Indieformer

How We Make a Game Popular.

Popularity in itself doesn't really exist. It's a wild combination of attributes, tied together by some luck.

Trying to make something popular, by definition, just can't be.

So, yes. Shame on us. Slap on the wrist for a bit of clickbait to get you here. We do our best work on marketing, content, influencer outreach, financing, regional and international distribution — all publishers do that. We can't guarantee a creator will pick a game up (news flash: no one can), we can't guarantee you a website feature, we can't guarantee you success. But if we're working together, there's a good chance we think we can get there. And as for the games we choose, there is a concept we like to abide by.

a short dictionary of how we work.

the sauce

n. 2 min read +close × the part of a game only its developer could have made. the thing people remember.

Let's treat your game like a bowl of pasta. The foundation is the Pasta. There can be many types of foundations. They're all similarly built, and can be swapped out for another foundation. But the sauce — the sauce is what makes the pasta memorable. And the combination of correct pasta, and correct sauce is next level.

a different kind of saucy pasta

A red vs white sauce. A thick vs thin. Chunky vs smooth. The sauce makes the game. But if the pasta is crap, the sauce won't save it.

We look for the pasta — a game with a good foundation. And then we listen for the sauce. What are you combining it with to make a killer combo?

That sauce is unique to every game, and it's the thing we focus on projecting. Not always the thing that gets marketed, but the thing people remember.

Take Feed the Scorchpot (FtS). The sauce was obvious — it's the Dragon. Spotting that was the easy part. The work was personifying it.

So the Dragon shows up everywhere it can. In the trailers. In the in-game quips. And, most importantly, in the Discord — as an actual member.

Ping the Dragon on Discord? You'll get a response. A good one.

Now the Dragon isn't a character in a game you played. It's a regular in a discord you're in.

This is no "saving grace", or "marketing genius" that turns FtS into a mega-hit. But it's memorable. It's the extra step that connects the game into someone's life.

the slow burn

n. 1.5 min read +close × the long middle of a project where you ask "can this just be over already?" and don't quit.

There will be days where you ask yourself "can this just be over already?" That is the slow burn.

The culmination of development, content, marketing, feedback, features (we could list for days here) — this feeling — this is where we want to sit. It will test your game to the nth degree, and make you question whether it's the right thing to pursue.

Stepping back a bit, anything creative is almost a form of torture when there's the expectation of money involved.

Yes, you're making a game you want to play, but you're making a game you need to sell as well, so you can keep making games you want to play. A "necessary evil", sure — but then, isn't most of the world?

Paying for water is a "necessary evil" too.

But the slow burn... this gives us time to come to terms with such an "evil". Perhaps even learn to love it. Once you realise how piercing that burn is, you definitely don't want to be wasting your time on something that won't turn a profit.

Call it a philosophy, an idea, a metaphor, a stretch of time. We've been there, and we expect it with every game.

the boring list

n. 1 min read +close × the unsexy admin work that holds every creative and marketing strategy together.

We all have an unsexy side. Game dev is no exception. Store pages, creator emails, key management, version management. Gameplay and screenshots at the right time. Press kits.

In all honesty, we actually like that stuff. It's the glue. Connects all of the creative and marketing strategies together.

It's mostly just a time-suck, and most don't want to do it. We pride ourselves on whatever it is we need to do — it's done to the best standard we can think of.

If we need to learn how to do something better just for your game, we do.

Unsexy is what makes sexy. We'll be the Un.

we write

v. read +close × publicly. about what we're trying, learning, failing at, and figuring out.

Game dev is about learning, all the time. And whilst we aren't exactly in that boat, we wanna join in somehow.

Writing about our failings, what we're trying to achieve, how we are doing it — can all hopefully help some other wandering soul out there navigate the undulating slopes of creating and releasing a game.

We aren't perfect (which is the point). But we'll try hard to be different, and show you how.

your half

n. read +close × the other sauce. the developer's undying passion. the part we can't supply.

We can see, smell, touch, taste and hear the sauce, but we can't make it.

your passion (the organ)

Yes, above we spoke about the sauce of the game, but the other sauce is you — the developer. Without undying, relentless passion, your game isn't being given a good shot. It is hard.

It is like creating a baby from scratch (which kind of happens automatically over 9 months), but without any automation.

You will be the hardest working person in the room no matter what.

And we just have the opportunity to also be in that room, helping you release what's in your head (and heart, awww).

the answer

n. read +close × no. and also yes. mostly: try with us.

If the above is anything to go by, no. We cannot. But we can die trying.

We'll help develop that sauce, get it to a slow burn, get past the boring bits, document it for the world to see, and hopefully find a minor stake of popularity somewhere in the cosmos.

If you need guaranteed success, we can't do that. But if you want a partner instead of a publisher, that's us.

Let's chat