I officially announced my next game, yay! Now come the actual hardest part: marketing. As a solo dev with no publisher support, all help is welcome. I don’t expect anyone else to do the work for me, but the algorithmic model of the internet made it that the best way to organically market anything is with the help of your audience. Because I know I will repeat myself a lot by asking players to wishlist, share, retweet, like and subscribe, I figured I’d do at least one blog post explaining why in more details. Do know, if you are a player, that we – as devs – infinitely appreciate all support. Releasing a game is overwhelming and it’s impossible to thank everyone individually, but the support received for my previous game is the reason I can release a new one, even after stumbling for a lot of years trying to develop something that didn’t coalesce like I wanted.
My game is on Steam! Yay!
First off, it’s important to note that you absolutely are not required to do any of this. Buying a game, you like and playing it is more than enough support already and, as a developer, I’m thankful for every player I get.
This is meant as an extra if, as a player, you want to help a small game gets a bigger audience because you think it deserves it or because you liked it so much and want to see it recommended more often to other players.
The TLDR version is engaging on most social media and store platforms will help the visibility of the game and make it more likely for the algorithm to surface it to other players. Wishlist, follows and reviews on store platforms are probably the best way to help a game or a dev you like.
If you want a little more detail as to why these metrics can be important, here’s a few pointers as to why these can help a game launch or visibility:
Before launch, wishlists and follows are paramount
Wishlisting a game will let Steam know that you’re interested in buying the game. Steam will notify you when the game launch or is discounted. Following a game, on the other hand, will let Steam notify you when the game receives an update.
For the dev, though, these algorithms will help the game gets visibility before the launch. The more a game receives wishlists and follows, the more the game has chances to be resurfaced to other Steam users. Wishlists and follows will inform the platform on the popularity and potential success of the game. It’s also by these metrics that Steam will decide if it goes in the “Popular Upcoming” section on the store. Getting this visibility on the front page can completely change the outlook for a game. While a lot of players come from social media, organic discovery on the front page of Steam also helps tremendously getting the game in the hands of new players.
This is the main reason why you will see devs – including me – begging for wishlists on social media before the release of the game. The numbers of wishlists and follows will directly influence the potential success of their game on release for what is a relatively small ask to the players.
Procrastinating instead of wishlisting cool indies!
After release, reviews will be the most helpful
Nobody except Steam knows exactly how the algorithm work, but there is a at least two brackets for number of reviews on Steam. After 10 reviews, excluding reviews written by player that got the game for free, the game will receive its first overall rating (positive, negative, etc.). At five hundred reviews, the game can now get the “overwhelmingly positive” overall rating.
Platforms tend to be protective of their algorithms, so it’s impossible to know exactly if the game will be put in a different popularity bracket of the algorithm when hitting these thresholds, but having more reviews will also influence how much your game can be surfaced to other players on the platform.
In a counter-intuitive process, hitting ten reviews day one can be extremely helpful for a game launch. It kind of goes against what should be the reviews’ main purpose in my opinion: thoughtful criticism can take a while to write and think of – you certainly won’t have a complete opinion formed on a game the day it launched – but alas. If you think the game is interesting and worth giving attention, just giving it a thumbs up with a small text can help it. If you write a review day one on a game you bought, you deserve all the good in the world and we thank you so much, you beautiful angel.
I know myself and a lot of other devs will read all reviews posted on their game. Getting positive words on your project, even if it’s just a simple “I liked it” means the world to us. That being said, I will happily welcome negative reviews, especially when I can read that the player actually engaged with the game seriously.
Finally, does that mean it’s not worth writing reviews after the launch day of the game? Hell no. Day one is a very important day for a game, but putting all your eggs in the day one basket is not a good idea. The success of a game is a marathon, if you want to encourage a dev for a game they made and that you liked, even if it’s years after release, writing a Steam review will always be appreciated and will still help get the game recommended to other players in the algorithm.
Conclusion
I guess the short answer is obvious, just engage with the stuff you like and that will help give it attention. Playing the algorithm can be exhausting for devs, and there’s plenty to write on how giving this much control on biased mathematical equation for visibility is far from the perfect solution to marketing. That’s how it works right now and if you want to be a game developer, you must play the game.
On one hand, as a player, I’m happy to give my likes, wishlists, reviews and subscribe easily. It takes me mere minutes and can help a game I love tremendously in reaching other players, so I’m happy to do that for any devs that I want to see being successful. On the other hand, I will never blame anyone for wanting to get away from that algorithmic thinking. It bears repeating, if you bought a game, played it, and maybe enjoyed it, it’s already more than enough support. Everything else is extra. Very appreciated extra, but extra still.