Are you creating a game? Very good! Before asking you what engine you are using to develop it, I will ask you… and who is going to buy it from you? I don’t care about your friends from college, you need a strategy, you need marketing.
To sell you don’t need a tie and leaving business cards, you need a strategy. In this first part of the blog, I help you organize the ideas a little to go step by step along with the creation of your game so that when it is finished , you are more than ready to sell it.
When to start?. The answer to everything in life is always -the sooner- (like the bikini operation, if it starts in December the better) but the sooner? Well, when thinking about your next video game you should start analyzing some marketing things, even if it is not a strategy or a campaign as such… I invite you to meditate on the following questions, based on the sales success you may have, before create a video game (or if you are already doing so).
- How can I make it original and differentiate myself from the rest?
- What device is it going to be played on (mobile, console…).
- To whom my game is directed (age/generation, sex, country).
- Are there many games similar to mine?
- Are games like the one I want to make being sold?
- Do people like games like the one I’m making?
- Locate a “competition” to inspire you and stand out.
- Can my project be carried out in a reasonable amount of time before I start going into debt?
- What would happen if someone on my team leaves development?
- How much would the graphic resources of my game cost me?
Once you have spent days or weeks answering these questions, looking at the market and what you want to develop, it is time to work together to develop your corporate image.
- Create the name of your studio.
- Define your framework, that is, your structure as a brand, colors, slogan, tone of voice…
- Design a logo (if it has animation and sound, much better).
- Start your website. It will be the place where all the activity that comes from networks and events will be concentrated, so it must be simple, fun and, above all, professional. Work on it little by little or invest in a programmer to do it for you.
- Open networks. Which is it? Well, they all have pros and cons, or above all, each one has a specific audience and a different way of communicating (e.g., IG and FB are about photos, Tiktok is about ultra-short videos, YouTube is about long videos, Twitter is about concentrated text, and Twitch is about gameplay) I recommend that you open the ones that you think you can keep active constantly.
- Start creating valuable content. Although it is the very nice cliché of the networks: that if you show valuable information, the more you will attract attention, in the style of the best 10 horror games of 2023… however… if you do not have time to generate well-structured blog-style content … I recommend that you go little by little following the following strategies:
- Share progress of your game, video clips about how you are illustrating/programming it, etc.
- Upload photos of events you attend, premieres you buy.
- Use hashtags appropriate to your audience.
- Adjust your tone of voice (the way you are going to communicate to your audience) selling an animal crossing cozy is not the same as selling a Mortal Kombat, therefore your way of speaking, even if it is yours, must be appropriate to the audience you are talking to. represents the future buyers of your game.
- Comment and share content from other users related to your audience (that is, interact with accounts with a good number of followers and that promote a lot of retro, for example, if it is your audience) that way users of that account can be attracted to your account, or that account may be able to collaborate with you in the future when you have at least a demo.
That’s it for today!
Write in the comments if you are interested in the next entry being about user acquisition with email marketing or how to create a successful Kickstarter campaign…
