THIS is Why Most Indie Games Fail
Summary
TLDRThis video script delves into the critical role of marketing in the success of indie games, highlighting the importance of creating a marketable product. It explores Steam's top wishlisted indie games to understand their appeal, showcasing examples like 'Light No Fire' with its procedural world and 'Tiny Glade' with its cozy gameplay. The script emphasizes that a game's art, sound, and gameplay must be compelling to stand out, and that marketing a polished, appealing game is significantly more effective.
Takeaways
- 🎮 Marketing is crucial for the success of games, especially as the market becomes more saturated with developers vying for attention.
- 🚀 A game's success is often determined by its appeal, which is influenced by factors such as visuals, gameplay, and storytelling.
- 🏞️ 'Light No Fire' by Hello Games exemplifies a game with strong appeal due to its beautiful graphics, fantasy theme, and multiplayer aspect.
- 🏡 'Tiny Glade' showcases the success of a cozy game with a focus on relaxation and creation, appealing to players with its art style and sound design.
- 🎨 'Mouse' stands out with its unique black and white art style, blending vibrant visuals with a first-person shooter gameplay.
- 🌞 'Solar Punk' catches the eye with its bright and vibrant art direction, offering a charming and relaxing survival experience with exploration elements.
- 🎯 The key to a game's success on platforms like Steam is its marketability, which is determined by its ability to immediately appeal to potential players.
- 🛠️ Developers should focus on making their game as polished as possible in all aspects, from visuals to gameplay, to increase its marketability.
- 🎼 Sound design and music are integral parts of a game's appeal, contributing to the overall experience and setting the mood.
- 💡 A game's thumbnail and initial presentation on platforms like Steam are critical in attracting players and should be carefully crafted.
- 🌐 Social media platforms and the internet provide developers with numerous channels to promote their games, but quality and appeal are still paramount.
Q & A
Why is marketing important for game developers?
-Marketing is crucial for game developers because it helps them gain visibility among the vast number of games being released, especially as game development becomes more accessible and the market becomes saturated.
What is the primary reason many games fail to make a significant impact despite marketing efforts?
-The main reason many games fail to make a significant impact is that they lack marketability; they may not have features or qualities that immediately appeal to potential players.
How does the script suggest analyzing the success of games in terms of marketing?
-The script suggests analyzing the success of games by looking at Steam's top wishlisted games and understanding what makes certain games more appealing to players.
What game is mentioned as an example of a game with strong marketability due to its visuals and theme?
-The game 'Light No Fire' is mentioned as an example of a game with strong marketability due to its gorgeous visuals, fantasy theme, and the fact that it is developed by Hello Games, known for 'No Man's Sky'.
What is the appeal of 'Tiny Glade' and why is it highly wishlisted?
-'Tiny Glade' appeals to players with its cozy, non-stressful gameplay and beautiful art style. It is highly wishlisted because it offers a relaxing experience and is easy on the eyes and ears.
What makes the art style of the game 'Mouse' stand out?
-The art style of 'Mouse' stands out because it is vibrant and full of life despite being black and white, reminiscent of early Disney characters in a first-person shooter setting.
What is the significance of the game 'Solar Punk' in the context of the script?
-'Solar Punk' is significant as it exemplifies a game with a charming art direction, a relaxing atmosphere, and a unique concept that has helped it achieve success on Kickstarter.
Why is it important for a game to be polished and appealing in every aspect according to the script?
-It is important for a game to be polished and appealing in every aspect because it makes marketing efforts more effective. A game that is well-crafted and appealing will naturally attract more attention and interest from potential players.
What advice does the script give to developers regarding the development and marketing of their games?
-The script advises developers to focus on making their games as good as possible in every aspect, including visuals, sound, gameplay, and story, as this will make marketing easier and increase the chances of their games being successful.
What should developers consider when deciding the scope of their game projects?
-Developers should consider their team size and capabilities when deciding the scope of their game projects. It is suggested that smaller teams or solo developers focus on games that are manageable and play to their strengths.
Outlines
🎮 The Importance of Marketability in Game Development
The script discusses the necessity of marketing games effectively, especially as the industry becomes more accessible and competitive. It emphasizes that many developers struggle to gain attention despite their efforts, and suggests that understanding why some games are more successful than others is crucial. The speaker embarks on an 'adventure' to analyze Steam's top wishlisted indie games to identify what makes them appealing. The analysis includes games like 'Light No Fire,' which is visually stunning and developed by Hello Games, and 'Tiny Glade,' a cozy game with a beautiful art style and relaxing sound design. The summary highlights the importance of creating games that are not only functional but also have immediate appeal, as this makes marketing efforts more effective.
