to appeal to everyone ... it is a game that I want to play and if we hook in other players at the same time then so be it.

What has been valuable is the feedback on the areas surrounding the game, Website, Trailers, etc ... this is where we have gained the most valuable insight (this is not the only "gamedev" community that I am focused on) and that is teaching us tons about what we need to fix and get right.

These things will be fixed for this game but we will also make sure we start off the next project on the right foot and get as much of it right from the start as possible.

Thanks to all the contributors so far ... this is turning out to be a very informative discussion ... kudos to you all.

dammit

Tuism said:

A good game is the magical silver bullet that sells games, and a good game comes from hard work, not (what you perceive to be) amazing ideas :)

I don't agree. There are tons of great games that never sell. A great game makes marketing a whole bunch easier, that's all. Marketing a crap game is not impossible, just a whole bunch harder.

Tuism

dammit said:

Tuism said:

A good game is the magical silver bullet that sells games, and a good game comes from hard work, not (what you perceive to be) amazing ideas :)

I don't agree. There are tons of great games that never sell. A great game makes marketing a whole bunch easier, that's all. Marketing a crap game is not impossible, just a whole bunch harder.

Hmm? What don't you agree with? That a good game sells games, or that good games come from hard work, or that good games don't (only) come from what you think are amazing ideas?

I don't think marketing a crap game is the equivalent of a silver magic bullet. Also, it'll cost a heck of a lot more money than hard work into a good game.

Karuji

@Tuism basically what @dammit said. According to Rami having a great game is only the first step in actually selling that game.

You can't make a game in a void and expect people to find it.

Tuism

Yes marketing is important too, neither part are magic silver bullets. Making a living is a business, things don't just work on their own :)

To be successful = good marketing + good game + good strategy + good investment + good connections + good funding + etc etc :)

Karuji

@Tuism you left out luck ;)

dammit

@Tuism - There is no silver bullet. There are things that make certain activities easier, and things that make certain activities harder. And then there is luck and circumstance.

I'm just personally getting very tired of people telling me that they are "marketing" their game because they tweet and follow random people with no real strategy involved. I'm tired of people assuming that marketing requires no skill, talent or thinking at all or that it's not worth paying someone to do.

Tuism

The effects of good marketing will be self-evident.

It's proving good marketing before its effects can be seen that's hard. Being in an agency environment for so long I've become very cynical - yes effective marketing exist, but I can clearly see that a great big portion of agency activities are ineffective and inefficient and doesn't add to the bottom line. And yet those activities persist.

I'm not saying marketing is bad, it's great, but good marketing, not just any marketing :) And that's where the skills and talent and knowledge that comes into play :)

dammit

Tuism said:

The effects of good marketing will be self-evident.

It's proving good marketing before its effects can be seen that's hard. Being in an agency environment for so long I've become very cynical - yes effective marketing exist, but I can clearly see that a great big portion of agency activities are ineffective and inefficient and doesn't add to the bottom line. And yet those activities persist.

I'm not saying marketing is bad, it's great, but good marketing, not just any marketing :) And that's where the skills and talent and knowledge that comes into play :)

Yeaaaah, don't get me started on agencies. The problem is there that fear runs a lot of the decisions - fear that there won't be more money if we try something new, or change, or not work a million hours a day :P It happens when you have a lot of people relying on you for their livelihood.

konman

This has been a very insightful read for me, and if I don't stop nodding my head at the screen i am going to have to switch off the puter.

most of us are fairly novice in the games making scene and we have to produce non-crap games so they market themselves.
Its a tough global market with so much talent and a plethora of games out there...

Its hard, eh? But it is good to see that local SA devs are making huge strides (wont mention any names, but we're proud of em) and the rest of us have a clear route to follow!

Keep making games, ladies and gents. A huge global success is going to come from our local community soon, I am sure. :)