Week 5: Playtesting

Guest Speaker Jupiter on Community Management and Games Journalism

Part 1: Who are your audience?

Break down your game: genre, graphic style, playstyle, camera angle, “games like”… Identify what makes your game different!

The Binding of Isaac:
– Rogue-like, unique atmosphere, story, replay value…
Coral Island:
– Farming game, cinematic, similar to Stardew Valley, good story, a lot of gameplay, has many audience targets (dating, grinding, exploring, character creation), slice of slife, cosy, indie game,
Fran Bow:
– Point-and-click flash game, story driven, puzzle game, creepy pasta, cult following

Research Similar Games:
– Play similar games
-See player feedback on those games
-Seek out communities
– Identify what makes the game like yours
-Identify what makes your game different

Research Hobbies:
-Sports games have sports fans!
-Gardening games have gardening fans!
-Cooking games have cooking fans!

Search for Press! Google similar games, and find outlets covered the game, and why? Guides, lists, nature of the game, etc…
Understand your niche. There are thousands of gamers and thousands of games, so know what you slot into and what platforms you aim for.

Part 2:

The Binding of Isaac:
-Press that have covered horror games
-Press that feel nostaglaic about retro games
-Streamers
-Fandom/places to make guides of your game (item count)
Coral Island:
-Press that have previously covered Stardew Valley
-Press that have lists on Cosy Games
-Stardew Valley Communities (modding communities!! Reddit!!)
-Cosy Influencers
Fran Bow:
-Press that have covered story-based games
-Press that have covered horror related games
-Guides around completing specific characters. Give websites guides and step by steps to drive traffic.
-Humble bundle

How To Contact Press:
-Find people who have written about similar games and BUG THEM. Harrass them. Keep emailing.
-Pitch at them
-Make sure its the right person
-Follow up
-Student games: AlphaBetaGamer. Do mention that you are a student. Mention that Jupiter sent you.

A Note on Publishers:
-Can be very helpful!
-Check their niches (YSBRYD Games publishes pixel and story, Raw Fury published medium length, polished games, armor games publishes polished, quirky games, DeadXP publishes horror games)
-When self publishing, considering paying for marketing (Big Games Machine)

Shameless Self Promo:
-Ensure you can promote yourself
-Be a part of their community
-Reach out for collabs within communities
-Be respectful
-Social Promos (#screenshotsaturday #wishlistwednesday #pitchyagame). Make sure to build your audience with gamers and not game developers.

Viral Games:
-Finding the right influencer
-Using meme-able or funny moments
-Right pace at the right time. And if you have virality, don’t LOSE it. You have to keep Posting.
-Using things like April Fools to test ideas
-Building on Viral Games

Devs are not your audience. Networking is important and they give valuable feedback, but they are not a viable market.

Part 3: Public Presence

The Binding of Isaac:
-The Hero Image is the only important part of your steam game.
Coral Island:
– Use festivals. It’s a lot of effort but generates pageviews on steam
-Have a pre-recorded video: people like other people liking things
-Add meaningless awards to your game. There are a lot of awards at Pocketgamer!

Press Kit:
-Publisher name, release date/platforms, webiste/steam/social links, contact email, loads of images/trailers, history on studio/description/features of the game

Game Page:
-Steam
-Get a trailer made
-Engaging screenshots
-Links to other places to find you. If someone finds a bug and can’t contact you, chances are they’ll leave a bad review about it instead

Social Media:
-Tough.
-Events/ways for people to be invested. Invite them to play it early on, ask them to find bugs, and make them feel clever for finding bugs you already know about teehee. You’ve sunk their emotional investment.
-Keep up!
-Use tools, they are your friends

Love Ops/Roadmaps:
-Game with Updates (patch notes, sneak peeks, bind the scenes). If you have a delay, people are more lenient if they know why. But don’t overpromise.
-Use Milestones
-Get feedback
-Share accomplishments
-Share funny moments

Demo or No Demo?
-Pros: Playable build to tak about, creates more wishlists, something to play
-Cons: Not enough poish will drive poeple away, major changes drive people away, and you only get one release (TemTem’s demo was NOTHING like their final piece, and people blacklisted it for it)
-Early access games ARE your full launch. NOT a demo.

Events:
-Tons of events happening. Use free student/indie spaces
-Considerations: price, marketing… You need marketing materials. MaoMao was a mobile game, but that screen is too small – the dev hooked it up to a Dance Mat to make it more interesting!
-Get in front of press
-Playtesting
-Wishlists (steam events)
-Feedback

Quick Make-or-Break Tips:
-Watch fonts and ensure people can read it.
-Considering accessability
-Have clear messaging (USP)
-Playtest your tutorial. Have a range of people to test.

Additional:
– Don’t anger your niche!! Stay in communication!! Listen to your community!! There are times to not address controversies, but 90% of the time you should. People like transparency
– Your first successful game is something you have to now build on if you want to make any other genre. People go to specific people for specific things and don’t like change. I wouldn’t want Toby Fox to make a shooter. If you make a popular horror game, congrats, now you’re a horror game dev.
– DO NOT STRIVE FOR PERFECTION. STRIVE FOR FINISHING.

IMPLEMENTING THIS TO OH, RATS!:

Marketing Points:
Similar Games: Untitled Goose Game, Squirrel with a Gun, Little Kitty Big City, Katamari Damacy, Donut County
Focus on the Unique Selling Point and lean into the bizzareness. Share funny moments and fun memeable stuff.

Elevator Pitch:
Oh, Rats! is a 3D stealth-puzzler with survival elements where you play as a rat trapped in an occupied house, with a cute lowpoly cel-shaded style and an emphasis on exploration. Players can choose to either frighten the house occupants or help them, while sneaking around and gathering food to survive. Similar games are Untitled Goose Game and Squirrel with a Gun.

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The main flaw that pertained to me was that people kept getting lost. Parker and Hugo seemed keen on the segmented living room idea, but again, I wasn’t so sure. It didn’t really solve the issue we had of less open space, and with the living room segmented into so many pieces by the furniture, it felt too big. The game should have an emphasis on exploration, but it shouldn’t confuse players – especially as it was a tutorial level. And with how everything was arranged, I didn’t feel as though there were many places to keep adding furniture to hide behind.

Therefore a redesign was in order. I made sure to be more firm on my ideas this time round.