🌟 The Art of Crafting Wish-List Worthy Games
This paragraph continues the exploration of what makes a game stand out on Steam's wishlist. It features games like 'Mouse,' a first-person shooter with a unique black-and-white art style reminiscent of classic cartoons, and 'Solar Punk,' a vibrant and charming survival game with a focus on exploration. The speaker notes that each game on the wishlist has earned its place through a combination of appealing visuals, sound, and gameplay. The takeaway is clear: to make a game that is marketable, developers must excel in every aspect of game design, from visuals and sound to gameplay and storytelling. A polished and appealing game will naturally attract attention and make marketing efforts more successful.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Marketing
💡Developers
💡Indie Titles
💡Steam
💡Wishlisted
💡Appeal
💡Procedural World
💡Cozy Game
💡Art Style
💡Kickstarter
💡Marketable
Highlights
Games need effective marketing to succeed in a crowded market.
Developers must stand out in a sea of content on platforms like blogs, TikTok, and Steam.
Many games fail to make a splash due to a lack of marketability.
Exploring Steam's top wishlisted game page reveals why certain games attract more attention.
Light No Fire, a game by Hello Games, showcases the importance of stunning visuals and thematic appeal.
Games with procedural worlds and multiplayer elements can captivate players' imaginations.
Tiny Glade demonstrates the appeal of a cozy, non-stressful gaming experience.
A game's art style can significantly impact its marketability, as shown by Mouse's vibrant black and white aesthetic.
Solar Punk's bright and charming art direction and Kickstarter success highlight the power of visual appeal.
Games on Steam's most wishlisted list are all deserving of their spots, showcasing quality and appeal.
Marketing is most effective when the product itself has immediate appeal.
Developers should focus on making their game as polished and appealing as possible.
A game's success is tied to its ability to evoke an emotional response quickly.
Developers should create games that play to their strengths, especially when resources are limited.
The transcript emphasizes the importance of a game's overall quality in facilitating marketing efforts.
A well-crafted game can significantly reduce the difficulty of marketing, as it naturally attracts attention.
The video concludes with the advice to put one's best work into every aspect of game development for maximum impact.
Transcripts
if we want our games to succeed we have
to Market them as any developers we know
this it's pounded into US constantly and
as developing games continues to get
more accessible there is a flood of
developers posting blogs devlogs Tik
toks screenshots all over the internet
all vying for some shred of attention
and the reality is a lot of them are not
going to get where they want to go their
games are not going to make the huge
Splash that they are hoping for and this
is for one very simple reason to
properly understand what this reason is
we are going to go on a little Adventure
we are going to delve into steam's top
wishlisted game page to see if we can
pick out why some people want to play
certain games more than others here we
go so we are on steam's top wish list
page and we are filtering to only
include Indie titles and I'd rather look
at something a little less known than
some of these top ones now I swear when
I was prepping for this video I saw
light no fire in the number four spot
and I clicked on it I didn't know
anything about it I had never heard of
it before and look at this a multiplayer
Earth you got three human looking
characters and a bunny but they're
overlook this gorgeous landscape I feel
like this has taken a page out of breath
of the Wild's opening shot where you
emerge from the cave and the camera pans
over all of Hyrule for the first time it
really made you want to explore that's
what this is doing a procedural Earth
okay I'm getting some strong no man Sky
Vibes here a fantasy Earth an unexplored
earth all footage ingame multiplayer I
thought this was a little dig at the No
Man's sky devs here but the joke is on
me because only after watching the
trailer for this game I went back to the
page and saw that it was made by Hello
Games who are the developers behind no
man sky so this game is obviously
gorgeous and to top it off it's fantasy
themed which I love so much I'm seeing
dragons in some of the footage it even
looks like you can ride them so this is
a game about surviving building and
exploring a procedural world with your
friends to me after looking at this game
there is no mystery of why this is
number four on the top wish listed List
It clearly deserves that spot I saw it
for the first time today and I want to
buy it every nook and cranny in this
trailer looked fun and beautiful and it
made me want to EXP explore this
procedural world now as of 2020 Hello
Games had 26 employees so I'm sure it's
more now so this kind of scope for a
game would not be realistic for a small
team or for a solo Dev so let's look at
something a little smaller number six on
the list tiny Glade this is the only
game featured in this video that I had
already heard of prior to writing this
script this is a game made by two
developers and if you don't know
anything about this game there's no
combat there's no Resource Management
there's no timers no stress basically
this is the epitome me of what a cozy
game is you turn it on you press play
and you make something beautiful their
description says just kick back and turn
forgotten Meadows into lovable diaramas
