Ask HN: How/Where To Market My Indie Game
Hey HN'ers
My first iPhone game has just hit the App Store and immediately begun its descent of the recently released list. I know that if I don't want to slip into obscurity now's the time to take action. Unfortunately being an indie dev I'm not flush with money to splurge on advertising and a lot of the review requests I've submitted have been bounced back with a request for $$$s.
Aside from submitting approx. 20 review requests I've tried...
* Targeting game specific sites for reviews/forum posts
* Facebook/Twitter posts on personal accounts
* Uploaded a trailer to Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/25002162)
And I nearly forgot, here's the App Store link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coloroids/id432373490?mt=8 It takes a lot of guts and time and effort to make any sort of app and launch it, so bravo! That was sincere, but so is this: It's not going to get sustained downloads. It doesn't look like a good enough game. I don't even have the slightest urge to download it. So here's your marketing strategy:
0) Play your own game for an hour straight
1) Hassle your personal friends and family to download it and play it for 15 minutes (we'll be easier on them)
2) Ask for and listen attentively to their feedback
3) Use the knowledge you gained in steps 0-2 to make a better game
4) Repeat To be fair, I can't say that I wouldn't have downloaded it if I hadn't stumbled across it. I don't know if we're accepting your immediate decision that it's a bad game on what we should all know as "common sense," or if you're just giving your opinion. Either way, it doesn't answer what I think is a pretty interesting question: How do you effectively market a mobile app? I at least agree with the understanding that quality is an effective marketing tool. I just can't say that his app lacks quality without trying it. And the answer to the question of marketing doesn't stop there anyway. Plenty of crappy things have sold well due to good marketing. That said, I'm by no means a marketing expert, so I'd be interested in hearing others tips / suggestions. Edit: I guess I just wanted to add, that regardless of whether or not his game is good, an iterative feedback/dev cycle is obviously a good idea in (almost) every case. :) Clicky (Game): http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coloroids/id432373490?mt=8