Plan for Jeff Tunnell

#1 You,sir, are a blogging fool.

I have actually been doing a lot of research on low end advertising. One of the cooler, and surprisingly not so compicated, things being affiliate programs.

I'll put my findings up in a resource soon

#2 This is EXACTLY what Michael Robertson (CEO mp3.com, Lindows/Linspire, etc) was talking about at IGC. Someone stopped him on the street and gave him a business card with HIS domain name on it (mp3.com). Viral marketing, grassroots marketing, bottom-up marketing, call it what you will -- how do we accomplish it? That's the big question!

For starters, have some banners and image buttons of various sizes on your website, like Lore is doing:

http://www.darkhorizons-lore.com/download.php?view.45

Second, don't bury them four screens deep ;) Third, make sure people know you're "indy" and encourage them to support you by linking to your site if they like your game. People are often more motivated/encouraged by feeling like they did a good thing than by monetary gain. Fourth, I don't know. It's late and I'm going to bed now. But I saw "The Incredibles" tonight and it was great :)

#3 Way to go completely off topic Joshua.

Jeff: Yeah, thats nice to see. But there are far more things we need to do to promote our games. Its a huge battle and something Ive not seen done well very often.

Something to concern ourselves with for sure.

#4 @Joshua: Your enthusiasm is refreshing... keep it up.

#5 Sweet, I love seeing ads for Lore

#6 @Phil: Heh, as far as I can tell, Jeff T.'s topic was various means and methods of indy's promoting their games. Joshua's post was all about ways for indy's to promote their games.

Unless you mean the reference to "The Incredibles"?

#7 Very nice! If I were very confident in a game's selling ability then I'd have a large bag of tricks for stuff like this.

#8 As a result of this post, I'm going to have to add a section on my (in development) game's website for people to download or link to banners and buttons. And the Incredibles reference was just to note that I WAS doing "something better" on a Saturday night :)

#9 Phil,

I don't think I was saying this was going to be the ultimate method of marketing. It was just a cool thing to be down in the depths of the blogsphere and see the Lore ad. Nothing more.

There will not be some "magic bullet" that automatically sells your game. I do see people that should be good at making games worrying a LOT more about marketing the game they have not even made than actually MAKING the game. I still submit that if you make a fun game, it WILL get sales. In addition, it will open up opportunities for your company. However, no game = no sales.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#10 Another small comment from me is that there's also no one right way to market your game, because each game is going to have unique marketing needs.

One of the IGF finalists (Lux) draws heavily from the game Risk, and I was talking to the game's creator at IGC asking him how people find his game. He said the #1 way people find his game is by using the keyword "risk." I'm glad he told me that. My first game draws heavily from Scorched Earth, so I plan to be unabashed about that fact and try to get traffic by using that comparison.

However, my second game (actually my first, but on hold) has no such comparison, but it DOES have a very specific niche market, so that'll take a completely different marketing approach.

In both cases, I have the highest confidence that my games will find their audiences.

#11 Your confidence and excitement is refreshing Joshua (liked your earlier post very much, thought it was right in with the topic of the plan - which was great too Jeff, I love seeing GG games at non GG sites... its a little rush of anticipation for when my team finally gets our first project done!)

#12 Jeff: I agree with you about MAKING :) (yeah, I AM PAYING ATTENTION) :))

But I think we cant ignore the fact that most indie games are making bugger all sales. Thats something that you cant live with for very long.

The fact is Jeff, GG sells games because of YOU :) and the dynamix link. I'm fully in agreement that making great games is the whole point of it.

But in order to turn a great game into a great bunch of sales takes a huge effort as well. For those of us without Jay and Ben that means we have to at least learn a bit of thier job as well :)

Stephen and Josh: I wasnt having a go at josh, It probably came over a bit like that, I just read the incredibles line and kinda read it strangely like josh was kind of rambling, much as I'm doing here :)

Phil.

#13 Oh, btw.. the lore ad was EXACTLY the kind of viral/underground marketing thing Ive been reading about. So I think its cool too.

#14 Picked up a copy of PC Master magazine (in Greece) last month and in the enclosed DVD there was a demo of Dark Horizons:Lore! I'm curious, does a game developer pursue a demo inclusion in a magazine or does the magazine add it themself? I would think the first one.

Nick

#15 Heh, Jim was a player in our Beta. We like Jim :)

At least I think that's Jimbo :)

#16 We've been on the cover disks of a couple euro mags, and had some mention in print in PC Zone and a couple others (I have some cover scans from our fans).

Some of this has been official, some hasn't. Expect some more print press as IGF approaches and as we release the next version of Lore :)

#17 I think there are numerous examples of developers that charged forward, made great gmes, and had those games be very successful just because they were great games. The Chronic Logic products, Bridge Construction Set and Gish are both prime examples of games that spread virally and sold well just because they were nice, fun games. None of those guys had Tribes or Dynamix experience. Now CL is building up a reputation that will help them sell their next games. In addition, they are getting to port those games to other platforms and they are being approached by a lot of other companies with opportunities. This would not have happened if they didin't have games completed.

#18 Jeff, I'm sure there are plenty of contrary examples of great games that DIDNT make that leap.

I'm not suggesting in any way that making great games isnt the core of it. What I'm suggesting is that we could all do well to learn the principles of marketing and selling the games too. Because the marketing (positioning etc) feeds into the design decisions. Some people (like yourself) make those decisions intuitively. Others have to learn it by example (like me I guess).

But I dont think anyone would disagree that the key to it all is the core "make great games" :)

#19 @Phil I remember my first conversation with Jeff Tunnel. He took the time to call me on the phone and discuss my plans to "go indie".

So much advice he gave me essentially went wizzing over my head that it took me a few years to even fully understand the advice he gave me in that one phone call.

On the other hand...how else can you learn this stuff but by doing it?

That being said I do agree with your advice Phil and I feel I've been on that same journey with you.

#20 Yep, there are a LOT of failures. I think that getting caught up in all the marketing is a big mistake. I have never, ever read a marketing book. Seems to me that a lot of the marketing books look backward, not forward. You know things about making games that the marketing guys could never know. I think you instinctively know what makes a good game, too. I just don't think you are trusting yourself enough.