and their screenshots show it every
image of this game could be a background
on my computer so again obviously really
gorgeous art style I'm guessing it's
using some variation of the wave
function collapse algorithm to make
their levels this way that's just a
guess but if you know how they're
accomplishing what they're doing here
let me know down in the comments I
really want to know but everything about
this game is not only easy to look at
but it's also easy to listen to the
sound design impresses me just as much
as the art style just listen for a
[Music]
second I love that this game is so high
on the most wishlisted list because the
scope of this game is obviously so much
smaller than a game like light no fire
it's a very small and cozy gaming
experience it knows what it wants to do
and it does not go beyond that it would
have been so easy to take with what they
have now as a base and turn it into like
a real- Time Strategy game where you're
defending your base but nope they just
stopped at make something pretty let's
do another one Mouse and by the way if
you're enjoying the video then thank you
if you leave a like or a comment so
these guys did what cuphead did with art
style but turned it into a firstperson
shooter I cannot get over how amazing
this game looks it's somehow vibrant and
full of life even though it's black and
white it's not Mickey Mouse characters
but like it's Mickey Mouse characters in
a firstperson shooter game basically
it's incredible it also looks really fun
regardless of the art style I'm not
really sure how well I could handle the
1930s Jazz track the whole time I was
playing a game but that's just my
personal thing it's definitely staying
true to its style I'm having a really
hard time looking beyond the art style
for this one cuz it looks so good but
you've got a variety of different
weapons and consumables a melee attack
sniper scope and explosives all with
really juicy and funl looking animations
you can't look at this game and be
surprised that it's one of the most wish
listed games on Steam right now number
11 on the list solar Punk it's got a
nice bright thumbnail which makes it
stand out compared to the ones above and
below it and right when you enter their
steam page blue sky and bright and
vibrant bright and vibrant so they're
setting the mood before the video even
starts playing we've got some really
nice relaxing music with these beautiful
floating islands in the background this
is pre-alpha footage so I'm sure it's
only going to get better with time cute
little watering mechanic adorable farm
animals and you get a really nice feel
for the graphics in this sh sh they're
simple but very pretty the whole art
Direction reminds me a little bit of
breath of the wild or tears of the
Kingdom but with less cell shading you
can even ride these cool blimp things to
take you to the floating islands okay
it's not always sunny here but this game
is oozing with charm and look they're on
Kickstarter so again obviously after
watching this trailer This Game Belongs
on this spot every little detail I saw
was nailed down to Perfection it's a
survival game focused heavily on
exploration and what's going to make you
want to explore more than taking a blimp
to some floating islands off in the
distance and because of how pristine
this game looked and the feelings I felt
when I watched the trailer I was not at
all surprised to see that this game made
10 times beyond their goal on
Kickstarter if you dig through the most
wishlisted games on Steam what you will
notice is that not a single game on
there feels out of place there's no
games where you're like what the heck is
this doing here this looks like garbage
there's nothing like that every single
game on this page deserves its spot at
the beginning I said a lot of aspiring
developers marketing efforts will not
get them where they want to go for one
very simple reason hopefully after
seeing some of these pieces of art on
Steam it's a little bit more clear why
marketing only really works if the
product is marketable selling something
that has immediate appeal is so much
easier than trying to convince people to
buy something that they're not sure the
like there's a big difference between a
functional game that works and a game
that has appeal or makes people
instantly feel something what makes a
game appealing is difficult to put into
words but it's very very easy to
experience when I was writing the script
for this video I randomly just chose
games from Steam based on the thumbnail
that appealed to me and I walked away
wanting to buy every single one of them
solar Punk blowing their Kickstarter
goal out of the water does not surprise
me at all because within the first 5
Seconds of watching their trailer I
instantly knew that that game would give
me an amazing experience and it's the
same with all the rest we looked at so
the obvious takeaway from this is to
make your game good on every front
possible because it will pay P off it
will make marketing your game much
easier make it beautiful give it the
soundtrack it deserves give it crunchy
sound effects put thought into the story
ensure that the game play is tight put
your best work into every aspect of the
game because it shows marketing is
obviously very very important but
marketing a game that is marketable is
going to exponentially increase your
marketing efforts no game is ever going
to be perfect but your game should be as
polished as possible and ideally the
game that you're working on is going to
play to your strengths especially if
you're a solo developer or on a small
team that's all I got bye
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