Every Saturday, thousands of indie \/ hobbyist game developers publish screenshots of their in-progress games. Unlike most forms of marketing, this is:<\/p>\n
i.e. … it’s an amazing marketing tool.<\/p>\n
But many game developers are screwing this up. A year ago, I posted a long list of advice, tips, and explanations<\/a> – worth reading. But some devs are still misunderstanding \/ screwing this up. So, what should you do?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A recent trend is for otherwise-good games to lose audience and lose their chance to go viral … simply by posting wrong \/ stupid \/ useless links.<\/p>\n In marketing terms, a couple of things are so supremely important that nothing else matters:<\/p>\n Without those two things … you have NOTHING.<\/p>\n For instance: if you capture a beautiful screenshot, and provide a link to it, with some info about your game “it’s a blah blah game in style of blah, inspired by blah” … then you’ve done great at 1, but failed dismally at 2.<\/p>\n \nThat’s beautiful, but how the **** do you expect me to buy it when you gave me no link \/ email address \/ etc?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sure, it’s not for sale yet. But when it is, and you are trying to “get the word out”, you’ll have an audience of 3 (your Mother, your best friend, and your pet).<\/p>\n If this goes viral: you will LOSE. With no CTA, other people will clone your idea, and get equal or more credit, because (chances are) they provided a way for viewers to followup.<\/p>\n Let’s look at CTA’s devs offer:<\/p>\n WAT?<\/p>\n To you, this is:<\/p>\n \nI want to get Greenlit [I’m not sure why; the system is terrible, and worse every month].<\/p>\n I want to monetize you – as a viewer – RIGHT NOW. We’ve not even met, but I want to use and abuse you.<\/p>\n I need eyeballs on my Greenlight, so that Valve can make more money. So .. I’ll feed you … to them! RESULT!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To the viewer, this is:<\/p>\n \nI want to watch development, but instead I’m being asked to click on an advert. I have to login (LOL), and I walk away with nothing. At best, this click will disappear into my enormous library of Steam games I already follow.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n …or, to most game players out there (NB: this doesn’t matter if you only want to sell to the restricted audience of hardcore, Steam-using, PC gamers):<\/p>\n \nWTF is Greenlight?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Overall, it’s pretty insulting to the viewer. It’s like asking someone out on a date, and taking them to a beauty contest that you’ve entered them in. And then claiming the reward money if they win.<\/p>\n If you want to include your Greenlight link, this should be a secondary link at best – for the people that want it, great. But don’t make it your main thing, or you drive people away.<\/p>\n The same as Greenlight, no?<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n To you it might be the same, or at least: very similar. But to the viewer, this is a different proposition.<\/p>\n If I kickstart something, I get email updates during development (if you’re smart; not all KS’s do this, and plenty do it poorly). But more importantly: I’ll get a bunch of notifications when it’s finished, and no matter what: I’ve already bought it. I don’t need to “remember” to buy it later. <\/p>\n Plus: I’ve secured myself a discount on the price (you did make the KS cheaper than final retail price, right? I really hope so!)<\/p>\n Net result: I feel REWARDED for clicking your link, rather than USED<\/em>. Even though it’s superficially the same CTA as Greenlight!<\/p>\n Special mention to gamedevs who think that putting the irrelevant, unheard-of, name of their game as the CTA.<\/p>\n Guys. “Blorgesnatch” may be highly googlable, and have instant recognition after you win lots of awards<\/em>, but until then it’s completely forgettable. I remember a small java project, unheard-of outside of a couple of developer forums, whose name people kept forgetting – something about MMO, or CraftWorld, or something like that. Monsters? Um … err … “MineCraft?” – YEAH! That was it!<\/p>\n The name becomes the CTA only once the game has reached an audience of 100,000’s (preferably: millions). Even then, it’s a really shitty CTA – you’re implying<\/em> that viewers “could” go and Google the name. You’re not giving them a CTA, you’re giving them a half-assed implicit CTA.<\/p>\n Almost like you think that your game is so crappy it doesn’t deserve to be played. Think about that…<\/p>\n If you didn’t know the CTA term before reading this post, go forth and Google. The marketing industry has written vast amounts on this subject (a lot of it in short, easy-to-read books; marketing people apparently don’t like thick\/heavy reading). The SEO people will embrace your interest with open arms – if that makes you feel dirty, think of it as a “know your enemy” kind of thing.<\/p>\n That said, there’s a lot of turd out there. If you get lost in it, here’s some (very basic) tips:<\/p>\n Compare this:<\/p>\n \nMinecraft is an awesome game. Everyone loves it. It’s so cool! http:\/\/MineCraft.com\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n …to this:<\/p>\n“You only had one job…”<\/h2>\n
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Your Steam Greenlight page<\/h3>\n
Kickstart my cashflo, bro!<\/h3>\n
Say my name!<\/h3>\n
Good CTA’s<\/h2>\n
CTAs require ACTION<\/h3>\n